Portland "NW Quilt Show" 2012

Four of the Fyber Cafe ladies went up to the Portland Guilds show on Friday, it rained all the way up, we got an early start and got there about 10:30. The show was in a smaller exhibit hall, and was not the big Expo show I had been expecting, that is in September. The vendors where wonderful, and they had some very creative quilts. We are more drawn to the art quilts now, rather than the more traditional work. The guild challenge "Portals" had some beautiful entries, and they are entering several quilts in the Guild Group Challenge in Houston. I am not going to post any photos due to copyright considerations. I mostly bought some new stencils at the booths, some hot fix crystals, and ceramic buttons and Janna got some interesting applique patterns. After enjoying our lunch we headed across town to "Fabric Depot." It wasn't as busy as usual on a quilt show day, so we got to spend a little time there. I got Jacquard De-colourant, and spray adhesive and some more stencils. I am addicted to spray adhesive for basting my quilt layers. Vera got a cookbook on local Oregon Cuisine and wines. We beat the rush hour traffic out of town, and stopped at "Greenbaum's Quilted Forest" in Salem. It is such a bright cheerful shop, lots of color and projects on display, it is one of our favorite shops!! We always make a point of stopping here. Janna found a Laurel Burch bag she couldn't resist, and Peggy and I got a Japanese print with colorful butterflies. We dragged ourselves home about 6:30pm for a long eventful day, we had a great time with friends, enjoying our passion for textiles. We are already planning another trip up to Keizer/Salem for the IRIS gardens blooming, between Mothers Day and Memorial Day. Hope others can join us for that field trip.

3-D Flowers with GAC400

At Lunch time a t Vera's, Landreth showed us how she makes 3-D flowers with a sealant. We cut 5 circles of fabric about 2-2 1/2" diameter, and sealed them with a few drops of "Golden Medium GAC 400" This medium is a polymer that binds into the fibers, sealing them and making a permanent bond. She uses it also, to seal fabric treated with rust, to stop the rusting process and seal it from further oxidation. On the fabric circles, we pinched a tip from the center and wrapped thread around them, making dimensional flowers. We also sealed printed dragonflies, and lady bugs, she uses the flowers in a cluster on coffee sleeves with the bugs sticking up on a wire. They are very cute, but I did not get a picture of the finished project. Photographs: 1. Peggy & Vera 2. Peggy 3. Gracie

Vera's Play Day - Amy, Gracie & Vera

Lots of fun was had by all at Vera's Play Day. It is wonderful when we can get together at a time when Gracie can join us. To mentor this brilliant young woman to find her creative self is a privilege! She is fearless in her use of color, and paint, showing us all, how to let go, and not follow any rules. After some basic instructions, she did her own thing, working with the 8" x 8" pan of gelatin. She made several bird prints, then made painted backgrounds where she masked out space for some words, that she will write in later. She helped Landreth use the discharge paste on a large piece of cotton sateen, unfortunately it had a finish on it and did not discharge. She took home two trays of gelatin so she can continue playing with the techniques over spring break, and share it with her mother and grandmother, three generations of Fyber Cafe members. Vera had some pre-dyed fabrics that she over stamped with foam stamps and the Indonesian woodblocks. She built up multiple layers and created some very complex pieces of fabric. She played a bit with the gelatin trays, but mostly did her own thing also. She kept everyone on track and supplied with space and tools. She is a wonderful hostess and made a pineapple/rhubarb pie for lunch. Amy had the most experience with the gelatin plates, and guided people on getting started, she brought paper masks, foam stamps and stencils. Working on her own fabrics prints with a 8" x 10" commercial "Gelli Plate" she created a series of "Moon" prints, bird stencils and various other pieces. Giving advice and guiding the others on when to use masks, add layers, and contrast.

Vera's Play Day - Peggy & Pat

We brought several trays of home made gelatin plates for people to play with, see previous posts for the recipe. We made monoprints with acrylic paints and masks, trying several different techniques. Peggy worked with a 8" x 8" pan, and had wonderful texture to her surface. She created pieces in a series, working in purple, lavender, and yellow. The "moon and dragonfly" patterns in various combinations created a beautiful painting. She used a freezer paper mask to create the moon, and the dragon flies were stamped with a foam stamp. Pat tried various combinations and worked on several pieces, one had a raven, with a branch and stamped leaves, which came out rather dark, but has great texture. The other was a green patterned print with circles and a moon, but the moon did not have good contrast, so she stamped in a bright red lily flower. A little extra red brought a lot of pizazz to the piece! Pat also played with a wood block print from Indonesia and stamped it on her fabric. No one could quiet figure out what the stamped image was, a heart shaped rabbit face with ears, a lion with mane, and several other speculations?

Vera's Play Day - Landreth

Our new friend Landreth came to Vera's Play Day, and brought along supplies to do fabric discharge. She used "Finish" dishwasher liquid as her discharge medium, and drew her lines with a squeeze bottle. She also used a multi-point hairdresser's squeeze bottle to draw parallel lines. She used black fabric from Joann's, Kona cotton, and Country Classics, she did not label which was which, and regrets that, as one of them discharged to a beautiful underlying red. Most of the fabrics she discharges come out rust/orange. After the goo dried, she rinsed the fabric to remove the goo. She will heat set it with a steamy iron. She hopes to join us for our next meeting, and she lives somewhere in the Myrtle Creek area, and has been in touch with Peggy and Vera for a while now.

Drawing Blind

Vera finished her "drawing blind" fused piece. She made two of them, in monochromatic colors, yellow and rust. As people finish their's I'll post them here. Amy finished her's in lime greens. Peggy's is in orange and black, with the Oriental butterfly fabric she got at Greenbaum's in Salem. The turquoise one is Pat's with a Jinny Beyer medallion print in the center. Jana also did a bright green.

Kay's Drawing Project

At the March meeting Kay presented a quick drawing project, please take the time to do this yourself. We will bring in the finished fused 8 1/2" x 11" pieces at the April meeting. "DRAWING BLIND"
1. Take a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of paper
2. Close your eyes, and draw a zigzag line across the paper.
3. Keep your eyes closed! Pick up your pencil point and rotate the paper, any amount, now draw a wavy line across the paper.
4. Eyes still closed, rotate paper again, and draw a scalloped line.
5. OK open you eyes, finish the lines to the edge of the paper, choose one of the lines and repeat the line about a 1/4" away, so you have a double line.
6. Make a small X on one corner of your paper.
7. Position the X towards the center of a 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Trace or copy in some way the lines onto a 1/4 of the large paper. Flip and rotate the smaller paper, keeping the X towards the center, and copy your lines, until all 4 quadrants are drawn in.
8. Use this pattern to make a quick fused color study, in a monochromatic theme.
Bring the fabric piece to the next meeting, Kay would like to show them at various senior centers.

Member Profile - Pat

This member of Fyber Cafe began her fiber experiences very early in life during WWII using woolen yarns and knitting needles to construct her Christmas mittens for the Christmas family. In junior high any interest in sewing was quickly stifled by a very stern home economics teacher! While at the University of Washington an appreciation for arts was sparked by a design class and frequent visits to many museums and galleries in Seattle. In the early sixties the sewing machine became a family item. This led to "Stretch and Sew for the Family and Beyond!" An employment transfer for her husband resulted in the transfer of a family of six to Alaska. This move presented many and varied quilt making adventures, including participation in a very active quilt group. Often well known fabric artists would come to Anchorage to share expertise with the guild. In Wasilla, Alaska a batik class was held presenting new techniques. This led to several guild members participating in a sub group with an "out of the box" approach to fiber art. Since retirement as a dietitian, passions for family and travel have led to many new family members and family travel to the Pacific Rim and beyond. A recent trip to New Zealand has increased new interest in fiber use. Mentoring grand children at the sewing machine, construction of grand children's quilts and a new digital camera consume much of the free time. The intrigue of new techniques and materials shared monthly at meetings adds to the adventure of Fyber Cafe members. Highlights for this member are the low immersion dyeing workshops, group critiques of our individual work, and group trips, such as those taken recently to Bandon and Coos Bay. The group support and eagerness to learn keep this group one you do not want to miss!

March 2012 Meeting

Photos-

1 &2. Amy's Gelli Prints Journal Pages.
3. Amy's Daffodils and Crocus.
4.Vera's Oregon State of Diversity.
5. Vera's Malaysian batik.
6 & 7. Peggy's gelatin prints.
8 & 9 Maureen's twisty bag and apron.
10. Marsha's coin purse.
11, 12 & 13. Dori's purse and sunflower.
14. Corienne's collagegraphs.


Business - There was lots going on at our March meeting. Reminders: the Portland Sewing Expo is March 29-31 at the Expo Center, anyone interested in, going contact Amy for carpools. Entries are due April 6th at the Arts Center for the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Show at the Douglas Co. Fairgrounds, April 13-15. We will NOT have a separate display this year at the quilt show. Umpqua Valley Arts Center is having a fundraiser "All For One" on May 5th, three of our members have donated 4 Art pieces for the event, Georgia & Vera have 12" x 12" art quilts and Corrienne has a handwoven scarf. Tickets are on sale at the Arts Center. Our pieces for the "What's My Line?" Challenge are still up at the Sutherlin Library, they are very well received and will be up through March.

Play Day @ Vera's - Tuesday March 27 @9am we will have a play day at Vera's, for directions or carpooling or to RSVP, contact Amy or Vera. We will be "doing your own thing" bring something to work on, get help with, or discuss techniques, any ideas for a group project are welcome, we may be doing some "Gelli Printing." Bring a bag lunch. We will save the marbling project for our summer dye weekend.




Show and Tell - Corienne had made some collagegraph printing plates, after our hands on demo last month. She also liked to use the woodfiller to make raised patterns from stencils. She tried them out as rubbing plates on paper to get the hang of it. Maureen made a Twisty- Pointy Bag from our January meeting, and made a beautiful batik fabric apron. Dori had finished her shaggy wool sweater bag that she felted, and found the perfect clasp, everyone wanted to feel it. She is also working on a needle felted wallhanging of a sunflower, and wanted some advice on stitching and what threads to use. The center is couched ribbon and very nubbly textured. Marsha had made a small coin purse with a tapestry challenge fabric, she was given the piece of fabric and had to make something to hold money, for it's small size it even has several inside pockets. Vera shared about her trip to Malaysia to visit with her daughter, she brought back a 2 yard piece of batik fabric handmade by a lady she met, it has sea turtles on it, the turtle is the "State animal" of the area she was in. She explained that the batik resist is made from a combination of wax and resin, and boiled to remove the wax/resin. They come in 2 and 4 yard pieces, the 4 yard being more expensive because it takes two people to dip it into the boiling water. She also asked for advice on re-doing her "Oregon, State of Diversity" entry from the SAQA challenge. She took it apart and is going to work on it as individual blocks. Peggy brought several "Gelatin printed" blocks to show, she followed the directions in Feb Quilting Arts Magazine, to make her own gelatin plate, and made a set of six house/tree/butterfly prints. She also had a set of 4 blue/green undersea gelatin prints with fish and stamped seaweed, that were set with sashing to make a small wall hanging. Amy finished her daffodil and crocus photograph quilted wall hanging. It is thread painted in rayon threads to outline and highlight the photographs. She also brought quiet a few "Gelli Prints" that she made with a commercial product called "Gelli Plate" it acts as gelatin, for printing with acrylic paints. Her prints were much heavier with paint than Peggy's watery looking pieces. We can play with these techniques at Vera's play day. Also visit Amy's blog @ Amysetcetera.blogspot.com for more on the gellatin printing she and Peggy did.