For those of you who have always wanted to travel to the American Quilters' Society's QUILT WEEK IN PADUCAH - here is your opportunity. Register now, as the seats are limited!

The Limestone Quilters Guild, Kingston ON

is sponsoring a 

QUILTERS BUS TRIP 

to the American Quilters Society 's 

"QUILT WEEK IN PADUCAH" 

this spring,  April 20-27th.

It is one amazing trip, and a very reasonable alternative to driving yourself, booking all of your own hotels and being on your own. Who wouldn't want to be among a group of great quilters and seeing the sights, touring the Quilt Shows, visiting the amazing Quilt Show and all of the Quilt Week events in Paducah, the National Quilt Museum and so much more. You will shop til you drop, share great evenings with quilt friends old and new and have so much time on your hands to see all that Paducah has to offer....

Seats are available now!!! The bus leaves from Kingston, and by special arrangement, may be able to pick quilters up at designated points across the 401 as they are driving through to Sarnia to cross into the USA. Passports are required, and yes, a minor technicality of a special rate $15 "membership" in the Limestone Quilters Guild as detailed below (this is a sponsored trip by LQG). .

And you be back well before the QUILTS KINGSTON 2015 Show, or events that your group or Guild is planning next spring. ... make this your reward for getting your exhibition entries in right away! There is no more beautiful city than PADUCAH in April - green grass, beautiful city, hundreds of vendors to shop for quilt supplies and MORE!

Contact Trip Conveanor, Susan Clarke at:  sjcway@cogeco.ca  for all of the details and be a part of all of the fun!

Note: Susan can email you a larger copy of the details sheet below...don't wait. Seats are filling fast!

 

February 6-8th CABIN FEVER WEEKEND is fast approaching and many area friends are coming together to create great, new FIBRE ART!

Woodland by A.J. Casson inspired Bethany's Sunday Collage project

So many thanks to all of our area quilters, dyers and fibre arts loving students. The hall is rented, the three days of shared learning scheduled and the response has been great! What better time than a winter weekend to get together to play with FABRIC... creating a quilt,or colouring fabric in a fun filled way or by layering cloth for free form applique design in YOUR own way! It's all about exploration of new techniques and FUN!!

Love that many of you have signed up for all three days and that friends are joining friends to make a weekend of it! There are many opportunities to learn new skills in the sharing time with old and new friends ... think about it. Our many friends in fibre arts bring so much experience and knowledge to the table in workshop settings! It is always fun to see the twists and turns as quilters and textile artists make a simple workshop plan turn into the magical time among friends that just could help YOU make that step toward an all new take on your own fibre art.

Come explore the various techniques and have some fun along the way. There is still time to prepare... and Show and Tell after the end of the weekend is always the best!

Looking forward to seeing all of our students in Odessa Friday February 6-8, 2015...

Registration information is in the CABIN FEVER Weekend blog post at http://www.fibreworkskingston.blogspot.ca  and on the right sidebar there at the FIBREWORKS blog.Do consider joining in on the fun!

TEXTILE DESIGN PROGRAM... St Lawrence College, Winter term 2015 starts January 15th and runs 12 weeks to April 2, 2015...

Free Form Pieced by Bethany Garner

When I hear that a class has been OK'd as a "go" with the college, the excitement and the work begins... I love to have students and friends in the classroom, and have the opportunity to see the stash fabrics come out from the closets and from under the beds.

This term we are focused on 

COLOUR - The Quilt Artist's Way

* We will start with some sketch book exercises

* Some great videos from the best teachers to inspire us as we work through some paint exercises

* We will dye threads and bits of fabrics (nothing too wild as I for one do not want to carry loads of supplies into the college in bad weather

* We will complete some exercises with Japanese BORO Textiles as the inspiration - so if you are attending the course - start scoping out the websites and library books you can find about BORO cloth

* I have new COLOUR HUE DYES to experiment with for silk fabrics

* We will have an evening of Marbling fabrics later as spring approaches with PEBEO Marbling paints

* YOU will be working on one, great colourful project to submit for your course grade at the end of the 12 weeks.

SO, now that you know what we will be working on... just register and come play! There are seats available... WE HAVE STUDENTS and class starts next Thursday, Room 00060 in lower level Green Wing - 6-9 pm.

Register at www.SL.on.ca, Part Time Studies, ARTS 109...Hope to see you here.

Bethany Garner

Professor, Textile Design

textiledesignslc@gmail.com

Please plan to visit Gallery 121 in Belleville before February 14th... I am so pleased to have been included in this great exhibition!

SAQA Central Canada members with work in the Exhibition/Sale include:

HILARY RICE, JOAN REIVE, CAROL PETERSON, ANN FALES, MARY MINIGAN AND BETHANY GARNER.

Gallery 121 is a non-profit cooperative art gallery founded in 1991 by Quinte area visual artists to provide exhibition space for its members.

Gallery One-Twenty-One

Quintessential Art

48 Bridge Street East

Belleville, Ontario, Canada

K8N 1L6

613 962 4609

Gallery Hours:

10:00 am to 4:00 pm Tuesday to Saturday

Contact us via email: gallery121artists@yahoo.ca

Visit our Blog:  www.gallery121artists.blogspot.com

Well, here we are at NEW YEARS DAY 2015... what will YOU be focusing on in this new year? And my choice for creative fun? Read on...

DARKNESS, Pine Rack in Ontario Winter by Bethany Garner 2014



 

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR to each of you reading this post...and I am wishing for you all of the peace, joy and creativity that a year could possibly offer. Be kind to your friends and neighbors, think of those less fortunate than you and your family, hold your children and their children close and be loving and attentive to your husband or wife .

 

Plan to build on your talents this year, and focus inward, on whatever your dreams have been and could be for the future. Make time each day for creativity and fibre... and ensure that you are healthy, protective of your body and it's potential for taking you into the future. Sure we all think about the "fitness" resolutions that are common this time of year, but more importantly is just being as healthy as you can be today... use the power you have to control the vices, and focus intently on your innate and learned strengths.

 

For me, the last year was painfully wasted on health issues (back and left wrist, shoulder and hand). In this new year, I will watch where I am going to prevent falls - yes, a "senior" commitment that many of us should be taking seriously. Falls account for more than 80% of the issues seniors deal with! I plan to walk more... maybe accompany my hubby on the dog walks, and set up a "track" of sorts around our one acre property that I will walk several times a day - creating more awareness of my surroundings as well as allowing for THINK TIME!

 

If you can, and have time, please plan to join me at ST. LAWRENCE COLLEGE, January 15-April 2, 2015. 6-9 pm, Room 00060, lower level, Green Wing. Using E6 door, coming into the college... that is where ART will be happening for textile enthusiasts of all levels and with an interest in sharing, growing, networking and creating Fibre Art... your way!

 

Thursday evenings in the New Year.... where else would I want to be than with great students and new friends in a classroom, playing with fabric, design, paints, and threads. This year we embark again on exploring the path to creative development in COLOUR- The Quilt Artists Way, a full credit course, ARTS 109.

 

And what if you are not a quilter??? Well, how about painter, creatively exploring the development of personally original art on canvas, paper, various fibre sub straights?  Well, come join in and play!

Using wool or silk in your work - we would love to see what you are doing, and perhaps following along as we study the BORO ART of Japan and explore the MODERN QUILT MOVEMENT (certainly two contrasting art forms, albeit focused on textile)... then perhaps this is where you would like to be!

 

Photo of Boro Cloth garments from Textile blog...in a private collection




 

Modern Quilt created with stash fabrics, and applied 1/4 inch bias tape
Joe Cunningham, Art Quilter and friend from the past - stunningly MODERN!
Please visit Joe's website to see more HERE 

 

 

My plans are to explore the work of the amazing Japanese men and women who seem to be taking the front row as the awards are being handed out at Quilt and Fibre Art shows and exhibitions, and see what they do that is applicable to us as we explore new work for 2015!!!

I would love to help you take some steps that are easy and fun, and designed to address the changes in the worldwide quilt community that focus in on lots of open space, minimal piecing and applique and LARGE work - yes, bed quilts, large wall quilts and ART Exhibition entries that take the viewer by surprise.... think colour, size, texture, stitch, all created by YOU!
 

 

10 Students Needed To Run The Course...will YOU be there???

 

Check out our course online here at St. Lawrence College's Continuing Education Program this winter... and plan on making the first month of 2015 a new start on YOUR creative textile work...

 

http://parttime.stlawrencecollege.ca/stlaw/course/course.aspx?C=80341&pc=2&mc=11&sc=233

 

Details:

Colour, the Quilt Artist's Way
Course Code: ARTS109	Section: 860
Campus: KINGSTON	Instructor: Bethany Garner
Date(s): 1/15/2015 - 4/2/2015. Days of Week: Thursday evenings.   Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Fee: $246.24	Additional Notes:  $35 materials fee due at first class

 

 

SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR... have a great next weekend!
Photo attributed to the art work of Kathryann White

 

Please explore with me the work of SARAH FINCHAM....

I have just discovered the beautiful, soulful art of Sarah Fincham - this photos is a piece of her original art... it has touched me. So reminds me of the many times I had to seek the advise and council of my older sister Patricia. This is a perfect piece really.... the temperament and  love is there.. and in black and white says so much that colour never could.

 

I will be following Sarah's work very closely now! Please do visit Sarah's blog here to discover for yourself the very special artwork she shares. The drawings are very meaningful... and I personally love her abstracts seen here.

 

You might like a peek at Sarah's  Etsy shop, too - here

 

Thanks Sarah, for a walk back to better times, and the love of a big sister. This is a great time of year to think about family and friends...sometimes your best friends are a part of your family.

 

Happy New Year everyone...

Bethany

 

Join me for a three-day CABIN FEVER WEEKEND at the Odesssa Fairgrounds, February 6-8, 2015

Cabin Fever Weekend returns to FIBREWORKS in 2015

Three Days - Three Workshops

Perfect for giving you a new start on projects in the new year...

DAY ONE: Friday, February 6, 2015 
"LINKED IN" 

* A day for quilters to come together and play

* Pattern provided and a comprehensive handout

* Supplies list provided with paid registration

* $50 workshop fee

QUILTERS TAKE NOTE - Friday's workshop is for YOU! Start the New Year off with a date to stitch and play and create a great quilt. You can even choose to do table runners or placemats instead of the quilt if you like - or a great tote bag for your quilt meetings.

A wonderful, easy to piece Challenge quilt I made with fabrics from my stash and a pattern designed to share, this quilt will be a fun gift for a friend, family member or even to have on your own bed. Beginners skills are all that is required...straight sewing and you will receive the cutting directions in advance of the play date...workshop so that you come with all of the parts cut before you arrive at the Odessa Hall. If this one doesn't say "summer is coming" and "cottage country" I don't know another project that will!

and...

 

DAY TWO: Saturday - February 7, 2015 

FLAT DYEING

* brilliant original fabrics created in such a fun way

* all dye and auxiliary supplies furnished

*  you need white cotton/linen/silk fabrics, pre-washed 

* supplies list provided with paid registration

$50 class fee includes dyes and comprehensive handout

NOTES: All of the fabrics for my RED SKY AT NIGHT piece above are flat dyed using a palette of the red, blue and yellow primaries in Procion MX Dyes that will be available to you at the workshop. 

By pouring the dyes across your fabric, laid flat on the table in front of you and moving the dye with your gloved hands, you will create a beautiful palette of 'ombre' colours  that you can combine for your new work.

I can't tell you how much fun this is - and YES you can attend the workshop day and use the dyes to do shibori pole wrapped pieces, folded and painted pieces using the dyes available or just "dip dye" a great palette of gradations to be used in quilts or fibre art projects. Just play with the dyes to do whatever YOU want to do...screen printing, dye painted cards, scarves - your choice. (and yes, I will have print paste available for you to add dyes to for screen work/direct painting of fabric)

 and....

DAY THREE : Sunday, February 8, 2015

 "Free Form Collage"

* Create one great, original piece in small or large format

*use a combination of your stash fabrics, and be inspired by nature/a photo you love

* experiment with fusibles, free form cutting by hand and layering for effect

* more inspiration will come from a collection of your favourite cloth bits and threads

* experiment with  fused applique, layering sheers and machine stitching

* supplies list provided with paid registration

* $50 class fee includes handout full of tips

Inspiration for my new collage work comes from the 'Group of Seven'

SPECIAL WEEKEND PRICING: 

$120 for all three days

at the Odessa Fairgrounds Hall

Odessa, ON

on Highway 6 in the Village

9:30 am - 5 pm

Brown Bag Lunch needed for all students

Break time treats and Coffee, tea and water provided

Registration is Open NOW

Please contact Bethany for your pdf Registration form

(or complete the registration form on the FIBREWORKS KINGSTON BLOG sidebar
 under CABIN FEVER WORKSHOPS)

http://fibreworkskingston.blogspot.ca

Your cheque should be payable to HERITAGE QUILTWORKS  CANADA

and mailed to

Bethany Garner

3275 Orser Road

Elginburg, ON K0H1M0 

Hoping you can join me for a great weekend of play and that you will bring a friend or two and really make a weekend of it - stitching, designing, dyeing, painting with dyes...  COME PLAY!!!

Contact Bethany at: garner@kingston.net

 or fibreworkskingston@gmail.com

WINTER TERM at St. Lawrence College ... mark your calendar and come play! We all love to explore COLOUR!

COLOUR THE QUILT ARTISTS WAY...

Bethany Garner Instructor,  January 15- April 2, 2015

Our 2015 Winter Term St. Lawrence College course is all about exploring COLOUR-PLAY and enjoying the experience both together with classmates and in independent study.  Demonstrations, samples and hands-on study will include the use of contemporary techniques to illustrate the extensive exploration and updating of traditional processes used for centuries to colour fabric. 

Click here to register:  http://parttime.stlawrencecollege.ca/stlaw/course/course.aspx?C=80341&pc=2&mc=11&sc=233

Details:

Colour, the Quilt Artist's Way
Course Code: ARTS109	Section: 860
Campus: KINGSTON	Instructor: Bethany Garner
Date(s): 1/15/2015 - 4/2/2015. Days of Week: Thursday evenings.   Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Fee: $246.24	Additional Notes:  $35 materials fee due at first class

 

Course components include the development of personal inventories of colour samples created through the use of paints, dyes and other forms of colouration materials throughout the 12 weeks we will spend together in the classroom.. In class paint and dye work as well as use of colour wheel studies and building on the use of your personal stash of fabrics at home will take a thoroughly modern path. 

Machine work as well as hand stitch studies focusing on all new work are planned.  Students wishing to work within the guidelines of tradition may certainly work on quilt projects, and those who are brave enough to experiment may go one step farther to create new fabric in colors and dye patterns for use in their personal and original designs for art quilts and wall art or wearables.

One particular focus will be MODERN QUILT design and assembly techniques... using your designers eye to bring the fabrics you have in your stash to life as you develop all new wall and bed quilts that are lively, colourful and destined to be a delight for family and friends both at home and in exhibition opportunities.

We love to have all new students in the course, and welcome returning students wanting to work within the context of shared studio time with like-minded friends. Every student will benefit from the focused classroom creativity and shared techniques.

Visit the St. Lawrence College Part Time Studies Registration pages at www.SL.on.ca in early December to register. Your questions directly to me are most welcome: textiledesignslc@gmail.com

Quilts=ART=Quilts now open at the SCHWEINFURTH MEMORIAL ART CENTER, Auburn NY...



Best of Show: CHAOS, Kit Vincent, Elizabethtown, ON



This past weekend I travelled to Auburn NY for the opening events surrounding the always stunning collection of contemporary art quilts on display at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Centre. The Art Centre is located in the finger-lakes region just west of Syracuse and the town beckons visitors all year long, with special exhibitions and wonderful art focused classes.

 

David Hornung and Kerr Grabowski were the Guest Instructors this last week at "QBL2". The Quilting by the Lake Studios fall classes at the Schweinfurth are always filled early, and the workshop results were wonderful to see.  I met Kerr during the walk through of the opening evening events... she is a delight! Walking through the galleries with her and hearing her take on the work in the show was a rare insight into the direction fibre art seems to be taking this year and for the future.

 

QUILTS=ART=QUILTS represents a stellar sharing of beautifully designed and executed art quilts submitted by well known artists from around the world, as well as NY area quilters. As the Opening Reception got underway, it was pure delight to be there as our friend and Kingston Fibre Artists Group member, KIT VINCENT, took the Best of Show Award for her "CHAOS" seen above. Kit was a prize recipient last year as well, and this year her quilt just happened to be hung front and centre as you enter the Gallery - under the Quilts=ART=Quilts banner. The magnificent quilt is 85" square and certainly makes a huge statement in colour, design and stitch expertise. So many congratulations to Kit.

 

Walking the exhibit with a multitude of the artists present is always inspiring, and each artist is more than willing to share his/her process, inspiration and studio focused style of working to achieve the level of expertise needed to be accepted into this great showing of contemporary fibre art.

 

Another treat was meeting KATHY LOOMIS who was both a part of the jurying panel along with VALARIE GOODWIN, but also the Prize juror. Kathy lives in Louisville, KY and was able to travel back to Auburn to not only be at the evening Opening Reception Saturday, but at the Sunday morning Brunch organized by the Schweinfurth staff to welcome the artists and friends and hear about Kathy's take on the whole process of jurying and her role as Prize Juror. Her matter of fact speaking style was a welcome break from the "art speak" so often found when jurors share their work and experiences around show entry selection and awarding of the prizes. Kathy shares some of her thoughts about the prize winning quilts at her blog here.

Canada did very well this year, as the First Prize Award went to JUDITH MARTIN of Manitoulin Island, ON for her amazing all wool and hand stitched quilt The Canadian Pioneer. Amazing and just so moving... what else can I say. This quilt represents Judy and her work so beautifully well... execution totally by hand, using found materials and building on Canada's history, the stories of those who walked before us and developing a story in each of her quilts that can be interpreted by each of her viewers in their own way. Congratulations to Judy...



The Canadian Pioneer, Judith e. Martin, Ontario

I haven't missed a trip to Quilts=ART=Quilts in years and while I have not submitted work to the exhibition since 2006, I am always inspired to think about what I could be working on that would be worthy of acceptance into the exhibition. Perhaps next year.

Please try to get to the show which runs through December at 255 Genessee St., Auburn. A very easy ride south on I81 off the Thousand Islands Bridge... take I90 west to Exit 40 and drive about 6 miles south into Auburn. Inn at the Finger Lakes is affordable for an overnight stay and the Springside Inn where brunch was held offers lovely accommodation as well... make a special trip of it and take a friend.

ARTIST CELLAR's Kaleidoscope Stencil Series from designer Cecilia Swatton launches and a set will be arriving in my studio soon...

From Lisa Chin's Blog post offering a Giveaway here - stunning  results

ARTIST CELLAR's all new stencil series designed by Cecelia Swatton was a gift offering from Lisa Chin and her friends on a recent blog hop. I left a comment and am so happy to hear that Cecilia's Artist Cellar Kaleidoscope Stencil Series will come into my studio in the near future.

 

Please visit the ARTIST CELLAR website here and learn all about their amazing product lines from  the very best of the best artist designers...

My notice this weekend while I was in Auburn for Quilts=ART=Quilts Opening:

Congratulations to Bethany Garner!

The winner of Cecilia Swatton's new line of Kaleidoscope Stencils from Artistcellar!

Bethany, check your email and send me your mailing address.

 

I have used Artist Cellar series stencils in my dye and paint work for years. They clean up just beautifully and are available in several sizes. You can see Lisa's blog post about her use of the Kaleidoscope stencils here and the pictures of her beautiful work. I follow her "Something Clever About Nothing" blog regularly and have learned so much from Lisa and her Printed Fabric Bee friends.

 

 

I always look for the Artist Cellar Stencils when we travel to the big quilt shows and you can order them online here: (please encourage your local Quilt/Art Supply shops to order them for you)

http://www.artistcellar.com/stampstencil/acSignatureSeries.html

 

Thanks to Lisa Chin, Cecilia Swatton and ARTIST CELLAR for this terrific opportunity.