Looking North from the Island ferry dock, swans, seagulls and ducks enjoy today’s early morning sunshine. There have been around 20 swans swimming between the ferry dock and Detroit Island and hundreds of ducks between the dock areas and the entrance to the harbor.
With Judie Yamamoto’s “Fun with Polymer Clay” class, our 2010 Sievers in Winter classes came to an end this week. Here’s just a few glimpses into what students were doing this January and February:
Chicken Track Bags with Connie Westbrook
Basketry with Jeanette Biederman and Rich Prange
Quilting Techniques with Ellen Graf
Coiled Basketry with Lynn Schuster
Polymer Clay with Judith Yamamoto
During the last week of February, the Island Weaving Study group will be renting the Sophie Studio and working on their 2010 project of an Island-themed calendar Book of Days. Winter goes by quickly!
We will be welcoming three new teachers in 2010. Lorrie Grainger Abdo is from Kalamazoo, MI and will be offering a weekend class in Paper Mosaics and Paste Painting. Lorrie learned how to make handmade paper at Sievers and her pieces combine colorful expression with precise craftsmanship. She has sold her paper mosaics and notecards in the Sievers Shop.
Joyce Krueger will teach a weekend Rug Hooking class. She has been hooking rugs since 1976 and is an accredited McGown Teacher. Joyce has been teaching since 1984 at rug schools and in her Waukesha, WI home studio and was recommended to us by several of our teachers who have been her students.
Connie Westbrook of Sherwood and Washington Island, WI is another Sievers success story! On staff since 2007 and a student in many Sievers weaving classes since 2003, Connie credits the growth in her weaving to her teachers and the instruction she recieved here. She has taught two “Sievers in Winter” weaving classes and we look forward to her Handwoven Towels class this summer.
We will also be welcoming back this year Flo Hoppe, Stephanie Robertson and Michelle Workowski. Those teachers on “sabbatical” are: Jackie Abrams, Bettina Havig, Deb Menz, Sylvie Nguyen, Frances Potter, Linda Streifender and Heather Winslow. Retiring from teaching at Sievers is Marla Yeager. Marla first came to Sievers as a student of Doreen Speckmann. She co-taught for a number of years with her good friend Jean Lohmar and then went on to teach Machine Quilting and our Quilt Design classes. Marla was the proud winner of the “Bernina Machine Workmanship Award” at the American Quilter’s Society in 2007. Her winning quilt, “Buckskin” now hangs in the Museum at the American Quilter’s Society in Paducah, KY. She was our “Queen Bee” and much more!
To give you an idea of some of the 2010 classes, here are some photos:
Turned Draft Weaves with Judith Yamamoto
Woodcarving Workshop with Harvey Stahl
Mixed Media Fabric Pendant with Karen Buell
Beyond Beginning Weaving with Nancy Adams
Handwoven Towels with Connie Westbrook
Coiled Basketry with Lynn Schuster
Variations in Pulp with Tom Grade
Landscape Quilting with Natalie Sewell
Mixed Metals Jewelry with Mary Hettmansperger
Paper Mosaics & Paste Painting with Lorrie Grainger Abdo
Basket Potpourri with Diane Ericson
Handmade Paper Lampshades with Michelle Workowski
Bent Willow Chair with Ken Workowski
Wearable Extravaganza with Daryl Lancaster
Overshot Odyssey with Rita Hagenbruch
Willow Harvest & Weave with Jo Campbell-Amsler
Stained Glass Sweater Vest/Coat with Jeanette Biederman
Beginning Rug Hooking with Joyce Krueger
Knitting on Location with Carol Anderson
Beyond the Basics: Willow Basketmaking with Jacki Bedworth
Rag Rug Weaving with Deb Sharpee
Felted Wool Penny Rugs with Mary Curran
Boundweave Rugs with Lynn SchusterAs of today, Sievers has joined Facebook. If you would like to “be a friend”, and if I’ve done it correctly, you should just be able to search for “Sievers” at www.facebook.com. We look forward to seeing how many friends we have and what they have to share.
Th
is past weekend, Sandy De Master and Mary Germain were here to teach a Sievers in Winter class in knitting and today Connie Westbrook began a 4-day class in weaving rag-rug style tote bags. (Homemade soup lunches included!) We are also looking forward to Jeanette Biederman and Rich Prange’s basketmaking class this coming weekend. They have been coming every year to teach winter classes since 1995.
Our first “Sievers in Winter” class had six students learning how to make lined mittens from old wool sweaters with instructor Kathleen Morris. On display that same day was Ann’s Mitten Tree with 30 mittens she handmade to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Sievers. It has now been moved to the W.I. Recreation Center in time for their Season of Lights event on December 13 and where many Island residents and visitors will enjoy it thoughout the holidays.
Sievers Gathering
We have set aside the dates of Friday, October 1 and Saturday, October 2 of 2010 for our Sievers Gathering. At the last Gathering, Dick Purinton of the Washington Island Ferry Line shared a Power Point presentation which included the “roundheads”, posable figures he purchased at the Twice Around Shop, on and around the Island, including a few stops at Sievers. Most of that video is now on YouTube. You can view it by searching for “Washington Island Roundheads Vacation” on the YouTube website.
Walking over to the Sophie Studio this morning through the rain and October’s “confetti” (leaves falling from the trees) to visit the last class of the 2009 season, Deb Sharpee’s Rag Rug Weaving, the camera caught these images on our last day of class:
And here’s how diligently the students were working yesterday:
Speaking of “lasts”, Sunday, October 18th, was the last passage through the Door for the C.G. Richter, iconic Island ferry and winter lifeline for the Island for 50+ years, having been bult in 1950. It is headed to its new home in the Caribbean via the Mississippi River. For a great perspective on the C.G. Richter and all things Island, visit Dick Purinton’s Ferry Cabin News blog at www.ferrycabinnews.blogspot.com/
make a coat from old wool sweaters…
learn how to weave…
harvest the willow patch…
and exclaim how beautiful the foliage is on the silo against a bright blue sky!
There’s been a lot of knitting going on here at Sievers in October. Carol Anderson’s Scandinavian Caps were being worn both in progress and finished…
and then the weekend Knitting on Location class came in and took their projects on the road, including this stop at the Red Cup Coffee House:
Meanwhile, Ken Workowski was working with his students on their Bent Willow Loveseats so that by Sunday afternoon, porches were adorned with the finished products.
Today, Sandy De Master and Mary Germain will welcome a group of knitters who will be working on projects of their own choice, with Mary and Sandy assisting with new techniques, trouble spots, re-working a pattern to customize it and more. On Saturday night as a group, the knitters have already made a reservation for the Harvest Dinner (a turkey dinner with the trimmings) sponsored annually by the Women of Trinity Lutheran Church. Many Island homes will be filled with the aroma of turkey, rolls, squash or pumpkin pies being baked this Friday in preparation for the dinner. Some may also be preparing chili or caramel apples for Saturday’s annual Farm Museum Cider Pressing Party or the Fire Department’s Open House. Sunshine and fall colors have been ordered for the weekend!
Weavers in Rita Hagenbruch’s Overshot Odyssey class are finishing up their work in time for tomorrow’s graduation, while Anita Mayer began her class in Explorations in Embellishment this morning. On Sunday, we will continue weaving with Nancy Adams’ Beyond Beginning class and Daryl Lancaster’s A Wearable Extravaganza, where we’re looking forward to seeing the fabrics and then later the jacket or vest students will be making from their handwovens (or specialty fabrics).
Rita’s overshot samples are wonderful, as you can see, as well as the projects students have been working on.
