2018 - March - Ready for our WEATHER exhibit

In choosing this year’s theme, we made a list of possibilities.  When weather was suggested, it seemed at once innocuous and yet so broad and full of possibilities! 

Today it seems that the weather all over our globe is in the news more than ever.  The wild swings in climate, whatever their cause, give us continual headlines:  Flooding, Drought, Monster Storms, etc.  No part of our world has escaped these extremes and when these occurrences affect the food supply, results are of even more consequence, often in the “catastrophic” category.

In the end, instead of asking ourselves “What on earth will I do with this subject?”, it became, “How should I limit my portrayal to deliver the subject with the most punch?”  Living in the northwest brought many thoughts naturally to rain, some for drama and some for it’s soothing and sometimes playful aspect.  Others illustrated consequences of weather occurrences or pondered the often unknowable weather we all live with; even if we listen to the weather report every evening, we are still sometimes caught without our umbrellas!

2018 February - Scrap projects

Some members shared their Scrap projects and others shared progress on their Weather work to be exhibited in Portland in April.

Lynn's scrap wallhanging

Hilde's scrap book cover

Kathy's scrap wallhanging

2018 - January - Happy New Year!

We started the year with scraps!  

Everyone donated to the pile and then we played.  Someone else's scraps are so much better than our own ... and so we each started working on something. 

Stay tuned for the final products.

Diane, Lynn, Hilde, Valri and Betty rolling in the scraps

Kathy and Annette doing the same

Annette wins the Fashion price

The beginnings ...

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.