November Meeting 2012

Old Business Amy has all the "What's My Line" pieces, and will be arranging for them to show at The Umpqua Bank, this month. I'll let you know when that is set up. Kay and Peggy are hanging the "Beatles Song" challenges in the Sutherlin Library this week. The Quilting Arts issue Oct/Nov 2011 has the article on the vinyl/silk screen printing that Vera demoed last meeting. We got a thank you email from Sherry for all the painted/printed leaves we helped make, she packed up about 467 leaves to take home to Ketchikan, Alaska. They have started to add batting and burlap to the trunk of the tree, and the bark fabrics, and hope to have the project finished by mid-December. New Business Umpqua Valley Arts Center has a textile arts exhibit "Oregon, State of Diversity II" by members of Oregon SAQA, hanging now, until the end of January. There was a wonderful article in the News Review, this week, and our own member Vera has a piece in the show. We are planning a potluck for our December meeting, and after the meeting, we are planning a field trip together to go see the exhibit. We will be also doing a group photo, so brush your hair and your teeth. Our January meeting, Amy will demo photo transfer techniques from the book Peggy loaned her, a material list will be available at the Dec. meeting. We have a new member, Cheryl, she saw our flyer at the arts center, she is a spinner, weaver, knitter, doll maker, and needle felter. She has been making angora knit hats, and llama slippers for the Christmas fairs. She will be at the Douglas Co. Christmas Fair this month.

Show and Tell Dorie made a chenille scarf for her daughter out of 6 layers of rayon fabric, it was soft and fluffy, in rich fall colors. She has also been making lots of Christmas napkins and socks. Jan is knitting a bright green wrist cuff, and she finished her "weaving" challenge, the metal hand is a found object. Nancy found the iron on vinyl at Walmart, and plans on doing some silk screened denim shirts, she really liked the technique that Vera demoed last meeting. Vera told us the "Clay Folks Show" in Medford at the Armory is Nov. 16, 17, 18 and will have over 60 quality potters from N. Cal, Oregon and Washington. She usually participates but this year she is only going to go and enjoy the show. Landreth's art quilting friend in Colorado shared info on a Dick Blick "silhouette cutter" that she uses to cut stencils, stamps, and fabric from her own designs she puts in with a stylus on the computer. Jana is feeling well after a hip replacement after breaking it, and spent lots of time knitting socks for Christmas presents.

Peggy knit a scarf with "homespun" yarn in a warm rust, with bits of matching eyelash yarn. She also made stuffed decorative pumpkins with 2" strips of fabric, silk leaves and a branch topper. Her hand dyed leaf quilt was finished being machine quilted by Amy.

Kay found 3 large foam cut outs at the dollar store, and used them to make three sunprints. She used Setacolor acrylic paints, and is using machine decorative stitching , embroidery, beading and a dyed doily for the center. She finished her Beatles challenge, "8 Days a Week" a crazy patch heart with tags for days of the week and small embellished hearts in each section. Pat has been making knit fabric "Infinty" scarves with her granddaughters in Alaska, they bought a variety of knit fabrics and made over 20 scarves. She also finished a baby quilt, with preprinted alphabet blocks on it for a Great-grandbaby!

Pat has also begun her weaving project, she is using her images of the big fires in the Bend area as her inspiration, and is working with strips of birch bark, and other natural materials. She has a box of inspirational fibers, dyed cheesecloth and yarns, and has started "pin weaving." Meredith is getting started on her weaving challenge, and is calling the piece "Pick Up Sticks," and to tease us, she had some painted dowels that she is going to use.

Amy also got inspired to work on her weaving challenge, she began by printing her photographs of woven baskets to use as a background. After sewing the background, she printed several woven textures on the fabric and added rug grid, embroidery stitches and beads. She is finishing it with four sections of woven materials she cut from baskets. She smartly superglued the baskets, so the woven materials would not "unweave" when she cut them apart. Demonstration Amy showed everyone how to make covered buttons to use as art embellishments. We used both "teeth" and "Press together" covered buttons, and everyone made samples. Fabric with small motifs, faces and geometrics were used. The larger the buttons the easier they are to do. Also, Landreth had a sample for fabric pompom embellishments, she showed us how to do.

Mee

Member Profile - Georgia

I've been quilting for almost twenty years, focusing on "art quilts" for half that time. It's a form I find indefinable, fascinating, and on most days tremendously enriching. Earlier membership in the fiber art group Tactile Expressions and now Fyber Cafe and High Fiber Diet have given me freedom to explore the medium fearlessly. The support and encouragement of other members is invaluable.

Each project teaches its lesson. Sometimes I finish a piece knowing that I want to repeat one or other aspect of it, and sometimes I know I've learned, yet don't want to go there again. No matter how the piece turns out, the process has been valuable.

Making an art quilt requires many small decisions. I seldom know exactly what I am aiming for - there is no picture in my mind of the finished piece. I deal with these small decisions one at a time and don't look ahead too far, as I've learned that doing so cuts off possibilities that I may not see at the moment. There will never be enough time for me to tire of this wonderful world of fiber, design and unforeseen possibilities.

Georgia is also now, the Oregon representative of SAQA and a board member of The Umpqua Valley Arts Association.

Sherry's Leaf Workshop, part II

A few more pictures from Sherry and Kay's leaf making workshop, from Kay's camera.

The little next door neighbor boy, also came over to help.

Peggy, Kay, Vera, Amy, Landreth