Karen's Fabric Post Card / Nametag

Karen finished her fabric post card this month. She turned hers into her CinC nametag, a project 2 years in the making!

Artist Statement : "It's just bits and pieces of everything I had leftover and a few new things. The strap was from one of the yarn/bead necklaces that didn't work out. The ribbons were scraps and the glittery stuff was kids glue that I found at Joanne's for half off. I got to experiment with the postcard format and stuff in general. I like using bits of this and that."

Couching : Coffee Cuffs

The project comes from Quilting Arts Magazine April 2007 (?).

Katy's elegant machine-couched coffee cuffs (above).

This method uses Fast-2-Fuse as the base. Although perfect for couching by machine, F2F would be too hard to try to push a hand-sewing needle through.

Karen's hand-couched coffee cuffs (above).
This method uses an old ragged quilt as the base. This old quilt was literally falling apart, so she used a layer of light pink netting to hold some of it together. She also used permanent markers to "dress up" the fabric. The batting of this old quilt was much softer and more appropriate for hand couching.

Theresa's tropical coffee cuff (above), before the final trim. Machine Couched.
(Doesn't it make you want to dance-dance-dance!)

Michele's coffee cuff, machine couched. (Before the final seam.)
Most of the fibers are from our Fabulous Fiber Exchange last summer. The front and back fabrics were found on the free table at Darting Needles Quilt Guild a few months ago.

July 2007 Newsletter

Recap of June Meeting (June 28, 2007)
Show and tell! Wow, Julie had a ball at the “bargain room” at Richeson’s and agreed to do some personal shopping for us. Karen showed us the beginnings of a tunic coat she designed in a Rachel Clark class as well as her Marilyn Belford class piece (her three daughters), which will become her 2007 challenge piece. Karen also let us know that Corel Draw offers a free 30-day trial, including the “poster-ize” function that helped her with the fabric portraits. Michele showed her piece from a Lakeside Quilters’ Guild challenge; it won viewers choice! She also showed some fabric she’d dyed with her son using Procion and shaving cream. It gives a marbled effect; find directions at http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1498922-AA.shtml. Katy and JoAnne showed their fabric from the DNQG Shelly Stokes class, and then it was time for the Paintstik Party! A nifty-thrifty note from Michele: plumber’s gasket seems to work just as well as Grip & Grip for holding the fabric and a rubbing surface underneath, but costs just $3.

Announcements and Reminders
We’ve established a challenge for 2007. We’re calling it “A Finishing Odyssey.” Several of us brought a UFO to show in June, and now the plan is to show “substantial progress” on the UFO by the December party. There’s still time to get in on the Odyssey; just bring a lonely old UFO to show and tell!

We agreed on programs for the balance of the year. In October we will work on making stamps, and in November we’ll do foiling. Bring calendars in July so we can pick a December party date.

July Meeting (Thursday July 26, 2007) at the Menasha Public Library
Couching by hand or machine. Here’s what to bring:

1. We will supply a pattern for a coffee cuff, a small project you can finish in the evening, or you can bring something of your own. Katy will have kits for $1, or bring:

• Two fabric scraps, minimum 4” × 11”
• One piece Timtex and two pieces fusible, 4” × 11” (or a piece of double-sided stiff fusible like Fast-2-Fuse)
• Stuff to couch down (trims, yarns, ribbons, perle cotton, floss, etc.)

2. Helpful notions (bring if you have; we’ll share)

• Chenille needle & Lo-Ran needle threader
• Roxanne’s Glue-Baste-It

3. To finish the project, regardless of whether you couch by hand or machine, you need your sewing machine and decorative thread to zig-zag the edges

4. For couching by machine:

• Sewing machine
• Any of the following feet you have: open toe foot, free motion foot, braid foot, 3, 5, or 7-hole cord foot, braid guide
• Monofilament thread and/or decorative thread to match the trims
• Plain cotton thread or bobbin thread

5. OR, for couching by hand:

• Hand needle
• Thread (neutral or to match stuff you’ll be couching)
• Remember you can couch wonderful things by hand, like old necklaces

Upcoming Events
July 26, 2007: July meeting, 6:30. Couching. Katy and Karen will lead.
August 30, 2007: August meeting, 6:30. Chenilling. Gill will lead.
September 27, 2007: September meeting, 6:30. Sewing room organization roundtable
October 25, 2007: October meeting, 6:30. Making stamps
November 29, 2007: November meeting, 6:30. Foiling

Conversations with Cloth meets the last Thursday of each month at 6:30 at the Menasha Public Library.

PaintStik Experiments

By JoAnne's Daughter














Two pieces by JoAnne :































Experiments by Marilyn :






















By Marie.
Gold PaintStik on leather (below) :






















Two by Julie (below) :

































Two by Katy (below) :

































Michele's "Forest for the Trees" :

Sizzling Summer Fabric Postcards

Michele finished her post cards from last month.
The Turtle pattern above appeared in a recent issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.
To see the rest of Michele's Turtles, visit her blog at Sweet Leaf Notebook.


Not wanting to waste anything, I took the curls cut out of the turtle's shells and turned them into this bouquet.

Meet Helga (or Hilda)

Helga (or Hilda) Whoever by Marilyn.

Newsletter June 2007

Several of us were fortunate to take a class with Shelly Stokes, the godmother of Paintstiks on cloth in the U.S., and all I have to say is, “Ooh, we are going to have so much fun this month!” And the time is nearly upon us…gather some nifty textures and meet us at the library on Thursday!
Katy

Recap of May Meeting (May 31, 2007)
Show and tell! Marilyn brought her prizewinning scarf for a visit, along with a delightful purple doll. Karen brought greeting cards she’d made, plus her art journal. She uses it so organize samples and experiments. Michele brought her journal too, and it was great to see all the ideas bursting out. She also had a dazzling book, The Art of Landscape Quilting by Nancy Zieman and Natalie Sewell, to show.

Several reconnaissance scouts noted that the exhibit “Fashion in Film” at the Paine Museum in Oshkosh is excellent. The exhibit runs until September 30. If you’re looking for some artistically minded fellow quilters, Teresa informed us that the Plymouth shop (The Sewing Basket) has regular art sew times. Also, Susan Stein (her work is likely familiar to anyone who’s visited Colorful Quilts in Minneapolis) will be coming to Women Who Run with Scissors.

Mary presented the evening’s program: making fabric postcards. A few notes: The Post Office defines a postcard as being no smaller than 3” by 5”, and no larger than 4” by 6”. They must be less than a quarter inch thick, and nothing can protrude from the surface or off the edge. Make sure your address is legible (a light colored, non-busy postcard back is essential). Another option is self-stick postcard labels sold in photo departments. These are perfectly sized at 4” by 6”. Mary notes that Peltex, which is double sided fusible, makes a nice firm card and machines nicely. And yes, stamps do stick to fabric just fine!

Announcements and reminders
We’ve established a challenge for 2007. We’re calling it “A Finishing Odyssey.” Whether you have one UFO, or 2001, sort through your piles and choose one to bring to the June meeting, in whatever stage of disarray it’s in! (While the challenge is to finish a UFO, we’re starting small…just pick one out for starters! We can share ideas with each other, as desired, at the meeting.
September’s meeting will be a sewing room organization roundtable, by member request. How do you keep track of your stuff? How do you make the most of your sewing time? We’ll talk and share in September.

Marilyn has a copy of Shelly Stokes’s Paintstiks book for sale. Also, if you’re looking to buy your own Paintstiks, Jerry’s Artarama is the place to go online. The cost is close to half that anywhere else. http://www.jerrysartarama.com/. Another excellent option is the company that makes Paintstiks, right here in Kimberly! Jack Richeson & Co. is located at 557 Marcella St in Kimberly, and they have a bargain room!

June Meeting (Thursday June 28, 2007) at the Menasha Public Library
Paintstiks! Here’s what to bring:

• If you have Shiva Paintstiks, bring them; otherwise we’ll share.
• A small paring knife can be helpful to get the skin off the paintstiks.
• A little trash bag and a roll of paper towels
• Stencil brushes and a cup for water
• Fabric! Dark and light are both fun. Marilyn will have FQ of black and white available for $1.50. Pieces as small as 10” square will work just fine.
• Textured surfaces such as stamps (not too complicated), rubbing tiles, paper with a variety of densities (cardstock, construction paper, box, scrapbooking, etc.)
• Stencils (anything you have on hand, or make one out of freezer paper)
• A palette: a piece of freezer or parchment paper paper taped to cardboard or plastic (shiny side up), or a piece of specialty “palette paper” if you have it
• Wear old clothes or an apron…just in case!

Don’t forget your “Finishing Odyssey” piece!

Upcoming Events
June 28, 2007: June meeting, 6:30. Paintstiks with Marilyn.
July 26, 2007: July meeting, 6:30. Couching. Katy and Karen will lead.
August 30, 2007: August meeting, 6:30. Chenilling. Gill will lead.
September 27, 2007: September meeting, 6:30. Sewing room organization roundtable

Conversations with Cloth meets the last Thursday of each month at 6:30 at the Menasha Public Library.

Member Showcase : Marylin

Marylin was the only one to actually finished a fabric post card at the May meeting (We hope to have more to display next month!). She used a silk cocoon, and Anglina, among other things.:


Marylin also shared the doll she made recently.
She calls it "Beehives are Back" :


Marylin also brought back the Thread Scarf she finished last summer :

Fashion in Film on display in Oshkosh

The Paine Art Center in Oshkosh, WI, has a wonderful new exhibit now.
On Saturday, I spent 2 hours just ooh-ing and ahh-ing at all the gorgeous costumes on display. It was $7 well spent!

Although there are many lovely pieces on display, of special interest to me were the following :

• The green dancing dress from Elizabeth (before she became Queen)
• Karen Blixen's wedding dress from Out of Africa
• The gorgeous gown from the Drew Barrymore Cinderella Story, EverAfter (I was so enanmored of this dress when that film came out, that I actually purchased the video so I could more closely study this lovely dress based on a 1500s style. It's much better in person than I ever imagined--with silk imported from India and lots of beads and pearls ... Too bad we couldn't touch them!

The company who owns the costumes, and gets commissioned to make period pieces for film is CosProp, Ltd. from London.

Now I have a new list of movies I want to see, too!

Newsletter May 2007

Thanks to Michele for writing the April notes. After reviewing the show and tell recap, I’m sorry I missed it!
Katy
Recap of April Meeting (April 26, 2007)
Mary W. went to the quilt show in Chicago, and attended a class with Esterita Austin, art quilter and maker of Misty Fuse. Mary brought in samples of a misty-fused applique which really doesn't seem to change the hand of the fabric. She also had samples of Lutrador a new fabric that is stitchable and accepts paint exceptionally well.

Joanne, Teresa and Pat enjoyed the Women Who Run with Scissors exhibit. Teresa will bring pictures to a future meeting once they are developed.

Teresa also wanted to share that The Sewing Basket in Plymouth offers Creative Art Days and Open Sew sessions on Fridays. She is also looking to purchase an industrial sewing machine--if anyone knows where to get one, please tell her!

Julie was working on a very orange beaded piece for commission. We almost needed sunglasses look at it!

After catching up with each other, we watched the Ricky Tims' Grande Finale DVD. This is an excellent program, and well worth further study/viewings! [Note from Katy: I’m happy to lend out my DVD. Marilyn is first in line.]

May Meeting (Thursday May 31, 2007) at the Menasha Public Library
Remember to please call Mary or Katy if you know you won’t make it in May. Don’t forget the new start time—6:30. Mary will lead us in making fabric postcards that you really can mail! Supplies:

• Variety of fabric scraps; two at least 4” × 6” with one plain enough for address to be written legibly
• Variety of decorative threads for hand or machine
• Any embellishment which will lay flat
• Your favorite lightweight fusible (Like Wonder Under)
• Sewing machine if you choose
• Fabric pens/markers
• Rotary cutter/fabric scissors
• Mary will supply Peltex as the base for 25¢ per card

Upcoming Events
May 31, 2007: May meeting, 6:30. Fabric Postcards; Mary will lead.
June 28, 2007: June meeting, 6:30. Paintsticks.
July 26, 2007: July meeting, 6:30. Couching. Katy and Karen will lead.
August 30, 2007: August meeting, 6:30. Chenilling. Gill will lead.

Conversations with Cloth meets the last Thursday of each month at 6:30 at the Menasha Public Library.