Welcome!

Ninigret Quilters is an organization for quilters of all abilities in the Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut area. We meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm at the Westerly Senior Center, 39 State Street, Westerly, Rhode Island (Google Maps) to share our common passion of quilting. Guests and new members are always welcome!




Saturday, June 25, 2016

June 2016 Meeting

Show & Tell
 Sue V shared five quilts. Her goal is to make a quilt for each grand and great-grand child.
This first was one she got from Louise P for her grandson Nicholas.

 Sue made this one with pinwheels for granddaughter Abby.

 And this one for Hannah who is turning 16.

 This is for a great grandson.

 And this is for her stepson and his wife.
Great job Sue!!

 Margaret S shared 2 quilt tops that will be off to their new homes before our next meeting. This first is made from fabrics she bought at her first quilt store stop in New Zealand.

 Margaret's second will be a graduation gift

 Audrey delaG made this Sashiko Quilt featuring seafood motifs.

 Check out the fabulous material she used for the back!!

 Carol J made this for a high school graduation gift. She found the pattern in the 
Feb/Mar edition of McCall's Quick Quilts.

 Nancy L is donating this quilt as a raffle item for her 50th High School Graduation.

 Ginny G made this Spice Garden Pattern using wool batting.

 Roberta B made this bunny quilt.

 And Roberta also put together some of the Anita's Arrowhead blocks into this lap quilt. 

 Margaret S made this to celebrate a High School graduation.

 Fran W made this baby quilt featuring a baby shower activity where she had each guest write a favorite word/theme for the baby with fabric markers on a square of fabric.

 On the back she had the baby's family color their handprints.

 Jen B made a Father's Day gift for her Father-in-Law.

This closeup shows Jen's free motion quilting design. 

 Shirley N made up this Irish Chain from a yard sale find.

Program
Our speaker was Susan Sato who discussed Japanese Fabric Techniques in Quilting. Susan's grandfather was from Japan, but her looks came from her Scottish grandmother. Susan is a self-taught quilter and has never been to Japan. She began using Japanese textiles in her quilts, using fabric from kimonos and obis.
A child's kimono featuring cranes.
An adult Yukata style summer kimono. 


An obi, the sash used to tie a kimono.


  Most Japanese textiles are made to be 14" wide, it takes 14-15 yards to make one kimono. Male kimonos and obis usually feature geometric designs while female garments feature flowers. You can see the roll of fabric in the geometric piece above.

 This piece was made using material from kimonos

 This piece used Kimono fabric separated with Dupioni silk ribbons.

 Susan also works with various techniques to dye fabric.
 This wood grain (Mokume method), is achieved using a 
running stitch to pucker the fabric then it is dyed.

Here is a detail shot showing the puckered fabric roll against the resulting dyed fabric. 

 These pieces were dyed using clamps to create an area that will not be exposed to the dye. Susan's family crest is the hollyhock and it is featured in most of her quilts (the purple).


 Another method is Arashi, where the fabric is bunched on a pole (Pat is holding the pole above the blue fabric). Then the bunched fabric is plunged into the dye.

 Several effects can be achieved using patterns that are clamped on the un-dyed fabric.


 A popular Japanese technique uses Indigo dyes. You can see how the density of 
color increases with more dye exposure.

 Katazome is a technique using stencils made of rice paper and dye paste for intricate designs.

 This cool fabric was formed using Indigo dye on a folded piece of fabric with light switch panels. You can see which folds were closest to the clamps.

 

This piece features Indigo dyed fabric merging African and Japanese styles 
and Sashiko Style Quilting.

 This brown piece used a looser weave light weight cotton paired with 
lightweight thread. Sue used fresh water pearls in the centers.


 Sue did the Sashiko work on this quilt first, then pieced the hexagons, 
then quilted and finally appliqued the designs.

 This pieced features traditional Asian symbols done using paper piecing.

 This quilt was part of a flag series organized by Faith Ringgold. Sue's flag addressed the discrimination she faced in the 4th grade when her classmates realized that her family 
was the only Japanese family in town.
  
This raw edge quilting technique uses raw edged fabric layered atop and joined
with big stitches and heavy thread. This technique is based on Shibori mending and
is called 'boro stitching', literally meaning ragged.

 This large quilt uses Yukato prints and a red folded inner border.

Thank you Sue!


 Sunshine Quilts
This quilt was made for Crossroads RI.

Jane showed two options for a family moving into a Habitat House sponsored by Eastern Connecticut Habitat. They have a history of giving one quilt per house, so the membership decided between these two. The consensus was to give the brighter quilt if the family had young children, 
the other if for more mature family.


Jane presented this bright and cheery quilt to a family of six who just moved into
their new home in Plainfield, CT.  Jane said, "They have been living in a two bedroom
apartment and now have worked towards this beautiful 3 bedroom home. 
As always the ceremony is very touching.
 Lots and Lots of people work to make this happen."

Thank you and Keep on Quilting!!