Texture Magic Demo

The demo for the November meeting was on using "Texture Magic" by Superior Threads & "Fabric Magic" by Pellon. I started by painting gold acrylic onto 12 1/2" squares of blue heavy weight cotton, to use as samples. I used a hard rubber roller and a plastic grid for texture.

I bought both brands at the last Umpqua Valley Quilters Show so I could compare them. The Texture Magic was quiet a bit more expensive than the Fabric Magic. Both came with a chart on how much shrinkage to how much stitching, but I forgot to check the chart. They also come in different size pieces, 1/2 yard or full yard.

I made different free motion quilting patterns to see if there would be a difference in the texture once it had shrunk. I used a medium stipple, a 1" horizontal wave, a wavy grid at about 1 1/2" spacing, and a 1" diamond grid, and a larger loopy/random stitching.

I had trouble with the iron at the meeting, and only managed to shrink one sample. Use steam and do NOT touch the iron to the interfacing. Steam from the interfacing side. It shrinks quickly in sections, as I moved the iron around. Once it was shrunk I could not get more shrinkage. Stitching around the outside edge of the fabric was a good idea. I can not tell the difference in the texture for the different style of stitching. The distance between the stitching made more of a difference. A wave or a grid or stippling did not matter. So save yourself the time and stitch what ever you are most comfortable with, I recommend the medium or small stipple, or just an all over random. The brands shrunk as easily as each other, but the Fabric Magic did not shrink as much in one direction. All the samples started out 12 1/2" square, the Texture Magic finished at 10" square, and the Fabric Magic at 10" x 11" Not the "Up to 30%" that they said it would. Maybe closer stitching would get more shrinkage. I am going to use these for pillows or purses, vests would be appropriate, or just for texture on any project. Get some and play for yourself, see what the new technology comes up with next. I have linked this to Off the Wall Fridayby Nina-Marie, check out all the wonderful artists that link up each Friday.

Australian Art & Spoonflower.com

Our member Pat G. just got back from 4 weeks in New Zealand and Australia, she had a wonderful time. One of the art projects she did when she was there, was to put shaving cream on a tray and swirl paints on it to print fabric.

Pat bought two original pieces of Aboriginal art. It is acrylic painted on a heavy canvas, with lots of dots, and the background is mixed colors like a pointillist painter. All the art work is heavy with symbolism, she had a booklet with many of the different symbols in it. The two pieces she got have stories to them to explain the symbolism, and all their art work is as if you are viewing it from the sky. So a horseshoe shape is a woman, sitting on the ground, viewed from above.

The individual artists have their work spread out on blankets, for the tourists to buy.

Pat also got several prints, turtles laying eggs, and a pair of kangaroos.

An assortment of Australian cotton print quilters fabrics were also acquired. They ran about $26 US per yard. Whew! They are made especially for the Australian market, with a lot of Aboriginal designs. She did get some good deals on some fat quarters, and she doesn't know what she is going to do with the fabric yet.

Thank you Pat G. for showing us your wonderful art and fabrics that you got. We look forward to hearing more about your trip at our December potluck.

Spoonflower Demo by Crystal Crystal brought us all a handout on Spoonflower.com they are a website for printing your own photographs or artwork onto fabric. She showed us step by step on her laptop, and said the site is very user friendly. It helps you size your image, choose different types of fabric, how the repeat is formatted, and how to place an order. She has ordered fabric from her photos of an orchid, it came in four panels on the yardage. She sliced and diced, and resewed it, into a fractured flower. If you have questions about the procedure, you can ask her at the December potluck or give her a call. Thank you Crystal for this presentation.

Yokohama Award

Congratulations to four of our members who participated in the International Painters Challenge. Georgia, Jan, Sylvia and Amy, have entries in the exhibit. The exhibit won FIRST PLACE for Group Quilts, in Quilt Week Yokohama. Wow, that is so exciting! 30 quilts from the US, 30 from Japan and 30 from France, made up the exhibit. You can see the 30 US quilts on curator Linda Steller's Flicker site, Click Here A few photos of the Yokohama display, but you can't really see the quilts.

Shibori Folding

Check this site out "And Then We Set it on Fire"It has a whole series of Shibori folding techniques. Vera I really think you will like this. You keep trying to get us to clamp things, when we are at the Dye Workshop, but nobody got the idea of what it could do.

November Meeting 2013

Old Business An artists statement is due at our December meeting for your "River Runs Through It." It is not a biography, or a list of techniques, please state why you made the piece, what your thoughts were or your goal in making it, you can keep it short. We will discuss these at our meeting. Our December meeting is a holiday potluck, bring any kind of dish to share, also bring your own plate and utensils.New Business Dorie is working with Mercy Hospital to display the "River" pieces, starting January, for a whole year, in one of the main halls! We discussed this, and about not having them available for the UVQG Show, but decided they would get a much more broad audience at the hospital. The Bandon Retreat has been tentatively scheduled for June 23 & 24, Monday and Tuesday nights, 3 days. More details to follow. The January meeting will be a hands on workshop with Vera showing us how to make "Fiber fabric" with Solvy and yarns, fibers, ribbons, we will do layout and pinning at the meeting, but sewing at home to finish the piece. February, the "Weather Report" challenge is due, we will Show & Tell and critique the pieces. We are planning, for spring, a wool dyeing workshop with Cheryl and Vera, then a wet felting workshop to use the wool we have dyed. More info later. We voted on a $5 donation from each member, to have a kitty to buy supplies for display/hanging, photocopies of instructions, and other miscellaneous approved purchases. This will be due at the December meeting. Also you will be penalized 25 cents, if you forget to wear your name tag. This will also go into the kitty. Show & Tell

Jana has begun work on her "Weather Report" project, it is named "Unseasonably Warm." The crow and leaves are heavily thread painted, with glass bead eyes on the crow. This pic is cropped, but it has lots of room for a "HOT" sun, that she will be adding to the upper corner. Peggy's "Weather Report" is started on her design wall, with ladies around a tea table, with the title "Tempest in a Teapot." I can't wait to see how she interprets this theme. Peggy also brought the Summer 2006 issue of Cloth, Paper & Scissors, to show and an article about Solvy and making Fiber fabric, that we are going to do in January. Nancy has started her "Weather Report" by taking photos of the TV weatherman, on her Ipad. She plans on an abstract in blues and greens, with all the geometric weather front symbols. Sylvia had photos of her finished "Painters Challenge-Cezanne" to show the quilting, and discuss what she had learned from the project. She learned how to use "Color Hue Dyes," to dye silk, being careful to iron silk, a new method of collage, and to plan the background as part of the whole.

Vera displayed a finished art quilt from a piece of her hand dyed fabric. She cut and inserted small strips of fabric to fracture the fabric, then couched a variety of yarns in waves to follow her painting, and added hand stitching for more texture. It is wonderful to see her work from her fabric she has made & showed us the last couple of meetings.

The second art piece is on the theme "who is hiding, those who hide or those who do not see?" relating to domestic abuse. She has layered strips of sheer transparent fabric, over her hand dyed fabric, added details in hiding, and masks across the front. It is a very bold image, but subtle because of the hidden details. She also brought her "Dyeing Process" display from the SAQA show in Corvalis. It has samples of her step by step resist dyeing, and the finished fabrics. This might be something we can show at the UVQG Show too.

Cheryl has been working on a month long effort to learn free motion quilting, working out the bugs, on this somewhat frustrating process. We recommended a 90/14 universal needle or a mettalica needle. A beautiful scarf with handmade scarf pins, was Cheryl's Show & Tell, she made the pins with Sculpy wrapped around a piece of metal coat hanger. The toppers are from a mold, and painted with opalescent paints.

Our new member Sue, brought three Autumnal hangings, the patterns are made from her photos in Photoshop. The pear and pumpkin are individual works and a set of 3 gourds, they are nicely thread painted/quilted as well.

Sue had developed the idea for her "Weather Report," she has a piece of discharged fabric she made. She cut out a piece of freezer paper, ironed it down and used a discharge product to bleach out a moody tree scene. She is taking it on an airline trip and plans to embroider a million french knots on it for "Snow."

"Beware my darling of the snakes in the grass" is stitched on Loraine's crazy birds and snakes quilt. She took a class in Idaho, from Mary Lou Weidman, on her "Out of the Box" technique of pattern free piecing. They brought lots of bright colored fabric to class, and started free form piecing, eventually developing their own designs. "Raining Cats and Dogs" is Loraine's theme for the "Weather Report" challenge, based on Laurel Burch designs.

"Slightly Breezy with a Chance of Dragonflies" is Amy's entry for the "Weather Report" challenge. She has been using masks and stencils of botanical flora, to make "Gelli Plate" prints with acrylic paints. The green one is two 8 x 10 prints sewn side by side, with rayon quilting and three 3-D thread painted dragonflies. "Misty Morning, Mauve" is the 2nd, and has additional raw edge applique over the print, to add an extra layer.

"Raining Candy, Waiting for the Parade" is a pattern Amy has drawn up, from her original photo of two girls at last years Veterans Day parade. They were leaning out into the street, waiting for people from the floats to throw candy. It was pointed out, this will also fit with the weather report theme. So Amy has been challenged to also finish this by February. Pat G's trip to New Zealand and Australia will be a separate post, also the demo on Texture Magic, and ordering fabric printed with your photos from online.

International Painters Link

Click here for the link to the International Painters Challenge, on Linda Stellars Flickr page. It has photos of all 30 art quilt pieces entered in the exhibit, from the USA. There will be 30 pieces from France and 30 from Japan to make up the whole exhibit. They will be first shown in Quilt Week Yokohama, and the International Quilt Show in Tokyo! Four members of Fyber Cafe are included in this exhibit, Georgia, Jan, Sylvia and Amy. They have all done some fabulous work.

Slideshow Added

I have added a slideshow of photographs of our Fyber Cafe activities and textile art. I wanted to show how much fun we have at our various workshops and play days. Many photos are from our monthly Show and Tell at the meetings, and from our group challenges. The slideshow runs on the right hand column, try clicking on a photo and see if it will take you to the Picasa site, so you can see them in a larger format. It works for me, but them I am signed on. Then click the < or > on the sides of the photo to move forward or backwards through the pics. I hope this inspires you to try some of challenges or activities in the workshops. Stop by and join us if you are in the Roseburg, Oregon area. We meet the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 10am, at the Mercy Hospital Community Education Conference rooms, above Parkway Mobility and Supplies, next to Office Max on Stewart Parkway. Contact AMY, email is on the Facebook badge to the right, put Fyber Cafe meeting in the subject line.

SAQA Mini's

Thanks to Georgia and Pat, we had 30 small works from a traveling collection from SAQA. Georgia and several of our members are also members of SAQA, and they participate in many of their challenges and calls for art. The set of small works were about 8" square and matted in white frames, with plastic over them, so we could pick them up and observe closely. Each had a paper with an artists' statement on the back. We have decided we need artists' statements for our "River Runs Through It" challenge, so get to work Fyber Cafe artists.

We were very impressed with the simplicity of design in some of them, and the complexity of others, in an 8" format. The hand work and other techniques were perfectly executed. I only took a few photos, sorry about the glare. Please check out the SAQA site, to see more of their wonderful art.

October Meeting 2013

Old BusinessOur new challenge theme is "Weather Report," any technique, under 20" on a side. Due February meeting. Must be labeled and sleeved. New Business We need to write artists' statements for our river pieces, in this format, Name, Title of piece, statement about the Art piece, techniques or unusual materials. We wish to make a professional presentation to the Umpqua Valley Arts Center, for display. Reminder, please wear a name tag at the meetings, our group is growing. We had 17 members at the meeting, and 4 new members in the last few months. Nov. meeting, Crystal will still do her computer fabric info, and Amy & Pat will do "Texture Magic." Dec. meeting - Holiday Potluck. Jan. Vera with Solvy lace/thread fabric, (Corienne please bring your bag of thrums) Feb. on TBA. Show & Tell

Amy finished her "Leonardo Da Vinci's Sketchbook" for the international painters challenge. She used tissue paper image transfer, acrylic paints, and thread painting, then appliqued a sketchbook, pens & ink, and feather pen to the bottom area. Also a quick sunflower abstract was made from a photo printed on fabric, cut up and hand dyed fabrics added to the composition. Thread painted with lots of rayon threads brought the flower petals into the dyed fabric for a complete picture.

Sylvia's painters challenge is Cezanne, his style is short choppy brush strokes. She has replicated this with small rectangles of hand dyed silk and Wonder Under fusible. One of his many paintings is a local French mountain, she had to dye several blue sky fabrics to get the right shade. The photo doesn't due the sky justice. The quilting is not yet done.

Vera and Meredith made it up to the Quilt Country venues to see the SAQA exhibit, they thought the SAQA was the best, but enjoyed several other fiber and art exhibits in the Corvallis area, including the Philomath Historical Society and a wearables exhibit. Vera had made 18 silk scarves for her daughter to give as parting gifts from her job in Malaysia, she had a photo of the ladies wearing them. Meredith has reached into her archives to bring a poofy black vest and beaded bow tie. The vest fabric was made by poking fabric through a screen and ironing in the poofs, then adding a layer of fusible interfacing to the back of the fabric to set the bubbles into it.

Cheryl has finished getting a leather bottom onto her wool boots. She dyed the leather with acid dyes and "boiled" them to set. Wrong, they shrunk and became hard as rocks. Next she tried it with steam, and got a nice finish to the leather. She and her daughter have started a project to make a queen size "Snail's Trail" pattern bed quilt, for their joint birthday project.

Nancy drew a Halloween pumpkin for Pat G. on her postcard, but Pat is in Australia/New Zealand on a quilt cruise, so she will get it when she is back. Lorraine received a landscape postcard from Tricia, with delicate reeds and a dragonfly.

Jana has gotten a start on Christmas, with a set of batik quail silhouette place mats. Her Halloween hanging with fused cats, got finished with quilting lines that extended the spider webs from the border print.

Lorraine was also in the Halloween mood with her pumpkin table topper, the pieces were fused with "Steam a Seam" on a black background to create the striking contrast.

Dorrie has also been working on Christmas, with a soft red scarf on the knitting tool, and sunflower place mats and napkins. They are making me feel like I need to get a move on for the holidays, blink and it will be Christmas, blink again and it will be 4th of July. Peggy made a cell phone pouch (no photo) with a pattern from Quiltsmart.com they print the pattern onto fusible, and you just fuse to fabric of your choice, cut out and assemble.

Kay brought a whole stack of postcards, she received from an art postcard exchange. There was a huge variety of styles and techniques, with many beautiful images.