ART WEAR

It has been a busy time this month and but I have to share with you our last Guild meeting.
I belong to the Lanark County Quilter's Guild and have been on the program committee for a couple of years.When I first moved to this area , I didn't know very many people. However the quilt/fibre art community is very active here and it wasn't long before I was involved in some exciting activities.We invited the Wearable Art Group to come and hold a fashion show for us. It was fabulous. It was such an exciting show that noone noticed how late it was. Here are some of the outfits.
Dianne Duncan and Linda Palaisy

Two members

Wendy Fraser

Beth Cameron

Beth Cameron, a member, Viki Zulpo, Janice Jameson

Our members also made some wearable art for our annual challenge. This is Bev Cooper with a wonderful caftan. The lilies were made in a class given by Betty Ives for our guild last fall.

It was a feast for our eyes.

BOBBIN WORK 4

First I hope that you can make sense of the pics. This is the best I can do with my present camera, I am on the prowl for a new one.
The yarn that I am putting in this bobbin is 3ply Astra. I tried 4 ply but it was just too thick.

1. Wind the bobbin by hand until it is just full. Clip off the tail as it only gets in the way.

2. Drop in the bobbin case for all machines and bypass the tension. Then pull yarn up through the hole.

3. Stitching from the back try the following.Straight stitch different stitch lengths starting at 3mm.Top row is a plain straight stitch. It has to be fairly long so start with 3 mm. As you increase the stitch legth you increase the width of the row that you are sewing.

Now try an open zigzag stitch, the result you get will be like the bottom row.

4. In the second row above, the zigzag was too narrow and it all bunched up.

5. Free motion works fine as long as your movements are fairly large. If the detail becomes too fine it will bunch up again.

6. A little planning and you can have an interesting effect.

Have fun!!!!

If you have any questions, send me an email at catelaw@sympatico.ca

SOMETHING FUN

A few of my friends and I have decided to host a small intimate retreat where we can experiment,laugh,share, push our fibre art boundaries, and learn new things. May I present the teachers. I apologize for putting my project first but this is how they came up when I loaded up the pics. I still have not been able to move them around in this document. Oh well, some day I will learn.



a. Holy Washers with Catharina Breedyk Law
I have been having fun using washers from the hardware store in my work. What is interesting about this technique is that the shadows become as important as the holes. We will make a small sample of this technique.

b. Moose Trophy by Wendo Van Essen
You will be able to make this charming creature when you are at the retreat. A great project for felting virgins.

c.Don't Exaggerate!Embellish! with Pat Lemaire
Explore with Pat fabric manipulation, yarns , beading and wonderful work with threads.

You will also have a chance to play with fabric paints while you are there.

We have chosen a resort on Chaffey's Locks which is part of the Rideau Canal System. I grew up in this area and as a teenager waited tables at Simmon's Resort. Just down the Road is the Opinicon Hotel Resort where we are holding our weekend workshop. Click on the name and you can check it out.It is a wonderful site where we will be staying in cabins in the woods. The dining room has a reputation for great food and the chef has been with them for more than twenty years. We have the largest cabin the Ponderosa to hang out in the evenings,stone fireplace and all. Our meeting room has a ramp so that machines are easily brought in.

If you wish more information you can contact Cathy at catelaw@sympatico.ca

Oh I forgot!

The name of weekend getaway is ART WITH LOOSE THREADS - Oct.3-5,2008

RENFREW UPDATE

More works in progress one on the wall and one on the table.

More student work. A few weeks ago I drove up to Renfrew and spent one more day working on the three daisies class in Janet Wilson's studio. As you can see we filled every nook and cranny.

It was a great day.

LAST WEEKEND'S STUDIO TOUR

I was pretty flattered when I was invited to participate in the Country Lanes Studio Tour. Now to organize and clean up my space.It is fun to hang all of your work up and see which pieces work nicely together.

It's been a busy time with a lot of preparations made for my first studio tour. Above is my worktable, as clean as it gets. There also sits my "CITY CAT" ready to be delivered to the Tampered With Show at Paper Iages Glalery in Picton. My friend Sue is going to take her for me and we are off to Picton to the vernissage next weekend.

One wall of work. My husband maded tiny shelves so that I could put up as much stuff as possible. A little gallery of small pieces. What fun.

Another view, the walls were full so "Driving in the Country" had to be pinned up in front of my sewing stash.

I had two other artist's share space in my home, Chris a glass artist and Wendo my friend the felter.We had a cold rainy weekend with lots of mosquitos. There were a number of people through and I even had a few children trying some free motion. Shuold have taken some pics.

Thoughts: It was fun to meet all of the people who came to see our work but a tour is a lot of work.

BOBBIN WORK TUTORIAL- 3

BOBBIN WORK THREE- RIBBON

1.Silk ribbon is lovely to use and you can go up to 7mm in wdth. As long as it can be wound on the bobbin so that it lays flat. This is crucial.

2. The pics are a bit fuzzy but I have found the macro setting on my camera and the next batch should be clearer. So much to learn but it's also so much fun.

3.Pull the ribbon up through the throatplate and bypass the bobbin tension.

4. Take a tailor's awl or something with a point and punch a hole where you want the ribbon to come through on the right side of the work. This takes courage but go ahead, the end result will be worth it.

5. Pull the ribbon up through to the wrong side through the hole that you have just made. and now you are ready to sew. Start with a straight stitch of at least 3mm. Hold the threads with your finger and start to sew.

5. This is what the back of your work looks like. Check out the horizontal lines on the first pic because this is the effect that you achieve. The longer the stitch length the wider the end result.

The horizontal lines are Superior 7 mm. silk ribbon and the vertical lines are Sassa Lynne. I bought both these items at the retreat from Anita Zobens.

http://www.cottonmillthreadworks.com/

Take a deep breath and give it a go.