May

Welcome back on such a beautiful spring day!

 We started our meeting with a quote:

"The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before."  Neil Gaiman

Bev also contributed a couple of quotes to the group:  

"Creative people don't have a mess, they have IDEAS lying around."   Internet quote

"Play is the highest form of research."  Albert Einstein 

A reminder that your Home challenge is due by June.  We will have an Accordion Book reveal in July.

The Trailblazing Women quilts have to be delivered to Cath or Brigitte by the August meeting for display at Gallery Vertigo in September.  They will also be taken to the guild meeting in September along with the Accordion Books. 

Shirley supplied us with an exercise sheet to help out in our days.  

 https://osteoporosis.ca/wp-content/uploads/OC-Too-Fit-to-Fall-or-Fracture-1.pdf

 

Also a reminder of the new games and art supply store in Vernon K&B Hobbies and Games in the industrial park near Swan Lake.  Very friendly and helpful owner.

Show and Tell:

Suzanne brought in a huge Harley T-shirt quilt she has made for a friend.  She used a Costco blanket for the back, very nice and soft.

Joan showed her finished Home piece (picture later),  some playful flowers and  A River Runs Through.

Jan had a piece of batik that she is hand quilting.

Linda made a yoyo bag for her handwork supplies, a charm square bag to carry everything and a beautiful blue quilt top.

Bev finished up an image transfer and even added some cute spiders.  

Can you find the three spiders?

Cathy made an orb in fabric and stitched her image transfer and mounted it on a canvas.  

Brigitte finished a bead paperclip into a tassel.  She has made two sketchbooks out of brown paper, cork fabric and an embossing machine.  She has some 4" pieces of fabric she is embroidering small scenes of the four seasons.  

Shirley needed a new purse so made herself a crazy quilted one.  Very nice job!  She also did a beaded Jacobean Flower.  

Cora (Cath's daughter) was visiting from the coast today and she brought along some of her art.  She works in found objects, wood, metal and bone.  This is a new process for her but her works are wonderful and we look forward to seeing more in the future.

Found wings, bone, seed pods

Found wings, bone, metal

Beetle. Bone, metal wings, reclaimed fur, bone base.

Wings open showing copper mesh underwing.

Her next project is a praying mantis.  These are some of the parts for it. 

Shirley P. gave a demo on Buttonhole Couronne's.   I had to leave early so have no pictures of the in-progress pieces.  Here are a few pages and pictures to look at and we hope to have some examples at next month's show and tell.

We talked about what you think your style of art is, what your interests are and where you would like to go with your art.  This led into a discussion of what we will be doing next year in QuArtz.

Next Season

 ART STYLES.   

This is the topic for next season and Shirley has handed out a list and website with  some art styles.  https://latenightportrait.com/60-art-styles-explained-with-examples/

We will have two people choose a style each month to discuss and how it can be adapted to Quilt Art.  Each month you will be expected to choose one of the styles and make a mini quilt about it.  Something simple and not taking too much time.  It could be a postcard, wall hanging, quilt block.  Any size and shape that you want.    

There is a sign up sheet going around for those that are away a lot of the winter and need to choose a month now.  The sign up sheet will be at the next meetings as well.  

EDGE FINISHES

We will also be looking at edge finishes over the coming season.  We have 12 suggestions for finishes and need volunteers to demonstrate those.  You are not restricted to those.  

CHALLENGE

We also had a first look at the Challenge for next season which fits right in to the Art Styles.

We will be doing an Abstract Challenge.  Pairs of artists will be given a picture to work from, one to make a representational piece and one an abstract piece.  There will be more information at the September meeting.  If you sign up for it you must be committed to finishing your piece as we will need to display them in pairs.  

To see an example of this type of challenge you can look on the Fibre Art Network (FAN) website.  https://www.fibreartnetwork.com/exhibit/abstracted/

April

 Welcome back.  Spring is in full swing, sunny one moment and cold and windy the next!  

Our quote of the day " You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have."

A reminder that the Orchard Valley Quilt Guild is showing their 'Beyond Quilting' pieces at the Rotary Center for the Arts until the beginning of May.  You might like to organize a group road trip?

The Senior Center in Lake Country will be having a Quilt show during ArtWalk this year.  Look for more information closer to September.

We have been asked to display our work at the second guild meeting in September this fall.  We are considering showing our accordion books, beads and the Home Challenge at the second meeting in September.

The VSSQ guild is having a garage sale on May 21.  Quilting items only.  We might possibly have a QuArtz table?  Think about it and we can sort it out at the May meeting.

Show and Tell

Sandi found time to play with her fun foam and make a beautiful snowflake.  She also did some thread sketching and finished a wool bead.

Shirley W. decided she needed a new purse so has made some lovely crazy quilt panels that still need to be beaded and then sewn into the purse.  Looking forward to seeing it finished.

 

Shirley P. made some twisted cord and a fabric bead bracelet.  

Christine brought in some previous beading on fabric, a beaded poppy from a workshop and an Australian Piano Hinge sketchbook.  She also showed us her Home piece but I will wait until the reveal in June to show them here.

 

Bev had her beaded cording, a Ricky Tims convergence quilt and her Australian Birds quilt.  

Deborah found some large paperclips and made some funky fuzzy beads, she did some knotting and cording on a framed pussy willow piece, and showed us some of her husbands handiwork with wire and beads.  

Jeanette used a boho quilt idea to showcase an amazing collection of tidbits that she has collected over the years.  Something interesting to see everywhere.

Cath made a fabric bead bracelet and brought in a sample of beading on fabric, and a beaded amulet from a previous project.  

Judith made a fabric bead bracelet also and is thinking of making one for her granddaughter as well.

Judith and Cath brought in pieces from a Challenge done in 2015 for the art group, Smarties of the Kelowna guild.    It is called 7 Common Fabrics.  7 participants each brought in a neutral fabric and shared them with each other.  They were given a shape to make their quilt and they had to use all 7 of the fabrics in the design and as many more as they wanted.  There was a lot of beading on many of the pieces and one participant even used felted cat hair!  

Cath's on the far left

Judith's in the middle

The far right has the cat hair dandelion

Jan made her fabric beads into a necklace and had a good time with a grandchild and some old playing cards.

Elisabeth made a pretty bracelet.  

Cathy told us her favourite notion is Painter's Tape.  Multi use in the sewing room.  She also made a button book for her granddaughter, a bowl of paper beads, and two of her Tool Box Tuesday Accordion Book pages.  She also had her Home quilt done and mounted, excellent as always!

Button book opened out 

Button Book closed

Joan brought in her cording page for her accordion book.

Note for Painted Cheesecloth 

Some have used acrylic paints to colour their cheesecloth and found that result is quite stiff and hard to use.  Here is a solution that softens the cheesecloth.  The recipe makes a huge amount so cut it down and just keep the proportions the same.  Say Tablespoons instead of cups.

Beads

Brigitte gave a short talk on sewing beads to fabric and then everyone went back to play with the pieces they brought along.  There should be some good pictures for the next blog.

Accordion Books

We had a nice selection of the Accordion Books brought in to share and answer any questions you might have about how they are being put together.  

Toolbox Tuesday

Today it was image transfer.  Shirley printed out images sent to her by the members, she has a laser printer and it is easier to transfer those prints.   We used her supplies to apply Golden Gel medium to the front of the picture and then put the fabric on top.  Some work with fingers and a brayer to make sure it is smoothly attached and then let the image dry for 24 hours. 

Then the work starts as you have to wet the paper and gently rub it off leaving the image on the fabric.  This can take quite a bit of time but with patience Linda and Shirley were able to get some great results.  I had trouble with mine but Linda has started another one for me to just put the finishing touches on.  Thanks so much!