The Path

Recent Fun Show and Tell by sister, Debbie Bento!

Here are some pictures of Debbie's quilt top for her granddaughter, Hailee's new apartment:

She also used some of her fat quarters to make this star baby quilt:

Debbie, not only quilts, but she knits, among many other talents she has, and here shows a fun chain link neck wrap.

Quilt talk this Saturday @ Medad Stone Tavern Guilford, CT

Guilford Keeping Society The Art of Quilting-- Old and New  July 2015 Tell friends about this event Time to renew your membership?  Click here Fiber Artist Diane Wright to Speak on Contemporary Quilts     Saturday, July 11 , 2 p.m. As a special feature of Guilford's town-wide summer quilt show, Diane Wright, nationally known art quilter, will speak on "Contemporary Stitches in Time,"  She will discuss the use of antique quilt patterns in the making of contemporary quilts and quilts as art.  Diane has invited friends and fellow quilters from the Guilford quilting group, Sisters in Cloth, to join her in sharing their own contemporary quilts that have been influenced by tradition. Times change, but as Diane says, "It's always been about the hand and the stitch." The talk will take place at The Guilford Keeping Society's Medad Stone Tavern, 197 Three Mile Course. Visitors to the Tavern can also view a display of historic quilts owned by the Society. Since the 1990s, Diane's focus has been on the fabric medium: fabric of all kinds, hand or machine stitched, often embellished with beads, fiber "shards" or found bits. Her work is noted for its use of color, original design, and a variety of fabrics that include commercial, foreign, hand-painted, and vintage pieces. Admission to the program is free but donations are greatly appreciated.  A  Stitch in Time  Guilford Museums' Historic Quilts An Exhibit at All Five Guilford Museums July 1 to July 31 Poke around in one attic and you never know what you will find. Poke around in five attics and things get really interesting. Over the winter, the Henry Whitfield State Museum, Hyland House Museum, Thomas Griswold House Museum, Medad Stone Tavern Museum and The Dudley Farm Museum searched their collections for unique and interesting quilts. So this month you can visit Guilford's five history museums during regular hours and marvel at quilts ranging from the 18th to the 20th centuries.  You'll sense the stories behind the quilts and their makers as you marvel at the craftsmanship of this venerable  art form. Admission to the exhibit is part of the regular fees to enter each museum. With colorful names like Calamanco, One Patch, Carolina Lily, Queen Victoria's Crown and Crazy Quilts and fabrics as diverse as linen, cotton and wool, quilts were utilitarian in use but illustrate the agrarian, social, economic and cultural life of families and communities. Displayed in period room settings, the quilts and coverlets help breathe life into the spaces that Guilford residents lived in; from the early 17th century through World War II. Two additional special programs will be presented in conjunction with the exhibit. On Sunday, July 19,  from 1 pm to 4 pm, there will be a special program in the Munger Barn at The Dudley Farm Museum.  "More Than Just a Quilt," a presentation by Lorraine German of Mad River Antiques in North Granby, will explore quilts "as a form of artistic, sentimental and political expression."  On Saturday, July 25, from 1 pm to 4 pm, there will be a special program at the Henry Whitfield State Museum, Marge Bucholz, quilter and museum volunteer will demonstrate contemporary quilt making while she discusses the changes in quilting over the centuries.

Geisha in Training among other Show and Tell!

Our evening meeting this month was held at Alice's home. After going through planning future activities, we were treated by great show and tell.  Diane showed us two "space exploration" pieces she finished in the last week ..., Gina is working on a colorful piece to be  soon juried for a show;

and Alice introduced us to the art of Joomchi, an ancient Korean handmade paper craft she learned during her trip in Japan.  Here is a photograph she took that inspired,

the interpretation below.

We were then treated to a wriggling duo dance with both our geisha parading her kimono and Diane arranging her obi.  

Sisters in Cloth is about art expressed in many ways!

Given the freezing temperatures and snow covered grounds, I thought these two photos might be a warm touch! "Hibiscus" was created for a challenge hosted by fellow "sister" and friend, Evelyn Judson. One of the requirements of the challenge was to use the color green. At the time my stash was seriously lacking a choice of green fabrics so I decided to make the best possible use of only one piece of green fabric by alternating the direction of the stripes. This was my first attempt at machine quilting and I've been hooked ever since! Sunflower is a small 8x8 piece that was inspired by friend and photographer, Rose Alpert. It is part of the Sisters in Cloth "Double Take" exhibit which included large scale and detail pieces inspired by Rose's photographs.  

Winter scrapping by GSKotowski

I literally have years of fabric scraps and it is time to either use em or toss em! This year seems to be the baby boom starting with our own daughter and those of dear friends. This meant baby quilts!!

Years ago Judy Siccama taught me to paper piece, so I decided to explore what this pile of mostly batiks could yield ! I 

totally forgot how frustrating sewing backwards on paper fueled by wine can be! After several mishaps, I got back into it and and started humming along!

 

Of course I ran out of paper up in Vermont, so had to resort to using copy paper. Windows 8 would not allow me to download the piecing disk from Carol Doak's book, so I had to hand copy my last printed pattern.  A minor side-track to my mission! I will share that I actually prefer the copy paper to the purchased foundation paper when it is time to remove  (another story for another time)

So from this pile

I created these

And ultimately this beauty

So I can only offer that returning to traditional piecing is a great way to challenge your right and left brain and de-clutter at the same time!  

Diane is Hopping in Turkey!

Welcome to our Sisters blog!

Thank you, Diane Wright, for including all your Sisters in the world wide blog hop.  I am sure Turkey will get a place of honor in one of Diane's future quilts.  Past travels and stays in Australia, Japan, China have generated an amazing variety of artwork.

In our last meeting, we shared some of what we are working on.  Here is a picture of MaryLyn showing her progress on a new quilt.  This piece has an unusual background story.  It was not birthed in a quiet moment, but in the heat of frenzied frustration.  MaryLyn quickly gathered her oranges and blues, chose a white for background, and started cutting.  She did not tell us why she picked those colors, but they perhaps represent the mood (orange) that needed to be cooled down (blue).  The next morning, she showed us a few sewed rows of her work, which has grown in the meantime.

Here is a project I'm working on for our December Guilford Library exhibit.  This will end up being a nine patch of circles, arranged with the help of Sisters,

The inspiration for the above piece is the following nine patch: 

Next time, I'll explain how I jumped from squares and triangles to circles!