About The Group

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Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Committed to supporting the use of fibre as an art form, the blogs you visit here are links to happenings around Ontario and beyond. Use the links to your best advantage and make ART!

Saturday, December 26, 2015

FIBREWORKS Kingston sponsors its annual CABIN FEVER WEEKEND at Odessa Fairgrounds Hall January 22-24th, 2016 Come Play!





Our FIBREWORKS Kingston Guest Artist for April 22-24th is the renowned LORRAINE ROY from Dundas, ON, and she posted this beautiful Christmas Quilt on her Facebook page with great New Year/Holiday wishes to friends and Lorraine Roy art enthusiasts and the message below:


Merry Christmas! Peace, Joy, Love to you and your friends and families. Be sure to enjoy the rare full moon this year!
Lorraine

We hope you will make time in your calendar to spend time with Lorraine at St. Lawrence College and enjoy a weekend focused on her "Tree Series" Workshop. Details are on the sidebar.

AND
January 22-24th, 2016
'CABIN FEVER' 
PLAY DATE WEEKEND RETURNS

As January can be the month when we all are feeling a bit of a let down and a stirring feeling of Cabin Fever... we have reserved the Odessa Fairgrounds Hall once again for a weekend of fibre play Open to everyone!  
The Fee for the entire weekend (3 full days) is $60 
(and yes, the fee applies whether  you come for 1, 2 or all three days - just to help pay the hall rental)
Happy New Year - come help me celebrate 2016!
You can come and work on whatever your heart and sewing calendar allows... 
BRING FRIENDS, CAR POOL AND BRING BROWN BAG LUNCH EACH DAY...

Possible projects:
- Sewing/Embroidery/ Projects and UFO's
- Weaving or spinning projects - love to have the spinners out and perhaps the Tapestry Weavers!!
- Plan a great outfit for spring or stitch up some home decor to be ready for spring
- Work on your entries for up coming Exhibitions (Quilt Canada, THREADWORKS, a SAQA Show... KFA?
-  Play with some Modern Quilt Projects (Modern Quilt group members so very welcome) ... or work on catching up on your Quilt Guild Block of the Month project


AND...as a treat from me, we will start the weekend by including a full day of 
SNOW/ICE Dyeing on FRIDAY January 22nd... 
All dye supplies (except your fabric) will be furnished - the dyes, the auxiliaries (soda ash for your fabric) and the table cover will all be in place and ready for you! 

The process is fun and easy and can work around all of the other projects you will be working on over the weekend... This project will be shared on FRIDAY morning (you will LOVE IT) and you can use my dyes all the rest of the weekend. (and yes, I will share the process on Saturday and Sunday too! Just in case you can't come Friday!)

YOU will need a bucket or dishpan for each batch with a screen or other "elevating" device in the bottom to keep the fabric from sitting in the dye. 

You will need 1/2 to 1 metre pieces of fabric, washed and ready to dye. We will soak in Soda Ash at the workshop 
 In case there is no snow, we will be using ICE CUBES which create amazing patterns...

NOTES: 

** The workshop days will run 9-5 pm every day -  Friday the 22nd, Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th  9-5 each day so just enjoy some fun with like minded stitchers!

**as this is not a "class" weekend except for Friday come when you can and stay as long as you want.

 Treats will be in the kitchen all weekend, a few power bars and lots of tables for your biggest projects!

Please copy and print /complete the  Registration Form on the Side Bar here at the Blog or attached with your email!

Hoping to see lots of you come out and join us at the Odessa hall January 22-24th... come on, we all need some time with friends after the flurry of the busy fall 2105 and the holiday shopping and planning/baking.

Please feel to call or email Bethany with questions...(seats will be held and supplies list for Snow Dyeing sent with paid registration!)

613-376-6150 or garner@kingston.net

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Please plan a lovely winters drive to downtown Belleville for the Exhibition 'CELEBRATE THE SEVEN' which includes the beautiful work of the CONNECTIONS Fibre Artists..



Hoping you might  connect with a friend and make time for a drive to Belleville
 between
January 7 and February 11, 2016
The John M. Parrott Gallery 
is on the third floor of the Belleville Pubic Library
Hours listed on the card detail above....
Please enjoy the beautiful hand and stitch work of our award winning 
CONNECTIONS Fibre Artists
many of whom you may know as friends from SAQA or area Stitchery/Quilt guilds
 and the many Exhibitions the members have been involved with in Ontario and beyond.
Please feel free to click on the art cards here, save in your photo organizer and forward the information to friends in your area.
Happiest New Year to each of you - See you in 2016!



Monday, September 28, 2015

IMPROV - Under the Influence Weekend Workshop at Odessa Fairgrounds November 13-15, 2016...




Breezes... moving through the Seasons, Bethany Garner (above)

IMPROVISATION... making do...  Time to escape for a weekend and be with friends old and new... just making "STUFF"

Using what you have and committing to keeping the faith when it comes to your own work. Come enjoy this THREE DAY WEEKEND devoted to creating, making and perhaps finishing. Whether you have projects on the go, deadlines to meet or just need some time away from the house - this weekend will get you some free time with friends and see what is happening in the outside world.

The plan is to share three relaxing days with NO Patterns, NO deadlines and NO stress about what is good enough or if all the points meet... and yes, it would not be a weekend with Bethany Garner unless we colour cloth - so there will be a painting day on Sunday. You know how much I treasure time to colour my white cloth and create a palette that will carry me through until I have another opportunity! This time it will be paint... not dye. And smaller pieces, but LOTS of them

We will meet at 9:30 am each day and I will stay as long as you want to stay - so for those of you who can't come in the morning - join in during the day when it is convenient and stay late! LATE is when it will quiet down and you will have the personal space to do YOUR thing....

So here is the break down:


Day One: FRIDAY November 13th 
(don't worry  its a GOOD DAY)....
'QUILTS IN THE CIRCULAR REALM' 
NO PATTERNS - JUST PLAY ....


Whether you love to create circles through laying circles as applique on top of a pieced background (shown in the quilt show above), or fuse the circles to a base of pre-cut squares and cut through them, adding some great accent fabrics as you piece them back together (below) to enhance your design, this is a play day you will enjoy from start to finish. 

And the design is YOURS to enjoy from start to finish...these samples are just for inspiration and for getting your thoughts around a day of play!

Students will begin the day with some graph paper and a ruler and pencil - just about an hour to get some ideas down on paper. There will be a large supply of circle templates in the room for you to copy onto cardboard or plastic and cut for your circles. Or FREE HAND CUT THEM... remembering that your design can use a favourite palette from a very traditional stash or go to super contemporary with just the click of the scissor blades and the fabrics YOU choose. This is intended as a STASH BUSTER workshop day.... so go searching through the closets and see what works for you.

Circles created with bleach gel (below) on small hand dyed squares and added to a pieced background sample shared here created by JUDE HILL of Spirit Cloth Blog...a great project for using up some of those hand dyed bits and YOU can do it here in the classroom. (use a circular sponge to lay on beach gel, and in just minutes, you have your circles!) Hand piecing used in this sample... the only way JUDE works... and you can too! NO PATTERNS - YOUR RULES! Just play and have some fun as you create your new work.








YOUR circles might be abstracted and free cut using scissors or a rotary cutter and pieced by machine... curved piecing is another way to add the illusion of circles to an art quilt... and make a real statement (notice the pieced background fabric in the block third from left in top row, and scattered throughout the design for extra impact). USE IT UP, MAKE IT DO... MAKE IT OUR OWN!

The quilt to the left is by SAQA Artist Heather Pregger and certainly inspires me.  IMPROV... at its best.


INSPIRATION: Berries (shown above) is by our friend and recent Fibreworks Kingston Guest Instructor, Penny Berens - (she stitched this one entirely by hand, and this sample is BEAUTIFUL).  An example of SLOW CLOTH that does not happen in a day. Come spend this day developing your plan, choose the background and threads from your stash and get started on a fall project that can carry through to a great exhibition or collection piece. MAKE IT YOUR OWN... piece a background, applique the base circles and enhance them with your own beautiful hand stitching.

Class room opens at 9 am and I will stay late so you can get a great start on your project... BRING BROWN BAG LUNCH and all the supplies you need to create your special and unique wall quilt - or start a bed quilt project, with sample blocks created in class!  

Class Fee - $50 for one day  or all three INPROV  Workshop days for $120.
Registration Form on the right sidebar here at the blog... (click on IMPROV- Under The Influence and mail your registration. Seats reserved with payment in full.)
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Day Two: SATURDAY,  November 14, 2015
 'IMPROV... Under the Influence'




The photo here is of my MARIPOSA... machine pieced and quilted created for the Kingston Fibre Artist's show recently in Almonte, ON  (and yes, the photo is crooked - your eyes are not fooling you).

NO PATTERNS NEEDED - bring your sewing machine (or stitch by hand) and a big box or bag of the scrap (or new, yet to be used) fabrics that have been haunting you, cluttering your closets or sitting in the pile - the pieces that you painted or dyed or bought on a whim and WANT so much to use up and turn into a new quilt, art piece or a gift for someone special. This is a day to learn a bit more about how I start and work through many of my pieces... with a focus on creating new CLOTH that can be worked into your quilt projects.  

The little piece below was completed in a day... and sold at a Limestone Quilt Guild Auction. Totally free form piecing using up some scraps and playing with colour and light...Happiness is a finished quilt and a satisfied collector.


You will have the opportunity to add "foundation" piecing to your inventory of skills - and I don't mean the "paper" kind. I stitch my work to muslin or if working by hand, I use a fine, supple cloth like harem cloth or a fine interfacing. Something that allows for pulling bits of fabric together, but keeps the base soft for hand or machine stitch. All you need is a base fabric, scraps, scissors or rotary equipment, and a machine or needle and thread to start the journey. This piece was completed and framed over two days. (in this workshop weekend, you can devote to days and have your own table to work through the project and get it DONE and framed if you like.)

MARIPOSA above was pieced from scraps of my flat dyed fabrics and I had no idea when I began the piecing how it would proceed, but just STARTED.... It is amazing to see the work grow on a design all, and even more satisfying to take it to the finishing stages with quilting and binding or mounting over a canvas.  

COME PLAY!  Workshop Fee is $50 for today or enjoy all three days for $120.

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DAY THREE - SUNDAY November 15th

SLOW STITCH... and a bit more
Spend a relaxing day with fibre and threads 
creating some small works of art that make you HAPPY !!


I'm working on some new pieces, continuing with themes begun for an exhibition this past year. The colours are becoming more muted - the seasons of autumn and winter dictates this - my local sources of colour are limited by this part of the growing year. I  am enjoying the way the bits and pieces of fabrics I want to stitch into are evolving into quiet and soulful colour families. I love stitching into my own hand dyed wool.....

Working with needle and thread brings joy and peace in a life that has experienced turmoil, injuries and is moving forward at a slower pace. Making time to sit and stitch is a goal and a joy! Hoping you will come out this weekend and share that special passion - and do some stitching yourself!

There simply is nothing better than sharing design time with good friends...... and so I hope you will join me for a day to continue work on the projects from the previous two days at Odessa or just come and plan the stitches you will add to your finished work... you will be among friends with common skills and we can all learn from each other as the day progresses!

Look for inspiration for your stitch everywhere... and collect old family photos, magazines with photos which inspire you with their colour and stitch opportunities (like the lichen covered stone shown here...) or just sit and design using paper and pencil before you start.


Pull together a collection of small bits - handkerchiefs, buttons, lace and especially fabrics and threads that you would love to include in some small pieces of collage work while at the SLOW STITCH workshop today.

I enjoy creating my own coloured threads (which we can dye today in the lovely space available at Odessa). There are not many options in our area for purchasing variegated pearl cottons and floss skeins for slow stitch work... so I make my own. You can too!

I also enjoy using paints and Dyna Flo colour to add some accents to fabrics I want to stitch... and will have a nice selection of colours in Dyna Flo at the workshop for you to try. You can colour your collected bits of silk or voile, laces and yes, fine cottons - pre-washed and ready to apply some colour to (and ahead plan to bring table cover, and a few brushes and paper towels to clean up your area).

I crave the muted shades that approaching winter will bring and love the piece below made by Mary Cope of Paris, Ontario... and that has been traveling with THREADWORKS 2013 - WATER  Exhibition. 

As fall progresses, there are many challenges to address for 2016 - including the THREADWORKS Exhibition with the theme "FLASHBACK" with a January - March 1, 2016 Open Entry deadline... so this weekend workshop could be a great time to get a start on painting or stitching some new fabrics for my entry - AND YOURS!


The day will pass quickly, so plan to join in on the fun... start filling a box now with the fabrics and threads you will use - perhaps a hoop or frame and some thumb tacks 's get started right away at 9:30 am... ART AWAITS.
The 'SLOW STITCH' workshop day is $50, or combine with the other two  'IMPROV - Under the Influence' days and pay only $120 for all three.

Registration form is on the right side bar at the FIBREWORKS Blog
Hope you will join me and bring a friend or two!
                                                                       Bethany

Contact  Bethany for more details or a copy of the pdf Registration Form :
 garner@kingston.net or 613-376-6150

Friday, August 28, 2015

CONNECTIONS FIBRE ARTISTS open '18 SQUARE' Exhibition at Kitchener City Hall, Rotunda Gallery


Please plan to join the members of the CONNECTIONS FIBRE ARTISTS Group as they share a  dynamic and diverse collection of 18 inch square fibre art pieces 

18 Square
Rotunda Gallery
main floor, Kitchener City Hall  
200 King Street W.
Kitchener, Ontario 
throughout the month of September
VERNISSAGE, September 3, 2015
6-8 pm

The Rotunda Gallery is an open-concept space located on the ground floor at Kitchener city hall. It is open 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. weekends and holidays.

SAQA Central Canada members participating include Elizabeth Duggan Litch, Bethany Garner, Gunnel Hag, Linda Jantzen, Hilary Rice, Maggie Vanderweit, Dwayne Wanner


and a reminder while you are in the area  


The Grand National Quilt Show 
Joseph Schneider Haus Museum
466 Queen Street South
Kitchener ON N2G 1W7
519-742-7752
August 28 to September 6 - Open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
       September 7 to December 24 - Wednesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
CLOSED LABOUR DAY

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Please mark your calendar and plan to join us for GORDANA BRELIH's workshop September 18-20th, 2015 in Kingston...

Putting it all together...
CONNECTING FRAGMENTS
Gordana Belih, Instructor
returns to Fibreworks Kingston Weekend Workshops Series
September 18-20, 2015

Lets be creative!

Do you ever wonder what to do with your many samples from different workshops, fabric scraps, lace, eco-dyed silk, wool, beads, metal finds? You will work closely with Gordana over this weekend of stitch and design play to develop the plans to create all new work as you "put it all together". Your work may be collaged onto black felt while planning  one special dimensional piece, or you might consider mounting your design stretched onto a frame… 
 
Bits and pieces of Gordana's work
 
There are so many options this dynamic artist uses in her own prize-winning art that will be shared during this fun-filled, design focused workshop. Time to explore, plan, sketch, dream and stitch!!! Make time to play and build new pieces for your stash of favourite techniques.
 
 

Techniques that will be explored by Gordana with her students during the workshop include:
 
* Free motion machine and hand stitching, 
* Stitching and burning felt,
* Stamping, wax resist printing, 
* Stitching onto water soluble film, 
* Painting Stitch-witchery, 
* Mono-printing on fabric, 
* Use of gold foil, 
* Drawing and stitching on the muslin…

The workshop will be held in Room 00060 from 9:30-4 pm Saturday and Sunday September 19th and 20th at St. Lawrence College. 
 
Friday evening September 18th
bring friends and enjoy the 
Lecture and sharing of Gordana's beautiful work. 
7-9 pm. Room 12040, St. Lawrence College.

Registration is OPEN and the form to send with your payment cheque payable to FIBREWORKS KINGSTON is on the right sidebar at our blog:  www.fibreworkskingston.blogspot.ca
 
Hope to see you soon!
Bethany Garner, FIBREWORKS Coordinator
garner@kingston.net