March Meeting 2020

fyi...I have put links in bold so you can click to go directly to a web site. 

LoisAnn was up first with lots of show & tell!!!  She's been really productive lately!  This is a drawing she is submitting for the Lake Orion Library & Lake Orion Environmental Resources Committee's 3rd Annual Green Up Logo contest!  LA plans on adding some lettering around the butterfly (e.g. reduce, reuse, etc.).  It would look great on a tote bag!  Good luck, Lois Ann!  

LA also showed her finished butterfly quilt which is applique (turned edges) and painted with Intense/watercolor pencils.  Just a beautiful piece!  Perfect for the 'Birds, Blooms and Butterfly' exhibit!  

The detail and workmanship is just wonderful.

We also discussed using different pencils as well as Gelato pastels.   You can add water (on your finger of spraying or a brush) to blend Gelato's).   We've used these often in Hilary's online class and years ago I watched several of her video's and how she will finish off her quilts, after quilting, with Gelato's.  Here are some links to those video's..  These are from 2015 but you'll see some beautiful Fern quilts she made.  You can always fast forward to see the end result.  They might be of interest to some of you or just give you ideas.  Just click on links below:
Hilary Ferns and Gelato's 1

Hilary Ferns and Gelato's 2

Hilary Ferns and Neocolor 1

Finished Ferns and  fused binding

Lois Ann made some beautiful huge flowers which will be placed on a background, of her choosing!  The flowers are stunning!!!!   Lois Ann used interfacing to back each petal and leaf.

The flower fabrics are hand dyed as are the leaves.  Can't wait to see this quilt finished!!!

Next, LoisAnn show her beautiful background piece she created, which will be used for auditioning a tree.  The background was a piece of inexpensive fabric that she covered with strips of organza type fabric.

She really knows how to enhance a piece of fabric!!

LA cut out the tree all in one piece!!!  The tree will look wonderful on this background!

This show and tell brought up the discussion of using fusible web vs interfacing (to turn edges, etc. on applique pieces).  One issue that can occur using fusible web is fraying on the edge(s) of certain fabrics, when you remove the paper backing.

I  suggested fusing Heat 'n Bond Lite on large or whole pieces of fabric.  Remove the paper backing and save to wrap excess pieces in.  Trace your pattern/leaves/flowers/etc. onto freezer paper or tracing paper; if you lay your fused fabric on top of teflon sheet, you can iron freezer paper on the front of your fabric.  Pin your pattern in place (or use FP) then cut  your pieces without worrying about fraying.  I have quite a few fused pieces that I've done over a year ago and they still retain the Heat 'n Bond!  Seems batik's don't fray much but other cottons (e.g. Kona) do fray no matter how careful you are! Ask me how I know!
Really nice to get lots of ideas to share on techniques from each of our group!



AND Kara has accepted a job at HARVARD!!!!  She still has her ""defending" her thesis this coming August in Rhode Island for her PHd" but the job will be waiting for her!!!  Congrats from all of us to Kara!!!

Carol was up next with a deep sigh!  They are building a home for sure in White Lake!  Lots of excitement and purging will be in her future!   Carol showed her finished oainted bird on canvas, which is stunning!!!  This is the finished piece!




Carol added the flowers, which certainly finishes the piece perfectly!  

I took the picture from last month's meeting just to show the difference with the addition of the flowers!!  How cool is this!

Last month and this month!

Since Carol is purging, she started off with trying to find a home for the overhead projector!  LA's home will be it's new home!   And she brought us quite a few of books for the taking! Carol shared some articles in the current QA magazine showing how to burn Lutradur,  which looked really interesting.  Another article of interest was on the use of "cheesecloth skins" in quilts by Margarita Korioth.  The article is really interesting and if you head over to her blog, you'll see the quilt where Margarita used this technique.  FYI...I remember using Lutradur, after I looked at my blog!  Geezzz  In addition to burning, we used 'disperse dyes' to transfer patterns....couldn't remember the dye!!!  UGH!

I know it's hard to read all the blogs and links I may put in our posts, but honestly, there is so much information out there and some of these artists do such wonderful work it's worth taking the time at night or early a.m. just for inspiration!   Check out some of Margarita's work...her hand work is amazing (you may have to scroll through some recent posts to get to her hand work). 

One magazine Carol brought in was called Curated Quilts.  Looks really interesting...might have to check some of these out.  Each magazine focus on a particular theme/pattern..the current one is black/white.  Not an inexpensive magazine but certainly interesting and lots of eye candy!  Thanks for all the reading inspiration, Carol!!!

Marty started off with a link to an interesting article!  You never know when you may be interested in some 'different' yarn!!

These are some cool marbling on paper that Marty did awhile back.  She's going to use them for making some type of card or even you could put them on fiber cards!  We're sure Marty will do something cool with them!

These are so unique!!!  Each pattern is different and could be applied to cards easily!

Marty shared a coloring page with us from her church.  Hope Mary picked up the rest of these...I think her grands would like to color them!

And more inspirational book reading for us!!!  Marty thought this mermaid would appeal to Carol!  Lots of illustrations inside.  A good one to pull from the library!

This is a really interesting book of hand-drawn patterns Marty shared with us. This has some really different drawings!!!!  So much inspiration!!!

So in Marty's sparetime, she'll be making a Floorquilt!!!  Not sure I'd go through all of this to put my quilt on the floor BUT we do this with the quilts we make for our children and grands!  They always end up on the floor!   It is interesting to look at the process!  Marty's show and tell for a future date???

And Marty took two T-shirts to make this hanging!!!  How cool is this!!!!  

The 'BEAUTIFUL' was a T-shirt for cancer, if I got that right.  The other quilt was from a trip to Florida someone donated to St. Luke's. 

Marty auditioned different yarns to use for the word "HELLO", which she will put on the top of the piece.  Really clever 'reuse' of clothing!  Congrats, Marty on getting back in the swing of utilizing your art talent.  Do bring this finished project next month.

Mary showed up not seeing so well after having her eyes dilated at the eye doctors!  She showed a lovely floral piece she is working on!!!  We had a discussion of how to enhance her stems to show up more.  Another good exchange of ideas from using Organza to cover, use of colored pencils or just replacing!!  We also discussed on the orientation of the piece!!  Here they are both ways!!  Another beautiful piece in the making!!

 Mary is working the voting precinct today as 'chairman'!  Good luck, Mary!!!  Keep those workers in line!!!

oops...right side is before...left is after adding pencils/Gelato's

  I showed some of my papers from Hilary's online class...we're currently working on 'redoing' some papers we weren't that happy with.  So what else to do but stamp, mono print or overdye!!

oops again!!!.the before is on the right.  Original piece was soy wax screen transferred to cotton fabric.  After, was mono printed on the 'ugly' fabric!

The 'before' was a rubbing with Gelato's pastels...nice print but too much white.  After, was overdyed with procion dyes

Left/before was a really ugly piece!  Stenciled and not sure how I got the 'hippo' on the bottom!  I mono printed on top...This really looks good in person.  I can see each section being a fiber card???

This was another 'ugly' piece.  The vases were drawn on to a screen with Gelato pastels.  We used thickened print paste to transfer onto paper.  Ugly vases but I never said I could draw!  

After side was again mono printed.  This is my favorite piece.  

I finished the knitted pinafore for our great grand daughter, Rilynn!  Just have to put on 3 buttons for the back closure.  I only had one pink button...go figure!  Marty offered some pink ones if I can't locate more!  Thanks!  

My latest knitting project is a lace shawl.  This one is a real challenge for me...I almost gave up but now I have to finish it!  Talk about a challenge! 

Oh, the red yarn you see is my 'life line'...in case I need to rip out, I can always pick up those stitches to start over again!  Ask me how many times I've done that!  HA

I was having a hard time stretching the yarn to show the shape...so think of the above knitted piece like a slice of orange!  Hope that helps!

My cardinal quilt is all finished with exception of the label.  The beaded cardinal found a home!

I received back the three 4 inch hand embroidered pieces that were accepted by Quilting Arts magazine for their reader challenge.  My squares along with 23 others will be in the upcoming magazine.  I stamped hand dyed fabric then embroidered and beaded the squares. 





Woodpecker is getting there!  I'm working on adding Gelato's to add dimension for the tree.  I still have to make his beaded feet and finish the tail but that will be done after the woodpecker is attached to the quilt.  Almost there!!!!  Not sure why the color is so distorted on the left...actually the green fabric is brighter than even the pic on the right!

Before on the left...right is addition of pastels...long way to go but at least it's a start!

We had another really great show and tell!!!  Lunch was good too!  Mary suggested we go to Honcho's in Clarkston and it was a great choice!  We all had a really good lunch, and, as usual, Carol and I enjoyed our Margarita!  Until next month.....

February 2020 Meeting

Marty started us off with presenting each of us a Valentine!  Actually, they are little cards that you scrap off the dark area to reveal color below...reminds us of Carol's work she did with painting areas black over color.  Thanks, Marty!!


I just started to scrap some off of my card...it takes patience!

Marty wore a sweater vest that the added embellishments.  She added ski's for the snowman and add'l embellishment for the sides.  Nicely done!!!

She also shared a shibori piece hanging at a local Chinese Restaurant.  I can see why Marty took a picture of it.  How stunning!



Marty shared several story boards on her projects at St. Lukes.  They are working with Detroit designer, Christina Liedtke , to create unique scarves.  You can see some of the scarves on Christina's web site here.

The scarves they make at St. Luke's are 60" in length and the fabric is designed/provided by Christina.  You can see some of the scarves the ladies made on the NoSoFaClub.com web site.  Marty showed how she cuts the scrapes then sews them into triangles.

L-R: Fabric, Triangles, off center square

Very interesting and we can see how Marty is being inspired to work some of her marbled fabric (far right off center square) into some designs with the scarf pieces!

Marty shared information on a free exhibit at the FIA this coming weekend.  It's about a collection of African American Fine Art.  It's Saturday, 2/15 @ 2:00 p.m.
Marty will also being doing a lecture at the Genesee Star Quilt Guild in November and is hoping to also do a marbling workshop as well  next winter.  We did discuss when our last MQAI exhibit was...2011!  And our Encore Exhibit was in 2012!  Hard to believe it's been that long!!  Nice to reminisce!

Lois Ann is working on a small piece for her friend's 60th Birthday.  Her friend is a Margarita gal so the quilt is representing Margaritaville!  This is just an idea on what LA is looking to create.

And here are some of the elements she already has!




Isn't her bird beautiful!!!!  We were all in awe at the way she created the wings!  Just beautiful

I didn't get a picture of a small background piece Lois Ann already created ...but we know  LA will hit a home run on this piece as she has in the past!!  You go girl!!

Lois Ann is also going to make about 20 cell phone/purses.  She and her sister went fabric shopping  in Canada and found this fun fabric!


The lettering fabric will be the band/strap for hanging around your neck/shoulder.

And this is the fabric LA will cut up for making each little case!  How cute are these!!!

Lois Ann is also working on a canvas piece, which she'll bring to next month's meeting.  She's having some issues with the paint but has a work-a-round!   Lois Ann has also donated her Butterfly painting she did for the White Lake Library Challenge this past fall.  It's a beautiful piece and so generous for LA to donate this art work!

Also, Kara will be "defending" her thesis this coming August in Rhode Island for her PHd.  We had a discussion of what "defending" actually meant..thank goodness Marty gave us some explanation!  It appears she'll be asked questions on her work which she will have to 'defend'!  Makes sense to us now! Good luck, Kara!

Carol showed a painting her sister did of their siblings!  We were all so very impressed with her work.  Carol is going to copy the picture and make cards up for her sister(s) for gifts.

And we all guessed which sister Carol was!

Carol is working on "directional drawing' in one of her online classes.  Once again, we were all very impressed with her results.  You can really see the definition in the picture on the right.

I had to crop and enlarge the girl on the right.  These are so impressive!

Carol is 99% finished with her bird painting, which is fantastic!  He's even more beautiful in person.

The background was created with watered acrylic paint which was allowed to flow down the canvas.  Carol then stenciled areas on top of the paint.  Very effective.





Here are closeups of the branch and bird.  Just beautiful.

 I presented Carol a little 'box' (it looks huge here!!!) for her 70th BD, which was last Tuesday!  It was fun that Marty was here at this meeting, since Carol and I met at one of her quilting classes at Davison Fabrics - in their old building upstairs!  20 years ago!


The box opens up to show pictures and writing.

I'm about 75% finished with working on my beaded cardinal  and I plan on not working on anything else until this piece is finished.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Well, maybe!

I'm just doing some stab stitching on the open areas.  Not sure if I'll bind or just face the quilt.

I finished the tree fabric for the woodpecker piece as well as quilted a background for it. I have to make the branches yet but I'm putting this on the back burner until the cardinal is done.














I also showed two quilts I made years ago, which I donated to our library.  They've been hanging at the Goodrich library for many years and needed a break to get refreshed...actually, the walls needed to be refreshed so I had some of my other pieces hung as replacements.  These two will be going back to the library to be hung.

This one I made for a GSQ challenge, No Rhyme or Reason in 2001 (I took 2nd place!).   It's about 20"x20"

I forgot how I made each of these little sections!  The kids at the library have enjoyed it.  Little ones would point to some of the characters when it was hung in their reading area.

This was another quilt I made in 2005 specifically  for our library.  When I got the quilt home this weekend, I noticed several areas, where I had phototransfered lettering, had faded.  So, out came the Intense pencils and I recolored those areas.  I did miss one area, which the group pointed out so I'll redo that this week.  It's about 45"x45".






Some detail of the blocks...

I'm working with soy wax in Hilary's Online class, which I really enjoyed.  These are a few pieces that were done creating your design on a screen then using thickened dyes, just like in screen printing, the design is transferred!  And the soy wax design stays on your screen until you rinse it off in hot water!  How cool is that.

We're also working on sorting our papers (not touching fabrics we've created yet) in the class.  First sort by color; then by 'feature' (paper with focal point or whole piece you would sew) or background; then sort that same color by papers that 'may' need more work, e.g. stenciling, stamping, overdyeing, etc.  Whew...took me hours to sort two colors..I have a ways to go!!!

Using some of our papers we are now working on creating small abstract pieces.  This was one I did.  It's small and I have it in my Octopus book.

And this is a Valentine fiber card I received from one of my friends from Florida.  Beth did a very nice job!

And because Mary had to stay home and take care of Carmella, I'm adding pictures of some of the quilt tops she's made!

These are two quilts Mary made for Quilts of Glory for veterans and service men/women.  Mary has donated several blocks to this organization and is working with the group to finish quilt tops.  These are wonderful!

Mary will add a border on this one.  I think it's very striking!

The next two quilt tops were made from jelly rolls and are for the prayer quilt ministry at her church.  The layout is really cool!  Mary said she had to watch some YouTube videos to learn what to do with the jelly rolls.  She had to add some of her own fabric.  Mary may also be quilting these before handing them in.

What a fun and really great show and tell this week!!!!   And lunch was pretty good at Bull Frogs (Marty, Carol and I - LA was going to drive to Ohio to visit with her friend).  All in all we had a great exchange!  See ya all next month!