Thursday, September 26, 2013

Author Roseanne Dowell Shares Her Embroidery and Quilting Handiwork at Hobby Hoedown


 
Welcome multi-published author Roseanne Dowell to Hobby Hoedown. She certainly has a creative outlet along with her writing skills. She combines embroidery with quilting to produce lovely works of art and functional pieces. First let me tell you about Roseanne.

Roseanne grew up reading first Nancy Drew mysteries and soon moved on to Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. She’s a big fan of Agatha Christie and always loved writing even as a teen, often making up different endings to books, and writing poems.
While working as a school secretary, she decided to take a correspondence course, writing for children. It didn’t take long to realize that even though she had six children, it took someone special to write books for them. So, she tried her hand at nonfiction, but didn’t care for that either.  That’s when she moved on to romance novels. But they sat in the attic along with her poems and journals.
In 2002 at a Book Club meeting, she confessed regret about not pursuing a career in writing. That’s all it took.  Her friends convinced her it wasn’t too late. After giving it some thought, she decided they were right and took another writing course. Within a few months, her first article was published in Good Old Days Magazine. Since then, she’s had several articles published.
In 2006, Roseanne’s first book, Satin Sheets, was published and sold over 35,000 copies. Since then, she’s decided to go the way of the future – E-books.  She writes various types of romance – paranormal, contemporary, mystery and women’s fiction. Her heroines range from their early twenties to late seventies. Yes, seniors need love, too.
Roseanne lives with her husband of fifty years, has six grown children, fourteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She spends her time between writing, quilting, and embroidering. She also enjoys blogging, tweeting, facebooking and posting on various writers’ groups and spending time with her family.
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If you’d like to know more about Roseanne and her books, 
check out Roseanne Dowell's website   
You can find her books at Amazon

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Now take a look at Roseanne Dowell's handiwork.

Contributed by Roseanne Dowell. Photos courtesy of Roseanne Dowell.

Although my first love is writing, one of my favorite things to do in my spare time is embroidery. Another is quilting and I’ve found a way to combine the two. I discovered red-work during a quilting shop-hop at one of the shops. I immediately fell in love with it. For those who don’t know what red-work is – it’s embroidery done in all red floss. Just the outline of the picture, not filled in like other embroidery patterns.
 
A Christmas Wall Hanging
Every year I make something for my six children (usually a Santa) and give it to them on Thanksgiving. Sometimes it’s ceramic, sometimes wood. I found this Santa pattern and made one for each of them. It took a while to do six of them, but it was a fun project.
 A cow quilt I made for another niece
After making quilts for each of my children, grandchilden and other relatives, I decided to make a baby quilt for each of my grandchildren – not for them, but for their first born. But, where to find patterns? I started out searching coloring books for designs. I traced the images onto 12x12 squares of muslin. No easy feat.  After I finished embroidering the squares, I put the quilt together. For the backing I used various fabrics, generally not nursery prints. None of the quilts have nursery fabric in them at all. That way, they’re not limited to use only as a baby quilt.  I’ve used patterns from animals to Winnie the Pooh.
Eventually, I found transfer books and started using them for designs, which made it much easier. As of right now, thirteen quilts are finished, the last one is embroidered and the blocks stitched, but I still need to be put the batting and backing on and quilt it. Some of the quilts are done in red work, but several are done with various colors, also.
It did take several years to embroider all those squares, but most of them have been done for a while now.
Since then, I’ve also made quilts for my niece’s twins. One of the patterns is kittens and the other is bunnies. She had a girl and boy, so I thought the bunnies would be good for him.


One of the quilts I made for my niece’s twins. Kittens
 
The other quilt for my niece’s twins – Bunnies
Three years ago I gave the first quilt to my oldest granddaughter, who had a baby boy, my first great grandchild.  
Each quilt is marked with the name of the grandchild it’s supposed to go to. I hope I’m still around to give each child their quilt, but if not my daughters have been instructed to pass them out. I hope they treasure them. I put them in one of those quilt bags you get from the store to store them.
Yes, I bought a quilt for my bed. But I did make one too, I embroidered wild flowers in each square – and yes, I filled them in, not just outlined. It took over a year to do it, but it was worth it.

People ask where I find the time to do all this. The answer is simple, I have nothing better to do in the evening while I’m watching TV. That’s the nice thing about embroidery; you can sit in front of the TV and still work on it.



My latest book, All in the Family, has just been released by Books We Love.



Back of the Book:

Taking over the police chief’s job in her hometown should have been easy for Callie Johnson. After working in a big city, small town crime would be a breeze.  What a surprise when she arrives to find her grandmother, the judge, accused of murder. As if that wasn’t enough she’s attacked while walking to her car. Between criminal investigations, her nutty family’s antics and her Aunt Beatrice Lulu picking up men for Callie to meet, she has her work cut out for her. Will her grandmother be exonerated?  Can Callie ward off her aunt’s unsuitable suitors? More importantly, can she find the person who attacked her?

Available at: Amazon





20 comments:

Roseanne Dowell said...

Thanks for hosting me today, J.Q. I think it's great you're showing a different side to authors. Hope you'll come on blog soon.

J.Q. Rose said...

Hi Roseanne, didn't make it too soon, did I? I'm sorry. With doc appt and Harvest Festival, it's been a full day!! So happy you are here. You do gorgeous work. The photos are great!

Roseanne Dowell said...

Thanks JQ I enjoy doing it. Working on a 4 person quilt with my daughters now. We did one 17 years ago. We each make 3 squares and trade. Each quilt is the same except for the way we put them together. It's fun and we get together every week to do it.

J.Q. Rose said...

That sounds like a clever idea. You have passed your quilt making to your daughters, eh? That's cool you can do this together.

Roseanne Dowell said...

Actually, my daughter in law started it, my oldest daughter picked it up and I picked it up from her. I'm the only one who does the red work and embroidery.

Heather Haven said...

Roseanne is one of the most talented and lovely writers I know. I can see by the pics here that she gives to her family and they profit by her generosity of spirit, as do her fellow writers. She is so very giving. I cherish the relationship I have with her, as I'm sure many others do, as well.

Roseanne Dowell said...

Heather, thanks so much for the glowing words. I appreciate them and cherish our relationship also. I've made several good friends in my writing career. I'm glad you're one of them.

Heather Greenis said...

Quilts - I know they are a lot of work!
Yours are beautiful. I'm sure they are and will be treasured
Heather G - Natasha's Dream
Natasha's Diary - December 2013

Roseanne Dowell said...

Thank you, Heather, I appreciate your comments.

Anonymous said...

Roseanne those are absolutely beautiful! I love embroidery, but have never thought to give quilting a try. What a great idea. Your quilts will be passed down in the family for many years. You've inspired me to give it a go. Thanks for sharing!

margaret mendel said...

What great heirlooms for the family. Great use of time!!! A very soothing activity and everyone gets something beautiful!!! Wonderful work!!

Roseanne Dowell said...

Thank you, Helen, it's actually not that difficult if you have the proper tools. The first quilt I made I drew the patterns on the fabric and cut them with scissors. Now I use a cutting board and cut many at the same time. So much easier. Let me know how it turns out for you. We're teaching my youngest daughter now and she's catching on quickly. She's made some beautiful squares.
Margaret, thank you. I do hope they treasure them.

J.Q. Rose said...

Roseanne, see what our daughters and inlaws can stir up for us? Good for you too!

J.Q. Rose said...

Heather H, New friendships are definitely perks when one becomes
an author. I didn't realize how huge the circle could be. You and Roseanne are two of the stars in my circle.

J.Q. Rose said...

Heather G, there is a quilters group in my park in FL. They work together to create a quilt which they raffle every Christmas, then donate the proceeds to help others. Many friends are in the group, but not me. I don't have the patience to do quilting. I do appreciate all the work it takes for them to build the quilt every year. I admire quilters too.

Unknown said...

Lovely post! I do both embroidery and quilting, but have never put the two together. What beautiful works of art you create, Roseanne! I'm sure they will be treasured forever. I still have many blankets that were made for me when I was born, and most of the lovely ladies who created them have since passed. I'm so fortunate that my mom saved these precious blankies for me!

Roseanne Dowell said...

Do try it, it's not that difficult. The first one s I did, I copied the pattern from the coloring book. Now I scan them to my computer, cut the squares a little bigger than I need and iron freezer paper to them and print directly on the fabric. Works well. After they're embroidered, it's just a matter of adding the sashing and finishing them up. I hate to quilt through the design, but sometimes you have to. I also had blankets made by my mother. She made a blanket for my oldest daughter's christening. Three years ago, my daughter passed it to her daughter. I make sure I pack my quilts with cedar blocks. I can't wait to give the next quilts away. I have 4 married granddaughters. Crossing my fingers, I'll be able to give them away soon.

J.Q. Rose said...

Helena and Margaret, I can attest to the fact these quilts are treasured heirlooms. My mother gave my daughters quilts and they are cherished. Please note, my mom didn't sew them...she bought them, but they are still special since she was the presenter.

J.Q. Rose said...

Heather B, thanks so much for stopping in and leaving a comment.
Roseanne, combining your computer techie talent to design the quilt is pretty cool!!!

Unknown said...

This embroidery work is so awesome and i really needed these types of updates which helps me in my embroidery.
http://www.apparelnbags.com/custom-embroidery.aspx

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