May 2017 — Rug Hooking

Judy Taylor did a wonderful presentation and demonstration of rug hooking with yarn.  She prefers yarn over the more usual fabric strips.

She designed and made this frame to hold the work, and here she’s showing the hook she uses to pull the yarn up from behind the backing.

The pattern is drawn on the backing fabric with Sharpie pen, and then the yarn is hooked up through it to fill in all the spaces.

Here’s a view of the back, showing how a loop of yarn is formed over the hook.  This also gives you a view of she lays in the rows of loops.

Designs can be bold and graphic…

Or amazingly detailed.

Judy’s written two books about her techniques and also has kits and materials for sale at her website, Little House Rugs.  Check it out!

 

We also had our end-of-the-meeting year potluck and swore in our new slate of officers for the September 2017-May 2018 meeting year.

From left, Graham Humphrey, President; Gail Parris, Treasurer; Susan Lindsey, Secretary; and Toni Burton, Program Co-Chair. The other Program Co-Chair,  Jeff Botton, wasn’t present.

April 2017 — Ice Dyeing

Cathy Kind showed us gorgeous examples of her work using  various  dyeing techniques on fabric and scarves.  Here (left)  she’s holding a cut velvet scarf dyed in two different colors in a single dyepot, using Alter Ego and Dupont Classique dyes.  The scarf she’s wearing and the yellow and purple fabric she’s holding (left) are dyed using the ice dyeing technique.

Here are small strips of a variety of ice dyed fabrics.  We all left with a great desire to give it a try!  More info here: Learn to Ice Dye.

 

 

March 2017 — Beaded Earrings

Our talented member, Shirley Pauls, led a mini-workshop on making beaded earrings using the new super-duo beads.

Here are some of Shirley’s samples.  As you can see, you can get quite different effects depending on color choice and whether or not you use smaller accent beads.

We worked very intently on following the pattern!

The beading thread and needles are so fine.

Some of our finished earrings and works-in-progress.  Thanks, Shirley, for a fun workshop!

 

February 2017 — Frame Weaving and I-Cord Demos

Leslie Greenquist from the  All Wound Up  yarn shop in the Perrinville district of Edmonds, WA, demonstrated  weaving on a triangular frame loom and also I-cord knitting using a knitting nancy or an I-cord machine.

This reporter wasn’t present at the meeting, but looks as if the weaving is done with a continuous length of yarn, first making a warp pass along the long arm of the loom, then going up as weft on each side of the loom in turn.

If that is the case, then the weaving builds from the sides and finishes in the center.

Here Leslie is demonstrating a crank driven I-cord machine. What a timesaver!

Members Valerie Day and Carol Campbell show off the fascinators they made.

 

January 2017 — Coffee Mug Flower Arrangements

Seaview member Marie Philipsen showed us how to make a stunning floral arrangement in a coffee cup or other  container.

First, press the coffee cup into the presoaked florist’s Wet Foam to mark the size of the cup.  Then trim away the excess Wet Foam.

Be sure to leave about half an inch of Wet Foam sticking out above the top of your cup.

Start by sticking greenery into the sides of the foam to make a base for your arrangement. Then continue adding material, working from the  bottom of the arrangement up to the center. Here Marie is giving a preview of  how the flowers will go in, but usually one adds more greenery around the perimeter of the cup first.

Lovely arrangements can be made with just a few flowers and greenery from the garden!

December 2016 — Sale and Holiday Potluck

Each December, members bring a variety of items to the meeting to sell.

 

This year featured jewelry, project bags and stuffed mice,

and Mary Hovde’s incomparable handwoven hand  towels.

After shopping, we enjoyed a fabulous potluck lunch, and celebrated the season!

 

 

November 2016 — Paper Play

Seaview member Patty Leinweber led us in a fun exploration of glue and colored paper.  We peeled apart the layers of dyed or painted paper towels, tore them into shapes and glued them  (using thinned white glue) to a backing sheet of paper, either black or white.  Tissue paper works well, also.

Finished pieces can be used in card making or other paper crafts.

Toni and Fotina are happily gluing!

Another fun idea  for this technique is to glue paper towel or tissue paper to the edges of cardstock to make gift tags.

Or just apply the glue and paper pieces to slick plastic sheeting, like visqueen.  Once it’s dry, peel it off the plastic for a translucent material you can use in various ways.

 

October 2016 –Raw Edge Applique

Dee Brown of Trillium Studios led a wonderful mini-workshop on raw edge applique. Here’s Dee with just some of the wonderful work she had on display.

And there were more…

These are all Dee’s designs, and they are for sale through her website — link above.

The project we did was called Kokio, a beautiful hibiscus image. Here’s her sample.

 

Gail and Marie, very carefully cutting out sections of the flower pattern.

We didn’t have time to do the final fusing and sewing of our Kokios, but here’s what some of ours looked like. It was great fun to play with different color combinations!

September 2016 — Studio Visit

We began our 2016-2017 meeting year with a field trip to long-time member Mary Hovde’s home weaving studio.

As you can see, Mary has a lovely 8-shaft Fireside loom, and was working on some hand towels when we were there. It was a real treat to see her weaving space.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious potluck lunch.

 

April, 2016 ~ Felting with Flora

Wet felting techniques thoroughly enjoyed by guild participants.

Thanks Flora…great program!