Saturday, October 31, 2015

Batiking Silk Scarves with Faye Jones

On Saturday, Oct 17th, three of us gathered at Faye's home studio for a silk batik scarf workshop.  Faye ordered the scarves from Dharma Trading Co and prewashed them so they were ready for dyeing.

Now it was decision time...we first had to choose the color for under-dyeing our scarves. This color would determine the color of the shapes in the end.  The dye powder was mixed with a little water and added to the dye bath with a citric acid mix.  We wrung the excess dye from the scarves and microwaved them to set the dye.  The scarves were then rinsed and dried.

Kira, Paige and Jill with our scarves after the first dyeing

On to the soy wax resist...Faye had many shapes from which to choose like ceramic discs, cookie cutters and other found objects.  The soy wax was melted and kept hot in an electric skillet and other small dishes with mug warmers.  We first practiced on newsprint to get the feel of using the stamps and then applied the soy wax to our scarves.  Kira also used a tjanting tool and drew lines connecting her flowers.

Batiking workstation - you can see where we practiced waxing on newsprint

               Kira applying wax with tjanting                    Kira and Jill applying wax with Faye in the background

Scarves drying after wax had been applied

Once the wax dried, we painted our scarves with a thickened final dye keeping newsprint under the scarves to catch excess dye.  In the next step, we rolled up the scarves along with the newsprint, placed them in a plastic bag and microwaved once more.  The newsprint adsorbed the excess soy wax during the microwaving process.  We then discarded the paper and rinsed our scarves in water removing the excess dye and wax.

Paige applying the final dye

We gave the scarves a final wash in hot water with textile detergent and a rinse with the softener and hung them to dry.

While our scarves were soaking, we ate lunch.  Not only is Faye a talented artist, she is was wonderful cook.  We had turkey noodle soup, bread and cookies, all delicious.

Jill with her beautiful scarf

Kira's beautiful scarf

Faye gave us additional tips and hands-on instruction with other dyeing and stamping mediums.

It was a fun-filled day and we cannot thank Faye enough for her workshop.  Faye encouraged us to see ourselves artists.  After seeing our finished scarves, we truly are artists thanks to Faye!

Faye plans to have a spring batik scarf workshop for those who were not able to attend this workshop.

Parting shot...a rare selfie with one of my scarves

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

October Meeting Recap

Location: Bernina Store

President Cheryl Brickey called the October 10th, 2015 meeting to order shortly after 1 pm and welcomed everyone. 16 members and 1 guest were in attendance with 2 new members joining today.


Announcements

  • Registration has begun for QuiltCon West which will be held February 18-21, 2016 in Pasadena, CA. QuiltCon East will be held in February 2017 in Savannah, GA.
  • QuiltCon West Challenge entry deadline is Nov 30th - There are two challenges, the Michael Miller Glitz Fabric Challenge and the EZQuilting Challenge using the mini triangle templates. Even if you were not able to sign up and receive the fabric or the templates, every MQG member is welcome to enter.  Entry is open until Nov 30th for the juried and judged QuiltCon quilt show.
  • The Silk Batik Scarf Workshop was on October 17th with Faye Jones.  

Upcoming Meetings
  • November 14th @ Bernina 1-3 pm: Bernina longarm introduction, 2016 planning, and elections.
  • December 12th @ Local Restaurant TBD - noon-1:30pm - Year end luncheon. 
  • January 9th @ Bernina 1-3 pm: Program TBD
  • February 13th @ Bernina 10 am - 3pm: Workshop by Lynne Harrill on curved piecing.

Mystery Quilt

September's instructions were for Courthouse Steps Blocks.  Instructions are also available on the Meadow Mist Designs blog and there is an active Facebook group for the quilt-a-long. 


Philanthropy


A lap-size quilt will be auctioned at a silent auction at a December 2nd fundraiser for the Meyer Center. The blocks from the Block of the Month program will be given out to members who wish to sew them into charity quilts.


Block of the Month

No block of the month pattern was given out at the October meeting.  We will discuss plans for 2016 blocks of the month at the November meeting.


Business
  • Total membership is now up to 35!
  • We are an official chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild.  Please take a few minutes to log onto the MQG website and fill out your profile.  Please contact Cheryl or Paige if you have any troubles.
  • Nominations for the board were announced in September and October and will be voted on in November.  Running for the board are:
    • Cheryl Brickey - President
    • Faye Jones - Vice President
    • Paige Alexander - Treasurer
    • Marcie Snyder - Secretary
    • Adjunct Board Members - Marilyn Hagopian, Darlene Sanford, Cindy Lammon

Show and Share

We had a wide variety of wonderful show and shares from hand dyed and rusted fabric to quilts.




"Dear Quilty"

We started a new part to the program in October where members can bring in ideas or works in progress for the group's opinions.  To get us started Paige brought a mini quilt she was trying to figure out how to finish (bind, face, etc) and Cheryl brought in baby quilt top she was trying to figure out how to quilt.  The group enjoyed the discussion, please consider bringing some of your works in progress to the next meeting.

Program - Favorite Notions

Many members of the guild brought in their favorite notions to share.  In addition to many traditional quilting and sewing notions, many different ideas and notions from non-traditional sources were presented such as pottery tools, tools to make multiple tables level to form one large table, and hardware store finds.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned around 3pm.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Quick Reminder for Meeting this Saturday

Just a quick reminder to bring your favorite notions and show & shares to the meeting on Saturday.  

Thanks!

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Reminder - Meeting this Saturday (Oct. 10th)

Just a reminder about the upcoming meeting this Saturday...

When: Saturday, October 10th from 1-3pm


Where: The new Bernina Sewing Center

2310-A East North St.
Greenville, SC 29609
864-235-5031
shop@berninagreenville.com

We will be focusing on our favorite notions at this meeting.  Try to bring at least 2 notions to talk about so we can have a great discussion.  Don't forget to also bring your Show and Shares.