Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Indigo Class July 26


Indigo Immersion
Hosted by Still Point Farm



Join Jennifer Warnick and Jennifer Falkowski for an awesome day of hands on indigo dyeing.  

There will be time to explore shibori resist techniques and dye several pieces that rich blue for which indigo is famous. We provide the tools to make resists or you may bring some from home.  

We’ll have pieces for purchase that are prepped to dye.  You can also bring your own fabric - directions on how to prep it for dyeing will be sent out before the class.  

We will make a big freakin’ vat so you can dye large pieces.  Woohoo!

When: Saturday, July 26 from 10 - 4 (Rain Date, Saturday, August 2nd)  
Where: Still Point Farm, W886 State Road 92, Brooklyn, WI
Fee: $90



Pre-registration is required.  Bring your own lunch.
Class size is limited so you have a flippin’ amazing time at the vats

Questions?  Jennifer@JenniferFalkowski.com or JAWarnick@SBCGlobal.net or call 608/ 852-3970

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

4/2 + 9/14 from emails



April 2

I just found this   WIKIPEDIA ON EMBROIDERY

Embroidery from India See the running stitch in the background
























Kantha Cloth from India - old saris layered with a running stitch  Lovely ones at SERRV on Monroe or state street.  NOTE: alternating color running stitch.




good articles from the Textile Museum of Canada I have them on paper & can share
Textile Museum of Canada  has a Telling Stories Exhibit


Rumi O'Brien -- Middleton quilter   This is a bed sized quilt - hand appliqued



FIELD TRIP IDEAS - if anyone wants to take charge of setting one of these up  
PLEASE do it.  
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

     have an art play day at Whispering Woodlands  or dyes or paste painting
     the space can be rented for what we want

     Go to Sherri's and paint a 5" square self portrait

      Viewing Downton Abbey with sewing and chocolate & raspberries

QUOTES
"Do what your hands want to do."

TOOLS

BOOKS
Pam Niebauer brought  

RESALE SHOPS
--the one Lakeside open TH, F, SAt & SUN Opens at 11
--Collectors Corner, Hadessa  Resale  next to Scotts Pastry on University in 
        Middleton
--Kathy's open at NOON on SAT  Rimrock & Cty B towards Oregon
   (if you are hungary -Christies near Lake Wabesa for fish sandwich)

___________________________________
4/9  Ice melting on lake  :-)

QUOTES
" I love when I surprise myself." Marilyn on her Intuitive Stitching

"Embroidery . . . is perhaps the oldest of the fine arts." Harpers New Monthly
       Magazine, 1913

BOOKS

Pam Niebauer brought  
SCREEN PRINTING  Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan VIDEO
TRAY DYEING Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan VIDEO
BREAKDOWN PRINTING   Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan VIDEO
THERMOFAX  PRINTING  Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan VIDEO

Maureen brought KILLER SLIPPERS Nick Godlee ( boats, swans elephants!)

Marilyn has books by Laura Kemshell


Sherri was wearing sweatshirt covered in patterned fabric squares & family photos she made for her Mom to remind her of loved ones.

Ann brought "Poetry in your pocket"  a poem by Will Cather, "Prairie Spring"

EXERCISE CLASSES - good ones
M W 8:30-10 am

Pilates Spa Atwood ave

Saturday, June 21, 2014

6/18/14 plus some extras

From Ann
Here are two pictures of the embroidery Joan did for me on her grandmother's hankie. Her grandmother embroidered crocheted the edge. ( from several years ago)

The poem, stanza one,  by e.e. cummings:
I thank you God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky: and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes.






Quotes Ann took from the Wisconsin Arts News (from the Wisconsin Arts Board) 2013
Here is the email that will sign you up to the Wisconsin Arts Board "daily" it usually comes once or twice a week. . .FULL of good links but mostly I only look at the quotes.


“In good times arts are magical, and in tough times they are essential. That’s when you need them the most. Art makes you human."--Bruce Dethlefsen, WI Poet Laureate

“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of stuwith facts... it is to teach them to think, if that is possible, and always to think for themselves.” Robert Hutchins

“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”  John F. Kennedy 

“To have great poets, there must be great audiences, too.” – Walt Whitman

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” – Carl Sandburg

“Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.” – Lady Bird Johnson

“If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library?” - Lily Tomlin

“Books had instant replay long before televised sports.” – Bern Williams

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” – Clementine Paddleford

“I'm not young enough to know everything.” - J. M. Barrie

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.” – Stanley Horowitz

“Once, power was considered a masculine attribute. In fact, power has no sex.” - Katharine Graham
“Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.” – Michael Caine

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

“You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: it wasn’t that long ago that we were all swept away by the Macarena.” – Jon Stewart

"The advantage of poetry over life is that poetry, if it is sharp enough, may last." - Louise Gluck

“Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.” – Alice Walker

"A girl should be two things: who and what she wants." — Coco Chanel

“The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs...one step at a time.” – Joe Girard

“work through problems, not around them.”  Barbara Dueholm

 “Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.” – Sydney Smith

“Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings.” – George F. Will


“Art must take reality by surprise.” - Francoise Sagan

I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them
so gently?  And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white
quilt; and perhaps it says 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer
comes again.'--Lewis Carroll
_________________________________________________________________________

Pam O worked on the piece of the left Then went "Outside the Box" on the right!

Pam is starting a new one with cubist women's faces - When she added french knots to it.  "These orange dots make a huge difference!  DOTS the spirit..."

Peggy is embroidering blueberries on her white shirt.  Here are her drawings and thread.

Peggy also brought her accordion book  about the Solstice. 
The cover has a lovely textured paste paper she made.


 She drew the moon phases and ages of women & the flowers from her garden. Exquisite!


Maureen McQ came and shared her collaged Cats. & she told us about her thesis on Mapping the Creative Process.  And a book Map as Art by Katherine Harmon




Pamela N is working on her Hanky - these finger cots help her hold the needle!  She has wonderful persistence - this is her 3 or 4th time starting over!!

Talking about the storms and tree damage - Peggy told us about being in a tornado & how wonderfully helpful her insurance was - Amica  rated best in service and pays dividends.

We talked about Nancy Daly and her murals.  Nancy ran Tenney Nursery when my girls were little.  It was a wonderful place.


Margaret brought her daughter Cory - who was learning to knit.  The knitters group was very helpful when we couldn't answer a question she had.  She is a High School teacher visiting from Ohio.

Pamela N brought an article on Louise Bourgeois- who's home is being turned into a museum in NYC.

Acrylic paint or Sharpee's can cover scratches or stains or the ends of hanging rods.

Another Wonderful Wednesday!



Friday I went down to the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont, IL.

Here are some images from that  --
There were many elaborate applique pieces updated Baltimore Album Quilts

Sharon Chambers' Enchanted Garden



And many realistic Portrait ones-
 This is Emmy Tovo by Sherri Culver


Some used text - I liked this hand written one. Many different scales of writing


There were Fun contrasts in scale in pieced work too. 
I asked strangers to put their hands in my pictures!

Kaye Koler's TINY log cabin " Home at Last"


 Log cabin  Unknown maker 1/4 " logs!


Santa Fe Sunlight by Janet Henderson

But my special favorite was "aprons are a tradition in my family" by Eileen Daniels who made blocks from handmade aprons with vintage hankies in the pockets!



Saturday, June 14, 2014

4/16/14 email repeat - with OUR EXHIBIT blogs & THE brownie recipe

Hi
Our exhibit on blogs  - 



4/16

The previous week  Ann started talking to Mary Kraat at the next table (80+)
who brought in 2 huge embroideries that she had done.  The red work signature piece was begun in 1952 & included friends and family & her husbands co workers as they traveled for his jobs.  Beautifully stitched & a large bed size cross stitch quilt tops.



Kris Shultz from the knitter's group gave us several embroidery hoops as a gift! 
THANK YOU.

Cynthia demonstrated a Yo-yo maker & Sherri's husband Jeffery made a yo-yo.
On Saturday  on quilting arts they demonstrated the yo yo maker too!

Ann brought her Tribute to Mary Gates made with her hankies and single earrings.

We discussed having a "Mom Memorial" exhibit for Mother's day NEXT year.
& invite others to join us.  Ideas for where to have it??

Small world - One of the knitters, Freddie, had bought a quilt from me in @ 1978 which had the flying toothbrush fabric I'd made in college. One of my embroideries in our exhibit had the flying toothbrush image, which my daughter had tattooed to represent me!

Then a delightful & packed reception  including delicious treats - thank you all!

Bobbie said she had altered her mother's brownie recipe by adding MORE chocolate. & her mom said how she'd ruined it because now when you eat 3 - you feel kinda sick. :-)     Well I only had one and it was terrific.
AND she gave us the recipe!!

Bobbie’s Adult Brownies

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

4 sqs. Unsweetened chocolate (Ghiradelli works really well)
2 sticks of butter
Combine these in double boiler over hot water. DON’T do in a microwave. It changes the flavor for this recipe—been there, done that, and threw the batch away.

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
Beat by hand.

Combine chocolate and egg/sugar mix.

1 1/3 cups flour
1 scant tsp. baking powder
Sift together and stir into above mix.

1 bag 60% cocoa or other dark chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
Add to mixture above.

Spread in pan and top with large amount crushed walnuts.

Bake til barely done, about 30 minutes. These freeze well in pan. Generally, cut only as many as you are serving or eating, and leave the rest in the pan, covered, til you’re ready to devour more—keeps ‘em moist.

ENJOY