March Fiber Artists Meeting

Houston Fiber Artists bring in some very interesting speakers with unique techniques for textiles. This month was no exception when we welcomed Joloe Art to be our guest speaker.

Loela works with her husband Johan to create these unusual wearables.  Is it Art in Science? Or is it the Science in Art?  They use chemical art to achieve unexpected reactions that spill over onto some of their fun silk garments.  Johan is a chemical engineer by profession.

Loela's collection of heirloom bulbs consists of 46 detail drawings of the 23 different "heirloom bulbs" depicted in the book:  "Heirloom Bulbs for Today".  Each -lady- as Loela calls them, has now found a special spot on fine, fabulous, irresistable and sensual silks.   Each of JoLoe Art garment starts with an original painting and /or drawing.  The art is then transferred onto the highest quality of various raw silks through 6 steps.   Lovely garments with unique names.

Then it was time for fiber artists members to present their creations.  This one is from Donna--"That darn thing looks like a fish"!  little quilting here and there

Nasreen showed her class from Craftsy (free from attending QuiltCon in Austin)  She did a slash technique

And she hates to throw away scraps so she created this wall hanging from the slashed fabrics from the circles in above hanging--clever!

She is also a very talented silk painter with this piece

Dorothy had this lovely quilt

Here is the quilt fully presented open to ohhh and ahh over.

Dorothy is also doing some crochet around rocks.  This one sits on brochure from SDA conference to be held in San Antonio, TX this summer (early June)

She has been having fun with these crochet rocks!

Kyla, a recent member, shows off her felted hanging.  Quite interesting piece on a recycled picture frame

Here is close-up photo

She also had this felted piece that had crochet inserts.

Ivy had a text message on fabric to present--this is the backing.

In this piece she showed positive and negative letters--she has an upper hand on her grandkids that's for sure!

Ivy has been experimenting with tyvek--cutting holes and painting with alcohol inks

Apply a little heat and you get this!  Just love these HAFA members!  come join us and enjoy some inspiration! 

Expatchers Gathering

It is a 'catch up' gathering! Time to catch up on little gossip while our hands are busy with stitching.

Judy M had this delightful jar quilt to present.  This is one for her church's charity group.

Along with her talents, sponsorships can be added to the quilt to assist with funds.

The backing is just as colorful as the bug jars.

Camilla was doing a quilt of prayers.

After the construction of the quilt top, there is a time for others to help with the tying of the quilts.  As each knot is tied, a prayer is said for the recipient.  This is much like prayer shawls in knitting.

We always like to see Annette's hexes as she lays each group out.  She is following a quilt pattern that she saw at Quilt Festival--trying to come close to the layout, anyway.  Such great sherbet colors--these were from a fat quarter collection she received from the group on her birthday.

New Challenges--

Yes, there are some new challenges out there--well, new mysteries to solve too! So here we go!

If you are not a member of Ravelry --you should be!  Three million (3,000,000) members can't be wrong!  And it's all free!  This pattern is up for March KAL from designer Lisa Mutch and it's a free pattern to boot!  Lovely simple shawl, but elegant!

Not Free, but only $1--yes, only One buck!  This is a mystery KAL (knit along) from designer Rachel Henry.  I so enjoyed the first pattern she had as a mystery--'Crushed' and now, this one is Capriole.  Knits and yarn at the ready for this mystery to begin end of March.

Are you a fan of "Game of Thrones"?  Then you might enjoy this mystery KAL beginning late March.  I'm not much a fan of this show, but willing to take a look at the pattern with Jimmy Beans Wool CO

This mystery shawl has already begun, but it's never to late to sign on and begin.  So far, the knitting has been quite relaxing.  The designer is Cindy Garland--and the pattern was $3, but well worth the $$$.  It's a two color knit

This is an interesting knit , the goal is to produce a symmetrical triangle shawl, knitted using 2 to 4 colours (this seems to be the trend).  Alexandra Wiedmayer’s knitwear designs and this pattern is $5

This mystery sock knit is classified 'unusual construction' and boy, is it!  But, why not learn a new way to make a sock so I'm on board for this!  Designs from General Hogbuffer  Check it out--another free download on Ravelry

And oh, my!  when I signed up for this Westknits ebook in February, I thought we would get three or four patterns, but no, we got soooooooo many patterns--this will keep me knitting Stephen's patterns for a long time! 
Never a boring minute and never time to keep your hands idle! 
Happy stitching!!
 

Quilt Winners from HLSR

On our last day to attend Houston Livestock and Rodeo (HLSR) we finally made it to the display cases that exhibited the winning quilt collection.

It wasn't easy to take photos through the glass but we did the best we could.  It was difficult to see the winners names and location but here are a few of those winners.

I really liked the quilting on this one.

Quite the country scene as you drive along the back road.

And we feature we see often--a died armadillo on the side of the road!

Every quilt entered is a winner in my book!



A super way to feature embroidery panels with quilt blocks.

And this one!! a definite one to make for cowboy grandson==been collecting these type of fabrics for some time and this will be great way to feature them in a manly way.

QUIET PLEASE!!

QUIET PLEASE................we are doing the Kitchener Stitch!  Why oh why does it require absolute quiet with no interference from anyone or anything to do this stitch?  It's not like it's a new stitch to me, I've done it many, many times...................................... but, I have to read each step and then repeat 'knit, knit, purl, purl' until the last stitch is closed!  Then breate a sign of relief!

Yes!  It does look right and the top of this sock is closed!  Wait, there is another one to close, so quiet please.   And on we go to finish up a pair of socks.

This pattern came from this book--lots of creative and unusual patterns.

Doesn't matter where the designer lives, we all speak the same language when it comes to knitting.

Good!  Off the needles and ready to wear--well, next fall now.

And I'm not worried that the stripes don't match--it's all good!

Once more--quiet please!  We have another pair to close up. 

Well, this pair of socks begin with another pattern and alas, I didn't really like the tedious work so switched to this pattern "Hermiones-everyday-socks" by Erica Lueder of Dreams in Fiber Blog.  Both of these patterns were easy to remember and easy to knit, so we have two more pair of socks to add to our wardrobe! 
Hope you don't need quiet when you do the Kitchener Stitch!

From My View

 

Here we are again at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo!  We are in our booth, which is located in the Reliant Center, Hall A.  The weavers and spinners have been volunteering for many moons now to educate the public about our craft.  During the week, hundreds of school children pass by our booth.  On weekends, we get families who are out to enjoy the aspects of this wonderful event.  These photos are taken from my view of the area.  Come look at what I see!

 

 

I've attended Cowboy Church upstairs and have made my way across to Hall A to come down the last escalator in the hall.  Our booth space is located right inside Hall A--go to the left and you'll see our little space, all roped off............. are we the captured or are we keeping out???

 

 

 

The loom is out and ready for the weaver.

Today Connie is the weaver

Another Sunday Gerry is the weaver on her small tapestry loom.  We can gather quite the crowd at times.  And it seems the bigger the crowd, more will stop to view.
 Alecia (coordinator for weekends) is the spinner on the left.

We have visitors from many countries and some visitors will hang around for several minutes to absorb..................in the background is the breed row barn, where you can view different animals

Off to the left is the petting zoo!  Today it smells quite--well, ripe!  The area is kept very clean but today is a rainy day and it seems to enhance the flavor of the elements.

The loom lacks a weaver right at this moment, but we are trying to keep it slow and easy--we want that 10 yard warp to last the whole three weeks

I've piled my fiber on the floor for all to see and hopefully, far enough back so little hands will not be tempted to grab and flee.  I have a prepared merino roving (blue) and rainbow dyed locks to spin

Ah, here are my feet in action--spinning, spinning--and talking!  We can do that, you know?