December West Michigan Art Quilters Group Meeting

Well, I got you caught up on our November meeting in my last post.  Now, let me show you what happened at the December meeting while it's fresh in my mind!

Oh, but first, have you seen this post from "People I Want to Punch in the Throat" blog?  It is so funny.  Be forwarned....it's a little harsh and extremely sarcastic, but it gave me a good laugh.  (Don't look if you are sensitive about stuff like that.)  I don't even know what Elf on the Shelf is, except that I see it everywhere.  I think I'm glad neither Sweet Pea nor I have seen the show or read the book or whatever.

Our theme for our December meeting was to do something with Tyvek.  If you don't know what Tyvek is, it's the stuff people wrap their houses with before putting on siding.  It's a construction material.  It doesn't tear easily, but you can paint it, and it does funky things when you heat it.  Here is a video one of our members provided a link to on our group's Facebook page if you want to see how to play with Tyvek:

 

So, people brought their projects and play pieces they had made with the Tyvek.  It starts out as plain, white, flat sheets of a plasticy feeling paper.

Holly began by showing us a couple of pieces she painted and played with.  She hadn't had time to do anything with it yet.  She's still thinking about it.

This one didn't involve Tyvek, but Sheryl brought a pice that she was working on using applique.  You can see her pieces are just pinned on, being auditioned.

She based this quilt on a still life she set up in her kitchen.  Here is a picture of the photo she used as inspiration for this quilt.  Cool, huh?

Sheryl also brought a monoprint she had made that was collaged and then stitched.  This was her Christmas card for the year.  She made this original and then I think she said her husband scanned it and printed the remainder of their Christmas cards.  Can you believe how cool that is?  (One person gets the original.  Me!  Oh, please!  Me!)

This is a piece Faye brought.  It's a Christmas table topper she made.  I think she calls it "Stop Me Before I Put Another Border On!"  Haha!

She made the entire quilt from a bunch of pieced triangles that another group member had given to her in a group meeting.  She added no new fabrics to the topper.  She just laid a bunch out and decided how to organize them.  So cool!

Next up was Jackie.  She told us how she had been shopping for a new sewing machine earlier in the day (or week) and that the gals in the shop were playing with these chickens.  They gave her one.  Have you seen these little rubber chickens?  You squeeze them and an egg yolk and whites comes out of the chicken's rear end.  It is hysterical, as you can tell.  Jackie really got a kick out of this.  You can only imagine Sweet Pea's fascination with it.  She did so well at the meeting, I took her to Pier 1 to get on after the meeting.  She still messes around with it regulary.  It is very funny.

Then, Jackie showed us her new shoes.  ME WANT!!!  I love these shoes.  I need to go shopping and find some.  I think they are gorgeous!

Okay, back to quilting!  Here is Jackie's piece that she made with Tyvek.  You can see the blue and green circles that were heated and bubbled.  So striking and so Jackie!

Here is a close up.  You can see she machine stitched the Tyvek on, but she's using hand stitching to embellish it further.

Another close up for you.  :-)

Jackie also brought a bunch of fabric she had dyed for another group member.  She was trying to match a certain green.  She showed us how she keeps a sample of each fabric, along with the "recipe" for mixing that color, in trying to come up with the right color.  I thought this was really neat.

June didn't do anything with Tyvek, but she brought two pieces she had made using crewel embroidery thread.  I just love these flowers!  And I love the batik fabrics!

Don't you love the odd shape of this one?  It really adds to the piece.

I also really liked the background stitching on this piece.

I also loved this decorative stitching at the bottom.  It adds the suggestion of grasses.  I really loved this.  So clever.

Mary brought these great ornaments she had made.  She used a thick interfacing and sandwiched it between two fabrics.  She quilted it, then cut out the shapes.  She satin stitched the edges and also finsihed them with some paint.

Very pretty and fun.  These would make great Christmas gifts.  She gave us the pattern, which she had made herself.  I forgot to ask her if it would be okay to share it here on the blog, too.

Here is a close up of the edge and stitching.

This little pin was about 1.5" to 2" across.  Everyone really ooohed and ahhhed over this.  It is made of the Tyvek that she painted, heated, and glued on, along with beads and pearls.  Gorgeous!  Sweet Pea asked me if she could take this home.  I said no.  Haha!  Mary said she heated circles of Tyvek.  She held the center down and heated the edges, so it started to form a cup.

Here is another piece she made.  This also blew everyone's mind.  All the colorful strips are Tyvek.

So, on this one, she cut the Tyvek into strips before heating it.  Then, she applied it to this quilted background.

Another close up.  You can see some beads and baubles in there, too.  Wow.  So far beyond my skill level!

Here is an example of what her strips looked like after she heated them but before she applied them to the quilt.  I can't believe she could take these and turn them into what you saw above!

I think this piece was also Mary's, but I'm not sure, because I'm not finding it in my notes.  This was also so cool!

To fully appreciate it, you have to see it from the side.  It was mounted on a fairly thick canvas.  Loved that!

A close up....

The inspiration for the piece came from this page of a Quilting Arts magazine.

This is the issue the inspiration came from.  Makes me think I should start getting this magazine.  If I did, do you think I could even start coming close to making something as brilliant as these ladies make?

Carolyn brought this piece of Tyvek she had painted.  She said she really didn't like it.  She said maybe it was the colors, however, because she really liked what everyone else brought, and those were all blues, greens, purples, pinks....Maybe a color change was what was needed, she suggested.

Here is another piece she had painted and then heated.

Here is a close up.  I think she heated this from the back, so the bubbles push out forward.

And she heated this from the opposite side.  (I'm not sure which she heated from the front and which she heated from the back.)  See how the bubbles go the other way?

Other people at the meeting really liked what she had done.  It sparked a conversation about Steampunk.  I had never heard of this.  Have you?  I looked it up on Wikipedia (click the word Steampunk to go to the wikipedia page about this), and here's what it said:

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville.

Those familiar with Steampunk thought her work would be perfect in a Steampunk theme.  It gave us an idea for a possible future art quilt group theme.  Hmmm....I'll have to study up on that one if I have any hope of participating!

We decided our theme for January would be "New Beginning."  It is pretty broad.  I have an idea of what I want to do, but it'll be a matter of having time to execute it.  We'll see what I can do.

Hope you enjoyed this post.  I love my art quilt group meetings.  They are so inspiring, and I am grateful that everyone is okay with having Sweet Pea along, or I wouldn't be able to join in.  She enjoys the show and tell about as much as anyone!  It's really cute.  I told her she needs to work on a piece to show at the next meeting.  ha!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[Maggie Szafranski]

How great to have an art group to hang out with! So much cool inspiration!

[Lynn]

What an inspiring group of ladies! I'm really enjoying these little peaks into your meetings. I know how time consuming these kind of posts can be and just want you to know that I appreciate it.

[carolld]

Wow, those women are awesome. Enjoyed the video. Like you, I loved that flower quilt. I like those ornaments too. I'd like to try something like that. Great post!

[Allie]

So so so in awe of these ladies!

[Terri]

Didn't go the site you suggested, but I wanted to tell you that we're doing Elf on a Shelf this year, I love it! So does Carmi. I'm not without a sense of humor though, and do think it's funny that it's being made fun of so much. In fact, that's how I found out about it; from a spoof somewhere on the 'net.

[Linda]

Such a talented group!!! Those projects are gorgeous!!! Wow.

[Janet]

Mama Pea: I live in Grand Rapids and am looking for an art quilt group in West Michigan to get involved with - is your group looking for new members? Even if you aren't, keep up with the posts - they are great!

Thanks, Janet