Dimensional flowers and a challenge revealed!

 Many thanks to Mary Ellen for preparing such a wonderful tutorial for us on making these fabulous ribbon flowers.  Mary Ellen not only prepared kits for each of us- one for each type of flower- but brought a wealth of information to share!  While it's true not all of us are meant to create hundreds of these flowers, we appreciate Mary Ellen giving of her time to share the technique with us.
Personally I am blaming stupid fingers for not being able to do this well.  I do have a history.  I once tried to help my mom with her silk flower business by making the bows for basket arrangements.  After she saw the first bow, she found me a different job. 

 I did ok with the rick rack rose ( say that three time fast).  Mine's the darker one, Kathi's is the lighter.  It was Kathi's idea to fold the petals outward.

 The wired ribbon rose was a different story.  Mary's green rose is lovely!  Mine looks like one that should have been picked a few days earlier.

 Kathi didn't think hers turned out right, either, but I still think hers was better than mine.

 This was my favorite on Mary Ellen's sample board, but I found the assembly more than challenging!

 We didn't get to the poppy or the daffodil, but since we all got the supplies, maybe some of these will turn up at a later date.









Last October, Mary Lee brought in a pile of her gorgeous ice dyed fabrics to share with the group. Each of us selected one piece.  The challenge was to make "something" with the fabric- about a fat quarter.  Sorry this was the best I could do to get the before image.  Aren't they lovely?  Choosing only one was the hardest part of the challenge!

 And here's what those of us at the February meeting made....
(hopefully more results will be added later- Saturday maybe?  - hint, hint)
 
Mary saw ladies in her fabric.  So she thread sketched them.  The trees are done in one long motion.  And don't miss the shadow ladies quilted above the trees.  Mary plans to add some crystals to the ladies.  She calls it "Guardians"

Elaine brought a "before" picture of her fabric to share.

 


Her quilt isn't quite finished, but isn't it magnificent?  It's her own church- the First Presbyterian on Main St.  The window is the actual design of one in the church.  he pink is enhanced with some "angelina"
 Elaine said she had been wanting to try thread sketching.

Susan made this little piece with her leftovers, intending to try some bargello, but it didn't work out. I know she'll find something clever to do with this piece now!

 The leftovers were from this very sweet little goldfish quilt!  I don't know if you can see the beading or not- they add just the right amount of shimmer to the water!










Mary Ellen also saw ladies in her fabric, only her ladies were can-can dancers!  The skirts are made using a similar technique to some of the flowers!
I love how the big yellow spot lights almost glow!  Mary Ellen calls this "Paris Lights"

 Kathi also planned to do a bargello style thing with hers, but forgot one small step in the process.  So she tried this three D technique she found in Quilting Arts magazine.  We all asked what will go in the center, but Kathi isn't sure yet.  The contrasting fabric is one Kathi had made with "dye-na-flo" fabric paint.

This is my before fabric.  The colors reminded me of a picture from the Badlands. I had also thought to do a bargello style quilt.  It wasn't very interesting, so turning the strips this way and that instead, I came up with this.  It is mounted on a "framing" quilt- a technique I had been wanting to try from a  book by Jean Wells.

We all want to thank Mary for this challenge.  Most of us stepped outside our comfort zone a bit while using these wonderful fabrics!

Fun with Photo Transfer

Last night we enjoyed Mary Ellen's lovely home as Kathi shared her knowledge of photo transfer using gel medium.

Kathi made a copy of this picture of a bird for each of us to use if we wished, and generously provided the medium and small pieces of fabric, as well as small canvases to experiment with   This is her result on the canvas.

After a short explanation of the process, it was time to play!

 First, spread the medium on the surface to receive the photo, then lay the picture on top carefully and burnish to spread the medium well and let it soak into the picture.  The liquid one works faster, the mousse one needs to dry .







Then  you gently peel and rub away the paper pulp, leaving the picture on the fabric.  Most of us were afraid to rub too hard, but Kathi was there to do it right!








The results were mixed.  Kathi suggests it works better with laser printed copies, like the birds which she had done at Office Max.

Lori's (I think) bird came out really well.





Martha's ink jet picture didn't.

 Elaine seems to have had the good ink (or maybe it was the squeaky brayer!), because not only did her ink jet pictures come out really well, but the bird one changed colors!  It was black and white when she started.

 Lori's inkjet print did pretty well, too. 

 After the transfers were revealed we had a little show and tell.

Chris brought the block for Kathi/ Michael this time.



Chris also started this piece to try the "Ghost Quilting" technique in the current issue of American Quilter magazine. 


















Susan found a cute doll pattern to try, thinking she'd make a bunch and sell them at the next quilt show.  After doing one, she's not so sure.  But isn't it the cutest?  ( I know I want one!)

Thanks again to Mary Ellen for allowing us the use of her lovely home- and sharing the delicious cookies her grand daughters made!  And thank to Kathi for always having something interesting to share.

Next month we'll be back at the college. 

 It's time to reveal what you did with Mary Lee's gorgeous hand dyed fabrics- so it's time to get started!  

(I had pictures- anyone know where I saved them???)

Plus Mary Ellen will share her technique for the ruched flowers she did on one of the round robins last year.

We Made the News!

We have made the news! Not national news, mind you, but The Batavia Daily News put an article in the paper highlighting us and our current show at the GoArt! gallery in the Senior Center on Bank St.
Take a look at it here or visit the show Monday-Friday until December 28th.

November workshop: Decolorant

 We started as we have for the last few months- by giving Kathi a block for Michael's quilt.  Here are the blocks so far!  









We also filled a box with supplies for Michael and his buddies to enjoy.

Susan bought a snack for the meeting- a wonderful coffee cake- at her husband's request.            (thanks, Hubby!)

 Susan also brought some show and tell.

This one is a wall hanging to match the runner she gave her son  for his birthday in September (in the pictures at right).  He thought it was "cute".










Susan is hiding behind the three little wall quilts she made. 

  Meanwhile, Mary is hiding behind her current project.  

This will be an autumn forest scene.  It's based on the work of Ann Brauer, from an article in Machine Quilting magazine.

We had all brought supplies to try out the decolorant Sharon used in one of her pieces at the GOArt! exhibit. 
 Many thanks to Sharon for being the first to try a new technique and then sharing it with us!






First Sharon showed us one of her sample pieces.

Sharon didn't express a preference for stencils or stamps.  Both work nicely as you can see.




This book is full of ideas for the decolorant!

Some "before pictures....

Susan used one of Kathi's fabulous stencils

Here they are with the product on them but not quite dry.

Kathi LOVED that these turned sort of purple

And here are some of the finished fabrics, all ready to be used in some fun new project! (or not)

Beth's

These two are Mary Ellen's.  Isn't the black one the best!?!

Hopefully the college will allow us back after last night since we popped a circuit breaker with the blow-dryers and irons all going.  (I'm sure they never expected the conference room to be used this way when they built this addition, but it's only 4 years old!!)

Come and see the show!

 It's been two years since the ArtCGirlz have done a gallery show.  We have twice as many members now, so you'll be twice as impressed by the talent on display!

This is the first piece you see.  It was the book page project we did quite some time ago.  Nice to see it again.  I had forgotten how well I liked everyone's addition!

Here is a sort of panoramic view of the whole show.  (it didn't "stitch" together well at all.)

We're going to try and make the blog part of our group again!  Stay tuned....