New Screens and Etsy Sale

Everyone loves a good birthday celebration, right?  Etsy is celebrating it's13th birthday by having a sale from June 18-22.  All shops were invited to participate, so you're bound to find some great deals next week.  In the PGFiber2Art shop, all items will be discounted 10% during the sale.  Use code ETSY13THBDAYSALE when checking out to save on your order.  There is no minimum purchase required, and you can use the code as many times as you want from June 18-22.  So check out the screens in the shop or get those custom screens made that you've been putting off!

Also, we have an ongoing discount for first time purchasers.  If you have not purchased from our Etsy shop before, use code FIRSTORDER10 when placing your order.  Or feel free to forward this offer to a friend you think may be interested in our screens.

We have added 3 new screens to the shop.  First is a hand drawn mum that is available in 3 sizes - 5.5 inches, 4 inches and 2.5 inches.  They may be purchased individually or as a set.  (Variety of size makes your design more interesting.)  Use to create an all-over random print or a planned pattern.  We also have a "bubbles" screen, which again, can be used to create a specific effect or an all-over design.  And third is a crackle screen.  We already have one crackle screen in the shop, with more rounded lines.  This one has sharper angles.  Both are effective for adding texture and background. Check out photos of prints of all three in the shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/PGFiber2Art.

Mark your calendar for June 18-22 and check out the sale!

More QU Quilts

As usual, there were too many favorite quilts at the QU show for one blog post.  Here are some others that we liked.

A group of Vienna chapter quilters did a challenge especially for the Just Piece It theme of the show.  They each created a portrait divided into 3 sections (top of head, eyes to nose, mouth to neck).  They then swapped the top and bottom sections, keeping their own eyes to nose section, and assembled the 3 parts into a harmonious quilt. Click on the photo to enlarge for a closer view.  Participants include (left to right, top to bottom):  Lorraine Heady, Karla Vernon, Willa Downes, Anna Willard, Trudi Sommerfield, Joni Seidenstein, and Polly Dombroski.

I Love Batik is by Bonnie Anderson of the Haymarket chapter.  The pattern is Shimmering Triangles by Jenny Bowker.  The top was pieced by Jo Cotter and Marty Bush of the Annandale chapter (Bonnie purchased the top at their auction) and quilted by Bonnie.  We'd say the pattern is aptly named!

Patricia Price of Burke made Amazing Love as a wedding gift for her nephew.  The pattern is by Laurie Shifrin.  Pat pieced the top and it was quilted by Beth Flores; the quilting pattern is Curved Maze by Geometric Longarm.  The interesting thing about this design is that the semicircles are only visible from a distance (or through the lens of a camera).

This is one of Linda Cooper's (Burke) original kinetic quilt designs - When Quilts Party.  The inset pieces feature photos of other quilts Linda has made which are attached with fishing lure swivels.  The back sides show the same quilts in black and white, hence, the party (color) side and non-party side (black & white).  The machine piecing and quilting are all done by Linda.

Sue's favorite was this  completely original quilt by Bonnie Rhoby of Reston, called Sewing Seeds of Hope.  Techniques include hand painting and applique, machine piecing and  quilting.  The workmanship on this is amazing.  Enlarge for a close-up look at the micro-quilting.  Below is a detail shot.

Beverly Pontius of the Springfield chapter made Brix, a pattern by Amy Walsh.  It is machine pieced and quilted.

Finally, Lollipop Trees is made by Ann Collins of Springfield.  The pattern is by Kim McLean and is machine pieced and hand appliqued by Ann.  The quilting is by Margaret Solomon Gunn.  Ann says she began this quilt in 2010, and though it took a few years to complete, was worth the time and effort.

We hope you've enjoyed this mini quilt show, especially if you weren't able to attend in person. 

Quilters Unlimited Show 2018

The annual QU quilt show was held this past weekend in Northern Virginia at the Dulles Expo Center.  Over 500 quilts were on display made by members of the 11 chapter guild, and over 70 vendors had their products available for purchase.  As always, it was an inspiring show with lots of great workmanship on display.  These are some of our favorites from the show.

Joseph's Coat is by Julia Rouse of the McLean chapter.  The pattern is by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy.  It is pieced and quilted by Julia.

Scrap Petal Garden is a pattern by Penni Domikis of Cabin in the Woods Quilters.  This version is made by Carol Conahan of the Mt. Vernon chapter and is machine pieced, appliqued and quilted by Carol.

The Bee Gazer is by Cecile Batchelor of the Reston chapter for a guild challenge.  The center is wool applique surrounded by Australian aboriginal fabrics.  It is hand appliqued, hand quilted and machine quilted by Cecile.

Above are 3 examples of a pattern by Jen Kingwell called Small World.  Top left is by Beverly Pontius of Springfield; top right is by Jill Warren of Springfield; bottom is by Chris Prestenbach of Springfield, all made for a chapter challenge.

She Can Dance is made by Puggy Beljan from a pattern by Frog Hollow Designs.  It is machine pieced and quilted from a collection of Kaffe Fassett polka dot fabrics.  It was quilted by Penny Bascastow of Pennyroyal Quilting.

Cracked Ice was made by Wanda Hlavka of Burke QU.  The pattern is by Connie Kaufman and is machine pieced and quilted by Wanda.  The quilting pattern is "Broken Glass" by Wasatch Quilting.

Debbie Bullock of the Burke chapter made Cactus Flower, a pattern by Renee L. Peterson.  It was made as a wedding gift for her daughter.  Debbie did the piecing; it was quilted by Beverly Burroughs, also of the Burke chapter.

Fifteen is by Joyce Carrier of the Haymarket chapter.  It is based on a photo taken at the Nashville zoo and is machine pieced, appliqued, and quilted, all by Joyce.

Stay turned for a few more quilts in our next post.

Leaf Pounding with Barbara Wise

Our local guild (Burke Quilters Unlimited) this week hosted Barbara Wise for a presentation on the ancient art of leaf pounding and dyeing with natural elements. Barbara has an Etsy shop (Aunt Lilly's Attic) where she sells rescued and re-imagined vintage fiber items and an Instagram page featuring her fiber art.

Leaf pounding is a Cherokee tradition that was used to decorate garments.  A leaf or leaves are taped to a piece of fabric with the vein side against the fabric; the tape prevents the leaf from shifting.  Then it is turned fabric side up, placed on a hard, lightly padded surface, and pounded with a hammer to transfer the pigment from the leaf onto the fabric.  This process produces very soft colors, and often the color you get from the leaf changes or fades after a fixative is applied.  But the results are still wonderful.

Barbara has used her leaf prints to create lovely pieces of wall art.

She sometimes enhances the prints with watercolor pencils to add a bit of color or definition.

In the piece above, Coral Bells, she has also incorporated embroidery. Isn't it pretty?

She had several small pieces mounted on wooden canvases that incorporated embroidery or applique.  The pounded leaves can also be turned into dimensional appliques by backing with felt.  Fabric used for pounding must first be prepared with a mordant (a treatment that allows the color to bind with the fabric).  When dyeing with plants, some require a mordant and others do not. Find more info about leaf pounding and plant dyeing on the web.

Barbara will be leading a workshop for the SAQA Northern Virginia pod in June and Sue is looking forward to participating and trying her hand at this ancient technique.

Whisper Challenge

Over the past year, Sue's art quilt group participated in a challenge we called the Whisper Challenge.  Think of it as the quilted version of a game of "telephone" that you may have played as a child.  This is how it worked.  The first person in the challenge selected a photo and made a quilt based on that photo.  She then passed her quilt (not the photo) on to the second person.  The second person had a month to make a quilt based on the first quilt, which was then passed to the third person.  This process continued through 9 people, where each person saw only the previous quilt.  The only "rule" or guideline was size, which was 18x24 inches.  When all 9 quilts where completed, the results were revealed to the whole group. 

This photo of an individual from Tibet was the original photo chosen by Bobbie Dewees.

Her interpretation of the photo is shown in the quilt on the left above.  As you can see, she stayed pretty true to the original photo.  The second quilt (left to right) is by Willa Downes, who gave a Caribbean island twist to the original.  Third in the challenge was Barb Sherwood whose quilt takes on an African interpretation.  Fourth was Judy Albert, who selected a n Indonesian batik panel as the focal point of her quilt.  So far, we are taking a rather international tour!  Click on the photo for a closer look at all the quilts.

In the photo above, we again see the fourth quilt, followed by Anna Willard's interpretation.   She was inspired to create an African dancer, with a "Gee's Bend" style improvisational background.  The sixth quilt by Linda Cooper took the dance interpretation and focused on a gymnast (her daughter) on a balance beam.  Sue's quilt is the seventh; she found inspiration in the concept of  balance and the diagonal line of the balance beam so in turn screen printed these "birds on a branch" as her focal point.

Judy Grumbacher was the eighth participant and based on Sue's quilt, created this improvisational tree. And finally, Barbara Wise used the tree inspiration to create a whimsical tree of her own, but one that included birds. 

Here's a shot that shows the progression in all 9 quilts.  Quite a change from first to last!  But you can see how each quilter took some aspect of the previous quilt as inspiration for their creation.  We all enjoyed this concept, and are planning to start a new challenge this fall.  There will be more participants, so it will take a full year to complete.  We hope to exhibit this year's completed challenge in the 2019 Quilters Unlimited quilt show.  Members of the art quilt group are from Burke, Fairfax, and Vienna QU as well as the Norther Virginia SAQA pod.  

Guild Retreat

Three weeks ago Sue spent a long weekend at her local guild retreat.  However with all the activity of April she somehow missed writing about it.  On Friday of the retreat we had a 1 day workshop with Terry Kramzar of Pennsylvania.  She led a workshop called "pieced quilting in layers". 

Sue had seen her work in a Quilt Odyssey show a few years ago and was eager to learn her technique.  Terry was an excellent instructor and really nice.  Her technique involves layering squares of the background fabric with fusible batting and quilting those two layers.

Various piecing techniques can be added next including an appliqued center square, adding triangles, and inserting strips.  Then the squares are joined into rows and then the rows are seamed to create the finished piece.

It's a very simple but effective technique, and low stress sewing.  No matching seams or points.

We had 19 people in the workshop.  Below are some of the projects the group worked on.

This is Sue's 5 x 5 grid of squares sewn together.

In addition to the class, Sue worked on a few other projects.

This fat quarter pop up, with the pieces previously cut out, was a quick starter.

Sue added the flower petals to 4 of these "free wheeling single girl" blocks to make into preemie quilts. 

And she started the quilting on this portrait from the Hollis Chatelain class at the beginning of April. It was a fun and productive weekend!

Design & Wine at ArtSpace Herndon

Earlier this year we were invited to lead a Design & Wine session at ArtSpace Herndon and that event was held this past Tuesday.  Our project was printing tote bags with thermofax screens.  This was a new venture for us in several ways - new venue (we also led a Sunday class for kids dyeing t-shirts), new format/time frame, and a specific project.  Usually we teach screen printing as a more open-ended technique for fiber & mixed media artists, so we are not as concerned with a finished product.  It was a fun evening, we all learned a few things, and everyone had a product they could take home.  Hopefully some will want to learn more about thermofax printing!  Here are some photos of our experience.

Some attendees were groups of friends and/or regulars at Design & Wine events.

There was a mother/daughter pair.

Some chose a single image as a focal point.

Others chose to create an overall design.

Here's most of the group with their printed totes.

A small group of friends and their finished bags.

One enterprising individual also brought a t-shirt and created this design with our peacock feather screen.

ArtSpace is a nice environment for teaching a class (our class was held in the gallery).  As you can see in the photos, there is art work hanging in the background - the current exhibit is work by Herndon High School seniors, as well as work by Melanie Stanley, a local artist.  If you are in the area, stop in and take a look at the exhibit and explore other opportunities at ArtSpace Herndon.