Hanging together

Rosalind Spann is pictured here with her work Dad's Greens Harvest. Behind her are two of my pieces: top Windfall and below Harvest of Leaves. I'm adding this in a rewrite, after I received her permission to post her image. Below is the original.

How happy is this group!? CT Fiber Arts Collective hangs their latest collection in West Hartford CT (l to r Jeanne Landry, Mary Lachman, Diane Cadrain, me, Carol Vincik, Rosalind Spann and Carol Eaton...Karen Loprete was absent). We were all in attendance to mount our exhibit.

The library is very supportive...the walls are self-healing, hence very forgiving and easy to use, the staff was very helpful and there is lighting specifically for the artwork.

The gallery space is three-sided, devoted to the arts.

This photo looks out to one of the library areas.

Dyeing and Discharging

Saturday was another CT Fiber Arts Collective event. This time we were playing with grape juice and bleach. No, we did not drink any of the grape juice...fermented or otherwise.

Carol Eaton has dyed using natural ingredients. As Rosalind Spann is working on a venue for this fall, we are aiming for a "harvest" theme. Carol thought dyeing with grapes would be interesting...and it was. We met at her house (brave woman!) and dyed using both grape concentrate and Concord grapes. I'm not a "real" dyer and, therefore, preferred the more instant gratification of the concentrate. I have photographed my results in dyeing a vintage cotton napkin, some white on white Marimekko and some muslin. I'm hoping one of these

works itself into my harvest contribution but right now I'm un-inspired.

While we waited for the hour that the grapes would take to cook, Carol suggested we discharge fabric in her driveway. I told you she was brave.

Now that is more my cup of tea. I really enjoy the more instantaneous serendipity of discharging. This was much more inspiring for me.

After the dyeing and discharging we broke for lunch. Food too! Everyone brought goodies to contribute. Those meals are always the best. I got everyone together for a group shot.

In the group photo: Carol Eaton, top L, Mary Lachman, Roz Spann. Sitting Cher Hurney, Diane Cadrain and Toni Torres. Diane (aka the other Diane) chronicled the day much better in her blog post.

Another Extravaganza

Yes, the Sisters in Cloth did it again. Another successful gathering with fellow art quilters in a day of what we call an "Extravaganza".

This year we HAD ;^) to drive all the way to Simsbury (one has to remember that CT is a really small state about 90x125 miles in area) where we had been invited by Sew Inspired shop owner Vivian Lazich. She hosted the entire event in her studio-classroom, even offering us coffee and donuts on arrival. The space is large enough to easily seat our members and guests, with design walls for the charity blocks we all brought, her demonstration space, tables for our lunch, and still plenty of area around her two long and mid arm quilting machines for members to take a test drive.

Actually, the real reason we jumped at the opportunity to meet there was really, really basic. There is a tragically declining number of quilt shops (or fabric stores in general for that matter) in our state. The wonderfully serendipitous bit for us is that Vivian is an art quilter at heart and always is on top of the newest fabrics, books and techniques without forfeiting favorites. Net-net: we all came home with goodies.

Vivian had just returned from Spring Quilt Market and was full of information about new STUFF...like the mystery of Decolourant...go figure how that stuff works.

I forgot to take a picture of the 9 patch blocks everyone brought for our annual charity quilt (s). This year we chose to make them from Asian fabrics. Our goal is to send the finished quilts to Japan Earthquake Relief. I'll photo and post when they are completed.

Of course, the best part of any of our meetings is Show and Tell (followed closely by the yummy food always present). This year was no exception. I have posted two of the photos on the Sisters blog if you want to see a couple different ones. Here are posted the work of three of our guests whose work we always look forward to seeing.

The top photo is a quick take on Judy Ross's Sunflowers...well one of her pieces. She had several to offer....she is famous and envied for her prolific, and quite beautifully crafted work.

The second photo is Rosalind Spann describing her recent "playing" with dyeing interfacing.

The third is Toni Torres' with the second in a series of work she is creating based on "hands"...the first was Healing Hands (as I recall)...as it is in a current show she had to pass around a photograph of it.