RedBarn Studios

my dear friend, DeLane’s first grandchild, a girl, was born 2 weeks ago.  needless to say she has been on a natural high these last few days and so enjoys holding the newest member of her family,
kiyah lain.

she was so excited when she called to tell me that i knew i had to create something so she can capture all those special moments to come because we all know how fast time flies by.  one minute they are just born and the next they’re entering kindergarden.

soooo, I made her a new kind of brag album.

there are seven 2-page spreads, one for each of the next 6 months so she can record each moment as she remembers them.  i’ve also added a 2nd tag for her husband. the proud grandfather so that he can record his own memories of this special little one.

embedded by Embedded Video

hope you enjoy it omi and papa steve……many, many happy  memories to you both.

toodles,

Tags: captured moments, pandoras, paper art, patterns by grace
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I have been working feverishly to figure out the glitch that occured when I tried to upload the new files and get my website back up. It was a frustrating few days but I am so very pleased to say that….

….I DID IT! Whooppee doo!!!!

So once again you can find me, my art and my patterns, including the latest one on my newly revamped website at http://redbarn-studios.com.

Yet again I am doing a happy dance. I should just call this the year of happy dances. Amazing what little things make us happy with life.

I had to reflect a lot these past few days on my words I chose for this year….intention and self discipline.  Intention to make what I want happen for my career and self-discipline to make sure I stay on track. Remembering them have helped me a lot this year.

Because I’m not a computer techno person and knowing I wanted to solve this crazy dilemma myself, I knew that more focus and less drama would get me what I needed and it worked. Now if only I could get my teenage kids to do the same…NOT!

So in order to celebrate my stunning achievement (lol) I am having a give away. I usually make  journals filled with 4 signatures, covered in beautiful batiks and/or ultra suede (check out my etsy shop for examples of fabrics).

For that one lucky person I will make a 1 signature notebook containing 36 pages of writing paper, from batik fabric, my handyed fabric  or silk dupioni in the colour of your choice.

I invite you all to leave a comment on this post so that each of you will be in the running for this “THE WEBSITE IS LIVE AGAIN” give away. On Sunday I will reveal the winner, by random number generator of course so keep the comments coming.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft

Tags: journals, paper art, patterns, website by k grace howes
18 Comments »

Tried to upload my new pattern to my website but there’s a small, teeny, tiny glitch happening now. No website loads. Bummer indeed! I’ve let the tech people know and hopefully will have it back up sooner rather that later.

For now if you would like to order any of my patterns (see below), including the new “PadfOliO Notebook“, please send me an email. In order to avoid spam please copy and paste my address in your email….grace@redbarn-studios.com

Bloom Where You Are Planted (24 x 31)

ColourBlocks (63 x 63)

The Orange Escaped (67 x 78)

Coffee Blues (44 x 56)

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: life etc., patterns, website by k grace howes
2 Comments »

You ever get to a point where you just have to make something yourself to get what you want?

Well that happened with my latest pattern. I was forever taking notes in meetings on little bits of notebook paper….then I started carrying around a notepad but that got messy cause the pages get ripping out or folded in all sorted of ways just hanging around in one of my gi-normous bags.

So one Sunday I took out the notepad, sat at my cutting table and didn’t get up till I designed a cover for it.

As those who design patterns know….it can take a lot of different prototypes till you get it right but it’s such satisfaction at the end. I asked a friend to test the pattern for me and can now let you guys see the finished product.

New Pattern

I introduce to you….the PadfOliO Notebook, a stylish way to carry around paper.

I knew I wanted to have a place to tuck notes so a slip pocket is available. Also, what’s the sense of taking notes if you have no pen to write with…so a pen holder was part of the design.

I also wanted a place to put business cards (to hand out as needed) but this pocket is also a convenient way to identify the owner of this stylish piece of artwork.

I will be adding this pattern to my website where you can conveniently pay for the pattern through Paypal.

I have to tell you that making this PadfOliO Notebook is very addictive. I’ve made 6 so far…2 have been commandeered by family (okay, truth be told….1 of them by me, it’s the blue one above) and the other four, ready to start taking notes, are listed for sale in my Etsy shop.

Let me know what you think. I really like ‘um.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, artful creations, journals, mixed media, paper art, patterns by k grace howes
3 Comments »

My good friend Susan Brubaker Knapp has a new pattern booklet “Applique Petal Party” coming out in October 2009. She just returned form Quilt Market and got the good news that it is ready to announce to the world.

I am so very pleased for her……she has worked very hard to get everything ready for the publishers at C&T and it looks fantastic! Keep a look out for it later in the year and grab one when you can. Right now she is offering pre-orders on her website.

I am please to let you know that my one of the pieces I did to test her pattern made it onto the front cover.

That’s my piece, the coneflowers, on the right. Only for Susan would I tackle hand piecing and…..okay, okay I enjoyed it too but don”t tell her I said so. Her pattern was very easy to follow and the quilt is absolutely, positively gor-gee-ous in person.

Now how cool is that! Way to go Susan!

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, pandoras, patterns by k grace howes
1 Comment »

I love to carve my own rubber stamps.  I have some great commercial stamps in my stamp drawer but it’s so very cool to be able to draw something, carve it and stamp right away with it. I have a small notebook full of ideas for stamps to carve.

In a much earlier post I wrote about how much I love learning new words (has been a favorite pastime of mine since I was a young girl but heck if I can explain it). Well now I carve words.  The last few stamps I’ve carved have been words that have an impact or significant meaning to me and others.

Remember this journal I made earlier this year? First I stamped the word with foil adhesive onto my jounal then ironed gold foil onto the word.

This next stamp I just finished carving over the holidays so I have yet to use it but love the idea behind it. There’s much you can do with that one.

Another word that’s caught my eye is ” FRAGILE“  but for this one I need to find the fight font to use to denote the meaning of the word.

I have now decided I want to carve my own alphabet so I am looking for the right font with a mix of caps and lower case letters. I keep looking at the commercial alphabet sets but have yet to find one that resonates with me.

Here’s a mission for you, what other words should I carve to use in my art? Let me here your ideas.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, monday posts, patterns, stamp carving, surface design by k grace howes
6 Comments »

I have to tell you that to take a class (or hear a lecture) frrom Robbie Joy Eklow is to just have some plain good fun!

Robbie visited our guild (Charlotte Quilter’s Guild) last Wednesday and did 2 workshops for us on Thurs and Sat; her famous fusing technique from her book and a machine quilting class. She is very very down to earth and so easy to talk to AND…she is extremely funny.

Robbie regaled us with stories of her family and her varied adventures in the quilting world. She had tips galore to make the processes work much better and her quilting class was so invaluable.

Now don’t get me wrong…..Robbie is a true professional but she makes taking a class and learning from her soooooooo easy and effortless it’s like playing hookie with a favorite friends for a day of quilting, quilting, quilting.

Who could want more than that?

I have to tell you that I have been fascinated with Robbie’s technique for her puzzle quilts using fusible ever since I purchased her book a few years ago. Seeing it demonstrated  is even better than reading it….but we all know that. Once you get the technique everything falls into place. But I must confess (it supposedly is good for the soul ya know), on Thursday at the end of the workshop I had only one layer of one cog done. I held that up for all to see….I was so proud…everyone else was as well.

What you don’t know is that the pattern has four different cogs with each one having 3-5 layers. Okay….so it took a while to sink in ……or better yet it took a while to sink in because we were laughing so much we couldn’t get our work done.

I am happy to say that I completed the pattern on Sunday…or at least the part of the pattern I chose to do. I used some of my hand dyes (which you can purchase at www.artfulcreations.wordpress.com).  and, frankly, I think it came out great.

Love the boldness of colours against the black background and the play of light and dark that I achieved. I need to quilt the finished piece but will definitely use Robbie’s technique of fusible binding. She demonstrates it on pg 70 in her book Free Expressions. Check it out.

Thanks Robbie for a most enjoyable 3 days!

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: fiber art, monday posts, patterns, working small by k grace howes
8 Comments »

I’m trying to get better at pattern covers and just finished this one for my latest pattern “Simply Spring”.

It took a while because I discovered some new tools in Photoshop Elements (PE6) that I didn’t know existed. Duh!

You know how when kids get a new game and they start playing it without even looking at the directions, that’s what I did when I got PE6, I just dived in. So why didn’t someone tell me I could play like this????

Head over to my website if you want to purchase this or any other patterns or just email me and I will send it right out to you.

See ya next time”In the Hayloft”,

Tags: patterns by k grace howes
2 Comments »

I’ve mostly been working on the computer trying to get pattern directions finished but had to get my hand into some art.

I was asked to do a demonstration at the Charlotte Quilt Show that was held two weeks ago to showcase the way I use fusible web in my applique. Using this method I don’t have to remember to reverse my pattern image which is a BIG BIG help for me. This quiltlet is such a cute little thing that I decided to finish it with one of my favorite methods of binding…fusible of course!

10 1/2″ x 14″

After finishing the machine quilting and binding I thought it would make a great seasonal pattern so look for the “Summer” quiltlet to appear next month. If you are interested in getting this pattern (or others) from me, just drop me an email and I’ll put you on the list.

See ya next time”In the Hayloft”,

Tags: patterns by k grace howes
1 Comment »

Some of you know I entered a quilt designers contest and was maniacally rushing to get it finished before the submission deadline.

FatQuarterShop’s blog, the Jolly Jabber, held a contest where designers had to use only the fabrics from Moda’s “Simplicity” line of fabric to make any sewn item. My entry was a table topper I designed for my breakfast nook table. The pattern is called “Simply Spring” and will be available for purchase on my website (RedBarn-Studios) next week.

The table topper is ‘s 51 1/2″ square and I made it so the triangles gracefully hang off the sides of the table. The photo below shows the quilt in a different colourway.

Now go…..go vote for your favorite design here. Polls close Tuesday (4/22/08) which just happens to be my daughter’s 16th birthday. Yippee!

See you next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: patterns by k grace howes
1 Comment »