meeting recap: valerie zeman

It may have been a cold night to venture out, but the February meeting was worth the trip! Guest speaker, artist Val Zeman, brought a stunning collection of hand dyed fabrics and quilt pieces. She is preparing for an upcoming gallery show out east detailing the plight of the Piping Plover, and brought  a snippet to share with us as well. The lighting in the photos don't necessarily capture the subtleties of the hand-dyed fabric, so you will have to take our word for it! Or, even better you can take a workshop with Val to learn the process of making your own fabrics and see how fabulous they can be for yourself! See the bottom of this post for more details!

But first, the quilts!

 Part of the upcoming show:

 And some hand-dyed fabric goodness:

We also had show and share:

And introduced a new challenge! Due at the April meeting, we are all challenged to make either our initial, or if you have a business or blog, your logo, out of fabric. No rules on sizes, colors, or embellishments. Just remember to have fun and let your modern self go!

Finally, if you would be interested in visiting Val's studio or scheduling a workshop with her this spring (and, come on, after this, who wouldn't??), you can contact her by email at vzeman@mac.com

Workshops include but are not limited to:

• low water immersion dyeing
• printing with textile paints and thickened dyes
• screen-printing
• shibori
• breakdown printing
• soy wax resist
• flour paste resist
• paper lamination
• gold leaf lamination
• discharging

To check out more of Val's work, visit her website.

february meeting.

Well, would you look at that? We're already a month into 2016! How did that happen so quickly? We hope the snowy days have created lots of time for stitching this month -- and don't forget -- our February meeting is going to be held one week later this month, so you'll have some extra time to get your projects ready for show and share!

We have another great meeting planned for this month! Here's what's on the agenda:

• First, just another reminder that this month's meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 23rd. That's a date change. For this month only, the meeting will be held one week late.

• Second, we have an awesome guest speaker -- Val Zeman -- coming to discuss the techniques of hand dying fabric. She will bring some examples as well as talk about her process and her new studio.

• Third, we have two new challenges to introduce at the next meeting. Get your creativity caps on!

• And as always, we will have Block of the Month, Show and Share and the Destash Basket Raffle!

Looking forward to seeing you all on February 23rd!