"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." Pablo Picasso
We started our meeting with a quote. So true and appropriate.
A little housekeeping was next.
A reminder that Cathy has pieces of quartz for you to sew onto your name tag. We are also waiting on Gallery Vertigo to let us know if our Trailblazing Women have been accepted for display in the coming year.
Our Challenge, Home, is due in June of 2026. It must be mounted on a 18 x 24 canvas in landscape orientation. You can wrap the canvas or mount your one piece or multiple pieces in any way you like.
There is a rent increase at the Clubhouse set for January, it will be $40 a month instead of $25. With our larger membership we can afford to stay till summer and look at it again then. The room at the church costs $75.
Reminder you must be a paid up member in the VSSQ guild to be in QuArtz.
January meeting
Brigitte will be talking about copyright, an important issue for art quilters. Cathy will be doing an embroidery bead.
The Toolbox Tuesday will be fun foam. Shirley handed out pieces to everyone at the meeting. If you weren't there or didn't get one please contact Shirley.
Fun Foam prep: Cut out a shape, flower petal, leaf etc. Sandwich it between two pieces of fabric. Zigzag around edges and do some decorative stitching on it. We will heat it up at the meeting and see how it shrinks and forms. There will be instructions in the email before the meeting as well.
Shirley handed out a little card of stretches for quilters, very needed after time spent free motion quilting.
Show and Tell
Christine turned her cheesecloth into a couple of lovely little flowers.
Shirley P. showed us a picture of a patchwork she has been knitting for her twin grandsons. Wow!
Brigitte has a small tin of tyvek beads, and yes she has counted them so no sneaking one home.
Shirley W. has been busy with her inset circles, cheesecloth tree, lemon scorching and making a cover for her accordion book. She also found time for more tyvek beads too.
Sandie made a ghostly cheesecloth tree. Nice work on the hillsides and moon shining down too.
Linda W. has a great start to her accordion book and showed us four of the pages she has done so far.
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| Veggie and fruit printing |
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| Sun printed background |
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| Lemon scorching |
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| Leaves preserved in glycerin and water then used to stamp. There is one of the leaves attached on the corner. https://www.smilemercantile.com/blogs/tutorials/how-to-preserve-fall-leaves-with-glycerin?srsltid=AfmBOoq8ea2VsN4cSEyX0evHoiWohtyxc4Gy0cWsJJ4pg13WhxljYYU4 |
Deborah brought everyone some of her homemade soap. Very kind of you, thanks. She also showed us a landscape quilt she is working on in lovely soft shades.
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Cathy showed us another tassel she made from a salt shaker and bright ribbons. Very festive.
Cath saw a picture online and tried her hand at Trilobal Weaving. Tricky but neat result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8kFtsvF8AQ Have a look at Mx Domestic's video.
Linda had some books to give away and brought in a very cute Christmas tree that had been made for her.
Elisabeth has made some fabric Christmas cards.
Bev had a few things to share. She has done some dendritic printing for a background, made fabric paper, cheesecloth flower and geli printing. Busy woman!
Jeanette made another cute moose for a local friend and has the pattern to share if anyone is interested.
We had a fun Make & Take led by Elisabeth. Little pine cone trees to decorate with paint and sparkles. They made a cute little forest.
Then it was time for lunch! A lovely pot luck lunch with lots of devilled eggs and a great variety of deserts. Yummy.
Toolbox Tuesday
Shirley and Sandie talked to us about thread sketching and thread painting today.
Thread sketching outlines and adds detail while leaving the underlying fabric visible.
Thread painting fills area's densely with thread to create solid blended colours and textures.
Thread Sketching
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| Thread sketching |
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| Thread sketching |
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| Thread sketching |
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| Thread sketching |
Thread Painting
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| Thread painting |
You can also use this technique with a water soluble fabric and make thread work that is later attached to your artwork. A great website with information on this technique is https://meredithwoolnough.com.au/
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| A example of Shirley's work. |
Shirley has been working on thread painting a flower at home and has sent out pictures of her progress so far. She even included the oops when the stitching got too dense and made the background fabric bunch up. Not to worry she will fix it!
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| Ooops! |
