April 27th meeting and and Update about our May Exhibition

Hello everyone-
We're meeting at Stephanie Rose's house at 7pm on April 27th.

We'll be handing out the posters and postcards for our upcoming show at the Naperville Art League. Below is some important information about the show:

1. Any member of Divas or the Naperville Art League may enter up to 4 pieces of fiber art which includes quilting, weaving , felting, soft sculpture, handmade paper, etc.

2. There is no jury or entry fee. We will hang everything we have space for. Very large pieces may not get hung due to space considerations.

3. All art work must be delivered to the Naperville Art League building by noon Friday May 22. Work can be picked up at the end of the show on Sunday after 4PM. Sharon can bring home any work that is not picked up, but Sharon will not be at the June DIVAS meeting to return your work. Make your own arrangements...

4. Items may be priced for sale. NAL will receive a 20% commission on sales.

If you need directions or Stephanie's address, please use your directory or email us. (we're not posting it here so it's out for the whole world to see)
See you there!

Yo! Flower demo supply list

Hi everyone-
Here are the supplies you need:
-several scraps of fabric about 4 inches square
-thread (matching or not, but it should be strong)
-standard sewing needles
-fabric scissors
-fabric pen or ball point pen

Supplied:
-green chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
-bright colorful buttons
-circle templates

The directions will be supplied. This is a fun "make it-take it" demo. Hope to see you there.

Cheryl

March 2009 Newsletter

Hello, ladies!  Thirteen people were at the February meeting, and I believe 8 people showed their button challenges.  I was not one of the 8, but that was no surprise to me at all!  I'm hoping to have it completed by the next meeting.  HA!  We'll see about THAT!

Naperville Art League Fiber Art Show:

Sharon Malec talked to the powers that be and received the following information.  Our pieces do not have to be for sale, but if they are a 20% commission will be theirs.  So, mark your pieces accordingly, allowing you to receive what you want for your item, and giving them the 20% over that.  Medium to large pieces would be preferred, and by that I mean in the small range.  Think about the gallery.  There isn't room for bed quilts, so keep it in mind. We need to discuss the number of pieces (which will depend on the sizes again), as well as refreshments and publicity (will they advertise or should we, and who pays).

So, the weekend of May 23 & 24,  Saturday, Sunday.  We are going to try to meet on the Monday before that (May 18) so that we can drop off our show offerings, plus the 25th is Memorial Day.

Ugly 9 Patch:

has been extended to March.  Someone asked if it was to be donated to the blind.  Ouch!

Connie Pomerang:

is unavailable to teach a class.

Anne Lullie:

I looked over her website and her requirements for teaching a class.  I'm not sure if we can pull it off.  It's only $300 for 4 hours at 20 students tops, making it $15/person if we get 20.

BUT each person gets a full banquet table plus a design board.  She gets several tables, plus a design board, plus a dry erase board.  No sewing machines.  I forget what else.  I don't know if there is an area at COD that would accommodate us that we could get our hands on. Obviously the cost would increase with renting a space.  Something we need to discuss more.

March Demo:

Stephanie Rose will demonstrate binding a quilt completely by machine.  She suggests that we bring our machines, a small something to bind (not necessarily anything of any importance at all, a pot holder type thing, even), and a double binding cut at 2 1/4" to 

2 1/2", which ever you prefer.  Obviously bring sewing stuff, thread, scissors, etc.  Cool!

Woven Quilt Demo:

Barbara Rathke brought in a woven quilt which she completed.  Katherine used to teach a class in this area and has offered to give a demo.  The date is yet to be set.  Woo-hoo!

Next Challenge:

Todays challenge is brought to you by the word "red".  It may be interpreted in any way that you'd like.  Red, read, sounds like red or read, begins with the word or sound, is influenced by.... May your imaginations sail away with this one.  No size restriction other than 4" x 6" or larger.  This will be due in May.

And ANOTHER challenge:

I am challenging you all to design your friggin' name tags!  Sorry.  Did I use the nautical term "friggin"?  Any size or design you'd like, as long as we can read your name in there.  I will probably make mine trading card size.  How's about for the March meeting.  Yesssssss!!!!!!!!

Vote:

I feel so informed now!  Doesn't happen often, and it probably won't last, but I'll pass on what was discussed at the meeting.  The next election includes people on the COD staff.

DO NOT VOTE FOR Mike McKinon (he is evil)

DO VOTE FOR Sandy Kimm and Nancy Svboda (they are good)

More details were given, but that's all we really need to know.

Our next meeting will be Monday, March 23rd at 7am.  Same place as usual.  xxxooo,  Laurie

February 2009 Newsletter

And we're off:

14 people were present at the January meeting. Can't decide if I have a favorite.

Ugly 9 Patches update:

The directions for this project are in the previous newsletter. There was some

confusion with the directions that I gave. I apologize for that. I don't know how to

add a drawing. BUT if you draw what the directions are telling you to sew, it may be a little clearer to you.

Also, I did not realize that you are to use as much of your fabrics as possible, making multiple blocks. I only did one. Guilty.

Please bring them to the February meeting.

Connie Pomerang:

We discussed having her give a class on color, maybe later in the year.

Another class idea discussed:

The woman from Golden products (line of artist paints and mediums).

$35/half day (4 hours), or $70/full day (8 hours).

We pretty much agreed on a half day being enough. She would supply product and mediums, etc for the class. If it's fabric painting, we supply our own fabrics. She would need a 3 week lead time, minimum of 8 people in the class, and hopefully have it at COD (Please?).

Exhibit Fiber Art at Naperville Art League?

Sharon Malec is checking into the details of our exhibiting work there. Does the work need to be for sale, can some be for sale and some not? Probably for one weekend. She'll get back to us about that.

Button Challenge:

Please, please, please can I buy another month?!? There is no way that I can finish mine in time. If no one agrees, then just bring them on in to February's meeting, and I'll bring mine at a later date. I promise that I won't pout or anything! Yvette Thorn brought her completed one to the January meeting, and then she did a little victory dance! Very uncool, Yvette! (just kidding, folks,...she was very gracious about being the first to show hers, and intends to donate it to a worthy place. What a woman!)

Calendars:

Linda, if you have spare calendars, remember to contact Janice Arquette at

(number redacted). She has offered to sell them at the "All around the House" quilt show at Fischer Farm in Bensenville on March 7 and 8. I know we are selling them for $16/, but if you tack on a dollar, then they can get a little money as a donation for their help. All we have to do is get them to her.

Also, Linda was kind enough to donate one to Faithful Circle as a door prize.

Have your own fabric printed!

www.spoonflower.com

I haven't looked at the site yet, but they will charge $18/yard with no limit to how much fabric you have printed! Cool!

Anne Lullie:

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a workshop from this woman. Her website is www.annelullie.com

She is a member of the Chicago School of Fusing, is local, and has quite a few workshops that you may or may not be interested in. Please check her website out prior to the meeting so that you have an idea of what the heck I'm talking about. She is a member of PAQA and is an up and coming name in the quilt world. I'll bring her flyer and postcard to the meeting.

Okay, can't think of another blasted thing, so that ends it. Our next meeting is on February 23rd, same time, same place. Adios, moochacha's. xxxooo, Laurie

December 2008 Newsletter

Happy holidays to one and all!

Sorry this took so long, but I forgot how to do it!  Duh!

Calendars update:  You have all been keeping up with the calendars.  They turned

out beautifully, and both my daughters were quite impressed.  The second box which was accidentally shipped out to Linda will be sold at $16 apiece.  The profits will pay

Craig back for shipping and handling because he was kind enough to pay that out of

his own pocket.  (Where did you find this guy, Linda?!)  Any profits after that will be

refunded to those Divas who ordered from the original shipment.  Now the question is, what happens with the extra money per calendar that is due to you, Linda?  

Ugly Block Challenge:  The due date I am unsure of, but I assume it's not the January meeting.  Correct me pronto if I am wrong.  It is a 9 patch block that will measure 9" finished.  There will be four 3" solid blocks which will be made from one of the ugly fabrics for all 4 of them.  There will be five 3" mini-9 patch blocks made with 5 cream or muslin fabric from your own personal stash (these may all be the same), and 4 from the ugly fabrics that you received.  Could this possibly sound any uglier?  I think this project will be a success even if we never get past the description!  Call Yvette Thorn for more information.

Button Challenge:  Any info you need on this is listed in one of the newsletters below.  The due date is February 2009.

Directory:  I hope to be e-mailing these to you very shortly.  I apologize for the delay.  You just can't get good help these days.  When I set this up, I will also be

adjusting the mailing list, so those who didn't get me their information will no longer get any updates.  It was nice that they supported us, and nice to meet them all.

Our next meeting will be on January 26 at 7pm.  See you soon, ladies. 

xxxooo,  Laurie

November Newsletter

Hello, ladies, sorry it took me so long to get this out, but I wanted to have my 2nd massage therapy appointment before I wrote.  More about that later!

There were 16 members at the October meeting, lots of show and tell, and a lot of talking (my favorite part!  A big surprise to many of you, I'm sure!)  So, here we go....

Speaker:

Mona Waddington was our guest speaker for the evening.  She showed a nice 

selection of her quilts, beginning with her grandmother's 1890 scrap quilt.  It was a nice

variety of traditional, fun, challengy,...it pretty much ran the gammit!  I've decided:

Mona is good people!

Sharon Malec:

Is back in action!  Woo-hoo!!

Calendars: 

The photos are all taken, the committee will be meeting, and they will e-mail us the order forms.  You'll know at the same time as I do.

November 24th Meeting:

Bring three 12 inch ugly squares of fabric. That's 3 twelve inch UGLY squares of fabric!

(Yes, you are reading correctly! See what happens when I miss a meeting!!!)

We will keep one ugly fabric, and trade the other two. The point of this is to prove that ugly

truly IS beautiful! The completed 9" finished blocks (9 1/2" unfinished) will be due at the

January 2009 meeting.  We will then sew the blocks together. We will decide at a later date 

if we will raffle it off among the group, or perhaps donate it.

NOTE: There will be 2 consistent fabrics that will be given to each of us to work with. One

will be a muslin, and the other is a pale sage green (Benartex Fossil Fern). There were

examples of ugly fabrics at the meeting,...I actually liked most of them,...go figure!

Sewing Machine Needles:

Chris Moline read an article regarding the sewing machine needles that we use.

The articles and books we read tell us to use specific needles as well as specific brands 

for specific purposes,...piecing, quilting, applique, blah, blah, blah. It all depends on the 

authors experiences. Well, the article talks about these needles and about how they are all 

a little off in their calibrations, causing us to call out dirty names while in the process of 

trying to create a masterpiece. Their claim was that the only needles that were truly 

calibrated correctly and consistently were Singer brand. So, Chris whipped out her handy 

calibrating tool (I looked but couldn't find mine! Ha! Who else but Chris would own one of

these things!?!) and started measuring needles. She needed to measure from the top of the 

needle to the top of the eye of the needle. Singer was the only one that was consistent and 

true. So, the point of this is to stop spending money on all of those expensive foreign

needles and buy good old fashioned, your grandmother used 'em, why not you? Singer 

needles!

Make your own hard bound book!

For show and tell several months ago, one of our members brought in a hard bound

book with her quilts in it. (Sorry, I can hear brain cells landing on the lower lobes of my 

brain as I type this, so I've forgotten her name although her face is right there where it 

belongs! From this point on she'll be known as Comic Book Girl. She is standing proudly with

her cape flapping in the wind behind her!  Oh, what a sight!)

Anyway, it was fun and reasonable when on sale. I know that Joan Bratton had one done for

one of her vacations.

Here is the web site: winkflash.com

Massage Therapy Information:

I fell asleep on the sofa leaning on my fist. Messed up my jaw. I was in pain for 2

months when my sister came in from California to visit. She had been to a new dentist who

massaged her jaw, popped it back into place, ground down her teeth for proper alignment,

and I want to know where in the area you can find a dentist like that?!? My dentist told me

that I probably had TMJ, which I didn't believe.

I looked on line and found this woman who does intra-oral massage. She massages from

your shoulders up, inserts a gloved hand into your mouth and presses pressure points to

relieve the pain.

It worked! It was $75 for a one hour session. I had a 2nd appointment because there

were still some pressure points that were in some pain,...but only when she pressed on it!

So, after the first visit I went home pain free. You've gotta love that!

In addition to the intra-oral massage, she and her girls also do other massage types:

Swedish, trigger point, neuromuscular, deep tissue, pre & post natal, and hot stone.

You may find relief from TMJ, Stress, whiplash, repetitive strain, plantar fascitis, postural

imbalance, neck and back, carpel tunnel, fibromyalgia, and headaches.

She also is a trained hypnotist, and can help you over come problems that you may

have,...being late, public speaking phobias, memory improvement,...the list goes on. She

is unable to convince you to do something that you do not want while under hypnosis. If you

want to begin showing up on time, she cannot set you up to arrive 5 minutes early. If you

want to be a better public speaker, she cannot set you up to be an exotic pole dancer!

So, it won't be as exciting as a Vegas show, but it may be benificial to you.

She also does something called EFT or emotional freedom technique (see emofree.com)

which is basically a method of tapping on pressure points. It has the same affect as

accupunture, sans needles.

She does workshops on stress, ergonomics, and pain reduction self care. She is willing

to do a workshop for us for free, maybe throw in some gas money. I'm going to talk to

Faithful Circle and see if they would be interested in her as a speaker. It's 30 to 60 minutes

for approximately $125. I was wondering if the group would be interested in hearing her

speak. We'll discuss this at the next meeting. I'm sure she's hoping to get some jobs from

this.

BODYWORK, massage therapy and stress reduction center, inc.

Rose Marie Soraich, LMT neuromuscular, deep tissue, NGH certified hypnotist

specialist.

105 West Elm Street, Wheaton, IL 60187 630-682-5599

Okay, ladies, that's a wrap. Can't think of anything more, at least not until I get upstairs and

stir the spaghetti sauce! Remember there will be no December meeting, the button

challenge is due in a few months (check last month's newsletter). Happy Thanksgiving to

those I will not see, as well as a happy set of holidays!

xxxooo, Laurie

OCTOBER 2008 NEWSLETTER

October 2, 2008

I'm sorry that I missed the September meeting, but I was not feeling well.  Please forgive me!

Linda VanderKolk was nice enough to submit some notes regarding the meeting.

There was a small turnout on September 22, but it was a very productive night!

In theory there was some work done on the black and white fused composition study.  Apparently no one brought the book (something we need to work on,...being organized.  Personally "being organized" is against my religion!)  I believe it was Cheryl who ran to pick up her copy of the book, but interest had waned by that time. 

CALENDAR UPDATE:  All but 2 items had been photographed.  The committee will meet soon,

and order forms will be available in October.  Don't forget, the more we order, I assume the

price goes down.  I've been wrong before, and that has been pointed out many, many times!

I won't name names.

GRAPHIC BUTTON CHALLENGE:  Due February 2009.

A bag of graphically interesting buttons was brought to the meeting.  Each person selected one button.  The design on the button will form the basis of the art item.  Only challenge buttons may be used.  (So don't get any bright ideas!)  You can make anything, any size, but it must be recognizable as derived from the button.  The button should be included on the art somewhere, even if it's on the back.  More challenge buttons will be brought to the October Divas meeting or, if you can't wait to get started, contact Linda VanderKolk.

IDEA FOR A FUTURE CHALLENGE:  Nine patch composition.

RUSTING FABRIC:  There is an article in the August/September 1008 Quilting Arts Magazine written by Claire Waguespack Fenton called The Test of Time Rusting Fabric.  I know there were some of you out there who were interested in Rust-Tex, etc, so thought this might be useful.

MEETINGS:

October:  We hope to have a guest mystery speaker.  Dorothy Larsen is working on that.  Be sure to attend and bring an extra $5 to pay the speaker.

NOVEMBER:  Ugly fabric exchange blocks.  Everyone bring 3 different ugly fabrics,

12" x 12".  These will be exchanged.  A 4th fabric and a pattern for a block will be provided.  The blocks will be combined into one quilt.  Depending on how the quilt turns out, it could become a charity quilt, a raffle quilt, or maybe part of the Art

League's gallery display.

Also, plan to bring lots of show and tell in November.

DECEMBER:  Dorothy, we need to discuss the date for this meeting, or if we will be skipping

it completely like we did last year.  Ladies, the art league has their holiday sale going

on at that time and it would require meeting at a different location.  With the busy

holidays, last year we skipped it (my executive decision).  We'll talk.

FUTURE MEETINGS:  We are hoping to arrange for at least 3 guest speakers in 2009.  Your 

ideas for future meetings are welcome.  One idea is for the lady from Golden Products

to visit.  This is a mystery to me, but it's supposed to be worth our while.

The following was a handout at the PAQA meeting.  The woman had sent samples of her work for a workshop, they had been in a flood, and were cleaned by the women of that guild.  This is the process that they used:

CLEANING FLOOD DAMAGED QUILTS by Debra Murphy

The information described here was collected from several places and combined to make a cleaning procedure that worked for us.  Let us begin with important guidelines:  wear rubber gloves when handling contaminated articles!  If at all possible, try to keep the quilts damp.

It is important to get the river sludge rinsed out as soon as possible.  To do this I laid the quilts out on the driveway, used the garden hose with a spray nozzle and hosed them out, many, many times with a sweeping motion, back and forth across the quilt.  Hopefully you see the dirt lift out and spray away.  I did turn the quilts over and spray the back clean, then rolled them to the front again to continue spraying until I felt they were as clean as I could manage.

The items MUST be bleached with just enough bleach to kill the bacteria and mold.  Fill the washing machine, add the bleach.  Two tablespoons bleach to a washing machine tub full of water is enough to do this and not enough to fade the quilts.  The water can be cool.  Agitate it for just a bit, then add the quilt.  It doesn't need to run for a long time, just a few minutes, before draining the bleach water out.  I rinsed the queen size quilt outside in a kiddy pool filled part way with cold water and added about 3 tablespoons bleach.  I felt there was more water in the pool than the washing machine.  I carefully submerged the quilt into the pool and went to work swishing and pushing it down through the water until I felt the quilt had enough bleach water through all the layers to kill the bacteria.  I then took it to the washer to finish cleaning.

On one of the quilts I dipped my fingers into Tide and rubbed on the white background pieces to give them a little extra cleaning.  I wanted them white again, if at all possible.  And it worked!

Run a regular wash cycle and use Tide detergent.  Rinse out twice.  If it still seems to be a little sudsy, rinse again!

Do NOT put the quilts in the dryer.  They must air dry.  If you find spots that were missed, you have a better chance of removing the spots if they are not heat dried.  I would try Oxy Clean on those spots and cleaned again.

If you are too busy to give the quilt attention right away - KEEP IT DAMP!  Put the quilt in the freezer!  Roll the quilt or item with a layer of plastic on the top surface (garbage bags will work), jelly roll style, to keep the damp fabric from toughing to help prevent any bleeding.  Slide this in another bag and put in a freezer.  When you have time to work on it, take out the freezer and thaw long enough to unroll and get right to the rest of the cleaning.

There was a little color running on a few items but I feel this occurred when they sat in the river water for awhile.  After we bleached and cleaned, those few spots were hard to find.

I hope this helps someone.  If you have a quilt that has been dried already, go ahead and try this.  What have you got to loose!