April 2011 Newsletter

Good day to you, ladies! Spring is here and laughing at us. Very rude on spring's part, if you ask me! The last meeting was very nice, with lots of show and tell. We then started working on our name tags, thanks to some nudging by Linda and Camille! Mine is still unfinished, but I have great intentions! Let's see how many are ready to wear at the next meeting. Thanks for spurring us on, ladies!

Illinois State Museum, Lockport, IL has a show up until September 16, 2011: Amish and "English": Quilts from the Illinois State Museum Collection. The quilts date from 1870 through 1950. Looks very interesting. Check it out at www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/lockport/exhibitions.html

The Art and Science Exhibit for PAQA will be on exhibit somewhere in Joliet this May

(more on that in the next newsletter, maybe), and at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle this September. They always put on a nice show.

Catherine Redford has a piece for the Alzheimer's exhibit, "Heart Break to Hope", which will be traveling for 3 years. Yea!!!

An "Electric Quilts" presentation will take place at the April 25th meeting! Cheryl will be giving a 40 minute Powerpoint talk on e-textiles, and will also bring her electronic quilts. Lucky thing for all of you, I have my electronic robots to sleep under them! I'll be sure to bring them. This will be very interesting for dinosaurs such as myself. Thank you, Cheryl!

May 23rd will have Nancy with a demo on paper fabric ala Kelli Perkins! I just checked it out on-line, and it's way cool, and very collage-like. You can scan through part of her book at www.amazon.com/Stitch-Alchemy-Combining-Fabric-Paper/dp/1596681136 All you need to do is pull it up and click on the arrows to the left or right, rather than scrolling down and doing the same thing. Looking forward to this! Thanks!

June 27th will bring Sharon Malec with a hands on demo/do it yourself thingy on Felting Animals! $2 will get you the supplies you need to participate, in addition to the normal $3 meeting fee. Sharon does beautiful work,...everything from leaves and branches, to buffalo! Very impressive. Thank you, my dear!

Lynne Erbach will be giving a lecture on "How Do Judges Choose Award-winning Quilts?" This will be next Wednesday, April 27, 2011, at the Faithful Circle Quilt Guild meeting. It starts at 7 p.m. and I believe there is a $5 fee for non-members,...BUT they have a sweets table during break! Woo-woo! Maybe this is where the true meaning of "fat quarters" comes from! Lynn is a certified judge, and this lecture should prove to be very informative for those of us who are submitting our work to shows. You can get more information as to the location, as well as upcoming shows and workshops at www.fcquilters.com

You lucked out! I don't have much to report this time! "Blabber fingers Laurie" will be signing off shortly. Remember, our next meeting will be on Monday, April 25th at 7 p.m. at the Naperville Art League, 508 N. Center St, Naperville, IL. $3 will get you in, and life will be good! See you Monday, moo-cha-cha's! xo, Laurie

March 2011 Newsletter

Hello, one and all! Welcome to the wild and wacky world of the Fiber Art Divas!

Our last meeting was on February 28th, and there were 19 of us.

GRAFFITI FABRICS was taught by Cheryl, and was way fun! This involved pre-washed fabrics and Tulip brand fabric paints in spray bottles. Add stencils and you've got some fun fabrics! The stencils she brought were a variety that went from elegant swirls to cockroaches. (Strange girl, that Cheryl!) And the results were great. Everyone had a great time. Thanks to you, Cheryl!

THIS NEXT MEETING IS OUR NAME TAG MEETING! Linda and Camille have been kind enough to offer up a night to FINALLY make our name tags. As much as I'd like to say that I have a great memory, I still have trouble with the names of our members. What a dope! You will need to bring a 5" square of top fabric of your choice. This should be a light enough color so your name shows. If you want to make a name tag that hangs around your neck, bring extra fabric or cording.

Embellishments and a hand sewing kit are also necessary. Linda and Camille will provide backing fabrics, batting, pens, extra embellishments, fusible web, fabric glue, and an iron and ironing board. Your finished name tags will be approximately 3" x 3". So, come on out to the March meeting and make your name tag so that we'll finally know who you are!

DEMOS COMING UP are listed in the February newsletter, but are "E-Quilts" in April,

Paper fabric in May, and felted animals (or something) in June (with a $2 supply fee). Can't wait!

Put your thinking caps on and come to the meeting with any ideas of demos or "classes" you'd like

to give to the group. Thanks in advance.

HARVEST HOUSE QUILTING has a great offer for you. They will give you a 90 minute lesson on their long arm quilting machine for $25. You will need to purchase zippers ($25) to attach to your piece, which will make for easy installation of your quilts onto the machine. It will also allow you to zip on and zip off if you don't finish quilting your piece in one session. At $9.50/hour, you may now schedule to use their long arm to finish up your quilts. How cool is that!

Harvest House Quilting, 24231 Apple Tree Lane, Plainfield, IL 60585,

815-609-5831 www.harvesthousequilting.com/about-us.htm

THE CLEARING FOLK SCHOOL is in Door County, Wisconsin. It has classes starting in May

for their summer programs, and are said to be excellent and in a wonderful, relaxing environment.

http://theclearing.org/2010/index.shtml will get you to their website, and lists everything from

bird watching to quilting, wood turning to photography, poetry, watercolor...and the list goes on.

Check it out!

GRACE ERREA from California will be speaking at the Faithful Circle Quilt Guild on June 22

at 7 pm (for more info go to www.fcquilters.com). "The Value of Quilting" is the topic. She'll be

teaching 2 classes for Faithful Circle Quilting Guild on June 23 and 24 of this year. The first is on

values, and the 2nd concerns a pattern from her website (www.amazingquiltsbygrace.com). I just

checked it out, and amazing is definitely the operative word here! If you hit "about", along the left

edge is "categories", with class descriptions. Anyway, it's $5 for the lecture, and $45 for non

members per class. You may take either class, or both classes, no problemo.

PHOTOS FROM OUR LAST 2 QUILT SHOWS are available to us. Please bring a zipdrive,

jump drive, memory stick or whatever you call it to the meeting. A 2 GB will have plenty of room.

Bring it in a bag marked with your name on it, hand it to Yvette. She will transfer the photos

and bring it back to us. The only cost to you is that of the memory stick and a hug. Thanks, Yvette!

MARCH CHALLENGE, UNDERFOOT is due at this meeting. No restrictions of any kind other

than the theme. This can be interpreted in any way you'd like. Can't wait to see what y'all have

come up with!

THE ORIGINAL SEWING & QUILTING EXPO IS MARCH 31 - APRIL 2 at the Renaissance

Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, 1551 N. Thoreau Dr, Schaumburg, IL. Admission is $10.

Hours Th & F 10 t0 6, Sat 10 - 5. Go to www.sewingexpo.com

OUR NEXT MEETING will be on Monday, March 28th at 7 p.m. at the Naperville Art League, 508 N Center Street, Naperville, IL 60563 (a block or so from the intersection of Washington & 5th).

Be sure to bring your name tag making kit, as well as some show and tell! April 25 & May 23 are

the next two meetings after that. See you soon. xxxooo, Laurie

February 2011 Newsletter

Today is Wednesday, February 23rd, and I am way late on getting this out to you. I apologize. Life has a way of getting in the way of the newsletter,...or anything else getting done for that matter. Note to self: Never try to juggle too many balls at one time!

January 24, 2011 meeting highlights: When we first started this group, one of our focuses was to have a member given demo at most of the meetings, in addition to show and tell and general jaw flapping in the night air. We seem to have lost that, and are now about to reinstate it starting with the next meeting. More later.

Next Divas' Show: We have been given the dates for our next show which is to be held at the Naperville Art League once again, thank you very much to you, NAL! Set up will be on Friday, October 21, 2011, take down will be Sunday, October 30,...MAYBE. We may be able to leave it up for more than a week. That is yet to be decided.

We will have more rules, earlier deadlines, more organized in every aspect. We are learning more with each show that we have, and intend to use that knowledge. Yea for us! We will kick in the discussions on this starting at the July meeting.

March Challenge: This meeting will be the official unveiling of the latest challenge, Underfoot! There were no rules, size restrictions,...only a willingness to explore it's many different interpretations. Looking forward to see what you folks are up to!

Anne Lullie: We have all agreed that we'd like to have Anne give us a class. We forgot to discuss WHICH class! Duh! And I haven't had time to call the church to see if they have any opening dates, and what it would cost to rent the space.

www.harbor-sales.com: That's the website for DeColourant. This is a product that is painted onto fabric, removing the dye in that area, leaving the original fabric color pre-overdying. It comes in 23 colors, smells citrusy, and has ads in Quilting Arts magazine (Dec/Jan 2011, and Pg. 77 in the Feb/March 2011 issue). We saw a sample at the meeting, and it was way cool!

ThermoChromatic Paint: I have no info on this other than it changes color with heat.

www.wheaton.edu/art/gallery/indes.html: Check out this sight. Jeremy Botts is a quilt artist who is exhibiting his work At the Wheaton College Hansen Main Gallery until March 9th. I apologize for cutting this so close for you.

Our very own DEMO SCHEDULE:

FEBRUARY 28: Cheryl will demo GRAFFITI FABRICS, and there will be a small fee in addition to the usual $3 meeting fee.

Everyone will need to bring:

-a large plastic garbage bag

- an apron or clothes you don’t mind getting paint on

-3-4 fat quarters of muslin or pastel colored fabric

-your own stencils (optional)

-Fabric markers (optional)

-$2 for materials

I will bring:

-an extra folding table

-fabric spray paint

-painters tape (to tape garbage bags to table)

-stencils

-samples

-baby wipes to clean the stencils

We will need paper towels.

We will need to put 2 people per table and we have about 5 tables there, correct? That means 12 people can take the class with my extra folding table. We can squeeze 3 people on some of the longer tables, I think.

MARCH 28: Linda and Camille will organize a name tag meeting. Now we'll actually know who we're talking to!

APRIL 25: Cheryl will give a demo on "E" textiles, "Electric Quilt" kind of stuff. (I feel like a dinosaur already! NOT FAIR!)

MAY 23: Nancy will demo Kelly Perkins paper fabric technique.

JUNE 27: Sharon will have us felting animals with a class fee included.

More on all of those later. The fees, if it applies, will be listed later, as well as any supplies. A lot to look forward to thanks to those who actually know something! (That excludes me because...REMEMBER? I'm a DINOSAUR!!!! You don't have to rub it in my face like that! It's just a little bit rude!)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28 is our next meeting with Cheryl's demo, so come prepared if you'd like to participate. Naperville Art League at 7 pm. $3 plus the additional mystery fee (which is minimal) for the demo supplies (you are actually participating in this one, so demo is the wrong word to use here). See you soon! xo, Laurie

No December meeting

A reminder that there is no December meeting, and we will see you in January! Have a great holiday!

November Newsletter

Our last meeting was on October 25, 2010, with 17 people, 3 of whom are new!  Woo-hoo!...and welcome to you all.

QUILT SHOW:  The show was a big success with lots of positive comments, and quite a few visitors.  We discussed ways to pull off a more organized, and therefore, easier to set up quilt show.  Please continue to think of ways to improve.  With all of our quilt show experiences put together, this shouldn't be hard.  I believe we will be doing this again during the same week in October, 2011.

QUILT SHOW PHOTOS:  Our new historian, Jan Igor, took shots of the show being hung, as well as completed and during the artist's reception.  She will be putting them on a disc for us to burn copies for those members who may be interested.  We'll get a list going for that.  Anyone interested being the "queen of burn"?...as in burning copies of the disc?  

As far as the cost, we can do it one of two ways.  Either Divas pays for discs and everyone gets one whether you'd like one or not,...OR we figure out the cost and break it down between those who are interested.  We'll talk.

Also, I have asked Linda VanderKolk to ask her husband to burn a disc of the quilt show photos from May, 2009.  We will burn copies for those who are interested in these, as well.  We have offered to pay him for the copy being that this is his business, not his hobby.

DEB'S QUILTERY:  Deb Figved (not a real name to my knowledge!) has a shop at 210 N. Tatga Ave, Bartlett, IL  60103

630-837-6383, e-mail:  deb@quiltandsew.net

web site:  http://quiltandsew.net

She is open by appointment only, so no stopping in unannounced!

She sells both wholesale and retail.  14 different batt types (Legacy Batting Dist.), APQS rental and sales, carries Superior threads, Sew Batik, and Pellon, among other things.  We were able to touch all of the batts, and there was everything from classic cottons to silk, wool and bamboo!

MARCH CHALLENGE:  Our new challenge is "Under Foot"!  Let your imagination roam on that one for a while!  There are no restrictions of any kind other than those that are self imposed!  Could be something you walk on, emotions,....  Obviously by it being called the March Challenge, the due date is the March meeting.  Enjoy!

Think about this for a minute:  If you think you'd be interested in entering your challenge into any of the major quilt shows, get their size restrictions and work with those.

LOGO CONTEST:  It has been brought to our attention that our group needs a logo, and what better way to get one than to have a contest!  The winner gets a compete box of 64 Crayola Crayons!

Not really.  This logo should be graphic, not made of fiber.  This will make it easier, as well as more reasonably reproduced cost-wise.  This logo will then be used for any advertising that we may need to do, such as business cards and quilt show fliers.  When you see a major brand name (Coca Cola for example), you immediately recognize the logo without even reading the box.  That's what we're shooting for.  So, put your doodle brain in action and come up with something fun!  Thank you.

NAME TAGS:  We are asking once again for you to please wear a name tag!  I don't care if it's from a different guild, I don't care if it's the wrong side of a Jewel receipt,...it will make it easier for everyone if we can read your name instead of trying to pretend like we remembered it on our own!  I love you all, but I have no brain when it comes to names!  I've been quilting with a group of women in Elmhurst for 26 years.  When I try to introduce them individually, I choke every time!  I'm an idiot!  So, even if you don't want to wear a name tag for everyone else, then please show pity on me and wear one anyway.

DEMOS AND CLASSES:We will be planning to return to our original goal which was to educate each other, as well as have classes.  Please think about anything that you might like to demonstrate to the group at one of the meetings.  And we are back to considering having Anne Lullie teach a class. (www.annelullie.com).  This may take place at COD, but we'll see how it goes.  If there is anyone who is local that you are interested, please come to the meeting prepared with some info.  If you are unable to make it, just send me the info before noon on Wednesday.

NEXT MEETING:  The next meeting will be on Monday, 

November 22nd at 7pm at Naperville Art League.  Yes, that is the same week as Thanksgiving.  Don't forget your $3.

We will not have a December meeting, so the next meeting after that is January 24th, 2011, at 7 p.m. at the Naperville Art League.

508 N. Center Street, Naperville, IL.  $3 per person per meeting.

OUR FIBER ART EXHIBIT AT NAPERVILLE ART LEAGUE

October 23 – 30th 2010
at the Naperville Art League
508 N. Center St
Naperville, Illinois

A showing of art quilts, knitted, felted, mixed  fiber media and more from the members of the Fiber Art Divas group.

Join us for our Artist’s Reception  Sunday, October 24th from 1-4pm
See demonstrations of our work, talk to the artists, enjoy refreshments, and more!

Show Hours
Sat.– Noon—4pm
Sun.– 1—4 pm
Mon.– 7– 9 pm
Tues.- closed
Weds. thru Fri.- Noon– 4pm

September 2010 Newsletter

Good day to you, ladies and gentleman!

Our last meeting was on August 16, with 14 members attending. Nice show and tell as always, with a few organized people showing their completed "kitchen utensil challenge". (As much as I love them, there is a part of me that is envious and doesn't like them for being so organized! Argh! I fight with myself!)

Kitchen Utensil Challenge is due at the September 27th meeting. If you intend to display it in the upcoming show at the Naperville Art League, you will need to write up something about your inspiration. We have not discussed what this should be written on, typed on, or if they should all be consistent (as in one of us offers to type them all up). Something to discuss in 2 weeks at the meeting.

Our Fiber Art Exhibit at the Naperville Art League, as listed just below this newsletter, is quickly approaching. We have only one meeting (September 27) to complete our plans, so please be there with your thinking caps packed snuggly in your bag.

We will be passing around a sign up sheet for demo's that will take place at the artist's reception on Sunday, October 24 from 1 - 4 pm. I think we are just looking for warm bodies to be working on a piece while people visit the show. Maybe I'm wrong,...more on that at the meeting. (Another good reason to show up!) We have a member in charge of designing a sing in book, so we're good there.

We also discussed if anyone was interested in submitting an artist's statement for a binder that would be made available to be viewed by our visitors. This can be as elaborate or as informative as you are comfortable with. It is an excellent opportunity for those members who wish to sell their work (from the show or from home), listing their web site or any other information they'd wish to share. This is up to you as to whether or not you choose to participate in this portion of the show.

Keep sewing those challenge quilts!!!

Check out this website: www.jcrabtreeart.com for beautiful stitchery art by Julie Crabtree-Pfannes (and we know she means business because she has her name hyphenated!) Her work is beautiful and well worth the visit to her sight!

If anyone has any information on places to exhibit fiber art, please send it to me so that I may post it for those who are interested.

There will be a show held at the Morton Arboretum from November 12 - 14.

"Animal Felt", a class by Sharon Malec will take place at the Morton Arboretum on Saturday, October 16, from 9:30 to 3:30. More information is available at mortonarb.org. I've seen her work and it's incredible!!!

Okay! I have a love/hate relationship with my computer. Right now it won't type in any other size. Argh! So, as before, our next meeting (the last before the exhibit) will be on September 27 at 7 pm at the Naperville Art League, 508 N. Center St, Naperville, IL. Be there or be square! xo, Laurie