June 2012 Meeting

OLD BUSINESS Pat's Play Day has been moved to Tuesday June 26, at 9am, we will be doing a variety of things, it will be a sewing machine day, we'll start with Journal Covers, to sew and embellish, a materials list was emailed to everyone. Amy will demo and do a hands on workshop on "skinny strip inserts" to embellish and save "unimpressive" hand dyes or printed fabric. Kay was asked to do some natural materials weaving, like she taught the kids in Alaska, if you have any materials on hand bring them, other wise we'll prowl the acreage for grasses and twigs, etc.. bring a Brown bag lunch. Sylvia's picnic is on hold, TBA for July. We discussed ordering from Dharma silk scarves for the ice dyeing, I'll email everyone details. Call Jana or Peggy to RSVP for the Black Sheep festival, they are going Friday, June 22, we may have 2 carloads going. Please get hold of Pat or Amy if you have textiles for display or sale at the Garden Tour this Saturday, more items are needed! NEW BUSINESSThere is a textile exhibit from the art group at Debbie's quilt shop in Drain, at the Elkton Butterfly Garden's library. www.elktonbutterflies.com/ Also an "Artists Day in the Garden" event July 21, artists are welcome to spend the day in the garden painting, photography, etc.. for an Art Show later in August. I am thinking of going to this and doing Gelatin prints with the botanicals there, also photography with quilt making in mind, and Peggy wants to paint. Let me know if you'd like to join us. SHOW AND TELL I apologize for the lack of photos, I was so busy admiring the items and forgot to take pics. I'll try to get a few more pics at the garden tour. Corrienne was at the "Gathering of the Guilds" in Portland the first weekend in May, she showed her handwoven items, among the many wonderful things at the show. The show is a mixture of the Portland area Potter's Guild, Weavers Guild, Glassblowers, Woodworkers, and Fine Jewelry artists, and is a huge annual event at the Convention Center. Nancy showed her second pillow for her couch, with beautiful tranpunto on black corduroy. It is very soft and textural. Jana finished her Beatles Challenge "Here Comes the Sun" with an applique sun on the side of a richly colored batik, shading to darkness on the right, she added lyrics in gold paint on various areas of the piece. Pat's challenge was "Yellow Submarine" (unfortunately no picture) her husband Bob designed the submarine for her, she appliqued and embroidered it on an underwater fabric, with waves, she mounted it on a wood frame, which she has taken a liking to doing. Pat also brought a guest, a family friend Betty, visiting from Homer, Alaska, she likes to do art quilts, and has a vision for her next project, a group of darting snowshoe hares, that she keeps encountering in her driveway. She wants to use shear fabrics to layer the hares ala "Pignatelli." Maureen has been sewing onesies for her great granddaughter, and working with the Master Gardeners. She has trays and combs we can borrow for our marbling project. Peggy created "Eleanor Rigby" for her challenge, with inspiration from Deidra Doan, she was featured at "Art & Soul" workshops at Portland last year, and Peggy missed the opportunity to attend the class. She layered many different embellishments to create a rich mixture of color and texture, a photo of "Eleanor's face in a jar by the door" was a key element. Kay brought a sample she made of a rubbing from a relief ceramic tile she got from Home Depot for 39 cents. She made the original rubbing with a red crayon, and colored in areas with "Neocolor II, water soluble crayons" She says the oil based crayons are brighter than the standard watercolor pencils. Her Beatles Challenge is "Blackbird" (sorry no photo) a silky black bird with a real feather, on a background of hand dyed fabric, covered in folded layers of black tulle, distressed with a heat gun, and embellished with gold cording and more feathers. Amy brought her grove of birch trees with the quilting done, no binding yet, lots of texture with rayon threads. Her Beatles challenge is "Strawberry Fields Forever" the fabric top from last meeting, was quilted in rayon with a batik strawberry print backing. Also a sample of the "Skinny Strips" techniques she will demo at Pat's play day. A demo was done by Amy, at Peggy's request, to show how she made 3-D thread painted draonflies amysetcetera.blogspot.com You can find a complete "How To" on Amy's blog. Made with rayon threads on layers of tulle, Solvy, and chiffon or organza, they are thread painted and cut out, to add as decorative elements to art quilts. All the Beatles challenges included lyrics from the songs either on the back of the art or incorporated into the front, the lyrics seamed to have lasting impression on the artists and not just the song title. The Sutherlin Library has said they would love to hang the Beatles Challenge on display, so if you did not finish your piece or did not attend the meeting, you still have an opportunity to do something. Also several people indicated they are inspired to make a second piece, as it was difficult to choose just one song. Photographs: 1. Nancy's trapunto pillow 2. Jana's "Here Comes the Sun" 3. Peggy's "Eleanor Rigby" 4. close up 5. Amy's skinny strips 6. Amy's "Strawberry Fields Forever" 7. Amy's Birch Grove 8, 9 & 10. Thread painted dragonfly demo

Group Flier

I've been working on a flier for the group, since we are going to do a public display for the League of Women Voters Garden Tour. Let me know what you think. I have already added a contact number, and the blog site.

I have made it a single 8x10, also a page of two and a set of 4 to a page for smaller handouts. I'll bring a few to the next meeting so you can see what they look like. The colors are a lot brighter also, I had to scan it in and redo it cause I screwed up the format. :)

Member's Profile - Cynde

I inherited the maternal sewing gene from the fabulous women who came before me and had needle in hand at an early age. My Grandma Pat gave me my first mini-Singer sewing machine at 6 years old. Through the years, she instructed me through many fall wardrobes we selected and made together. My mother and my three grandmothers all had a part in infusing the love of the needle and thread or yarn into me. Beyond beauty and the art, the meditation calms and soothes me still today.

I aspired to the sciences early on, but came back to the love of cloth and found a fabulous couturier in Los Angeles to study with. From there I received some of my first clients and launched a career in pattern making and fashion design, which led to my own business Couture Dreams. I have had the pleasure of creating everything from high fashion evening gowns for the Oscars and bridal to hero capes for television, curtains, cushions and slipcovers for the interior, and baby bedding and clothes. My latest endeavor has been art quilts. One piece has shown globally in "Currency Exchange" and a Frida Kahlo piece now prominently shows in the office of a L.A. Councilwomen. I am beginning my study for City and Guilds Certification in embroidery and am thrilled by the learning process. Eventually, I plan to take my new knowledge back to fashion and see where it leads.

Iris & Peony Garden Tour

Several of the ladies went on a trip North of Salem on Saturday to tour Schriener's Iris Gardens and Adelman's Peony Gardens. They are about 2 miles apart off Interstate 5, on either side of the freeway, at exit 263. It was a cool day with the sun peaking out, just right for photography. Everything was at it's peak of blooming, though we could have been a week later for the peonies. The best time to see them is between Mother's Day and Mid June. They will still be great for a few more weeks now.

The iris gardens are inter-planted with lupine, delphinium, clematis, allium, poppies, columbine and all sorts of other stuff. Backed by huge old rhododendrons and azaleas, the gardens go on and on, and there was a pond too. The whole area is surrounded by fields of iris, row after row of different colors. They have a wonderful gift shop, and nursery area where you can buy iris plants or order bulbs for fall planting. We took lots of pictures, and worked with the intricacies of our cameras. Hopefully these will inspire us to create beautiful textiles

After shopping we went to Adelman's, it was just a short jaunt on the other side of the freeway. They had beautiful gardens planted with peony bushes, tree peonies and some iris and other filler flowers. The gardens are newer, and have some growing to do, but the flowers were amazing! Huge, full, rich colored flowers, filled with bees, and fragrance, enticed us to walk the paths, around a waterfall feature, and other statuary. They had picnic tables, so we took a nice break for lunch. Their gift shop and flowers for sale were wonderful, Amy had to get a deep red Japanese style peony, and the others got some cut flowers. They were going to be doing a flower arranging demonstration, but we did not stay around to catch it.

On our way home, we stopped at Greenbaum's Quilted Forest in Salem for some fabric shopping, an art gallery that Peggy had found on the internet, and Dutch Bros. for some coffee. We also had time to stop at the Eugene Textile Center, to see what they were all about. One of the guys was taking some shibori silk scarves off the the piping they were drying on, and they were gorgeous. They have a wide assortment of books and fibers, and wonderful classes several of our members have taken.

May 2012 Meeting

Old Business Iris/Peony Garden Trip, Sat. May 16, call Amy. Pat's Journal Cover Sewing day for June 19. The Dye workshop is Friday and Saturday August 3rd and 4th at Vera's. Beatles Challenge - Some of us have started our challenge piece, they are due at the June meeting, no stress tho, have fun. To do or Not to do, that is up to you. Under 12" X 12", any technique. New Business Don't forget the Black Sheep Festival in Eugene on June 22-24, Jana and Peggy are planning a trip. Call Jana to arrange carpools. First Annual Garden Tour for the League of Women Voters, they have asked us to be one of the featured artists on June 16th. Pat and Amy are making the arrangements, we will have our What's My Line Challenge on display. Also we can display other garden inspired art, and the pieces can be for sale. If you have a textile you want to display, let Amy know. They would like someone there to demo our "art" Pat and I will do this, but if others would like to take shifts, please volunteer. Show and Tell Jana finished the traditional quilt top of Roses and Oak Leaves for the Oakland City Recorder who is retiring. She bought some of the fabric at The Portland Show we went to in April. She has several months to finish the quilting. She is working on her Beatles Challenge, "Here Comes the Sun."

Maureen brought a box of thread to share, as she now uses exclusively Floriani threads for her machine embroidery. She also had a roll of heavy duty soluble stabilizer, that we cut up and shared. Nancy showed a pillow she made for her sofa, out of a fine wale black corduroy, it has a circular trapunto design that was very soft and textural. She is so happy her work is no longer just conceptual, we are proud of you Nancy!

Vera and Meredith did some "Ice Dyeing" with several ladies in Grants Pass, their samples were stunning!! They dyed on cotton, silk/rayon blend, silk, and pre-made Dharma silk scarves. WOW!! The colors are intense, the patterns fantastic, and we were all drooling about handling the luxurious silk. They wrapped and folded the fabrics with ice cubes, then sprinkled on powdered Procion dyes, and let them sit, melt and drain for 24 hours, on a rack. We will definitely be doing this in August at our dyeing workshop. Meredith also made a Twisty bag out of Denim with a batik lining. It had no batting, and was very cute and sturdy.

Peggy and Amy had another play day with the gelatin prints. Peggy printed on the same 'ol plate that she had before, it had a frozen crust and LOTS of texture!! The effect was watery from the melting ice, she also stamped and stenciled on some of them. Peggy also made an interesting art piece, following step by step, directions in Quilting Arts magazine, the April/May 2008 issue, an article by Judy Coates Perez. It involved painting and stamping on tea bags, and incorporating that into your work. She also used an American Indian style stencil, paper napkins applied with gel medium, and various rubber stamps. Amy showed a quilt top for a wall hanging that she made with Peggy on the play day, it is four panels of Gelli printing with a new stencil she got at the Portland Show, of Birch trees. Two prints are in black and purple and the other two are the ghost prints from those. She used "Snippets" to add foliage to the top, and cut out leaves and ferns along the bottom, and gives credit to her husband for suggesting she add some birds to it.

Amy also brought along her Beatles Challenge in progress, a fused 12 X 12 square of strawberries, spiraling away into forever. Kay took a Natural dyeing workshop at the Eugene Textile Center, with their instructor Meredith. She recommends using alum for a mordant, as it works with all fiber types. Kay made a samples binder with her fabrics, linen, cotton, wool and silk. They used cochineal, indigo, and other materials. They also "pulled" the color by adjusting the alkalinity or acidity of the chemical brew. Kay also dyed a pair of tennis shoes with RIT dyes, and rubber stamped and painted them. Photographs: 1. Jana's quilt op 2. Nancy's trapunto pillow 3, 4, 5,6 & 7. Meredith, ice dyeing 8. Meredith's denim bag 9. Peggy's gelatin prints 10. Peggy's art quilt 11. Amy's birch trees top 12. Amy's strawberry top