more program information

Barb McC will be teaching the Sat workshop on Nov 28th. You may choose to make just one of the 4 different bags or make a series for gifts to give every aunt, mom, grandmum and sister that you have on your list.
There are several wallets, and 2 different styles of bags that could be used for sewing or cosmetics , travels aid for medications or little treasure pouches for a grandchild to keep treasures in or the older grandchild might like it for her gym locker.

The UFO weekend on Jan 2&3,2010 is a traditional weekend for us. You are encouraged to bring any unfinished project, work-in-progress project,or stack of orphan blocks that you want to make into a charity quilt. Last year I managed to spray baste and sandwich 7 community quilts. It was so nice to have the time to chat, visit and pat myself on the back for job well done.
We all need this sort of focus after the demanding holidays. You can come and stay all day, and leave your sewing equipment all set up if you are coming back for the second day. But you can also choose to drop in at any time for as long or short a time as you wish.

The video for the Jan. Demo night is by Ricky Tims and shows his very neat method of making a lovely kaleidoscope star. He starts with a series of strip pieced Strata units and he will be publishing a book soon on the same technique.

January’s Sat workshop is about String Quilts. This is a very old method likely known to your grandmothers, and used when they wanted to be thrifty and use up every little scrap of fabric, but you’d be surprised what you can do with variations on this technique to make a very contemporary art quilt.

Alice will be teaching the March demo night on Shiva Paintsticks. This will be of interest for those who want to experiment before the outlay of $$$ or for those who have bought the sticks and they are lanquishing unused in the bottom of your art supply box. This is an experimental evening to learn many techniques and uses for these sticks in surface design.

In April, Members of the Fiberspeak group will present a fun Sat workshop. A final decision has not been made but rumour says the topic may be making and using silk paper, commonly called Silk Fusion. Yet another chance to experiment with a different textile and work with your beads and other embellishments.

For those new to the guild, you might be wondering what is a “Wimpy All Nighter”?
This is our traditional end of the year Sat workshop. We started with a All nighter Mystery Quilt but there were those wimps that wanted to leave early so they could get their beauty rest. So the week-end had turned into a wimpy all nighter where you all start earlier, enjoy a pizza and then complete the mystery at your own speed , leaveing as late in the evening as you wish.

Quilting Links of Interest

At our business meeting this month, there was a new website mentioned, which is the UK’s first online TV website -  Just Hands-ON TV for quilting.  I haven’t had a chance to really look at it, but it may be worth a peek.

Under the Quilting Resources/References I have added two other websites that may be of interest.

Sharon Pederson’s Company Nine Patch Media Store specializes in Instructional DVDs.  You can also check out what Sharon’s website.

We have several of Patsy Thompson’s DVD’s, and if you haven’t found her website, I do recommend grabbing a cup of your favourite beverage and spend some time.  She is very inspirational… when I grow up, I want to be able to quilt like she does!

If you have discovered a website, that you think may be of interest to our guild members, send one of the Blog Committee Members (Nina, Shawn, or Alice) an email.

-Alice

schedule changes for November-alert

Our very popular Texada Retreat is Full and we are sorry that there is not more space for those of you on the waiting list. Do make sure that you place your name on the list for the Spring Retreat-same place-same fun-same format of 3 days of stitching.

You might also do what I have done for the last 10 years and declare a “retreat” in your own sewing room for that same week-end . I get a lot done,chat online with friends who cheer on my progress and I still have brag-ability to show my completed projects at the next guild meeting. Anyone want to join me this year?

Fiberspeak Meeting is cancelled for next Thurs , the 12th Nov, and is rescheduled for Thurs Nov 26th.

Guest Workshop week-end

Our Friend Eileen Neill , came back to Powell River and treated us to a new technique and information on a new product.
We learned about Mono printing on Gelatin. This has been covered in a few surface design books and in a very recent article in Quilting Arts magazine, but the QA article only showed us one method that I was not at all keen on and the author had used round gelatin plates which limited what you could do with the printed fabric.
Eileen had us use a square pan to prepare the gelatin, we used bulk gelatin that was far more exconomical and we used a new fabric paint product that was loads of fun.

I have hesitated to purchase a lot of textile paints because of the cost of each little jar, but these new paints use a “base” to which you add very small amounts of colored “pigments”. The base looks like pudding or yogurt, smooth and fun to stir, The small bottles of pigment come in lovely colors and you can very easily mix and combine your own concoctions er ………colors. They can be stored in snap lid food containers from Dollarama for many weeks. The gelatin plate can also be stored for many days when covered with a plastic and kept in the fridge.

Eileen showed us 4 ways to make our fabric printed squares and many of us were working on a series of experiments in no time.

I hope to hear a report of Eileens 2nd class on Sunday when she taught beading and embellishments on fabric.
The paint product that we used for the Sat workshop was purchased from Opulence Silks in North Vancouver and I will have their website added to the sidebar by the end of the week-end.
The same product can be purchased from Gunnel Hag in Ontario but can not be shipped in the winter months because of freezing and separation of the gel base. But Gunnell has some great tutorials that I will add links for as well.

workshop vacancies

All guild members are invited to spread the word that there are 4 spaces open for students in Eileen’s Gelatin printing class ( Sat Oct 24th ) and there are 2 spaces in the beading class ( Sun. Oct 25th)

Non guild members are welcome – so let others know that they are very welcome.
Contact Gay D.

New Education page

Hi everyone,

I’ve just added a new page called “Education” – look to the right under ‘Pages’.  So far we have links to information about thread and tension problems.  If you would like to see more or have any ideas for more education links please let me know

Shawn

The end of a perfect day

It was so very nice to see so many of our guild members attending Hands Across The Water. I was particularly happy to see so many of our newest members able to attend , as well as a large number of the Texada ladies and the Fine Arts club members. Quilting is alive and well in Powell River.

It was lovely to hear Pippa’s talk once again, to see the strong support she got from the sale of products and hear about future hopes and plans for her African project.

A large number of the block sets came home with PR people. I liked the setting examples that were possible – so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that all of them are well pieced and squared up to the exact size.( One can always hope and pray?)

We’ll all be looking forward to wonderful creations with all that fabric that overloaded our bags on the trip home.

Our Hostesses next year (October 1- 3, 2010) are again Quadra Island quilters and they plan some workshops in addition to the Hands Across The Water luncheon. Stay tuned for more info on this event – preliminary plans are in the works.

puff, puff, just let me catch my breath,

Ok , all you impatient machine quilters, It’s 8:52 pm and I barely got in the door.
But here is the link you requested- no! demanded just a few minutes ago on the ferry.

http://www.daystyledesigns.com/freemotionquilting.htm
Sorry you will have to ” copy and paste” because I can not find the danged button to make it linked properly- but it’s worth the extra effort – I’ll fix in the morn.

For the others, we were discussing a great blog that Shawn and I have just discovered. The young woman is creating a new free motion design every day for a year. Yes, you can go back in her archives and see the whole series from Day 1. There is also a short Youtube video with audio to learn how the design goes.
I think this will be my new morning favorite with my tea.
Enjoy! and I’ll write more about our great “vacation”day later.

New contributor

Hello everyone,

I’ve recently been invited to help out with the guild’s blog so I guess it’s time I said “hi”.

I’m going to look after uploading information for the members such as class supply lists, membership forms, printable sign-up sheets…   anything that would be helpful or just plain handy to have at hand  If you can think of anything that you think should be uploaded for membership access please email it to me and we’ll see about getting it put up.

If you look under “Pages” in the sidebar to the right and go to the “class supply page” you will find printable supply lists for the upcoming classes in October.

Hope you find it helpful!

Shawn

October-BOO!

Gee this month crept up on us quickly.
For the Oct business meeting, remember your name tags as there are a lot of new members that would like to get to know us.
Eleanor has our quilts that were hung at the Fall Fair ready for pickup at the meeting.
Remember your cheques to pay for the Oct Workshops to be taught by our guest teacher Eileen Neill. Then you’ll get your supply list and we can look forward to mucking about with a new form of surface design or embellishment.

Our display at the Fall Fair looked wonderful. It was nice to see some of our newer members displaying some beautiful work. The public certainly appreciates looking at the work and there was a great turnout on both days for the festivities.
Organizers of the fair have to be congratulated as there was great music,a great increase in booths, and a lot of public information by organizations like Grandmothers to Grandmothers,or demos on small farm or sustainable gardening.

If you have signed up for Hands Across the Water, be sure to check the signup sheet for carpooling, remember your cash or credit cards to enjoy a bit of shopping at the merchants and bring a fat quarter that you’ve purchased on your travels in the past.
More info can be found at the Comox Valley quilters website, where they have a 4 page PDF to remind us about all the fun including the block draw- there’s still time to make a block to place in the draw.
Their website can be found in our sidebar.