Embellishing

 We ended up skipping July, because everyone was enjoying the summer.  But we got the band back together for August, and started embellishing projects. 

But first, there's show and tell!

Mary is working on samples for the zig zag quilt. 


Below is a small piece using the scraps she used for her son's quilt, which started the requests for instructions.

For her embellishment project, Mary is using this "fractured" quilt, using techniques by Louisa Smith

 Kathi is still hooked on Hexies. This piece is all silks!  

 This is a scarf Kathi painted, using a folded fabric technique. 

 Cynda went to the "Neighborhood Art House" and did some work with ceramics.

 The "bug" in this one, is a flower bud she pressed into the clay before it was fired.

 Elaine has been doing "wet cyanotypes" using specially prepared fabrics, and flowers from her garden. 


After Show and Tell, we all went to work on our individual projects. 

 Mary was crocheting a necklace like the one she saw at an arts festival recently.

 Lori is embellishing a crazy quilt block she started a while ago.

 Cynda is adding to the fish she made for our challenge a few years back, because she felt it needed more.

Elaine isn't sure where she's going ,but was enhancing some of the areas of her cyanotypes with colored pencils.

Martha plans to add stitching and beads to these pieces, inspired by wild dill weed.

To be continued......

Group play

As always, the June meeting began with  show and tell.  Mary Ellen shared this very happy  quilt she made for her granddaughter's big girl bed.

She sings "You are my Sunshine" with her granddaughter, so the words to the song are embroidered on the large circles.
The pattern is from a book called, "Adventures in Circles" by Leigh McDonald.













Kathi ran across these small pieces she had started a while back, using fabric she mono-printed on a gel plate, then stitched on.  She wasn't sure she had ever shared them with us, and hasn't decided what they are yet.  :-)

Mary has been trying to clear some scraps, which she had cut into squares at some point.  These tops will be donated to the Museum Quilt Guild's Community Service project at the June meeting. 

Martha (the photographer, so these pictures were done at home) finished a small quilt she made as a class sample quite a few years ago.  It's small, so will be donated for a child.  It has a nice soft flannel backing.

When Martha saw the kit for this at a quilt show, she thought it suited her.  Some of the fabrics in the kit had to be swapped out, though.

Kathi showed Martha the pattern for this bunny doll, called Miffy, knowing Martha wouldn't be able to resist making one!

Kathi brought her notes and samples of class work from the week long class she took with Nancy Crow at QBL a few years back- which resulted in this awesome quilt.   Some of the members will be playing with these techniques, now that we know the process!

We are looking forward to having other projects for members to work on at meetings, to share ideas, critique each others work, and encourage ourselves to keep learning new things!  In July, we'll be playing with embellishments.

Getting started on the slice project

 A few meetings ago, this photo was finally chosen to be sliced and done as a group project.











Due to weather, illness, vacations.... it has taken longer than expected to get the project started, but Chris and Mary Ellen brought in the blown up version of the picture and sliced it up for each participant to get started on.

They have set a deadline of November for the project to be finished.  Meanwhile, they will share and compare progress with the rest of us at future meetings.







For now, there's always show and tell!

Chris battled the cool and dreary weather with a bright and cheery quilt for May













 Kathi had a lot of goodies to share....

This is a bag she made using one of her pieces she hasn't found a home for.  It's waiting for the right handles to come along .

















The "boro" jacket Kathi made using and old denim shirt is finished. 

Mary Ellen was recruited to model it for us.















It will be part of the fashion show at the Genesee Valley Quiltfest in June

Kathi enjoyed the boro project so much se's making another piece.  This one will probably be a bag for her daughter.

These pieces will also be on display at the quiltfest.

This piece, titled "Camisole de Force"  was part of the RAFA "Whence" exhibit.  Each participant made a quilt inspired by the name of a traditional quilt block.  Kathi chose crazy quilting, and made a straight jacket.

A while back, Mary Ellen led a workshop on painting faces, using Bonnie McCaffrey's method.  This is Mary Ellen's granddaughter. We can't show the whole quilt, because it's part of a special exhibit to be shown later this year.  It will be worth the wait, I assure you!












Martha also had a quilt she didn't love, so she also turned hers into a bag!

We are discussing doing more hands on projects at the meetings.  Stay tuned.

A short, but fun meeting

 We've had trouble getting together the past few months for one reason or another, so we're happy for whatever time we can get together and share all things artsy. 

Cynda made lemonade from the lemons that were the March blizzard by doing as much snow dyeing as she could, with some great results!

 Cynda is cutting some of her fabrics into hexies.  We can't wait to see what she does with them.

Different types of fiber arts being created as we chatted!

Mary Ellen shares what she is working on, which she couldn't bring along.

Chris finished this piece, made as a gift for a friend using the three dudes pattern from Rob Appell's website.


This was the first thing Chris did on her longarm machine, so she kept the quilting simple, but it looks great!!

The May meeting will be in the Wilbur room at the Richmond Memorial Library. 

Slicing and icing

Finally, after hashing and rehashing this idea, Chris came in with a fabulous picture we can slice up to make as a group art quilt.  We've discussed this off and on for a couple of years, I think.

 Chris had contacted the photographer previously to ask if he would give permission for us to use one of his nature photos for this project, and he happily agreed. This was a first snow at his home last November.  (the icing in the post title) Chris hopes to have the quilt finished by next November once we know how many slices it will be.

There was a bit of showing and telling as well.

Susan showed some lovely ice dyed fabrics at our December meeting.   The leafy vine was in there waiting to come out.  This is for Susan!

 Susan used the fabric and thread from Mary Ellen's challenge to make this sweet little pillow.  She isn't sure where this will end up yet.

Martha is doing a UFO challenge with her online guild, and even got one of the two pieces she pulled out in January finished!

Since we met on Valentine's Day, we adjourned early to go spend time with our sweethearts. (in some cases that might be the sewing machine!)