West Michigan Art Quilters Group September Meeting-Post 2

Hi Everyone,

Well, I've had a really productive morning at work, so I'm taking a quick lunch break and trying to squeeze in a blog post!

Would you like to see a little more from our Art Quilters group meeting? I saw a bunch of the members at Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilters Guild meeting last night, and we were all reeling a bit from everything that was shared.

We will start with Angelica, who created this collage. The challenge this time was to somehow incorporate fabric/fiber and paper. You can see here that Angelica collaged paper, fabric, and threads onto this piece of paper or fabric. I cannot remember now which it was. I thought this had nice texture and color. I could see cutting this up into smaller pieces to use on other projects.

Here is June's fiber and paper challenge project. I love the fiber border around the house...I like how it's cut with the pinking shears and attached with a zigzag stitch. I also like the paper it's all mounted on and her creative use of color and fiber/paper to form the collage.

The month before, I think there was a denim challenge. I think everyone was given a square of denim and asked to do something with it. Here is what June did with hers. Sweet Pea really loved this, with all the beads and danglies on it. I thought it was very creative. It got me thinking, "What would I have done with a square of denim?" I certainly never would have come up with something this creative! I probably would have turned it into a cosmetic pouch! LOL.

Now we'll go on to Kathy. You better strap in for this one. Kathy said she has been working really hard, so she wasn't very productive. Ahem. I could only hope to be as productive when I'm actually having time to create as she is when she's busy! Kathy brought some really cool magazines and books with her. It was fun to be exposed to so much new, rich material...like this magazine. I've never even heard of it, have you? But it looked really neat.

She also brought this book. Now, I just purchased this book a few weeks back and haven't had a chance to do a review of it for you, but I LOVE IT! It is a beautiful book, with lots of pretty stitches. I have other stitch dictionaries, but this one has some really creative stuff in it that my other ones don't have. You need to check out this book. I have heard it's really expensive on Amazon for some reason, but I know you can get it on Sue Spargo's website for a reasonable amount of money. But I couldn't find it....

Anyhoo....What Kathy dies is practice the stitches on pieces of wool. She then cuts the samples out and glues them into her books, where she also lists what she sewed with sometimes.

I love this idea! Makes the book even more inspirational!

And speaking of fancy stitching....Kathy has been doing Sue Spargo's Block of the Month this year. So, she brought her blocks. Looks like she's still working on this one. But here's a parade of what she brought:

Neat, huh? I would love to do some Sue Spargo inspired designs... I love the wools, velvets, pretty fibers, beads, etc. Fun stuff.

This is one of Kathy's pieces for the paper/fiber challenge. The pink circles, triangles, and squares are all paper. The rest is fabric, I think, but there may be more paper mixed in there. I love how she free-form stitched with her sewing machine on these. There is hand stitching, too. Again, so clever!

You may have noticed I said, "This is ONE of..." Kathy's pieces for the paper challenge. Well, here's the other. The background of this one is fabric. Kathy painted it. I think maybe with acrylic paint. This definitely changed the hand of the fabric, unlike the paint crayons I showed you the other day. She stitched on the yellow with some pretty fibers. The center is paper.

Here is a closer look at the center. The circle is paper, and I think all the little flowers are paper that has been punched out. I am not sure how Kathy applied color to this, but it was so cool. Maybe if she reads this, she'll comment on how she did it. I loved everything about this piece...the color, the texture, the design, the stitching....

Kathy said the inspiration for this piece came from this book....

...specifically this page in teh book. Very cool. I can see the parallel, but Kathy's piece is still unique and her own!

And this, um, is the THIRD piece she brought! She cut up maps to make a cityscape and sewed the paper onto this pretty background piece. Very interesting and effective.

Kathy also brought these penants from an exchange of some sort she was in. Everyone made penants and sent them to her. These came from all over the US and all over the world. I think she said one came from Australia!

Here are a couple more.

And here are the last two. The one on the right was made by Kathy...bet that doesn't surprise you after seeing all her other work! It just looks like her, right?

Wow, okay, so that's a few more people's show and tell. There were still about 6 more people to go! And now you see what I mean about Kathy being pretty productive. She makes me tired! LOL. Seriously, I think I want to move in with her so I can play with her more often. She inspires me.

Well, I have to go to a meeting now. Sorry! I don't even have time to proofread this, so I hope there are not too many typos. Forgive me if there are!

See you soon!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

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I found that book on Sue's website. Here is the link

http://www.suespargo.com/notions.html

It is listed under "notions" which might be why you couldn't find it. I've already added it to my wish list!

Posted by: Lynn | September 21, 2011 at 05:12 PM

Man oh man, this post makes me wonder what the hell I do with all the time in my day! Maybe Kathy has a deal with the Almighty and she gets a few more hours per day?!

Posted by: Terri | September 21, 2011 at 07:39 PM

I always think of the movie Beetlejuice when I see Sue Spargo's work - it reminds me of the sculptures that woman did that was being haunted. I really like the cityscape with the city maps - I think that is so cool. And what a great swap - the penants are!

Posted by: Linda in Calif. | September 22, 2011 at 03:22 PM