March 2010 RAFA Meeting

We had over thirty members come to the meeting yesterday and there were several new members there. A couple hail from my previous haunt which is a good 40 miles away. We have quite a few members that live up to 50 miles but still manage most meetings even with the snow and miserable weather. This is one of Sharon's pieces which utilized some of Sarah Terry's marbled fabric on top and a commercial fabric below.

The next four pieces are from Janet Root and each is made from cut out pieces from the previous top!!! On the last and smallest top, she fused the circles on so no more cutouts. She will be teaching a class based on the book Circle Play from which this pattern was derived.














This is just part of the composition that Nancy Hicks is entering into the Almighty Dollar competition. You will have to go to the exhibit to see the rest!! It is a hoot!




This is also part of Pat Berardi's piece from the above exhibit. She used some of the symbolism from the dollar bill which is what I am doing as well!

One of our new members is a big time knitter and felter and this is a hat she brought to the meeting that incorporates different types of felting.


Donna Patrick shows us another of her felted silk scarves that will end up as part of a jacket eventually.
Caris Burton always makes the most elegant clothes (and she has the figure to match). This is the front of the jacket she made in a Priscilla Kibbee class. The "focus" fabric I believe is from Elin Noble. She has lots of silks also in this one. The back is below.



This was an absolutely magnificent raffle quilt made by a small group that had never tried anything like this before!! Each person was asked to make some kind of building so now they have a whole village. Bonnie Robinson brought in this beautiful quilt -- I will definitely buy a ticket for this one!

I am insanely jealous of this piece of fabric!! Anne Fischer has taken snow dyeing to whole new levels. This is a snow dyed piece using shibori techniques. Isn't it the best ever?????

Sarah Terry never ceases to amaze me with what she does with beads and yesterday was no exception. Can you believe these beads? They were made by just randomly sewing beads onto those old wooden beads many of us have left from the 70's and 80's. I was just blown away by these. Sarah will basically attach beads to anything and magnificently. She now has a web page, a link to which I will try to get up later!

Anne Fischer was a stitch yesterday showing the variety of things she had done (including the above snowdye) during her snowy days of leisure! These are several felted dolls she made. The knitted piece one of the creatures is holding was knitted with split yarn on toothpicks! She also had a couple of painted and quilted birds!

We are doing modest programs now as part of the meeting and we spent some time in the afternoon getting tips on photographing your quilts from Liz Scott and Caren Betlinski. Liz is an inveterate photographer who has been taking pictures since age 8 -- her real obsession. I added a few comments about digital along with Caren as we tend to do more of that kind of photography than Liz who still prefers her film! I think we all went home with a few hints that we could use.

Another exciting moment was to find that we now have two members who have had multiple Fairfield (or Bernina) garments. What are the chances of that in one art quilt group in upstate NY! It is amazing to see how we have grown from the 5 or 6 people we had in 1999 when I joined. Jeanne Beck was the organizer and original spirit behind the group (in 1998) and you can see her blog on my sidebar. We now have 50 (our top stop) with a waiting list. The people change in and out and we are a bit more organized than we originally were. Side groups have formed to focus on their own interests and learning. It is wonderful to be part of this group and to meet new people and see their excitement at learning something new! I have met some of the nicest and most interesting people in my life there! It has so enriched my life and helped me to move forward artistically!