August 2015

FENCES CHALLENGE REVEAL

Our challenge was to create a horizontal or vertical 12"x18" art quilt with a "fence" running edge to edge, with no border or binding. We were very surprised at the variety of interpretations of a fence!

Back: BJ, Sunni, Helen, Linda, Sheila, Lori, Joy, Denise
Front: Kari, Elizabeth, Cindy

Artist: Linda Bergman
Linda used real straw sticking out of the scarecrow.

Artist: Sheila Green

Artist: Lori Wisheropp

Artist: Joy Valenton
Joy used sticks to create the wooden fence.

Artist: Denise Schmidt
Denise found some construction fencing for her piece.

Artist: Kari Bauer

Artist: Elizabeth McInnes
Elizabeth captured memories of Christo's "Running Fence" created in the Bay Area in the 1970's.

Artist: Cindy Minoli
Cindy made this years ago, and it fit exactly in the perameters of our challenge.

SHOW AND TELL

Some of our recent works

Artist: BJ Bailey

Artist: Helen Burke

Artist: Linda Bergman

Artist: Elizabeth McInnes
Elizabeth took a workshop with Valerie Goodwin, and created this Map Collage of Fort Ord, Monterey

Artist: Sunni Hamilton
Sunni has had works accepted in 5 shows, and has sold 4 pieces! This 3-dimensional art piece is titled Tide Pool.

Artist: Lori Wisheropp
This is Lori's Guild Member Challenge piece.

Artist: Lori Wisheropp
Lori created this for the Michael Miller Fabric Challenge. She echo quilted in the center black area to match the design of the challenge fabric.

Artist: Marie Nelson
Marie created Two Tulips inspired by a Ricky Tims design.

Artist: Marie Nelson
Marie has been whittling down her UFO list, including this Japanese fabric top she made years ago, and finally quilted it.

Artist: Sandra Torguson
Celebration
Hand-dyed and commercial fabric, hand and machine quilting, beading and multi-colored yarn embellishments.

Artist: Sandra Torguson
Sandra made this from hand dyed cottons and silks along with commercial fabric. She "wove the background, fused the flower and leaves, and then added accents by thread painting," according to her web site at sandrasmixedbag.blogspot.com 

July 2015

Show and Tell

Marie Nelson shared several quilts she had finished in the last month. This one, titled "Latte with Cookies" is an improvised pieced design.

The back of "Latte with Cookies" shows detail of Marie's free-motion long-arm quilting.

"Americana", also free-motion quilted.

"Crazy Fairies", made with scraps from a fabric representative, is a stack-and-whack crazy quilt.

Free-motion quilting detail from the back of "Crazy Fairies" by Marie Nelson. The fabric is a light yellow fleece.

Lori Wisheropp shared a pine needle basket she made years ago.

Sandra Torguson shared a mandala she made with puff paints on canvas. This photo does not capture the luminescence of the colors.

Kari's granddaughter, Elsie, showed us her watercolor, made at art/nature camp that week. The technique involved blowing the wet paint through a straw.

Artist: Elsie

Experiment Quiltlets

The techniques for this month's homework quiltlets were 
Inspiration from Images.

Kari Bauer shared several pieces she had made previously using techniques related to images, including this high-contrast portrait.

Kari made this one when Elsie was younger, printing the images from a home color printer.

Kari made this one also using the technique of color printed images.

Jan Soules showed her last month's quiltlet (right) along with this month's (left). Jan's theme is "Windows".

Left: Elizabeth McInnes ; Right: Sheila Green

Artist: Joy Valenton. Her theme is birds.

Kim Sikes explained the technique she used to create these images on a copier...

...which were then transferred to the fabric using a citrus solvent and light pressure from a wooden spoon.

Lori Wisheropp showed last and this month's art deco florals.

California State Fair 2015

The State Fair Craft Exhibit was heavily represented by Pins and Needles members. 

Ordered clockwise around the exhibit:

Artist

Title

ribbon (category)

Awards

Jan Soules (both quilts)

left: Total Eclipse of the Sun
2nd place (pieced quilt small/medium)
NCQC Award
Best Use of Color

right: Parasols
3rd (art quilt small/medium)

Kim Sikes
Greeting the Dawn
3rd (art quilts miniature)

Jan Soules
For the Birds
3rd (applique quilt sm/med)

Kathy Orsburn
Couture Bag
4th (wearable art)

Jan and Kathy's pieces displayed together.

Denise Schmidt
Quadripoint
1st (art quilt miniature)

Connie Horne
Aboriginal Coat Ensemble
1st (quilting beyond bedcovers)
Best of Division
River City Quilting Award

upper right: Denise Schmidt
Groundwater
2nd (art quilt sm/med)

Jan Soules
Trees with Yellow Sky
3rd (mixed technique quilt sm/med)

Kathy Orsburn
Swing Jacket
2nd (wearable art)

center right: Connie Horne
Orange Fancy Bag
1st (accessories)

Jan Soules
City of Lights
3rd (mixed technique quilt sm/med)

Jan Soules, Phyllis McCalla, Jan Bawart, Cathy Brorby, Carole Pirruccello
View of Arles with Irises

1st (mixed technique quilt, group)
Best of Show
Best of Division
River City Quilting Award
Meissner Sewing Center Award

Congratulations to all the State Fair winners!!

June 2015

Show and Tell

We started our meeting with Show and Tell and 

shared recent projects.

Artist: Kari Bauer

Artist: Kathy Orsburn
Kathy used several thrift store shirts to make a different shirt, intending to enter it in the State Fair Upcycle category. It was rejected, because shirts were used to make a shirt. We all liked it though!

Artist: Sheila Green
Sheila shared two collages she had matted and framed with the intent to enter them in a juried art show.

Artist: Sheila Green

BJ showed us a Temari ball, a Japanese String Ornament, that a friend made and gave her. This photo does not capture the exquisite design of the ornament.

Artist: BJ Bailey
BJ drew this rose by hand using various graphite pencils, and estimated that she spent over 80 hours on it.

Helen Burke shared some pear appliques she made at a workshop made using a crayon technique.

Artist: Linda Bergman
Dogwoods
This photo does not show the woodgrain quilting design that Linda used. Crystals embellish the centers of the flowers.

Artist: Lori Wisheropp
Lori shared an acrylic painting she made years ago of a portrait of a woman. The painting was done using only two colors: the dark blue in the upper left corner, and the bright green in the lower right corner, and various shades of the two colors in between. She did this before digital photography and image manipulation programs were available.

Artist: Cindy Minoli
Cindy's current work in progress

Close-up of Cindy's work

After Show and Tell, we shared our "homework", 9"x 12" vertical quiltlets using our chosen theme, and one or more of the design concepts explained in chapter 2 of the "Art Quilt Workbook" by Jane Dávila and Elin Waterston.

Artist: Kari Bauer
Kari's theme is "Southwest", and she didn't like the first one (left), so she made another one.

Artists: Lori Wisheropp (left) and Susan Spicer
Lori experimented with acrylic decoupage glue painted on the front and back of the fabrics to seal the fibers, allowing such thin pieces. Her theme is "Art Deco Florals".
Susan's theme is "Abstract".

Artist: Willie Beaudet
Willie's theme is "Pachyderms", and she created this with crayon, embroidery floss and fabric scraps.

Artists: Sheila Green and Elizabeth McInnis
Sheila's theme is "Shells" and Elizabeth's is "Figs".  Both tried to show perspective through placement and color.

Artists: Helen Burke and BJ Bailey
Helen's theme is "Mushrooms", and hers includes a snippet of text taken from a cookbook.
BJ's theme is "Text", and each of the fabrics and coin embellishments have Asian text on them.

Artists: Kim Sikes and Linda Bergman
Kim's theme is "Leaves", and she started with her favorites, ginko leaves. She explained how she made the design and then thread painted it.
Linda's theme is "Flowers" and her design is taken from a photograph of Easter Lilies.
Both artists tried showing perspective through
placement and size.

Our homework for July will be a similar quiltlet using design concepts and techniques in Chapter 3 of the workbook.

Upcoming Challenge: Due in August
"Fences", 12" x 18" vertical or horizontal
Any kind of fence can be anywhere across the image, with no borders (edge to edge image).