Traveling this month?? Catch KFA Show in Guelph

Good Monday morning everyone... in case you were up really early, the dense fog and rain drops were with us here in the country again. It's 8:50 am and the sun is out, burning off the fog and setting us up for a beautiful summer day! There isn't much of summer left, so get your calendars out and look for all of the options you have for fall activities! There is so much to do, places to go and wonderful things to see all around Kingston and it's surrounding areas.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

The Kingston Fibre Artists Group Show is currently being displayed in the Gallery of Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph, Ontario. For those of you who have the urge for a day trip, or are heading west toward Guelph, don't miss the opportunity to stop by this premier Quilt and Yarn Shop located at 275 Woolwich Street, Guelph, ON. Their website is http://www.greenwoodquiltery.com/ The Show will be up in the Gallery through the month of August, so the time is short if you are heading that way this week or next.
The group's members are pleased to have this opportunity to share a sample of their work with the Guelph area and surrounding communities fibre arts enthusiasts. Hoping that you will have a chance to see the Show in their lovely upstairs Gallery, and while you are there, take advantage of this opportunity to shop for some amazing fabrics, yarns and fibre. The next KFA Show will be at Brockville's Public Library in the John M. Parrott Gallery during the month of November. (actually the 6-27th of November). Please join us for the Show Opening event, November 8, 2008, 2-4 pm. Everyone is welcome.

The Limestone Quilters Guild begins it's fall program on Wednesday, September 3rd with a visit from MARTA SMITH, Dollmaker/Fibre Artist from Milford, Ontario near Picton. Marta is a delightful lady with huge talent and creative spirit! She will share a great talk about her journey as a dollmaker and share some of her amazing creations with all of us! This Guild is open to the public and new members are always welcome. The meetings are held at the Kingston Seniors Association Centre at 56 Francis Street off Mowat Ave. near St. Lawrence College. Contact Susan Maclean, Program Coordinator at macleans@cogeco.ca for more information.

ANDREA GRAHAM, Feltmaker and Educator will share her workshop, FABULOUS FELTED SCARVES at the Odessa Fairgrounds Hall on Sept. 20-21st. This workshop will find interested Fibre Arts enthusiasts enjoying the creating of beautiful silk based scarves, with the addition of beautiful and colourful merino wool. Andrea is a many talented lady with a lovely workshop Instructor's demeanor, taking care to ensure that her students have all of the materials and resources available to make their days in her classroom fun and meaningful. Please contact Andrea at acornsjourney@cogeco.ca for more information or visit her website at http://www.acornsjourney.com/ for more information on the workshop and the details. Cost is $125 with a $50 deposit at registration. This is a workshop many of you will enjoy.

The first meeting of the CATARAQUI GUILD OF NEEDLE ARTS is scheduled for the 15th of September at Edith Rankin Church located on Bath Road just west of Collins Bay Road in Kingston...and the Guild members always welcome new members, so get your dates all lined up for the exciting upcoming year as plans are underway for Kingston to host the Canadian Embroiders SEMINAR 2009 at St. Lawrence College. Details are available from members and you are welcome to get involved at every stage of the project development as a volunteer. This is a Guild that spends meeting days stitching together after a short morning business meeting. The Guild meetings are normally held the 1st and third Monday, and will move to that schedule in October. Plan to set aside some time and meet with the group this exciting planning year.

I attended an amazingly fun-filled Birthday celebration for one of our favorite Kingston Fibre Artists, FRANKIE LEMONDE-MEUNIER on Saturday. The event found 100+ family and friends celebrating a milestone Birthday for Frankie... and it was games, great food and wine for the grown-ups and lots of bubble blowing, ring tossing and hoola hooping for the kids. The sun did not fail us and it was a wonderful day with good friends. When KFA members get together, there is always lots of good conversation, merriment and fun. Thanks for inviting us, Frankie and enjoy this new stage in your life...

Heading into this last couple of weeks of August, we look forward to seeing family and friends and some R & R before classes at St. Lawrence College and all of the regular work routine (including Christmas season in the retail world - UGH) starts once again. I hope many of you will consider joining in on the fun at St. Lawrence this fall. Check out the fall courses at http://www.Sl.on.ca/ in the Continuing Education folder, Part Time Studies, Kingston Campus, Fine Arts/Textiles. I would be so pleased to have graduates join us once again for some fun and bring along a few new students for creative play and development of new work in the TEXTILE DESIGN course.

Have a great day... work calls.

Summer out of doors projects- Sun Printing and Flower Pressing

What a beautiful morning today - the skies are blue and I will have my day off with three good friends - time to chat and have some relaxing time in the country, so all in all a great start to the day. I don't know about you, but I am really sad that summer has passed so quickly. The gardens are looking very sad once again and this year it is not because of drought conditions as in the past several years, but because of RAIN. We certainly have been inundated with an abundance of rain and bad storms this summer, making for very green grass, and a proliferation of weed growth and sad, rain soaked plant stems. The trees are happy, but the leaves are showing lots of rust or the draining of the chlorophyll due to the insect infestations that have overtaken the gardens. I was looking at my purple sand cherry closely yesterday, and many of the leaves have been eaten completely, with only the skeletons left. They will make great additions to small art quilts - the colour is still quite beautiful. Be sure to use your imagination when surveying the garden to see if there are pieces of natural material that could be used in art work.

Fabric Painting this time of year is a terrific pass time for both adults and children. For those of you who have been in cottage country retreats, the days pass slowly without a project or two to work on. Take some great SETACOLOR Transparent Fabric Paints along to the cottage or use them right at home to create some beautiful new fabrics. The paints are available in Kingston at MICHAEL'S in the fabric paints isle and run about $5 a small jar or you could purchase a set of "Seta Soliel" fabric paints - sometimes hanging on the wall above the paint display or in KIT FORM in a box on the bottom shelf to the right of the display rack. The Setacolor paints are on the lower shelves of the rack, and small jars will go a long way, but the 250 ml. bottles are a good investment. Cardinal Red, Lemon or bright Yellow (I prefer the "sun" yellow which has a bit more orange in it) and Ultramarine Blue can be mixed to give you a beautiful palette of colour. Be sure that you have washed your quality cotton, and white is best of course. The paints should be diluted 50/50 with water right out of the jar as they are very concentrated and will be used up very quickly if painted full strength. You can layer in some great leaves, ferns, small sticks and stones onto the surface of the wet, painted fabric for great "sun printing" effects. Be sure that the items are pressed firmly into the wet paint for the best prints and leave your pieces outdoors in direct sunlight for at least an hour. Have fun.

As you are playing outdoors this summer, give "flower pressing" a try as well. Take a few flowers from the garden, at their fresh best. Use a nice piece of linen or one of your lovely hand dyed cotton pieces for a background and make sure you have enough "Steam a Seam 2" or Wonder Under (Wal-Mart) for the first layer of your design. This will be laid on top of your background BEFORE layering on the flower design. Cut two pieces of fusible, just slightly larger than your background. Start by laying a piece of copy paper on the table. Layer on your background fabric topped with a piece of fusible - just make sure that you have removed the paper backing from the fusible and that is laid onto your background, sans paper. Now you can begin the collage with your beautiful flowers... start with a few beautiful leaves and geranium leaves lay so nice and flat. Add a few thin stems or twigs (not too thick). Layer on the arrangements of flower petals, one at a time. When you are satisfied with the arrangement, stand back and have one final look. Then layer on your second piece of fusible right on top of the floral design, with the fusible side down over the flower petals and pin in place around the perimeter of your piece (this is where the Steam A Seam 2 is best - it will fuse to the background, hold the flowers in place as you layer on the petals because both sides of the fusible are "sticky" to the touch, and it will fuse to the second layer and the toile you will add as the last layer)... Now is the time to add a nice piece of fine toile or netting over the top to ensure that your petals will remain in place over time. Once the toile is pinned down, layer on another piece of copy paper or better yet, your TEFLON pressing sheet. (you can layer the entire collage between a good sized sheet of Teflon pressing sheet of you have it.) Now, PRESS WITH A MEDIUM HOT IRON - yes, press with the iron, moving the iron consistently and for a few seconds in each position across the surface of your collage. DO NOT USE AN IRON THAT IS TOO HOT... you might actually burn the flower petals evne through the Teflon or pressing sheet. This process does take some practice, so you might like to practice on a "starter" piece before doing a hugely amazing collage and then burning it with a too hot iron. The more of these you make, the better. The whole idea here is to sandwich your collage of beautiful garden petals between the two layers of fusible and the toile. Once you have your pressed collage all fused, remove the Teflon and test the layers for puckers or unfused areas that might need to be re-layered between the paper/Teflon and pressed a bit more. You want to have a great fused collage that will last for years. I have some that I did with Linda Burke in Napanee six years ago that are still quite lovely and are looking like vintage collages now with still beautifully preserved though paler versions of the garden flowers I used in the collage. Once complete, you can "square up" the collage, add borders or frame as desired for a great summer memory piece to enjoy all year long.

Here is hoping that all of you are checking out the calendar of College Fall Term Part Time Studies courses at SL.on.ca Continuing Education pages and registering either online, in person at the College's Student Services office or by phone at 613-544-5400, ext 60. TEXTILE DESIGN will be on Thursday evenings this fall, twelve weeks from Sept. 11th - Nov. 27th, 6:30 - 9:30 pm. We will be experimenting with deconstructed screen printing and more in class...and creating all new fabric designs for exhibition and sale. Come join in on the fun... Silk Painting with Tina Barnes and Zhara Hussein will also run on Thursday evenings, Fibre to Fabrics with Beth Abbot on Tuesday evenings and Janice Vandijk is presenting a variety of Photography and Image editing courses that will lead students to their PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT credit in the Textile Design diploma Program.

Have a GREAT SUMMER DAY.

Creative options for quilters this week...

There are so many creative options for quilters and we are blessed in the Kingston area to have three great quilt shops to choose from. The Quilters Choice on Gardiners Road at Progress Ave., The Perfect Stitch a bit farther down Gardiners Road across from Home Depot and Wilton Creek Fabrics in Harrowsmith, just a short 16km. north of the 401. All of the shops are beginning to receive their new fabrics for fall 2008, and the notions walls are filled! Sewing machines specials are everywhere, so if you are contemplating a new machine, check out the PFAFF at Quilters Choice, Husqvarna machines at The Perfect Stitch and BERNINA at Wilton Creek.

Many of you are bird watchers, and this morning the pair of Flickers who come back to our front lawn every summer have arrived and are just beautiful. It seems that there is just the one pair and if they have young, they have gone their own way by now. It is fun to watch as they sort through the sandy loam in the lawn searching for their favorite treat - ants! The grass is growing in leaps and bounds with all of the rain we have just had, so there is a bit of layering for the Flickers to sort through to get to the ants.

I have been re-organizing supplies closets after the Creating Fabrics with Dyes and Pigments Course at St. Lawrence College and trying to get the dyes and paints all together in one cupboard with the supplies like brushes and rolls of plastic for tables, the cups and bottles and tips used for applying silk paints and gutta. Books have been replaced in their great bookcase Dale built me last winter and it is amazing to look at the huge resource library I have amassed while Instructing at St. Lawrence College the past 5 years. I will have lots of great resources for those "golden years" that are certainly evasive at this point in my life, but the goal I am constantly working toward.

Hoping to hear from Hilary Scanlon soon that the FIBREWORKS KINGSTON Weekend Workshop Series brochures are ready for distribution. Many of you will be attending courses with great instructors this fall... and coming up really fast is the FIBREFEST KINGSTON weekend sponsored by the three quilt shops mentioned in paragraph one above. The weekend will be September 19-21st and JOEN WOLFROM is the featured Instructor from the States, along with great teachers Sylvia Naylor, Elaine Quehl and more. Visit the store websites and click on the link to FIBREFEST for additional information.

Just a reminder that REGISTRATION IS OPEN for Fall courses at St. Lawrence College in the Textile Design Program and other Continuing Education courses related to Photography, Image Editing, Photo Transfer and Silk Painting. Hoping all of you will have a look at the college website at SL.on.ca for more information and to register.

Have a great day and do look through those magazines and books and be inspired.

Get out your old shoes and do head to Odessa

Good Sunday morning all... I hope that many of you are starting to tune into my new blog for some thoughts and news each day... I can't promise that I will post everyday, but it is fun to try.

How many of you are finding time for some house cleaning and salvaging special collectibles that have been languishing in the back of closets and cupboards and drawers? I have been looking for things - and isn't that normal for anyone over 60? It is for me for sure. I have found some beautiful small sewing tools that I had been looking for and knew I had. I was thinking about the possibility of heading off to Odessa ANTIQUE SHOW today, and actually decided to go after work yesterday, as the clouds were gathering and it looked like a storm. The entry fee was $20, but I would have spent that on a couple of lunches, so decided my cabbage soup diet could cover that next week, and headed to Odessa. The vendors were just setting up, and I was determined to find one great treasure, thinking this might be my last Odessa Show if our plans to re-locate do work out for the next year.... and as the masses of people would not be there, it was a great time to just shop the booths and visit with the vendors.

The parking area was fairly full, and the grass very long (so do wear older shoes - it will be wet today after last night's storm). Many vendors were still unpacking vans and trucks. I had decided that my mission would be to find a miniature sewing machine, or my much sought after antique sewing tools or a small quilt. I didn't get very far into the fairgrounds entrance before I spotted a small, youth sized Log Cabin quilt that was a very close match to the one I found at the downtown Kingston Antiques Market last summer, and took a good look at it, making mental notes of Booth A-1 before moving on. Just down the first row was a vendor with MANY button jars, sewing tools and more stitch related memorabilia...I walked on, as the wind was picking up and the weather was foreboding. I wanted to get all around the fairgrounds before the rain came, and did indeed do that, all the while watching the plastic sheeting come out, booth after booth. The Show goes on, rain or shine! The smiles on the vendors faces had started to turn to looks of concern and many were packing their goods right back into their trucks to ensure they would be safe overnight. Others were draping huge tarps over their booths to ensure no leaks and adding side curtains to the tents.

I found several green glass antique bottles - a favorite collectible for my rather large collection started when I moved to Kingston 16 years ago. I have many old medicine bottles, and try to collect the Kingston ones first, then surrounding towns and villages bottles, and some that are Toronto druggists. The shapes and colour are very important to me and I love the bottles that have been "buried" and have a few scrapes and scratches and the glass oxidizes and more beautiful colours come into the glass from exposure to various minerals in the soil. I found two that came home with me. There are many wonderful antique quilts and not the "museum quality" quilts we saw at this show 10-12 years ago. The quilts that are at the show this year are common, but WONDERFUL quilts and most are priced under $300. In the main building where we often have classes at the fairgrounds, there is a vendor with the MOST AMAZING Star quilt I have seen in many years...hundreds and hundreds of very small diamonds make up the Star points. The background is pristine and the condition of the quilt just wonderful! If you go, don't miss seeing this one.

After two hours touring, touching great pine furniture that would look amazing in my studio, a hugely coveted drug store pine fixture with 27 drawers ($3500) that I had a very strong longing for... and many wonderful tables that would make great cutting surfaces, I decided that the time was near to leave. I just couldn't help thinking about the little Log cabin in Booth A-1 and headed back there as I left...and the quilt had been put away before the arrival of the storms...so I asked about it. The couple agreed to sell it without tax for $95, a price I just had enough cash to cover. So that beautiful little quilt (Log Cabin Barn Raising in old creams, purples, reds and blues with the odd pink and brown pieces here and there) is resting in my living room alongside it's close friend, the Fields and Furrows. The quilt was made in the Fergus area around the turn of the century - so at least 100 years old and now has a great new home with someone who will appreciate it, stroke it as she passes by each day and give it a good home for the rest of her life.

Do try to go... find your own treasure and celebrate the past. The present is frustrating enough to find us longing for the "olden days" when life was slower, dollars went farther and there was time to STITCH. Wait for the sun to come back out and make the drive. The men have lots to see whith huge collections of tools and wooden barn stuff...

Have a great day!

Sunshine for Odessa Antiques Market

It's Saturday and the Olympics have opened in Beijing with a flourish of amazing colour and pagentry...and here in our area, the excitment revolves around the opening of the ODESSA ANTIQUES SHOW, an outdoor extravaganza for history buffs and antique collectors. Located just a few minutes from Kingston, Odessa Fairgrounds located on Highway 6 at Highway 2 is an easy drive from Kingston or Belleville, Picton or any of our neighboring villages and towns. Dealers from all across Ontario and Northern New York will be setting out their best for the locals to view and purchase. Some of us a saving dollars on vacations this summer and doing short day trips - so this is an excellent opportunity to come on out and have some fun.

The Show opens today after 2 pm with a $20 entry fee to get in and see the antiques and memorabilia BEFORE the one day Show opens tomorrow, Sunday, August 10th at 8 am with a $7 entry fee. The Saturday shoppers are die-hard collectors who just don't want to deal with the masses and get to the fairgrounds so early in the morning. If you go today, there are at least 5 hours of great shopping time before the evening sun sets. Hope to see you there.

Quilt Shops are on summer hours, but I just read Margaret Millar's latest note from The Perfect Stitch on Gardiners Road in Kingston - Margaret relates that she has just received a whole new shipment of our favorite Kansas Troubles fabric lines for fall 2008, and has moved a large quantity of fabrics to the 50% off shelves - great news on both counts. Check out what the shop has to offer to Fibre Arts enthusiasts as well - Angelina, Merino Rovings and beads, beautiful threads and so much more. There is always something happening at The Perfect Stitch... so drop by and have a coffee, cookie and a visit with the staff. Fall classes are lining up and you can always take in Show and Tell and be entered in a draw of some kind at The Perfect Stitch....enjoy!

For those of you who are missing Dave Arnold and his machine repair service, PAUL TAYLOR of Taylor's Sewing Centre in Brockville is an outstanding technical service person and he will do the cleaning and repairs on your machine... just drop your machine in to The Quilters Choice in Kingtson and Adriana will exchange it with Paul and have it returned to the store here in Kingston. The fee is less if you drive the machine to Paul in Brockville, but with the cost of gas, you will have to justify that trip with some shopping at Taylor's Sewing Centre on Parkdale Ave just off the 401 near Pizza Hut... just turn left off Highway 29 onto Parkdale and into the shopping centre at the Pizza Hut.

While in Brockville, be sure to visit Jennifer Hodge's new PICKET FENCE FABRICS location on King Street downtown. It is on the south side of the street in the downtown core. Jennifer stocks a great array of contemporary as well as traditional fabrics and a visit to her website will give you the opportunity to get directions, hours of business and see some of the events and activities happening at the shop so you can time your visit to Brockville to take advantage of the specials.

Have a great day and hope to see you at Odessa...

Hoping you are finding time for friends and stitching!

Thursday was an outstanding day in my creative life... a great 5 hours with close stitching friends from the Kingston Fibre Artists group. We gathered at Hetherington House and the morning started out beautifully with sunshine and few clouds...the gardens were alive with colour in every range of the spectrum.....beautiful Morning Glories, blooms in the Lillies were magnificent, the pinks, yellows, oranges and purples blended with reds, periwinkle and mauve...amazing. We even saw a Cuckoo in the tall pines and a pair of Oriole bathing in the waterfall. A real treat... along with a good play with the dogs, this was an awesome day.

The gathering was to welcome new members SANDRA GARNER and DENISE SOKOLSKY, who shared a collection of their favorite new work in Fibre and knitting, small and larger art quilts, all in a collective of great technique. It is a delight to have Sandy and Denise as members and while not all of the KFA group were able to attend the "Stitching Day", those of us who were shared a terrific lunch and the opportunity to get to know Sandy and Denise better. Brian brought in a freshly caught Bass while we were sharing lunch - what a sight.

During the day, there was much discussion about upcoming courses and opportunities to study with renowned quilt artists in the next several months. There are many opportunities for sharing and fun, and particularly the next four months as the renowned FIBREWORKS KINGSTON 2008-2009 Weekend Workshops Series begins with area Quilt Artist/Designer KIT VINCENT presenting a two day version of her Quilting by Design workshop at St. Lawrence College starting with a Lecture on Friday evening, October 18th and two days of design play October 19-20th. Kit is from the Brockville area and has an amazing website that I hope you will visit and get to know her work a bit better.

The second workshop in the series will be the weekend of November 14-16th and will see Perth area Quilt Designer and Fibre Artist, CATHARINA BREEDYK-LAW coming to Kingston to share a weekend of design and techniques study as course participants design their own original country inspired quilt design. Cathy is an awesome and very well loved quilter who shares everything she has learned about design, colour, pattern and stitch along her journey as a quilt maker. I do hope you will mark your calendar for this great workshops series for Fall 2008 and register as soon as the FIBREWORKS brochures are available later this month. You will love seeing Cathy's great Trunk Show on Friday evening November 14th. Plan to bring a few friends...

We received news yesterday that the traveling THREADWORKS 2007 display of the Ontario Network of Needleworkers entitled "PASSIONS" that started on it's way on the tri-annual exhibition trail will be arriving in Gananoque later this month. The display will open with a grand evening at the Arthur Child Museum/Art Gallery on the waterfront near the Gananoque Boat Lines boarding ramps (just a few buildings to the west of the Boat Ramps) at 7 pm on Thursday, August 28th ... mark your calendar. The exhibit will run officially starting September 1st - October 31st in the Rotunda of the Arthur Child Heritage Museum of the 1000 Islands. A number of the Kingston Fibre Artists Group members have beautiful work in this traveling exhibit and you will surely enjoy the Opening Reception and a visit with friends several times while the exhibit is in our area.

There is so much more to tell you... but I have a new adventure here at home with a learning curve with my sewing machine just added to the collection of machines that I am challenging myself to master. Advanced technology will be a huge asset, but the many types and styles of stitching that have been developed, new feet for machines and advanced imagery make learning curves wider and longer. Wish me luck... More news to follow.

Have a great and productive stitching day.

The blog exercise begins today!

Good Wednesday Morning -

This is an all new adventure in communication for me, and I have many friends with blogs, and more that want a means to communicate - so CONTINUING THREADS... begins today!

There are so many exciting things happening this fall in and around Kingston. I just hope that many of you are starting to turn the calendar pages to September and the great fall happenings. I would like to encourage all of you to go to the St. Lawrence College, Kingston Campus, CONTINUING EDUCATION pages at SL.on.ca. The brand new Creative Arts/Fibre Arts programs are listed there and will give you details of the dates, times and cost of registering for the courses you WILL want to be a part of this fall.

I will be Instructing the 12 week course, TEXTILE DESIGN, to be held on Thursday evenings beginning Sept. 11th and running through Nov. 27th. This course will give the novice as well as the experienced Fibre Arts enthusiast the foundation for creating designs for new work. The course will be broken down into three components:

Sept. 11-Oct. 2nd, 2008: Design and Composition

Oct. 9-30th, 2008: Creative Cloth Development

Nov. 6-27th, 2008: Collage, Surface Design and Finishing

At the beginning, students will work in black and white, developing a portfolio of all new designs that will come from the study of line, shape, texture and colour. Line drawings, sketches, cutting of b/w paper design components (yes, you will need black and white paper) and finally coloured pencil sketces and painted samples will evolve into the design inspiration for your new work. We will create new fabric using dyes (DynaFlo) and paints that are easy to transport to class, and will form the basis for your coloured design interpretation onto fabric that will be used in your class projects. Painting, stamping and the basics of deconstructed screen print work will all be explored during this course. The final course project will be the student's choice, with a concentration on experimentation, learning and the use of the original design as a starting point for new work! Come join us and get started on some great new work!

This is another full credit course in the Textile Design Program at St. Lawrence College, and we enthusiastically welcome all students who have completed the Textile Design Program to return to the program for ongoing study and to find the creative spirit you can only find among friends for development of all new work! New students and those who are working through the program at SLC will want to attend and use the time to produce all new work for future sale, exhibition or just for interest sake, and share their unique and dedicated skills with new students in the program.

We hope you will encourage a friend to join you and plan to car pool to class to save gas! WOW - the costs of traveling anywhere are growing and we all need to be sure to invite friends to ride with us whenever possible! Even if your friend is taking another class at St. Lawrence ( Tina Barnes and Zahara Bilgrami are instructing their all new SILK PAINTING Course on Thursday evenings, Beth Abbott is instructing FIBRES TO FABRIC on Tuesday evenings and Tina Barnes will be instructing her all new FLORAL DESIGN courses on Tuesday evenings. Watch the course postings for Janice Vandijk's PHOTOGRAPHY, IMAGE EDITING, PHOTO TRANSFER courses and more (look under Photography in the college course menu)... so much to do and so little time!

Another blog entry tomorrow as work calls and there is so much to see on these beautiful late summer mornings - a walk with K.C. and Blue, the family dogs is a must! Talk to you soon!