September

 So nice to be back again after a smoke filled August.  The bit of cool in the air early in the morning gives us hope that the fires will be held at bay and put out soon.

We welcomed Jan to our meeting and hope we didn't overwhelm her with information.  It honestly isn't always that busy but we had to discuss ArtWalk and some other housekeeping before we could head into our new season.

ArtWalk - our display was well received but did have to be explained to viewers.  Once they heard the concept we found they looked more closely at the pieces and pondered what inspired each of us.  We sold 5 of the small Raising the Surface pieces as well.  Well done everyone and thanks to each of you for contributing to a good showing for QuArtz.

Christine has been offered a lot of mens silk ties if anyone is interested please contact her.

Show and Tell

Linda brought her junk journal for August, complete with a wonderful poem that sums the month very well.  She has also been dyeing with berries, not sure what kind, but the results are a lovely soft purple.

Joan showed a small quilt using curved piecing and some of the organic embroidery we saw a few months ago.  She says if you use cotton thread it will shrink when you wash away the stabilizer but poly won't.  Depends on the look you are going for.

Bev brought along some layered fabric, squares she tried and a work in progress with a moonrise over water.  A great way to make the reflection with a modified chenille technique.

Cath had been playing with some of the crimped metal sheet she made last month and along with some gifted to her copper mesh and a burnt can she made a fish with bubbles.

Judith has made an elegant Morning Glory in metal.

Elisabeth showed us a matted piece with hot glue and then coloured with inks.  Her presentation is always wonderful.

Sandie somehow found time to make metal stars and flowers, and organizing the ArtWalk display!  

Jeanette got a head start on this month's demonstration by making lovely large tassels with macramé.

Bev finished off our look at tassels with a talk on Macrame.  

Macrame is the art of tying knots in patterns.  Macrame's can be traced to 13th century Arabic decorative weavers who used knots to secure loose ends of woven textiles.  Macrame comes from the Arabic word for square knotting or fringe.

19th Century British and American sailors made macrame objects (hammocks, bell fringes and belts) while at sea. They sold or bartered them when they landed.  They spread the art of macrame to China and the New World.

After the Moorish conquest the art was taken to Spain then Italy and then spread through Europe.

The craze faded but regained popularity in the 1970's with wall and plant hangings.  It is popular again in the form of jewelry, necklaces, anklets and bracelets.

She had some examples to share.

Bev also had some books for us to look through.  One is available at the library.

 Bev then had us try our hand at making a small macrame piece.  She brought along sticks, stones and string and we gave it a go with mixed results but an fun attempt.

We then talked about the new year of QuArtz.  This year we are looking at 3D.  Christine has some lists of construction items for dimensional 3D pieces and handed out copies of a timeline for small demonstrations of various ways to manipulate the surface of your fabric and construct a 3D item.

Timeline

We will also be looking at Embroidery stitches, show us your favourite hand or machine embroidery stitch and give a small demo.   The idea is to make a scroll, using a piece of fabric you have dyed, painted or created in some way, and incorporate these stitches onto it over the year.  The demo sign up sheet will be available at the next meeting.

There is also the opportunity to learn some of the techniques used on the Whispers challenge pieces.  Just let Christine know which ones you are interested in having explained or demonstrated.

Whew!!  That was a very busy and constructive meeting.  Welcome back everyone to a new year at QuArtz!

On October 19 the Whispers Challenge will be shown at the VSSQ guild meeting.  Please try to attend if you can.  It is always interesting to hear from the artist's about the inspiration for their work.