About Pins & Needles Art Quilyting

The Pins & Needles Art Quilters group is a neighborhood circle formed from members of River City Quilter’s Guild.We meet once a month to exchange information about art quilts, to share and critique our work, to pursue exhibitions and competitions, and publishing options. We currently have over twenty dedicated members from varied backgrounds. We challenge our group monthly to try new techniques, or themes, to explore mixed media options, and to share new discoveries.

Our group’s work is regularly shown at the River City Quilter’s Guild annual show in Sacramento, California. Our members’ work has also been shown at several national and international shows, as well as in local venues.


Friday, June 12, 2015

Self-Portrait Close-Ups

Listed in alphabetical order by first name, these are close-ups of the Self-Portrait challenge from March.

BJ Bailey

Cindy Minoli

Jan Soules

Kathy Orsburn
Kathy's self-portrait was made "through trial and error" using a black and white photocopy of a photograph; technique includes raw-edge piecing, painting, and bead embellishments.

Kim Sikes

Lori Wisheropp

Marie Nelson

Sunni Hamilton
Sunni Hamilton
See Sunni's blog link on the right side of this page for her descriptions of her portraits.

Susan Schwarting

Susan Spicer

Thank You Sunni!

We would like to thank our intrepid blog creator and keeper, Sunni Hamilton, for her inspiration and effort in documenting our work for the last three years. She will be taking a brief break so she can catch up with other ideas. See you around, Sunni, and THANK YOU!

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Monday, March 2, 2015

February 2015

We are all working on our current challenge Faces using appliqué, which is due next month. Overheard comments on the process: 

"I threw it in the trash and started over" 

"I wanted to throw my sewing machine out the window"

" I felt like I should just quit and give away my stash", (which drew a lot of volunteers to take it away).

This challenge is one of the most "challenging". In preparation Kim Sikes gave a very informative demonstration on how she approaches the subject from an original photograph.  
She starts with a photograph reduced to grayscale.

Then carefully numbers and traces each section
She chooses fabrics to reflect the
various shades, these
for a color portrait,
And these for grayscale





















Each small piece is carefully cut out, then assembled and appliqued. Glass of wine helps. 

Kim suggest the following items: 
Gray Scale/ Value Finder, Proportion wheel, Dura-Lar polyester film, black and red sharpies, foam core board for assembling the pieces. Karen Kay Buckley serrated 4inch scissors, extra fine tweezers.

She also recommends the following books: 
Free Style Quilts and Serendipity Quilt by Susan Carlson, Raw Edge Appliqué by Nickels and Holly,
Photo-Inspired Quilts by Leni Leveson Wiener and Picture This! by Marcia Stein.

Kari brought her example of machine stitched appliqué. Very detailed. 

Another example of machine stitched appliqué from Kari.

Show and Tell for February

We are a multi-talented group, Kari brought some of her recent watercolors to share and inspire. 
Artist: Kari Bauer


Artist: Kari Bauer

Artist: Kari Bauer
Portrait of her granddaughter




Artist: Kari Bauer




Next Judith Imel with several small quilts from the 2006 Journal Quilt Project

Judith Imel

Artist: Judith Imel

Artist: Judith Imel

Artist: Judith Imel

Artist: Judith Imel

Artist: Judith Imel











Artist: Connie Horne
Jacket

Artist: Connie Horne

Artist: Elizabeth McInnes

Artist: Michelle Morrison

Artist: Michelle Morrison

Artist: Sandra Torguson
Hand dyed silk

Artist: Sandra Torguson
Hand dyed silk
Artist: Sandra Torguson
Hand dyed silk
Artist: Sunni Hamillton
Women at the Well
Artist: Sunni Hamillton
Journey Women
Lori Wisheropp shared her chosen layers for her portrait quilt. 
We will show the finished piece next month when we all unveil our best efforts. Join us in March