Minutes of the General Meeting, via Zoom Oregon Coastal Quilters Guild May 13, 2021
The meeting, via Zoom, was called to order by President Meralee Wilson at 1:00 p.m.
Debbie Mosley moved to approve the minutes of the April 8, 2021, General meeting. Nan Scott seconded the motion. The motion passed, and the Minutes were approved without objection.
GENERAL AND COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kathleen Holt, a long-time member of the Guild, suffered a personal tragedy when her husband, John, passed away on April 13, 2021. John was a loving, thoughtful, productive, and well-educated gentleman. His legacy is represented by his loving family, the many houses he built or remodeled, the service he gave to his country, his support of the arts, and the many efforts he made on behalf of those less fortunate than he. Donations in his memory can be made to Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation. Cards and caring hearts can be sent to Kathleen at her Otis address which is 3650 Ridge Road, Otis, Oregon 97368. Batiks are Kathleen’s favorite and the instructions and template for caring hearts can be found on page 44 of the Directory.
Meralee Wilson announced Nan Scott received a request from a non-guild member who would like two quilts made, one for her brother and another for her grandson. Please contact Nan Scott if you are interested in taking on this endeavor.
Sue Stephens announced that CASA needs adult face masks.
Challenge Quilts – Meralee Wilson announced that Challenge Quilts are due no later than May 31, 2021 and members who are participating should send digital photos of their entries to Chris Benedetti or Nan Scott.
2021 Annual Quilt Show – Darcy de la Rosa announced that, due to the uncertainty caused by Covid-19 and a myriad of other reasons, the 2021 Annual Quilt Show has been cancelled. The Executive Board will meet to discuss other revenue options available to the Guild.
2022 Annual Quilt Show – Meralee Wilson announced that the Board is seeking two members to co-chair the 2022 Annual Quilt Show.
2022 Retreat – Georgia Sabourin announced that everything is set up and ready to go. There are still nine slots open for the Retreat.
Membership – Patti Stephens announced the Guild now has 162 members.
Veteran’s Project – Rose Shaw announced there is a Sew-In at the Siletz Grange on May 21, 2021 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Please contact Betty Wilson for a slot. Rose informed the membership that thirty quilts have been awarded sinch March 2021, 68 quilts have been awarded since January 1, 2021, and there are twenty-two quilts pending.
Quilt Raffle – Nan Scott announced money from sold raffle tickets is due by July 31, 2021. Although the 2021 Annual Quilt Show has been cancelled, the quilt will still be raffled on the first Saturday in August 2021. Viki West announced all ticket packets are out.
Merchandising – Becky Merson announced the quilt panels will arrive this weekend at her house.
Having no further business, Jane Szabo introduced our program and speaker. Emily Taylor, who is the author of Collage Quilts (2019) and Take Flight (2020) is a self-taught artist, fabric designer, quilter, and educator. An avid thrill seeker, she and her family enjoy hiking, mountain biking, and other family-oriented activities. Emily conducts workshops and casual lectures. Emily has always considered herself an artist and was the Sterling Scholar in the state of Utah. She studied political science in college and was headed for law school after which she intended to be a Supreme Court Justice. However, she has always loved art and being a mother of three children has been a huge part of that interest. Emily began as an interior mural artist and created word-of-mouth contacts by knocking on homeowner’s doors and asking if they would be interested in having a mural in their home. Through her networking, Emily met an interior designer who hired Emily. She then had children and stopped creating murals although she continued to paint. Her involvement with her children led Emily to paint various whimsical vignettes of motherhood, all with a sense of humor about the rigors of raising three children.
One day, on a whim, Emily walked into a quilt shop and felt that lightening bolt moment when she discovered what she was born to do. Immediately, Emily wanted to design quilt fabrics. She taught herself at night to create digital fabric designs using computer software and has, to date, designed over three hundred different fabrics. Emily showed the membership two of her fabrics, “Zombie Apocalypse” which is based on her older daughter’s obsession with the zombie apocalypse, and “Pirate Matey’s”, a fun take on a pirate’s treasurer map, with lagoons and ships named for her children, in sepia shades. Emily was not a quilter before she designed her various fabric collections. However, once again she took on the challenge and taught herself how to quilt although she struggled to make a quilt which met her own demands.
Emily began her own company, Pattern Jam, but got involved with the wrong investor. She lost a substantial sum of money as well as her contract with Riley Blake designs. She had to start searching again to find out where she belonged. So, Emily created her first college quilt in 2017, a quail with brilliant yellows and complimentary browns. Emily took the Quail collage quilt to her local quilt shop and met the owner who fortuitously became Emily’s mentor. Emily than began Collage Quilts in 2018. Designing and making collage quilts allows Emily to be creative and not tied down by restrictive rules. In her quilts, everything is raw-edged. Unfortunately, the pattern for the Quail collage quilt has been discontinued.
Emily displayed her Grizzly bear quilt with a close-up of the face in browns, greys, and white. A stunning horse collage quilt in blue floral fabrics shows us an understanding and translating of values irrespective of color. As a hint, Emily always does the background last because she does not want it to dictate what she does with the central portion of the quilt. Mother and child, a moving portrait inspired by Gustav Klimt’s painting of the same title, taught Emily how to use the reverse side of fabrics to display truer colors. Emily likens collage quilts to impressionist paintings. Up close, the painting resembles “a hot mess”, but step back and the viewer can see the entire picture and meaning of same.
Emily has a passion for color which is readily exemplified in her cactus and floral quilts in which she uses a whole spectrum of colors to be bold and force herself to think outside the box. The cactus quilt, in dazzling greens with complimentary shades of reds and tans, is also a good example of this. Her Orange Tree is a show of values, starting with mid-tone and then moving dark to light in shades of green and orange with blue and white for a Ming-themed vase.
The color combination is always uppermost in Emily’s mind and the fabric cuts are very random, again like an impressionist painting. Green is Emily’s favorite color, and the fabric has a way of just developing the character of the quilt. Emily does not begin to cut her fabric pieces until she is ready to use them. When Emily has finished a quilt, she sometimes sends it out to a professional quilter for extensive quilting, but just as often she quilts the finished product herself with doodle stitches, veining, and generally super simple stitches.
There are two ways to create a collage quilt. The first is to create a paint-by-numbers panel in which the different areas show as light to dark shades of grey. Lite steam-a-seam II is used as an adhesive in the same manner a quilter uses it for standard applique. The second method is to use parchment paper which is non-sticky and heat resistant. The parchment paper method gives the quilter complete control of the composition. The first parchment paper collage quilt Emily created was “May Day”, a floral quilt of vibrant reds and whites against an equally stunning blue background. Other floral collage patterns are a blue vase of dark to light purple pansies with, of course, long green leaves and a brown vase of orchids in various shades of red. In the latter, Emily explored a more interesting background, her words, than in earlier florals.
Emily works from enlarged photographs all the time and often purchases pictures from 1.stock.photo.com.
Emily believes that having fun while creating equals inspired works. She aspires to be 75-80 years old and still creating masterpieces.
Show and Share followed Emily’s presentation and included:
- Jean Amundson displayed two quilts – “Sunny Flower.” A charming quilt of a single sunflower in shades of yellow and white bending into the sun. The quilt is from an Ann Shaw pattern and Jean used fabric exclusively from her stash. The second quilt is titled “A Nest for Every Family.” It is a moving tribute to the donors of Samaritan house with the name of each donor on a leaf of a Spring tree. A bluebird happily nests in the middle branch of the tree.
- Marge Hoyt displayed two quilts – “Journey to the Stars,” a hand-pieced king-size quilt in stunning batiks of yellows and complimentary colors. The background is pieced logs, adding to the intricacy of the quilt. The second quilt is a Winter Holiday Village which is all pieced except for the store signs and train which are applique. This whimsical quilt is a large wall hanging.
- Sue Stephens displayed one quilt – a nine-patch with snowballs for her granddaughter Ava who announced she needed a new quilt. Sue happened to have a bunch of 2.5 strips and white 5” squares which is all she needed to make this adorable quilt for Ava. The quilt is finished with posey quilting, just right for a pretty young lady.
- Elizabeth Wood displayed one quilt – “Twitters” a fun wall hanging of pinwheels and fat birds with stilt legs in primary colors.
REMINDERS
- A reminder to the executive Board – the next meeting is Thursday, May 20, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. via Zoom.
- The next guild meeting, via Zoom, is Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 2:39 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara L. Kinzel, Secretary.