2024 - 2025 Calendar
September 10, 2024
Welcome Back!
We are disappointed that our September lecture and workshop have been cancelled due to unforeseen events, and we hope that we might be able to revisit the topics at some future date. But we are nothing if not resilient and flexible, and our Program Committee has a wonderful day planned to celebrate the new NTGM year.
• Enjoy an opportunity to visit and catch up with each other as we reconnect with old friends and meet new ones.
• The library and flea market will be open for business.
• A summer Show & Tell will inspire us all.
• Launch of the “Sew Powerful Purse Project” which will be an ongoing community service project through the year.
• Old-fashioned potluck lunch.
• Other surprise activities!
Look for more details in the September newsletter.
October 8, 2024
Charlie Patricolo
Lecture - "Not Your Grandmother’s Dolls!"
Charlie Patricolo has been making cloth dolls for over 50 years. For the past 25 years, they are the way she has made her living and her life - teaching cloth dollmaking and creating dolls to sell in galleries, and now here. About her creative inspiration,
Charlie says:
“The start of a new doll or series can come from just about anywhere. I might hear a line in a song or story and begin to imagine how to show that thought or image in a doll form. Or I might see a piece of fabric that starts the process. I switch from making pose-able dolls to hanging dolls, to fixed position to rag dolls. There is a great joy in sharing the process with others who would like to make dolls. I teach dollmaking 'in person' and love that challenge and seeing the work that students create.”
Through a trunk show presentation, Charlie will show and talk about her dolls, where her ideas come from, and how she approaches the creative process.
November 12, 2024
Karen Turckes is unable to do her lecture or Workshop at this time. NTGM will try to reschedule her program for the 2025-2026 year. Since it is too late to try to find another program, we are planning to do a hybrid meeting. We will have our regular business meeting with announcements, Flea Market, Show and Tell, and any recent program updates. After that we need to address a “Housekeeping” issue.
We have been meeting at St. Stephens church for more than 10 years and they have graciously let us use a room for storing our library carts, Hospitality supplies, the Flea market items, and many other Guild related things. Last month we were asked to please clean-up our storage area and move as much as possible from that office to a classroom down the hall.
Obviously, this is a big job, but as they say, “Many hands make light work.” And I don’t expect everything to get down in one day. The first thing to do is move as much as we can, from the present storage room to the new classroom we have been offered. When the metal storage shelving unit is empty, we will move that to the new room also. And before we place things back on the shelves, we will consolidate &/or purge.
I expect to find some treasures as things are rearranged. I know there is a box containing some of Marie Woods’ beads that could be used at Seminar Day – we just need to find them! And there are A LOT of bags and boxes of fabric that were donated to make the Sew Powerful Purses for our May 2025 Community Service project.
I would like to have some people go through those bags to match up both outer fabrics and linings that can then be cut into the appropriate pattern pieces to make kits for sewing the purses.
Another necessary job is to be sure all the boxes and tubs are correctly labeled and make corresponding labels for the shelves. Members who don’t feel comfortable lifting or moving materials could handle these needs.
Lastly, with direction from Linda Poterek, our librarian, we need to remove books from the carts that are no longer of interest. We’re asking members to review books in subject areas they are familiar with and make recommendations. So, knitters will look through the knitting books, quilters look at quilting books, etc. This will allow the book carts to be brought out easily at the monthly meetings, and make it simpler for members to browse our library.
Two days are already scheduled – Friday, November 8th, from 9am until 2:30pm and our regularly scheduled meeting on November 12th, from 9:30 am until 4 pm.
Please call Carol (586-899-9960) or email me clg@wideopenwest.com to let me know if you are available or if you have any questions. Thanks for your help!
December 10, 2024
Seminar Day
An exclusive day for members featuring workshops taught by members.
Please refer to the Workshops page for additional information.
January 14, 2025 via Zoom
Beth Ross Johnson
Lecture - "Sashiko: Japanese Folk Stitching”
Beth Johnson is a weaver, teacher, and writer. She grew up in Charleston, South Carolina where she became interested in weaving and the textile arts, studying with weaving legend Norman Kennedy. Beth maintains a studio in western North Carolina, where she has lived since 1980, and currently teaches at a variety of institutions, writes articles for textile magazines, and exhibits her work in the US and Canada.
A lifelong fascination with Asian art led to an interest in Japanese textiles. Beth has had two extensive stays in Japan to study kasuri (ikat weaving and dyeing) and sakiori (rag weaving) with master weavers. Other avenues of exploration include sashiko stitching, nyoho-e (Zen stitching), and ikat processes.
In a Power Point presentation, Beth will discuss the history of Japanese folk stitching traditions and suggest resources for learning more about these traditional art forms. Boro Boro originated out of necessity during medieval Japan, becoming a practical way to extend the life of worn-out clothing and household items. Kogin embroidery is a type of sashiko stitching that uses short horizontal running stitches to create beautiful geometric patterns.
February 11, 2025 via Zoom
David Owen Hastings
Lecture - "Minimal Design, Maximum Impact”
David Owen Hastings is a modern quilter, graphic designer, and print and textile artist, speaker, and teacher. He creates richly layered contemporary art pieces and modern quilt and textile designs.
David will present on overview of the process he uses to create simple graphic quilt designs, starting with stitched paper models called maquettes. He will explain how to translate an architectural photo into a quilt design and show samples of mini quilts he has created using this process. The techniques David presents are also great for making unique modern quilt block designs. In addition, he will discuss walking foot quilting and how to break free from ‘stitch-in-the-ditch’.
March 11, 2025
Sue Walton
Lecture - "Looking at Series: the Whys and Hows”
Sue Walton has been weaving for over 30 years after learning to weave in a class as prep for getting a MS in Art Education. Having woven it all (almost), she chose to focus on fabrics for clothing. Sue enjoys weaving, dyeing, and spinning, and was the Weaving Instructor at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center for 17 years, a position she stepped away from to do her own work.
Sue’s presentation will explore the concept of “working in series”. To understand why creatives do this, we will look at different artists and the ways their individual work develops through the use of this approach. Sue will then help us discover how we, as fiber artists, can utilize working in a series with step-by-step ways to find inspiration.
April 8, 2025
Sue Screws
Lecture - "Properties and Possibilities of Polymer Clay”
For Sue Screws, polymer clay provides endless ways to enjoy making jewelry and other items, from mixing the clay into coordinating colors, shaping it into intriguing forms, and texturing with at hand materials.
Polymer Clay can mimic SO many materials- metal, stone, wood, glass, flesh, fur, ceramic, fabric- you name it! Sue will explain the unique characteristics of polymer clay and the importance of understanding the effects of each property in working with the clay.
May 13, 2025 9:30a - 3:30p
Community Service Days
SEW POWERFUL PURSE PROJECT
The Community Service project that we have chosen for this year is the Sew Powerful Purse Program. This program is designed to help girls and young women in Zambia to stay in school throughout the year, and thus complete their education through high school. Please read the Overview of the program HERE. It includes information about why the program was started and how it has helped to encourage girls to stay in school.
The Sew Powerful Purse Program aims to provide colorful and well-made purses (made by volunteers) so the girls can carry their needed hygiene supplies and still be in school.
The purses are filled with reusable cloth menstrual pads, underwear, and soap. Once a year, volunteers meet with all the girls at the local school and talk about health, hygiene, and menstruation. After that each young lady receives her supplies tucked into a beautiful purse.
The pattern we will use is found HERE. It would be great if you all can set aside some of your fabrics for this project. Two fat-quarters will be enough to cut the outer parts and the lining. Throughout the coming year we plan to cut fabric and make kits, so our meeting in May of 2025 can be a day of just sewing.
For questions: Carol Buszek at clg@wideopenwest.com
