Inspirational Quilting program wraps up

It's a wrap! The year-long Inspirational Quilting (IQ) program at the Choo Choo Quilters Guild concluded at the November guild meeting. The survey that was distributed to guild members indicated an overall positive response to the presentations, topics, activities and the Continuing Education exercises.

The Inspirational Quilting program presenters and coordinators are (from left):
Veronica Hofman-Ortega, Cristy Clark, Vista Mahan and Ginny Minninger (not pictured).

The textbook for the program, "Fearless Design for Every Quilter," by Lorraine Torrence and Jean B. Mills, proved to be an excellent resource and reference. "I loved the Fearless Design book—especially the introduction. There was so much positive encouragement," said a guild member. "The Elements and Principles of Design were listed and well explained... a good reminder of the essentials of good design," commented another. And, another expressed, "I finally “got” the concepts of value and symmetry."

Of the 13 topics found in the Fearless Design book, eleven were chosen and presented as part of the IQ program. Additional topics—Innovative Piecing, Threadwork and Surface Design—were added by the coordinators to provide information and demonstrations on these popular techniques.

The IQ presenters, Cristy Clark, Veronica Hofman-Ortega, Vista Mahan and Ginny Minninger were graciously applauded and thanked for all their efforts and hard work. Looking ahead to 2012, suggestions for program topics were discussed at the guild meeting and a list of the team assignments were distributed.

Show and Tell

A Halloween wall hanging comes out of the UFO pile.

A reminder that Cuddle Quilts, the guild's community service project, are due in January, 2012. Please complete as many as possible and bring them to the January guild meeting.

Cuddle Quilts made with blocks that came from IQ Continuing Education exercises.

Happy Holidays to one and all!

From the Choo Choo Quilters

Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably visit Choo Choo Quilters

Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably, the "Color Guys," stopped for a short visit at the October Choo Choo Quilters Guild meeting. They are in Chattanooga, along with artist Erin Lee Gafill, for a week of color workshops in quilting, knitting and painting and a slide show and presentation of Kaffe's work.

Kaffe Fassett (left) and Brandon Mably, fabric, quilt and knitwear designers and authors.

Kaffe and Brandon inquired about the evening's program on borders and bindings for quilts, shared their thoughts on the topic, and took questions from guild members and visitors. "Be bold with color," "use 20 rather than 5 fabrics of one color in your quilt designs," and "step back and look at your work on a neutral-colored wall to assess your work," were some of the tips and bits of wisdom they passed along to us.

Left to right: Ginny Minninger, Vista Mahan, Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably, Veronica Hofman-Ortega.

What a special treat is was to have these internationally-acclaimed designers and fiber artists stop in for a visit! Thank you to guild member, Veronica Hofman-Ortega, for arranging their visit.

Show and Tell

Borders and Bindings program in October

Do you have any UFOs (unfinished objects) that need some inspiration to finish? Perhaps you have sewn rows of quilt blocks together and are stumped for ideas for a border. Bring any UFOs and works-in-progress to the October 17 Choo Choo Guild meeting for a program on "Borders and Bindings" and you might go home with a great idea or two to finish your quilt. In preparation, read Chapter 9 of the "Fearless Design" book, bring your sketchbook and something for Show and Tell to the meeting.

Then, on the heels of our Monday quilt guild meeting, is the slide show and presentation by world renown color expert, Kaffe Fassett, on Tuesday at 7 pm at the Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga. Kaffe is a master of color and his presentation is sure to leave you with loads of inspiration and ideas on color, quilting and patchwork. If you don't have your ticket yet, visit www.bigsurarts.com to secure a seat. This is Kaffe's first time visiting the Chattanooga area, so let's give him a warm quilters welcome.

What could be better than two back-to-back evenings seeing and talking about our favorite topic—quilts??

Kaffe Fassett is coming to Chattanooga

Do you have your ticket yet? Kaffe is on the way!

For the first time ever, Kaffe Fassett will be in Chattanooga for a slide show presentation and workshops. Kaffe, Brandon Mably and Erin Lee Gafill will be presenting Color in Design workshops in quilting, knitting, designing and painting from Tuesday, October 18 through October 25, with the slide show on October 18 at Girls Preparatory School at 7 pm.

Tickets for the presentation and workshops can be ordered at www.bigsurarts.com. Seats are limited, so don't delay.

"It has always been about color. And color can transform your life."   

—Kaffe Fassett

News & Updates for remainder of 2011

Sherry Baldwin's Wall Hanging

•  Marti Ownby will quilt any cuddle quilt for the guild if you supply the top and the backing
• The Dye Workshop is October 1 at 9:30.  See blog for details.
• Sherry Baldwin’s wall hangings will be for sale Sunday October 9 downtown across from UTC at the First Christian Church’s craft fair.  Stop by if you are downtown on Sunday!
• Ginny Minninger will teach the next topic, Bindings and Borders, during the October 17^th Meeting
• The November meeting is a wrap-up of the techniques from Fearless Design taught this year.
• Challenge of sorts for November (but not really):  Bring something you made that was inspired by one of the Fearless Design programs this year.  It can be anything, including homework. 
• Yearly dinner will be Monday December 5^th at the Mount Vernon restaurant.  Bring anything handmade (or made by someone’s hands) for the exchange.
• There were several beautiful cuddle quilts turned in during the September meeting, as shown in the photos below.  Examples of the August homework were also displayed along with some crafty beadwork on a beautiful blue summer-weight sweater.

Surface Design—so many choices!

This program was so good and so detailed, that it can’t be adequately described in words!  We learned the ins-and-outs of applying foil to the surface of fabric, as shown in the photos below.  The technique seemed relatively simple and forgiving once the glue was applied through a stencil and aged.  If the foil doesn’t cover the fabric the first time, then just apply it again, or even better, apply a different colored foil.  

How about metallic paints that give a similar look to foil?  These can be squeegeed through a silk screen which can be found at quilting and sewing expos and online.  Or you may want to apply a bleach product and then apply the paint in order to maintain a true color.  There are so many options.

 Perhaps the most fun is using paintsticks for surface design.  These are typically Shiva Oil Paintsticks, which are about $6 a piece, and there are several tutorials online of how to combine these with quilting (www.harmonyhanddyes.com/InstructShiva.html, mybrainonquilts.blogspot.com/2008/01/shiva-paintstik-tutorial.html).  You can use the paintsticks with rubbing plates or stencils, or even make your own stencils.  Several books describe the use of these, including Paintsticks on Fabric.  Cristy’s purple jacket and quilt are both made using paintsticks, which apparently are still quite useful after 10 years.

Dye Workshop Saturday October 1, 2011

DYE WORKSHOP  9:30-2:00
On the heels of last year’s wildy successful dye workshop, you are invited to join hosts Vista Mahan and Karen Sperry for some fulfilling hours of fabric dyeing.  Making quilts is even more fun if you can tell people you hand-dyed the fabric in your quilt!  If you are interested and haven’t yet asked Vista to expect you, please contact her.

If you haven’t done this before, here is what to expect:

The dyes and dye preparation (urea solutions, soda ash dye activator solutions) are costly and there will be 20 or more dye colors to choose from, so a $30 fee for this workshop is requested to cover the materials costs.  Vista and Karen will set up tables in her large garage area which will be used as our workstations, and they will instruct us on the best method for making a desired hand-dyed look, as well as showing off their beautiful hand-dyed cottons and silks.

Here’s what you need to know if you are attending the workshop:

Cost: $30

Time:  9:30-2:00

Bring with you:

1. Many Gallon Ziploc type baggies, at least one for each fat quarter
2. Rubber gloves or exam gloves
3. One or 2 plastic dish pans
4. Plastic pail
5. Plastic measuring cups (can’t be used for food later)
6. Partial roll of paper towels
7. Small notebook if you want to take notes
8. Optional: Rubber bands, glass marbles, clothes pins
9. White 100% cotton fabric, silk or rayon

Cotton, silk, and/or rayon fabric to make 20-28 fat quarters:

• Bring 7-9 yards of your own fabric.  (Dyes won’t take to synthetics.)
• YOU MUST WASH YOUR FABRIC IN HOT WATER AND TIDE, CHEER, ETC. before the workshop to remove any sizing or finishing treatment.
• After washing and drying, cut or tear your fabric into fat quarters, 1/3 yard, ½ yard sections or some combination of each size.

Bring a Sandwich & Drink for Lunch or Pizza can be ordered in Lafayette

Examples of Innovative Piecing and Threadwork

As we work towards the finale of our Fearless Design-inspired lesson plan for the year, we are able to go home after each meeting and return with new experiments, new ideas, and new ways to critique our work.  The Threadwork Program started off with a Show & Tell of beautiful examples of innovative piecing techniques learned during the previous program.Threadwork is like doing a pencil drawing and using shading to create depth.   It is the tiny detail that creates interest, as in the photo to the right where an innovative piecing technique using earthy tones of fabric is combined with exquisite surface detail using threadwork and other surface techniques.A classic example of threadwork is the Crazy Quilt, originating in the Victorian era.  Portrait "paintings" made with threadwork are shown in the photos below, as well as landscape "paintings".  Examples of beautiful and unusual yarns couched with thread are evident in the photo of the red quilt, below.