DAFA 2012 Holiday Celebration

Members and guests celebrated the festival season on Monday, Dec. 17, at DAFA’s annual Holiday Potluck and Silent Auction at The Point. Vice president Lisa Covert and her committee pulled out all the stops, giving us an delightful event and a terrific fundraiser. The Silent Auction, which benefits DAFA scholarships, special programs, workshops, etc., pulled in record-breaking contributions. Cathie Mercer’s steampunk doll was queen of the night as the most fought-over and high-dollar auction item. Thanks to Lisa, Vet, and their committee members and to all our imaginative contributors for a party to remember!

Left to right: December diners dig into the potluck offerings. Cathie Mercer’s steampunk doll holds court. Shoppers consider their bids on such items as Jules Rushing’s hand-dyed Christmas trees.

November’s Program and Workshop

Crazy quilt aficionado Sherrill Lewis came all the way from The Bead Ranch in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in November to bring us her beads and crazy quilt trunk show. Her collection includes some mouth-watering antique crazy quilts in pristine condition, as well as her own creations – crazy-quilted clothing, wall hangings, and quilts with non-stop embellishments. Thank you to Sherrill and her husband, Gene, for the long trip on our behalf. (A new tire gave out on them before they got home in the wee hours of the morning.) Look for them at the Dallas Quilt Celebration in 2013.

Left to right: Detail of one of the antique crazy quilts. Gene and Sherrill hold up one of the prized antique quilts in their collection. One of Sherrill’s creations – a lavishly embellished wall hanging.

WEAVING MINI-WORKSHOP

DAFA member Mary Berry came bringing looms and fibers galore to our November mini-workshop, where she led participants in explorations of free-form weaving. Mary is the owner of Fancy Fibers Farm in Farmersville, a favorite home base for knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, and fiber dyers. Thanks to Mary for making individual looms for us and for preparing so thoroughly for this new and different mini-workshop!

Left to right: Mary measures a piece of yarn for Carol Regan, as others consider choices from the wealth of fibers. Mini-workshop chair Chuck Baber watches as Mary demonstrates to the group. Patsy Davila gets help from Mary.

Andrea Brokenshire presents “Journey of an Art Quilter”

If you had to miss DAFA’s October meeting (or even if you just want to relive a terrific program), here are photos of Andrea Brokenshire’s presentation for us. A rising star in the world of art quilts, Andrea came to us from Round Rock, bringing a stunning trunk show of her quilts. She traced her story as an artist from its beginnings, when she was a traditional maker of pieced and appliquéd quilts, through the changes that took place in her work following a life-threatening illness. 

Andrea Brokenshire (center) takes the DAFA audience along on her art quilt journey. With the help of Chuck Baber and Sherrie Tootle, she showed both early works (left) and recent works (right).

It took two years of knitting and other techniques exploration before Andrea returned to quilts, and it was in a workshop with Judy Coates Perez that Andrea discovered she “could paint.”  Soon this trained botanist had found her voice and had begun to produce the art quilts for which she is so widely recognized today.

In the Confetti Backgrounds mini-workshop Andrea (at right) showed a new, heavily embellished abstract quilt. At left is her first whole-cloth quilt, her earliest painted quilt.

Andrea explained that she loves techniques of all kinds. Many of the quilts feature painting on silk, fusible applique, and intricate quilting, with lines that are often no more than ¼ inch apart. She spends long hours thread painting, making the backs of her quilts as fascinating as the fronts.

Andrea’s stunning Christmas quilt (left) was among the many works that DAFA members and guests admired and discussed with her after the program.

Thanks to Andrea for her wonderful program and her generosity in sharing so much information with all of us!

                                                                                                      --Carolyn Skei, program chair

                                                                                                         

DAFA art quilts supporting AAQI

Finding My Way Home
Lu Peters

DAFA ART QUILTS HAVE BEEN HOT SELLERS on the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative website. In just this past month 10 of our members' art quilts have sold, making our current total 13 quilts sold for an amazing $1,000! Yes, DAFA members, you are all Fiber Art Quilt Rock Stars in my book!

I checked the list to see how many DAFA art quilts have been pulled and slated to make the trip to Houston for the International Quilt Festival, and there are 22! I just know that all of them will be purchased and greatly loved and admired in their new homes.

Monday night I hope you will be in attendance for Recycled Runway: From the Sidewalk to the Green Catwalk. Lu Peters promises it will be a wonderful program. Thanks to so many of our members who have been working hard on their projects.

See you on the Runway!

                                                                                                         -- Jules Rushing, president

DAFA workshop offers rare chance to learn from “Miss Marble”

Catherine Levine demonstrates methods of floating the paints in the tray and raking or combing it in a variety of patterns.

One of the true stars of paper marbling, Catherine Levine, delighted yesterday's Marbling Workshop participants with as much information and hands-on experience as could be packed into a three-hour session. We each had our own carageenan-filled marbling tray, combs, alum-treated papers and as many paint colors as we could dream of mixing. And the results were amazing. Participants ranged from first-time marblers to experienced art teachers, but “Miss Marble” had tips and information for all.

Class members mix and thin heavy-bodied acrylics and go to work producing marbled papers by the dozen.

The toughest part was getting the papers to our cars on a somewhat windy day! Thanks to Catherine, to Asel Art (which carries a profusion of marbling supplies, by the way), and to all the fun-loving participants for a wonderful workshop!

                                                                                                        -- Carolyn Skei, workshop chair

Catherine Levine shares marbling history and craft

Catherine Levine combs the paints in her marbling tray and pulls a sheet of 17th-century-style marbled paper as Lisa Covert holds the microphone and Gail Sellers watches.

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to “Miss Marble,” Catherine Levine, and to her rapt audience for a wonderful DAFA meeting last Monday night! If you missed Aug. 27, here are a few pictures to give you a taste of an evening filled with lots of excitement. Catherine told us how, in her studio in Dallas, she devotes long hours to the study and re-creation of historic marbling patterns. With an amazing skill, born of complete dedication to her art, she demonstrated several different marbling patterns, ranging from the early “stone” patterns to the more recent “zebra” and “nonpareil” patterns.

DAFA member Lisa Covert (standing at left) explains pamphlet stitch to a full house of mini-workshop participants. At right, Early Irwin concentrates on her two-part journal with marbled cover.

THANKS TO LISA COVERT for leading our mini-workshop on pamphlet-stitched journals. With the help of mini-workshop chair Chuck Baber, Lisa had kits ready that contained beautiful marbled paper covers, precut inside papers, and even threaded needles! Now that’s an organized teacher! We are so lucky to have had all three of these skilled book arts enthusiasts share their knowledge and love of paper and book arts with our group.

IF YOU STILL HAVEN'T PAID DAFA DUES for 2012-2013, you have a day or two before an important Sept. 1 deadline. Your name will be included in the Texas Federation of Fiber Artists directory and you will get your discount-bearing membership card promptly if you beat the deadline!

-- Carolyn Skei

Dallas Area Fiber Artists Support the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

Above left: April Soncrant's "Super Highway." Above right: Jo Appleton's "Hidden Pathway."

We are busy watching the action on the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative site with the monthly auctions. Last month a few of our members' art quilts sold from the “ForSale” section, and Super Highway by April Soncrant has been selected for the September Quilt Auction.

A link has been added to the blog sidebar for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. You will also be able to keep an eye on the sales progress of the DAFA art quilts.

The Dallas Area Fiber ARTists have our own page so visitors to the AAQI website will know about us and see the quilts we have donated to AAQI.  

On August 15, AAQI wrote about DAFA's participation and our Priority Art Quilt project. It was very exciting for those of us who "Like" AAQI on Facebook to see the post.

The volunteers with Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative are busy sorting and selecting art quilts to take to the InternationalQuilt Festival in Houston in November.  They are listing the art quilts they are pulling for Houston, and some of the DAFA art quilts have already been selected.

During our September meeting April Soncrant and Denise Spillane will let us know about the next Priority Quilt Challenge for DAFA. Plus, Lu Peters will let us know about a 2013 show for which we have been asked to be the exhibitors.
                                                                                                                 --Jules Rushing