Flying Phoebe Cloth Doll Club

Calendar

November 9, Meeting. We will be meeting at Marcella's. Drop-in social get-together will start at 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Business meeting will start at 1:30 P.M.

The November challenge is to use a box or frame, and if possible, items from the freebee table to create something new and unique.

This will be the final collection day for placemats and their tags.

December 7 Christmas Celebration at Barbara's. Barbara will once again be treating us to a wonderful meal and providing materials for a fun creative session. Mark the date on your calendar and watch your emails for time and details.

Show and Tell

Several members brought their completed placemats to add to our collection, as well as tags they had created to pin onto the placemats when they are gifted by Meals on Wheels.

Suzanne D couldn't make the meeting but sent more of her patchwork placemats. She definitely put a lot of time and effort into this one.

Here are a few of the many tags Geri has made to put on the placemats. Each is a work of art!

Other members are also contributing colorful tags.

Donna contributed 20 that she had made.

Rosie sent us these lovely cards she created for the Sunshine mailings. Sally sends them out to members on their birthdays or when they are ill or needing a bit of cheer.

One of our recent challenges was to make something with rickrack. Geri added some to one of her beautiful paper teacups.

Sue made these cute embellishments—rickrack flowers. A great idea!

Here is the fabulous flat doll Sue made for the "A Penny for Your Thoughts" challenge.

Bonnie used rickrack to decorate

a page in the pocket journal she

is currently making.

She also displayed a fabric

book page she had started some years ago.

Bonnie also brought a plastic container with

some of her favorite embellishments. They look perfect for the book pages she is working on.

Barbara has been busy creating lovely wall hangers made with luxurious items from her stash.

Her stash is a treasure trove of antique

items from France.

To be honest, it's a tossup as to whether Barbara or Betts has the most antique French ephemera. Betts used her treasures to make this framed art, using only items she has been given by friends or collected in Paris.

She also displayed this flat doll dress which features antique buttons and lace. It seems like they both are great ideas for our current frame/box challenge.

How cute is this? Betts had assembled a Flying Phoebe flat doll, and later she decided to create her boyfriend. What a happy pair!

Betts also displayed this "kids can" collage on paper. What a cute graphic.

Daisy exhibited two pieces she had made using items she had found on our free table. Above is the "Owl and the Pussycat" floating in a rowboat under the moonlight.

A great amount of work went into this trio made with freebee items and inspired by storybooks. Daisy took a cow and transformed it into a donkey—then created and added the dog, cat, and rooster. Very cute!

Daisy's paper accordion of painted houses will brighten up the day!

Donna's answer to the "A Penny for Your Thoughts" challenge came to her as she was looking through a booklet that she had made some years ago after a Valentines Day postcard challenge, and was thinking of the pages and remembering the Valentines Phoebes had sent her. While most are from current Phoebe members, there are also cards from Phoebes who have passed away, and others who have moved out of the area. We deeply miss all of them!

Kelly moved to Washington state and is currently making a name for herself with the intricate embroidered portraits she is sewing and exhibiting.

Suzanne D is back with us again after taking a break to focus on her prolific output of beautiful patchwork quilts. Truly good news!

Zanaib's passing brought us much grief, but she will always be in our hearts.

The same is true of Mary Porter Vaughan, who we remember as a wonderful and creative artist.

This card was from Betts, who continues to inspire us and lead us with wonderful ideas and challenges.

Suzanne R, our newest amazing card creator, is expanding her themes from primarily animals to new and exciting ideas. This Valentine card incorporates rickrack for the challenge.

However, Suzanne's first love is animals, and she is looking forward to using these wonderful animal printed fabrics she received from Betts.

Wanda will continue to join our meetings, which is truly wonderful. Marcella displayed this Valentine necklace Wanda had made some years ago in one of our exchanges. Over the years we are all so lucky to have acquired such inspiring and memorable art from our Phoebe sisters!

Caroline made two of her popular tote bags from a Scandinavian cotton print from Betts. One she gave to her dear friend Jean, who uses it to carry her Norwegian bible and her smart phone every day!

The September meeting focused on Sally's enrichment session, during which she taught us how to assemble and bind the pages of a small book. By the end of the session most of the Phoebes had books ready to take home to decorate the covers and perhaps the pages. We are looking forward to viewing them at the October meeting. Thank you, Sally, for sharing this technique with us.

Calendar

October 12, Phoebe Anniversary Celebration and Potluck at Marcella's at 11:30 A.M. Founded in 1987, we are celebrating 37 years of friendship, creativity, inspiration and laughter.

Please bring a sweet or savory dish to share. We are looking forward to a special session to be led by Kathy, who will be teaching us to make little angels in preparation for the coming holiday.

If you have any placemats, cards and/or tags for Meals on Wheels, we will be collecting them at this time. The last collection day will be at the meeting in November.

Show and Tell

If you are trying to decide how to make your cards or tags for Meals on Wheels, here are a few ideas from Geri.

Rosie got a head start on making tags and went to town making these lovely ones before we were able to find out that while MOW might prefer an autumn or Thanksgiving theme, they are extremely thankful for everything we can contribute.

Since Bett's challenge for this month was to share "a few of our favorite things," most of the items in show and tell are those items. Betts brought the collection of painted brushes that she made. They were created in response to a challenge Barbara proposed to their neighborhood art circle.

Suzanne brought her fabric roll the Phoebes created as a memento when she retired from her position as the club's president.

And she happily shared her newest award for Docent of the Year at the Oakland Zoo.

Anne treasures this "Street People" sculptured fabric doll which was made by an artist friend.

Shawn has discovered her newest favorite color which is a pretty navy blue. It is definitely a very flattering and beautiful color on her. She has discovered numerous garments, accessories, and craft supplies to wear and utilize during her "blue period."

Donna brought the last remaining items that she made with dominos—the other ones were given to family and friends. One is a jewelry pin and the other three are accordion pleated fold out tabletop tchotchkes, as seen below.

Among Geri's favorite things were

two lovely "Slow Stitched" fabric collages.

She used bits and pieces from the Phoebe "freebee" table.

She used the same technique to fashion a book cover that was inspired by her love for gardening.

Caroline is an avid fan of the San Francisco 49ers and The Golden State Warriors. She loves to make the little felt Warrior pins and has sold or given away a great number of them. Marcella's collection of favorite things includes little mementos and embellishments—including a stamp featuring Raggedy Ann—her favorite collectible doll.