April Meeting 2015

Old Business Thank you to everyone that helped set up the Umpqua Show, it was very well received. The "River Runs Through It" pieces will be displayed next at the Sutherlin Library. We decided to keep the "Fins, Feathers" & the "Flabergast" pieces together, and to seek out other venues at which to show them. Tracy will be storing them for us. New Business The Bandon Art Retreat is scheduled for Mon, Tues, Weds. June 22 -24. Talk to Amy to commit to going, money is due at the May meeting, the $100 is very in expensive for a retreat, and only covers the cost of the facilities. We will wait until June to have a new challenge. Get your ideas together. We will have an informal challenge for June through Sept. Then a formal challenge, that we would like everyone to participate in, for next year's quilt show in April. May's meeting Sue will show us how she does the large circular art bowls. We are planning a wet felting workshop at Amy's in June, and a dye workshop with Meredith in July. More info to come. Jana has asked if we want to participate in the Oakland Quilt Show in August, she will get us a booth to display and/or sell items. Tracy & Ryan have volunteered some display boards. We agreed to do this. Jana will have more info, as it gets closer. Show & Tell

Amy brought in the results of her washer/rust experiment. The fabric printed very well with all the circular patterns from the washers. It was discussed, to rinse it several times in a heavy salt solution to neutralize the rust.

Cheryl has been holding out on us, she has a blog craftcatcottage.blogspot.com We must all check this out for ourselves!! She has been busy with spinning some green dyed fibers, into a plied boucle yarn, and is knitting it into a vest for her daughter.

Lorraine received some wool felted slippers from her son in Afghanistan, who go them from an Afghan soldier. She is working on some Jacob sheep fleece with Cheryl.

Vera has been experimenting with the vinyl sulfon dyes she got overseas. She is steam setting them, but is checking the difference between soda ash and baking soda. Pat G. reports she is still working on her "Quilts of Valour" project. Landreth has an art piece in the Umpqua Valley Arts Center Show, that is going to be auctioned off.

Sue is taking a workshop in Clackamas using Jean Wells book on art quilting. This modern wall hanging is the result of her first class assignment.

Jana used a website with public domain photos to get the bird in the hand image. She used "inktense" watercolor pencils to draw the hand, and rubber stamped the saying.

The "Ocean" wall hanging, is strip pieced for Jana's sister, and rubber stamped and embellished with large sea shells.

Jana colored within the lines, when she made this shell sampler. The "Inktense" pencils added just the right amount of color, she doesn't know what she will make yet with this piece of fabric.

Last night Dorie got busy and made this vinyl pencil holder. She used the bright geometric fabric, that we made, in our group hands on project. The case holds some of her art supplies.

Vi was wearing a sweater she had embellished 30 years ago, somethings we just treasure forever. She made a small purse with a butterfly and the larger bag with an eagle centered in the design.

Tracy's husband Ryan joined us, and he wants to explore the definition of quilting, as three layers joined together. He has a new play toy, a Plasma cutter, and he showed us his wonderful cutouts done on rusty saws. He wants us to help collect rusty saws, wheelbarrows, shovels etc... for him to practice on. He has invited us out to their place, to try it out, sometime this summer.

UVQG Show, part III, "A River Runs Through It"

"A River Runs Through It" was our 2014 challenge, it has been on display at Mercy Hospital in one of the waiting rooms for all of last year. We were very excited to display it at the quilt show. It contains 13 pieces with a common river running through each piece, making a cohesive group to display. We were each given a pattern with the connecting river placement, and some fabric samples to use in the river. Meredith wanted the end piece to create the river falling off the wall into a vintage bucket. The waterfall creates a lot of drama and excitement.

Maureen started us off with a view of the stars. Created from a photo on the cover of a National Geographic magazine. Her "Naked Singularity" is made with fibers, yarn and Angelina fibers, to spin us off into space.

Nancy's "Copper River" is an abstract city view, with lame and other shimmery fabrics, that don't show well in the photo, but bring the piece to life. The city scape contrasts sharply with Maureen' sky view.

Crystal's softly flowing scene has a poem "I am a River" printed on it. The couched yarn, woman's figure rises from the river on a calm background fabric.

"The 9th Hole" depicts Pat's textural creation of a golf course. She used "Texture Magic" to create the mountain, the heat shrinkage puckered the fabric. Yarns and other fibers filled the landscape, centering on a hole surrounded by sand traps, with a red flag at the hole.

Cheryl needle felted her creation on her trip to Maui. It depicts the jungle waterfalls as they flow into the river. It is embellished with 3-D palm trees, flowers and a parrot. "A River Runs Through Maui" is a soft landscape that you just want to reach out and touch.

Vera's abstract river is a grid of hand dyed fabrics, representing the "Topographic" legends on maps, where each color represents a different type of feature on the landscape.

The scene is set for "Foraging by Moonlight" by hand dyed moon and dark sky fabric. The birch trees and melted Tyvek foliage harbor several deer. The river flows across rocks with salmon jumping. The foreground is a forest floor with wildflowers done in silk ribbon and embroidery floss.

"High Desert Predators" show the diverse wildlife found in the desert, sustained by a river flowing through it. A scorpion, snake and beetles are drawn with the stitching, while an applique eagle flies after prey. The more you look at it, the more creatures you see hiding in the free motion quilting.

Jana's whimsical view of a Hobbit house in the Shire, sitting in the hillside, with a round door looking out at the river. The view is embellished with embroidered flowers and details.

Black Rhinos and zebras graze on the hillside as lions look on from the foreground, in Dorie's view of "A River Runs Out of Africa." A tribute to our local Wildlife Safari Park. A collaboration between Dorie and Amy, Dorie set the scene with the animals and landscape and Amy finished up the details, adding the embellishments to the sunset and the silhouetted trees.

Kay's glowing sky, made with her hand dyed fabrics adds a punch of color to the collection of river scenes. It is embellished with many various yarns, fibers, and beads.

Peggy's "Fishing on the Silitz River" shows a view from her brother's kitchen window, looking across the river to a cliff side overflowing with greenery. A heron guards the river, which is embellished with yarns and fibers.

Meredith's finale of a cascading waterfall, brings our river tour to an ending, as it flows over the edge and is contained in a bucket sitting on the floor. Her 3-D trees create depth as the soft chiffon, tulle, and lame river flows off the scene.

Everyone has enjoyed creating this collaboration, a cohesive challenge that everyone stepped up to, and did their best.

UVQG Show, part II, "Flabergast" Challenge

The Fyber Cafe just for fun challenge, in 2015, was "Free Floating Flabergast" a made up word, weird and fun, anything goes type of challenge. Maureen recommended it from a cartoon she saved, by Pat Brady.

Amy's "Flabergast & Flotsam" is her photo printed on fabric embellished with beads and sea shells. The second layer is a piece of dried kelp, twisted and embellished with plastic, wire, bottle caps, and a feather.

Cheryl has needle felted a wild and crazy explosion of fiber, her colorful center has a fiber lady shooting out of it. The "Discombobulation" describes it exactly.

Clare's non-traditional tassel is made from rayon threads, tulle & chiffon, it is beaded in multiple colors, that flare out from the tassel like a fuchsia.

Lorraine collected natural materials on her walks and put them together in this amazing wreath. She has a birds nest, dried leaves, moss, and oak galls. She used a spray sealer on it to keep it protected.

Free form crochet is the basis for Meredith's creation, she has added it to the fabric background on her wall hanging. The flowing contours of the crochet contrast to the sharp angles of the fabric design.

"Friar Freddy Frog" plays in a pond created by Peggy, it is a mixed media and fabric collage, with wonderful details.

The undersea scene created by Vi has sparkly beaded jellyfish, and other creatures. Silver printed fabric adds shimmer and a Shibori dyed fabric background adds a soft ocean look.

All these wonderful creations are the results of a Fyber Cafe challenge that stretched our imaginations, took us in new directions and helped us grow as artists. We hoped you enjoyed seeing them, please leave a comment, so we have some feedback.

UVQG Show, "Fins, Feathers, Scales & Tails" Challenge

Fyber Cafe displayed three of their challenges at the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild Show. The guild is so wonderful to allow us display space, they say people look forward to seeing our stuff every year. The first challenge was 2015's "Fins, Feathers, Scales & Tails." We had thirteen entries in this challenge, and they were all extremely creative.

Dorie's's proud rooster, struts with raw edge applique and thread painting. His name is "Fancy Pants."

Jana has fallen in love with thread painting, the texture on this crow is awesome. The background is one of her hand dyed fabrics, and the poem is printed with rubber stamps.

Taking this saying to heart, has made Jana very independent.

Kay's needle felted masterpiece is layer upon layer of leaves and flowers. She has hidden various animals in among the foliage. It deserves a close look to see all the details.

"Yumm!" is the title of Lorraine's delicious looking lobster. All the various reds work together to add texture and details.

What fun this must have been to make. Meredith's jaunty fish has a devilish grin.

Floating on a hand dyed background, Peggy's first mermaid, is embellished with yarns and fibers.

This red head is joined by some lace fish, as Peggy embellished her mermaid with yarns and fibers.

Sherry's flock of feathers hang from driftwood. Each individual feather invites you to notice the differences between them.

Sue's Hedgehog is so cute! His body is a paper pieced spiral with embroidered details, and the strip pieced sky and grass offer contrast to the round hedgehog. The leaves are thread painted and 3-D. This was a fun challenge and resulted in a variety of different techniques and images. The second challenge this year is "Free Floating Flabergast" so check back to see the next post.

I am linking this to "Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other wonderful textile artists are doing.