2017 - December meeting - Happy Holidays

Our group also shares a passion for culinary art.  Here we are tasting and sharing our food creations during our Holiday gathering.

CHEERS!

BEST WISHES FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND THE NEW YEAR.

2017 November meeting

As usual we shared general things ranging from books, magazines, gadgets, articles, grandkids, pets and food.  In this blog we focus on our textile work, progress and discoveries. 

The group is currently working on two projects, one piece for our yearly exhibit in April 2018 for which we chose the theme "Weather" and a second piece to be included in our Extreme Series focusing on "texture".  In addition to this, everyone works on their individual projects.

Annette shared a forest piece she is working on.  All piecing has been done and she is in the process of quilting it.  What do you think?  Doesn't it look spectacular?  She says it will hang in her home when completed.

Kathy shared sketches of her "Weather" and "texture" pieces. She says that they are her preliminary drawings and that she expects them to evolve as her work progresses.

Hilde is preparing materials which will most likely be included in her "texture" piece.  Here you can see a few sheers that she painted at a friend's studio.

We are looking forward to our December meeting which is our yearly Holiday Lunch.

2017 October Meeting

Ideas about our next project, "Weather", continue to develop in our heads and in our studios. In the meantime, some of us keep working on other projects, learning, experimenting or just playing.

We visited Lynn's studio and had a chance to see her works in progress on her design wall.  Here is a little peek of Lynn at play:

Betty shared a larger piece and smaller companion piece resulting from her recent class using concepts based on Matisse’s work.  

She shared with us the idea of noticing the negative spaces resulting from the design elements.

Hilde has completed a second edition of her village in postcard format, shared at our last meeting.

The second piece is her contribution to a fund raising event for a Puerto Rican hurricane relief effort.

Elaine shared a photo of a piece submitted to a challenge in which she layered canvas and stitched using various threads.

We had quite a discussion of the virtues of Elaine's new Janome 8900.

2017 Meet and Share

As always we gather to share ideas and work. September was no different. Betty and Diane shared information about classes they had attended. Betty had taken a Rosalie Dace class and Diane a Freddy Moran class. They showed work from the time spent with these instructors.

A theme that resonates with all of us seems to be visiting work that had begun some time in the past. Valerie showed two quilts that began with beautiful pieces of cloth left from other projects. The colors are magnificent and extensive quilting has been added.

Diane has worked on some quilt blocks, Dresden plates, that she bought from Ebay. She trimmed the blocks to squares and put together with a modern slant. She is pondering what to do in the centers of each and of course, we gave another 15 ideas to consider.

Elaine is also working through a stack of unfinished projects. The yellow piece required assemblage and quilting which is now finished. YEAH! She added extensive stenciling to a color blocked piece and is now working through the stitching. The third is an experiment on texture, a combination of stitch and layering of paint.

Hilde shared a piece that started from a photo of a quilt she has made. Using filters in Photoshop to reduce it to a line drawing, she then added silk organza for color and stitched over all.

We hope you have enjoyed visiting and of course comments are always welcome.

2017 - August : Quiltworks Exhibit

MIX work is being exhibited  at Quiltworks in Bend, Oregon for the month of August. We selected several of our portfolio themes for inclusion.

Here are a few photos from the exhibit. The lighting was uneven in the exhibit space but our work looks very nice and was hung very well.

2017 - August Meeting

We enjoyed seeing a selection of work from the SAQA Trunk show. These traveling trunk shows are designed to showcase the diversity of talent of SAQA members.  Each quilt is 10 x 7 inches, mounted on a black 12 x 9 inch backing board, and sealed inside a clear envelope. The artist's location, artwork title, statement and information about techniques and materials are on the back. The collection is divided into eight unique groups which travel in and beyond the United States.  Each trunk allows audiences to engage with the quilts in an up-close and personal way.  Here is a selection of the work we viewed.

In addition, both Elaine and Betty showed some of the things they have been working on.

Elaine is working on a piece that was both screen printed and pieced with quilting that consists of a variety of hand dyed threads couched on top.

Betty is doing some hand stitching on silk that she screen printed.

And some color block piecing.

2017 - July: Exhibiting in Sisters

During the month of July we are exhibiting our "Urban PDX" collection at the Library in Sisters. The exhibit was part of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and will be up for the entire month of July.

Several of our members had the opportunity to talk to the many visitors of our exhibit during the Saturday of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  It was a pleasure to explain our inspiration, process (including struggles) and final products to our audience.  Thank you all for taking the time to walk all through town in the heat and for visiting us at the library!

2017 - June: We have a theme and dimensions!

After a good day of discussion, we agreed on our next theme:  WEATHER.  The exact title will be announced later, but we each can start thinking about how we want to work out this new challenge.

How about Size and Orientation?  I think we came up with a brilliant solution that covers all our individual wishes and preferences:

Height will be 30"
Width can be anything that fits into a 30" to 40" range, with multiple panels permitted.
This allows for square work, landscape orientation and portrait orientation.  A very flexible set of guidelines to work with!

Off to work...

2017 - May: Successful exhibit and ... what's next?

During our May meeting we reminisced about our latest exhibit at The First United Methodist Church, "Reflection and Renewal."  It was a good show and very well attended.  We discussed and fine-tuned some of the logistics and started bouncing off ideas for our next project.

In addition to our yearly "big" project, we agreed to make new work for our "Extreme" collection ... stay tuned.

Lots of ideas were presented for our next body of work: from places to buildings, colors, other art work, geometry, lines...so much to do!  The discussion regarding size and orientation became very interesting and it looks like not two people agreed on this.  I am curious to see how we will work this one out!

At the next meeting in June, we will agree on theme of our next collection, and size and orientation of each piece.

2017- April: Exhibit and Opening Luncheon at the First United Methodist Church in Portland

Our new body of work, Reflection and Renewal, was unveiled today at the Quilt Luncheon with the United Methodist Women.  We were happy to share our vision, inspiration and process with an enthusiastic audience and enjoyed the perfectly designed Japanese Fusion Fare served by the ladies and gentlemen of the church.

Proceeds from this luncheon support the United Methodist Women's mission to improve the lives of women, children and youth in the US and programs in more than 58 countries.

Our MIX group is very proud to support this cause year after year.

Diane Losli-Britt, Kathy Blondell, Valri Chiappetta, Annette McFarlane,
Elaine Millar, Betty Daggett, Hilde Morin, Lynn Anderson

2017- March: "Reflection and Renewal" exhibit

We are pleased to announce our new exhibit "Reflection and Renewal" at the First United Methodist Church in Portland.  The opening luncheon will be on April 28 at noon, tickets are $20 and will be sold at the door or you can buy them by calling the church.  The exhibit will run through May 6th with two showings to the public:
April 29th from 1-3pm
May 6th from 1-3pm

Our work is inspired by scenes of the Japanese Garden in Portland.

2017 - February - New collection: "Reflection and Renewal"

We have been working on our latest projects inspired by the Portland Japanese Garden and decided to name this collection "Reflection and Renewal". During the February meeting, members showed-work-in-progress; let's take a peek:

Kathy's work in progress

Hilde's work in progress

Details of Annette's work

January 2017 - Snowed in

We had an unusually cold, snowy and icy winter in Portland and had to cancel our January meeting.

From under the snow and ice, we wish you a Happy and Creative New Year 2017.