April Show and Tell

Lori had a bottomless bag of goodies to share!  She has obviously been keeping herself very busy.  This butterfly was a kit with the design already carved into the foam beneath the fabric.   

These are walker bags for community service at guild, using fabric she was given.  Lori is learning to make buttonholes for this project!

(if the spacing is weird it's because blogger is behaving badly today and I am not in the mood to do battle to fix it.  Sorry!)

The bag was made with fabric sent to her by a guild member. 

Lori is doing a lot of handwork these days.  The "Bug" was a gift for her husband.

 And she has caught the "hexie" bug.















This is only one of the amazing little photos on fabric Lori bought from a man in Australia after seeing his work on facebook.  His website is amazing- and there's free shipping!

Finally, Lori did go home last month and try the Ann Brauer technique!

Kathi laid out all the blocks she has for the Michael's quilt.  Don't they look great all together.  We had lost track of who is still working on one.  We know there will be at least nine blocks.  Kathi is ready to start putting it together for Michael's return!

 Elaine framed her Ann Brauer piece on a second quilt.  Take a look at the circle quilting she did- very cool!

This was Elaine's entry for the "Winter's End" show by RAFA last month.  It was nice to finally get a good look at it!
 It was inspired by this little poem.















Elaine and Kathi took a class with Julie Brandon. This piece is made from the fabric Elaine had printed at the end of the class.  It's something different to everyone who looks at it, but we all liked it best this way up.  (good thing since that's how Elaine likes it!)  She hopes to add some beads to it just for a little sparkle and definition.






Mary Ellen is doing a round robin.  The fabric she used is so close to the original fabric we all thought it must have come to her with the block, but it was just hiding in her stash!  This is why quilters require such large stashes!

 Deciding to try her hadn at a "modern" quilt, and wishing to use up some scraps, Mary Ellen made this striking quilt.  I had once again forgotten the name of the pattern- something liked connected or entwined??  The binding will be made with strips of many of the scraps.  ooooh!












Another Anne Brauer piece.  Mary Ellen had wanted to try setting in a circle.  It's wonderful isn't it?  a Taupe moon.  Too bad the quilting doesn't show in this picture.











Kathi's Ann Brauer piece is still deciding what it might be.  Not planning her strips, she ended up using a repeat of 6 or 8 different fabrics.  It reminded a couple of us of those old rugs we all used to have.

 Kathi led another photo transfer workshop with her fiberistas.  These are a couple of the pieces she did there.

 The finished piece to be a gift for a retiring friend.  The pattern, including the vinyl used to lay out the pieces, is up for grabs, as Kathi does not plan to do this again.







Kathi took a "craftsy' class with Carol Ann Waugh called Stitch and Slash.  Here she is showing us how you use a seam ripper to cut away one or more layers of fabric that has been sewn with circles and lines.

And here is a somewhat better view of the piece.

Emmy brought one of her books to share with us.  The cover is a tile she got for $1 somewhere.  Each page has a way to attach photos or other memorabilia. 

 Emmy has finally realized why they are called "New York Beauty" blocks!

 Emmy is also doing some hand piecing.  She had always wanted to try Cathedral Windows.

I had forgotten to bring this into the meeting, but this is my Ann Brauer piece, made into a small purse- about 8 inches across the bottom.
(my brain is misfiring lately.  I'm blaming the weather)

Taupe is a very strange color!

 This month, Mary Lee led an activity based on the work of Anne Brauer

 We decided last month to use a neutral- ish palette of taupes and greay with accent colors.  So first mary discussed what taupe is.  It's hard to define.  An old article in Quilters Newsletter magazine showed the full range of taupe, which you can see here.
 These are the fabrics Mary brought to demonstrate some of what she is using as taupes.







Here she is showing us her small layered backing and batting fabric.  This is a good size to start with since it can be accomplished in a short time.
Apologies to Mary that she is making this face. As many of you know, I was not getting great facial shots last night.  





Here is the small sample Mary made to demonstrate the process.  The lines on the batting are registration lines every two inches.  Mary feels this helps keep the strips going straight.  aAren't those pinks yummy?







So we all set out to lay out our strips in a way we liked.

Lori hadn't planned to attend, so she played in Kathi's pile of strips.

Planning isn't Kathi's thing, so she just started sewing her strips down!  It's a flip and sew technique, like paper piecing.  Your piece is quilted when you finish piecing!










Mary Ellen Casey realized she didn't bring enough strips

Beth overlapped hers to see what they would look like sewn together.

Martha is making a bigger piece so she can make a small purse.

This is where Lori left off.  Turns out taupe isn't Lori's thing.

Beth's final layout

Elaine's first try at the layout.  (I'd have stopped there)

Susan is doing a wonderful thing with those cranberry colored strips in the center!

This is where Kathi keft off when time was up.

Beth got a lot done!

And so did Elaine.  Don't you LOVE how she changed her design to add more turquoise??

Martha didn't get as far, but her center looks pretty good!














Hopefully there will be a great show and tell of finished works at the next meeting!

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.