Tuesday 31 March 2015

Italy here I come!

Hi everyone!  Just returned from a month in sunny Florida.  Weather was great and I sure rested up for a busy April and May!
I am very booked for trunk shows and workshops in April.  Everywhere from Oakville to Perth, Ontario.
I entered a Fiber arts show in Verona, Italy. The show is called " Colori Divini".  It celebrates the colors and influence of the wine country of VERONA.  My wife, Debbie and I are going to the festival in May from the 14th-25th. I was notified recently that my piece was accepted!  How exciting it will be to actually see the piece hanging in the show!
From VERONA we are traveling to Greece, Turkey, Istanbul and Croatia.  Hope to do a lot of sketching and designing new pieces along the way.  Probably buy a few meters of fabrics too!  These I will certainly divide among my fellow Fabrigos.
Also taking a course with Sue Spargo in Amherst NY.  Hope to hone up on my hand stitching skills.
( want to make Jo proud of me, as she does beautiful hand stitching) .
While in Florida I visited two quilt shows.  At one show I bought a HUGE bag of assorted Upholstery fabrics. Everything from velvets, corduroys, and linens all for $2.00!  I am sure these will also be shared with my Fabrigos for a future challenge.
Next week I am teaching a two day class in Amherst, NY.  It is a threadpainting class using many techniques and a variety of  machine stitches with a free motion foot.  Always amazed at what the students accomplish.  I always seem to come away with more ideas from the students then I seem to teach them!
Looking forward to gardening season.  Funny how gardening and fiber arts go together!
Will post a picture of my Italian  piece from Italy in May!

Saturday 7 March 2015

First Year Anniversary and Collaboration

We celebrated our 1st year anniversary this past month. It was a great day since we braved the cold to combine our newest Collaborative work for the Relay of Hope Ontario Panel. Canadian Aids Society and Relay of Hope Run

Robynne brought this cause to our attention and we jumped right in designing a piece to represent Ontario for this Canada wide quilt. Our group is good at collaborations. We have completed 2 and have several in mind for entry into upcoming call of entries.

 How do we do it?

First an idea is proposed...

There is a lot of discussion, chatter and free flowing ideas. With each member contributing in their unique way. (Usually controlled chaos)


A bit of sketching... choosing of fabric and then general guidelines of what we would like each member to do before the next meeting.

Then we go our separate ways and create in our own style what we have agreed on. So far this approach has worked in my humble opinion. Our different skills, talents, experiences and skill set seems to bring out the best in us.

This is what our panel for the Relay of Hope Quilt turned out.
Relay of Hope - Ontario Panel. 

Al Cote, Jo Vandermey, Karen Siariani, Robynne Cole

We each had input into the design, fabric choices, techniques used and quilting of this piece. Mind you Al is still the master of long arm quilting but we all did a bit on this quilt.

This is our 2nd collaboration in the past year.

Our first was Metaphysical Collaboration and was juried into Fibre Content 2014.

How we did that will be in an upcoming post.

If you belong to a group try a collaboration. It is a great way to learn via others work process, stretch your skills and have fun!

Jo

To see more detailed pictures go to the Collaborations Page of this Blog. 

Monday 2 March 2015

Foil Applique

Foil Applique by Karen
My cousin gave me some strips of waste foil that she uses in her imprinting business Ribbonworks.
The foil is heat sensitive. She uses it to print ribbons.
I cut some little strips and ironed them onto a scrap of fabric. My first attempt was not successful. It seems that the iron was too hot and I held it too long. I turned down the temp on the iron and just quickly ran across the strip. That seems to work.


Then I got out the stencil that Jo and I made last week. I placed the stencil on the fabric and ironed the foil over top. Didn't work. the bond on the foil was not strong enough to make it stay on the fabric.-stuck to the stencil, though.
Back to the drawing board. I see potential but still needs some work.