Sewing Day continued

Priscilla also worked on some strips of flying geese that she had made in the past that were orginally intended for a jacket. Now that she's become a quilter, however, she re-assembled the strips for a quilt.






Nancy cut out and sewed together a new jacket. It came from a pattern she was trying for the first time. It turned out great, but I think she's ready to try making a kimono-style jacket next time.










The main fabric is a Lonni Rossi fabric.















Priscilla brought in one her Hmong story quilts that she buys from their makers in Vientiane, Laos. This one depicts the people fleeing the soldiers in China and Vietname and going to the refugee camps -- and from their moving to other countries. See Priscilla's blog for Nov 15 for more story quilts. www.PriscillaKibbee.blogspot.com

Sewing Day

Nancy Hicks, Priscilla Kibbee, and I decided to sneek in a little sewing before the Thanksgiving holiday.







Priscilla brought lots of work in process. She found this beautiful needlepoint parrot on ebay, and he's destined to be adorned with a few beads. A quilt is in the planning stages, and many lovely fabrics were auditioned, including some scrumptious silks.












This is Priscilla's Vegetable Man quilt, which features a beautiful hand embroidery that she found in Vietnam a few years ago. She's added interesting piecing and borders, highlighted by her signature seminole piecing along the side.













The Vegetable Man was inspired by a painting of Rudolph II, painted by Guiseppe Arcimboldo in 1591 and called "Vertumnus, God of the Seasons."

Pear Mincemeat

Our neighbors gave us extra pears they had from the tree in their yard. We don't make pear mincemeat every year, but decided this would be a good use for all this extra fruit.

First, the pears are peeled and quartered.
Then they are crushed in a food processor, along with lemons and raisins.


The mixture goes in the pot with sugar and spices, and is cooked until it thickens.

Then it's put in jars and put through a boiling water canning bath for 20 minutes.

We like to mix the mincemeat with apples for pies -- it's pretty yummy!!

If you're tempted, here's the recipe:
3 1/2 # ripe pears (about 1/2 peck)
or enough to make 8 Cups smashed pears
1 lemon
1 15 oz pkg raisins
3 - 3 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp each cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger

Peel, quarter, and core pears. Wash and quarter lemon, removing seeds. Put pears, lemon, and raisins alternately through the food processor. Combine fruit mixture with sugar, vinegar, and spices in kettle. Bring it to a boil and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, 40 minutes or until thick. Seal in sterilized jars or pack in freezer boxes. A double batch makes 6 quarts.

RAFA trunk show continued

One more artist who presented today was Nancy Hicks. Nancy (in the center) showed several of her "faces" quilts.













My high school friend, Mary Ann Cocola (in the center), and her friend, Liz (on the left), came for the show and were checking out Barb's quilts.







Genie Barnes came for the show and showed us her newly-completed butterfly vest. While she wasn't officially part of the "orange jacket" challenge, she managed to work in some orange strips which add wonderful highlights to her vest.

RAFA Trunk Show at Schweinfurth

Members of the Rochester Area Fiber Artists presented a trunk show at the Schweinfurth Art Center. Pat Pauly (in the center) organized the show and introduced the artists.

Jeanne Simpson (on the right) is showing her quilts to Julie Brandon.











Marcia Eygabroat (in the center) is showing her quilts to Liz Anderson (on the left). Marcia's mother, Sally Hershberg, came with her.

Notice Marcia's recent quilt in the foreground that features her mother and father.


Barb Seils (on the left) is talking with Carol Soderlund (center) and Sally Dutko (right). In addition to sharing several of her quilts, Barb showed us her silk scarf made in Carol's class.










Diane Miller, who is a machine knitter as well as a fabric dyer and quilter, wore one of her sweaters with dyed fabrics.

Holy Moley Exhibition and Celebration

And the winners are.....

Pat Pauly, challenge organizer extraordinaire, arranged for the participants to have a catered dinner with a private viewing of all the mola quilts and the announcements of the awards.

Pat talked about her quilt, which won the Viewer's Choice vote and was given a beautiful mola donated by Priscilla.

My quilt to the left was the "Winning Mola" (!!) and I won a free dinner.


Bev Kondolf talked about her quilt. Priscilla's quilt is to the left, and Ren's is to the right.












Liz Coccuzi described making her blue mola quilt. Linda Bachman's quilt is to the left, and Pat Berardi's is to the right. Pat's quilt won an Honorable Mention.












My apologies to Jeanne Simpson for her blurry picture. The quilts behind her (from the left) were made by Val Schultz, Beth Brandkamp (who also won an Honorable Mention), Jeanne Simpson, and Barb Seils.

For pictures of each quilt, see Priscilla's blog http://www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/

Holy Moley Mola Challenge

Pat Pauly issued a mola challenge over the summer and 19 of us signed up. The rules specified that we design a quilt that was inspired by a mola that we had purchased from Priscilla. The mola could not be used as part of the quilt and had to be kept so it could be shown with the quilt.



Nancy Kelly, who was manager of the Memorial Art Gallery's Gallery Store for more than 25 years, was charged with the task of selecting the quilt that best reflected using a mola for inspiration in a contemporary fiber art work.



Here's the progression of the building of my quilt, starting with the mola I selected.

I decided to concentrate on the "U" or "C" shapes and to make the shapes in different colors and sizes.




I wanted the quilt to have ascending and descending columns and some additional spots of color on the sides.











And here's the finished quilt. It was machine quilted with invisible thread in a "burst" pattern.

Update on Compositional Conversations

Three more stages of the Compositional Conversations project have been completed, and it's fascinating to see each artist's voice expressed in the piece, as well as to read about their processes.

See Terry's blog for the details on the construction of each piece www.studio24-7.blogspot.com .

This is Stage 11 by Valerie Goodwin. Note that the piece told Valerie that her name was Mary.

Stage 12 by Kathy Loomis

Stage 13 by Leslie Joan Riley

Good Bye Florida

We are selling our Miami townhouse. Marcia and sister-in-law, Doreen (pictured), flew down last weekend to close up and make necessary arrangements, requiring phone calls and personal contacts. Doreen is the serious sun-lover, so of course, would be on the phone outside!









The two-bedroom, two-bath unit is in a retirement community, where all the single-story buildings contain 4 apartments and are surrounded by a lot of green space. It is 15 miles south of the city, and we started using it in 1979.

Doreen and brother Jim created the attractive flower garden in front of the sun porch windows.







Some items were selected to be sent North, including "Grandpa's bike" which will be passed on to Doreen's son for its sentimental value.












Other items were boxed and placed together for pickup and shipping by a transit company. Some interior furnishings were gifted to a neighbor, and our realtor took some things for distribution to area needy families. If you are in the market for a warm weather condo, give us a call!

Quilt Club Meeting

The November meeting of the Genesee Valley Quilt Club had its usual great Show and Tell of member quilts.

I'm sorry I didn't record the names of all the quilt makers, but here are a few pictures:

This is a raffle quilt being offered by Compeer.

This is a new quilt by Julie Brandon.

The pattern for this quilt is by Nancy Murty.

Quilt Club Speaker

Our guest speaker for the November meeting was Paula Schultz, who owns a fabric store in the central part of NY near Oneida, "Cottons, Etc." Paula is a wearables artist, and she showed us several of her garments.

Our large meeting room was filled with members, so volunteers brought the outfits through the audience so we could get an up-close view.






This is our friend, Nancy Hicks, modeling Paula's coat and showing the matching vest.




Nancy showing the back of the coat.













Diane Jessop modeling one of Paula's vests.