July is Watercolor Month

You know how pretty much every day and every month has a special holiday, theme, or idea attached to it? Well, recently I learned that July is watercolor month and how appropriate that we had watercolor and pastel artist Carolyn Emerson come and talk to us and share a small sampling of her beautiful works of art!

With her sweet and gentile personality Carolyn explained how her interest in art was sparked by a 6th grade teacher. Although we could see that Carolyn would have succeeded with her natural artistic ability she went on and took art classes in college. At one point in her life she lived in a small rural Virginia community and finding herself a bit bored, went to the local school system and asked if there was anywhere she could volunteer – library, cafeteria, anywhere – she just wanted to be busy.

As it turned out, they didn’t have an art program in their schools and not even knowing Carolyn’s background asked “Would you like to teach art?”. Hence started a new journey and what may be called a career of teaching and exploring her own art interests starting with oils, then moving to watercolors, and now honing her skills in pastels.

Carolyn is encouraging to anyone who would like to try their hand at drawing or painting. She says anyone can do it and recommends the book by Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The book has had updates since Carol first used it but feels Ms Edwards’ method can provide even those born without the natural artistic gene can develop the ability to see and create.

There is an exercise in the book that Carol mentioned called Vases/Faces. You can try it yourself on Betty Edwards’ website right HERE. Thank you Carol for visiting us!

Barnstable County Fair 2022 Winners

UPDATE 7.27.22

Congratulations to Crazy Quilters members Joan C. and Micki T. for their wins of Silver Bowls at the Barnstable County Fair!

Joan was awarded the Myers Silver Bowl for excellence of design and craftsmanship on her diamond quilt.

Micki received the Francis A. Crones Memorial Silver Bowl, which is awarded to any department and to any person in the Adult Exhibit Building. Ms Crones herself looks at all the entries in each department and category and choses one. Anyone is eligible for this honor and not necessarily a ribbon winner or Best of Show. Micki’s blue and white quilt with the gorgeous truck panel received many comments from attendees.

Congratulations also to other guild member ribbon winners! Well done!!

Cori Barrett

Lori Crawley (and friends)

Nancy Devere

Lorraine Haynes

Lynn Kinch

Ginger Rabesa

Micki Tor

Cathy Williamson

The photographs don’t do justice to the beautiful examples of work submitted this year.

Skills Night

We had an informative and fun June meeting. It was member Skills Night and we had some interesting demonstrations.

Gadgets & Other Interesting Things

Nancy D. showed us a variety of quilting gadgets she has picked up along her journey. They included items like a magnetic needle scoop. I don’t know what else to call it but it’s a fascinating little item. You can see Nancy reaching for the scoop in the photo.

It is different from all other magnetic pin holders since it holds pins in the cup portion of the scoop but when you press a little handle on the scoop, the magnet comes away and the pins are released so you can drop them into any cup. Release the handle to engage the magnet to pick up the pins again. I searched Google and Etsy shops but can’t seem to find this device.

Nancy said it was invented by a high school student. I would guess his mother was a quilter.

Another item Nancy offered up was a two-sided cutting mat, which I believe was a Quilters Select product. One side is dark and a there’s a lighter color on the other side so you can switch off depending upon the color of your fabric. She also brought in some other items that weren’t directly related to quilting like rollers that can turn a stationary chair into a rolling chair and risers for your bed legs to make your bed taller.

Electronic Cutting and the Quilting World

Susan N-C brought in her Cricuit electronic cutter that was connected to her laptop. She demonstrated how easily and accurately pieces of fabric can be cut, whether it’s for applique or a pieced block. You don’t even need to put fusible on the back, the tacky mat holds everything in place.

Susan said she likes this method for piecing blocks rather than using strip piecing methods as it makes her piecing and assembling of blocks more accurate. She can set up her design on her computer and layout the pieces allowing her to cut multiple fabrics and shapes all at one time.

Wiggles & Waves

I apologize to Trish C for not getting a photo of her demonstration of Karen Eckmeier’s Wiggles & Waves Free Form Curves technique. I think I was so enthralled with this method of sewing curves without stress that I just totally forgot!

If you’ve always wanted to make a quilt with curves but were too intimidated by the idea, this might be a good way to get you started. The pieces are all top-stitched and free formed so accuracy doesn’t appear to be a really big deal. Here’s a video of Karen demonstrating the rose, which Trish demonstrated for us.

We’re looking forward to a presentation at our July meeting by Carolyn Emerson, watercolor and pastel artist. It also happens that Carolyn is mother of our treasurer, Holly S. and the nut hasn’t fallen far from the tree as Holly has put the artistry she’s inherited into creating her beautiful one-of-a-kind quilts.