Needle-felted peaches, felted purses and monster bags were among the many projects that Joanne Dailey brought in to share with us. We then spent a couple of hours needle-felting birds and  little animals using pipe cleaners for armatures, some of us made coasters using cookie cutters to shape them. I found  needle felting to be very addictive as the rhythm of the needle is most therapeutic. I also found a charming youtube of little animals for ideas @  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baCWwkfpokw&feature=related (you will have to paste this into your URL to get there).

Joanne recommends books like PURSENALITIES by Eva Weichman, Mason Dixon Knitting’s  THE BUTTON HOLE BAG and NONI, just pockets, #404 yellow/orange jacket for the  monster bag.

Mary Black honored us by bringing in her needle felted art. Wow!

Stylish guild members, Annie Turner and Janice Johnson, sport their handmade mini chapeaus.

A tip o’ the toque to Janice’s sister, milliner Carol Campbell,who brought this creative project to the guild a year ago.

These materials work well together…moss, lichen, a dried rose and a sweet bird make this cap a natural.

After the potluck and cap making fun the 2011 the Seaview Weaving and Fiber Arts Guild  gathered for a pose.

See you in January!

The knot is called the double tie Ghiordes knot.

Dorna Stone, October program presenter, is originally from Maine where she  learned this craft from her Mother who had a needlework school in their farm house called Gentian Meadows School of Needlework and Rug Making.  She has been making hand knotted rugs for forty years.  When she moved here to Seattle in the 70′s she started teaching through the Experimental College at the University of WA as a way to meet folks and “spread the word”.  Dorna says, “I have entered my rugs into the WA State Fair and won many blue ribbons as well as ‘best of show’, and also into the Evergreen State Fair.  I also received awards from the PNNAG annual Fiber Show in 2009.  After my Mother passed away I transported the rug business to my home in Seattle and managed the supplies and teaching from there.  “Have Needle Will Travel” was my motto and I have taught where ever a group would organize a class and invite me to do so.  I also taught through community centers, needle arts groups like PNNAG, private organizations and folks.  The most recent being in Bellingham where I currently live.  I have demonstrated at nearly every fair and festival in and around Seattle.”

She wrote an article about her  Mother and the rug work which was published in Fiber One magazine in 1997.

As far as materials are concerned I still have a fair supply of the duraback cotton, but you could contact folks who sell hooking supplies such as Rug Art Supplies in Oregon.  Hookers should be able to tell you where they get there stuff.  They do use it, but not as much as monks cloth.  The needle # is 18.  JCA is a whole saler.  If you type in Paternayan Persian Wool you should come up with many options to buy.  Lots of the shops are on the east coast.  Acorn Street Yarns in Seattle sells it by strand and hanks.  They are quite expensive.  I sell it by the 4 oz and 2 oz hanks.  Brown Sheep is a yarn supplier that sells persian wool.  I don’t like the twists per inch they use.  It makes the yarn thicker, but it can be used and the 3 ply split to 2 ply.  I think Northwest Yarns here in B-ham might sell it.  Also the Fiber Gallery in Seattle was selling it.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

SHARPIES® ON SILK

Many members participated in experimenting with rubbing alcohol on permanent marker designs, some beautiful scarves were created on silk “canvases” (pictures to be posted) …sneak preview of  bloomin’ bloomers (above on the left) proves that it works just fine on nylon as well!

Potholder Swap ~ a variety of fiber arts were employed to create a delightful assortment of these utilitarian objets. Felted, quilted, woven, crocheted, knitted and more.

Adieu until next Fall

At our May meeting we rounded up all the charming muse dolls and photographed them, purged our fiber goods through the  Plaid Llama sale and enjoyed a lovely luncheon thanks to all the devilishly delightful dishes brought by members and to a retro presentation by our hostesses, Karla and Sally.

This site will inform you of events and offer inspiring “Fiber Shots” throughout the Summer as well as sneak previews of next year’s program projects. So Grab the RSS feed and stay tuned in.

Oh, and don’t forget to face the Summer challenge of choosing a color you DO NOT LIKE and create an artful object to share in the Fall.

A combat tank which was used in World War II was the setting for this work of art. As a protest against the Danish (USA’s, UK’s) involvement in the war in Iraq the tank was covered from the canon to the caterpillar tracks with knitted and crocheted squares made with pink yarn The more than 4000 (15 x 15 cm) squares in pink yarn/thread, were knitted by many people from many European countries and USA.

Between the 7th – 11th April, 2006, the tank was placed in front of the Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center in the heart of Copenhagen. There were 4-5 permanent volunteers sewing the squares together to cover the tank and many of the people that passed by also helped sew and crochet the pieces together.

Mary Hovde led the March program on weaving with her skills and showed an inspiring array of her work.

Graham shows how to warp up many colors at once with his card trick.

Picking up the theme colors of this year’s conference

we wove over 100 coasters for ANWG attendee’s goodie bags.

The fabric weft in these coasters comes from FABRIC OF LIFE in Edmonds, WA.

FABRIC OF LIFE is a fair trade, non-profit store that supports a school in Mali, West Africa, where young girls are trained to stamp and dye fabric, which keeps them from begging on the streets.  For more information, go to  http://www.fabricoflife.org