May Meeting 2014

Old Business The Elkton Festival participation has been canceled, they are not doing vendors this year, only a music festival. Bandon Art Retreat is June 23-24-25, We had a cancellation, so we still have room if you want to join us. Monday we'll stop a Landreth's on the way for a studio tour and lunch. If you are not going to the retreat you can still go to Landreth's. The wool dyeing has been added to the August dye workshop at Vera's. We choose our regular meeting day Tuesday, August 12th, everyone welcome. Vera would like some help the day before, to set up tables and get ready. There will be NO meeting in Roseburg for August, only the dye workshop. Black Sheep Festival in Eugene is June 20-21, for car pooling contact - Sue or Cheryl. No New Business --- Show & Tell

Kay began our Show & Tell with a free form bowl, that she made from her section of the design exercise. It has curled edge pieces zigzaged around a thin wire and a black backing fabric. She put a small vase in it with a red poppy.

Vera returned from visiting her daughter in Malaysia with beautiful batik fabrics. They toured a batik factory, where every thing is free hand drawn with traditional brass Tjanting pens and wax. The skirt panel is traditional Malaysian art, while the more organic piece was made at a deaf school. They also have a wonderful museum of batik art.

Vera has been working on silk scarves for the Oregon Caves gift shop. There are many beautiful colors on silk/rayon "devore" fabric.

Cheryl has been trying to reproduce a special yarn she saw at "Websters" a tightly twisted yarn wrapped in black thread. She also attended "Fiber in the Forest" retreat, with her husband, who is now addicted to spinning since she taught him last month, and she keeps finding him in her "Good" bags of fiber.

Amy is working with her needle felting machine, to create a fiber landscape. It is layered onto a wool felt, then free motion quilted with rayon threads. Vintage rayon embroidery floss was used to put French Knots into the foreground flowers.

Sylvia took an Indigo dye class at The Eugene Textile Center, with Barbara Setsu Pickett, they used a synthetic indigo, that used no mordant, just water, The silk pieces were folded and clamped, then dyed, refolded, clamped and dyed a second time, this created different intensity in the blue on the fabric.

The second project was to sew up the long side of a silk scarf to make a tube, that was scrunched over a wine bottle, then dyed, the resulting texture is so detailed and beautiful. A larger infinity scarf was tied with marbles and a golf ball to create the patterns.

Landreth has a beautiful piece of hand dyed fabric that she put onto stretcher bars, and added a touch of needle felting, to show how the felting can be used on different types of projects.

Landreth's little frog mascot was passed around, to show the type of soft sculpture that needle felting can create. It is so cute!!

Corienne has been off to the Hand Weaver's Show in Portland part of the annual Gathering of Guilds large art show. She brought a large black cashmere scarf that she had woven, with a black yarn needle felted into a scrolled pattern as an accent. The photo is kind of gray, but the scarf is a rich deep black.

Lorraine has made a hot pad for a bowl that goes in the microwave, you put the bowl into the pad then it is easier to get out when finished heating.

"Picasso with a Buzz Cut" is Lorraine's creative effort with her section of the design exercise. It is colorful and bold, with a bit of fringe on top.

"Fashion Statement" is Pat G.'s art work based on the colorful and bold patterns of Aboriginal and African dress. She used her section of the design exercise to dress a woman in colorful clothes, and for the border she used Australian fabric she had gotten on her recent trip.

Dorie brought her example of needle felting, a sweet little purse with a fiber swallow on a branch, the soft subtle colors are delicate work. Nancy brought a pair of wool pants that she loves the color on, and she asked about felting them in the washing machine. Lots of advice was given, using high water temps, shocking the wool in an ice bath, then hot water again, and adding tennis shoes to the washing machine for agitation. She will give it a try.

A bright little 3-D fishy is Sue's art made with her design exercise section, she used organza an the fins, and wishes she had hemmed it better, so it does not fray. A bead eye and embroidered smile complete the friendly little guy.

Needle felting was also Peggy's Show & Tell. She made a small purse out of a sample piece she made at our felting Play Day at Vera's a few years ago. Embellished with brass charms and different fibers and yarns, it is a colorful example of needle felting. She has been checking out yarns and fibers at "Mindy's Yarn Shoppe" in the 5th Street Market building in Eugene. The assortment is extensive, exotic and tends to be expensive, but worth it.

Crystal finished her Easter projects, with an orange scrap, strip pieced Carrot table runner with loose green leafy tops, and an Easter fabric table runner. Unlike many quilters, it is nice to finish holiday projects IN TIME for the holidays. Demo and Hands On Cheryl brought her carders and a pile of assorted wool, to show us how to blend colors, and Landreth brought enough supplies for everyone to try needle felting. So I'll put that in my next post.