In the Begining

Our group began our meetings with small challenges. One of the first was an "Ugly" fabric challenge. We swapped a brown bag of fabric and had to make a small textile project with it. Next we swapped buttons and made a project with them. We also got a demo from Kaylene on how to draw portraits, proportion, features, hairlines, etc. We decided to challenge ourselves to make a project for the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild Show in April of that year. We had a separate area of the show to display our items, we set up and decorated it ourselves, and had signage and display items. Sandy set up a Gazebo with a vintage butterfly dress/costume on it. Other wearables and art were also displayed on the gazebo. There was no theme, just to do anything we choose, "Textile Art" being the criteria. We had good participation from the members, our only concern was to differentiate ourselves from the UVQG. Our first summer Vera offered to teach a fabric dyeing workshop at her home. We eagerly accepted this offer, and met for a weekend of dyeing. 8 Members learned basic color gradation, with Procion MX dyes, how to mix the dye concentrates, the urea mix, and soda ash. We also made layered "parfaits" of 3 color combos, and clamping, and tie dyeing, and folding, twisting, resist techniques. So much fun was had by all, and we made the dye workshop an annual event. Thank you Vera for your time, and hospitality, and sharing all your dye knowledge.