September 2009 Show and Share

Detail of Zebra by Lois. Every bit of this piece is covered in thread! It's incredible! She's getting this ready to send to Paducah, or other big international shows.


Full view of Zebra by Lois.


A Refracted wall quilt by Lois. It looks shimmery and 3-D, doesn't it?
Lois showed several of these refracted quilts as she will be teaching a class and needed class samples.


Refracted Flowers by Lois.


Refracted Fish by Lois. It looks like you ware seeing them through rippling water ....


Back of Refracted Fish by Lois. This is the base fabric she started with.


Refracted Quilt by Lois


Refracted Penguins by Lois.


Michele's Millifiore quilt-top. This is the 4-patch stacked posey pattern.


Detail of Michele's Millifiore quilt top


Because Michele showed her 4-patch stacked posey quilt top, Karen brought out her Christmas tablecloth WIP. Hmmmh--- kind of looks like artist trading cards in this format. Or tree garland.


Karen's covered buttons made in a class she took earlier this summer. One of them even has beads on it!


Karen's new baby : a 4-harness loom for which she paid less than $150! She's an incredible bargain-hunter and re-purposer! Last year, Karen took a weaving class at the Textile Museum in Minneapolis where she got to work on larger class floor loom. Since then, she's been looking for a loom of her own.


Karen's cat, Howard also wanted to be part of the festivities.

ATCs : September Meeting at Karen's House

The 4 of us had a lovely pot-luck dinner out on Karen's patio by candle-light. This picture is here because it resembles some of the refracted quilts Lois has been doing.


The program for September was Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). People were supposed to bring 14 Artist Trading Cards to trade with other CinC Members. Here are some of the ATCs laid out for trading. We could use any technique as long as the finished product was 3-1/2 in x 2-1/2 inches.

Here's a sampling of the ATCs traded that night :

Felted ATCs by Lynda


ATCs by Lois


ATCs by Michele


ATCs by Karen

Only 4 of us were able to gather this month at Karen's house, which means we all have a lot of ATCs left to trade.

Hi all,
Can I get a count of how many will be coming to Thursday's meeting? I am making sloppy Joes and want to know how much to cook. If you respond through the Yahoo group, you don't need to respond again. Call or you can send an e-mail. I am not putting directions on the website as this is an open site, however Michele sent out a member list not too long ago. I will either give them to you when you call or e-mail them to you.

See you Thursday!
Karen

August 2009 Show and Share

Sandy transformed another bra into this piece called Hooters!
She does these for a Breast Cancer Recovery group called Casting for Recovery. This group teaches women to fly fish.


Joann has been working on this beautiful piece to commemorate her in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. She has been mastering machine embroidery through the Creative Expressions Embroidery book. The butterflies are 3-D!


Lynda's experiment with the polypropelene (sp?) she shared with all of us. If you color the poly with oil sticks (Paint Stiks), and layer it on another piece of fabric, and melt it with a heat gun outside (it smells so make sure you have good ventilation), the poly melts, leaving the textured bits of color. This piece has also been embellished with stitch.


Lynda's Felt experiment. She has a piece of batting in between the felt. Since this seemed to work, she is going to try for a colorful winter coat. Can't wait to see that when it's done!


Work-in-Progress by Lynda. It's a woven piece, originally meant to hang, but the buttons make it too weighty. She was looking for suggestions on what other direction to take this piece. Suggestions included a scrim or organza stabilizer on the back or having it lay down (as seen here) to accentuate the puckers. It's like sand and shells ... We'll see what she eventually does with it. ;-)


Lynda also brought in this piece she did as a student. It's about Time, and the past being part of the present. It includes fossils, and shell embroidery, and a spider web.


Michele did a batch of paper clay medallions. See and read more about them here.
These are intended to be closures and embellishments for more journals.


Michele has also (finally!) found success with rust dyeing. See and read more about it here and here and here.

Art Quilters not to Miss

Lynda says look at these :



Hollis Chatelaine




Carol Shinn

August Meeting

Hi Everyone,
Our meeting on Thursday, August 27 will be at the Menasha Library with a 6:30 starting time. Karen will have a houseful of company on that day so we will converge at her house on another date.

Michele will show us how to use Yahoo and access our blogspot. Because she can teach these skills quickly, I would like to suggest the following topic: Playing with Paintstiks

I will bring along my collection of Paintstiks, rubbing plates, masking tape, a roll of paper towels, newspaper to protect the tables, a few stencils, and cardstock sheets.

You can bring your Paintstiks, stencils, a thrift shop tee shirt (to decorate), and/or plain, light colored fabric.

Bring your playful mode. We will not make art quilts ready for submission in competitive events.

Sandy

May Show and Share

Thanks to Sandy A. for diligently taking notes and pictures, while Michele was absent in May.


1. Sandy's bra purse with matching hat

2. Sandy's messenger bag and small bag with metal ruler closure

3. Sandy's checkered garden hat with a size 48 DD bra for the top of the crown

4. lining of the garden hat with misspelled word in the title (bra decorated fabric)

5. partial photo of Lynda's woven piece

6. beaded bracelet made by Karen

7. beaded earrings made by Karen

8. Julie's make over tote bag with new fabric pocket

9. Lois' technique for creating new fabric covered with netting

10. Lois' tote bag using newly created fabric; window in the side of the bag

11. Lois' recycled corduroy bag with prairie points on the exterior

12. Julie's red bra purse

13. close up of window in Lois' tote bag

May 2009 Newsletter

Minor schedule change (see below for details) – May will be “Bag Lady Night” and we’ll have our Paintstik experience in June. It will be ultra cool.
--Katy
Recap of April Meeting (April 30, 2009)
It was a small group, but we had fun swapping our accumulated “stuff” and working on projects. Lois brought in some scary ugly fabric, and showed us how she does “ugly fabric rescue”: get it wet and crunch it up. Let it dry and then fuse it down, in “crunched” form. It turns into a beautiful textured surface.

Show and tell was fun as usual: Lois’s quilt caught my eye because her “Tiny Bubbles” piece featured two of my favorite colors – orange and purple! It’s gorgeous. Karen finished her lighthouse quilt, and we love the sparkle she incorporated in it. Michele’s pictorial quilt skills just grow and grow – we loved her piece from a Wendy Butler Berns class featuring glue baste appliqué.

May Meeting (May 28, 2009)
Because of some staffing changes at Richeson’s, we’ve had to delay our Paintstik night. So, May will be Bag Lady Night. Bring any fiber art bags/purses/totes that you’ve made for show and tell and Q&A. We’ll make it a work night focused on bags. If you don’t have any projects already cooking or ideas you’ve been meaning to try, why not try one of the Quilting Arts patterns that came out recently?

Announcements and Reminders
The Shiva Paintstik night will be held at Richeson’s on June 25 in lieu of our regular meeting. We’ll join up with the Sew Savvy group, and one of the Richesons will take us through some demonstrations and exercises. They’ll have “stuff” available to buy at the end, too, if you would like. This is a huge opportunity to learn from the source, right here in our hometown. (We’ll have to reschedule felted pincushions, which was originally slated for June.)

Upcoming Events
May 28, 2009: May meeting, 6:30, Bag Lady Night
June 25, 2009: June meeting, 6:30, Shiva night at Richeson’s
July 30, 2009: July meeting, 6:30, Demo night
August 27, 2009: August meeting, 6:30, Artist Trading Cards or Inchies

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

April 09 Show and Share

Only 4 of us at the April Meeting. Here's what we brought to show :

Lois Wolfe's art quilt. At the meeting, she was adding beadwork, so we'll be interested to see the finished piece!


Another piece by Lois Wolf. This work was the result of a class with Sue Benner (?)


Karen's piece from the Sue Benner class.


This is the result of the online Faces-in-Fabric class Michele has been taking with Terri Stegmiller at Two Creative Studios. It combines applique with fabric painting.


Lois shared a method for saving ugly fabric : Scrunch it up, spritz it with water, and steam the heck out of it to add texture. There may also be some fusible interfacing on the back to help it keep it's new shape.


Karen brought these surgical scissors that are wonderful for "un-sewing."

April 2009 newsletter

Clean out those sewing rooms! It’s time for our swap meet!
--Katy

Recap of February Meeting (February 26, 2009)
The joke was on us with a wild snowstorm! February’s meeting was canceled.

Recap of March Meeting (March 26, 2009)
We had an absurd amount of pent-up show and tell. Karen finished her bracelet. Michele shared a moving journal quilt, plus a bunch of new dyed fabric. Lynda had a huge, amazing, and gorgeous felted piece. Sandy had a bodacious Bra Bag (44D, in case you wondered!) Gill had a new notebook cover, but we were really enthralled by her gourd bowl, from a class with Terrylou Adler. She also had a class at the Milwaukee Sewing Center that combined machine needle felting with Copic pens for shading. Julie shared information about the Richeson gallery – she’s working on scheduling a Paintstik night for us.

We enjoyed trying our hands at Korean Pogaji with Gill. If you used the technique on a new project, bring it in!

April Meeting (April 30, 2009)
April’s meeting is a work night; Betty plans to be on hand to help finish your bracelets. Plus, it’s TRASH TO TREASURE night. Clean your sewing room and bring your extra “stuff!” We’ll have a swap meet. Set your own prices or arrange your own barters.

Announcements and Reminders
The exhibit at the Oshkosh Public Museum, “Not your Grandmother’s Quilt,” is still running (last day is May 10, Mother’s Day). Visit www.oshkoshmuseum.org if you'd like more information.

Upcoming Events
April 30, 2009: April meeting, 6:30, Work night and swap meet
May 28, 2009: May meeting, 6:30, Tentative Shiva night at Richeson’s
June 25, 2009: June meeting, 6:30, Felted pincushions
July 30, 2009: July meeting, 6:30, Demo night
August 27, 2009: August meeting, 6:30, Artist Trading Cards or Inchies

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