Don’t you think some of the best things come in small packages? “Small packages” as in Japanese Temari and Cartonnage (box making) at Sievers this past week. In the Temari Techniques class, Judith Yamamoto and assistant, Kathy Broer, introduced the art to some students new to Temari and challenged others with more experience to work with complex patterns and to create tiny, jewelry-sized Temari. In Cartonnage: The Magic Box, students focused on the Karakuri Bako, a Japanese box which contains a hidden compartment. Using bookboard, Japanese papers and a good eye for accuracy, these special double-hinged boxes came together with the guidance of instructor, Nancy Akerly. (You can see more of Nancy’s own work at Liberty Grove Paper Arts.) These […]
Felting and weaving
It was a beautiful week for making nuno-felted scarves, felted hats and for our first beginning weaving class of the season. Could the sky have been more blue, the blossoms more delicate and perfect or the studios more exciting with new students and new things to learn? We don’t think so. Combining lightweight silk and merino wool with instruction from Dawn Edwards, students created lovely nuno-felted scarves and flowers. It was our pleasure to welcome Dawn as a new instructor at Sievers and to see all the finished pieces students made in class. A tip of the cap to the Felt Hat class. Wow! So many choices from whimsical to classic shapes with added embellishments making them extra-special. Dawn’s own […]
Quilting time
So many quilts, so little time… Even five days (and nights) of uninterrupted sewing in the Sievers Open Quilt Studio never seems like enough time, especially for us. What a treat to see the variety of works in progress. Fourteen quilters can certainly put on quite a display! A neighborhood family of Sandhill cranes and a sunset created their own displays during the week. Time to quilt and time to enjoy Washington Island makes for a wonderful start to our season of classes!
We will be waiting for you
Those words were used 40 years ago by Walter Schutz in the first Sievers School class brochure and for many years that followed. They’re still true today! Each year since classes began in 1979, we await meeting new students and reconnecting with returning student-friends. Not only are we waiting for you, so are the instructors, fellow classmates, the studios, dormitory, favorite Washington Island places and the Sievers shop. As one way to mark our 40th anniversary year, we’ll occasionally share some of the “Sievers Stories” collected last year from students. In one, Kathy B. wrote, “I came for my first class in 1989 and took beginning spinning followed by intermediate spinning. When I think back, that was really ambitious for […]
One month
It has been almost one month since our last posting and it is almost one month until the first day of class, Open Quilt Studio on May 28th. So, what has been happening at Sievers this past month? Since the end of March we’ve been readying the shop and receiving yarns, books, fabrics and other fiber art necessities plus all the lovely handmade work of our students and teachers. Many new and fun things will be waiting for you! The shop will be open daily starting Monday, May 20th, from 10 am – 5 pm, although we’ve already had a few visitors stop in by happenstance this past week. Our Washington Island Art Association friends will be renting the Walter Studio […]
March-ing along
In late March, the seventh Quilts of Valor Foundation sewing event took place at Sievers School. Coordinated by Ellen Graf, Washington Island teams and helpers have made over 80 Quilts of Valor since 2013. Some of the quilts have been awarded on Washington Island, some to veterans who are known to the Island sew-ists and some have been given to the QOV Foundation to be distributed in military hospitals and veterans homes. Quilts of Valor Foundation (QOVF) is a national non-profit whose mission is to create comforting and healing quilts “for veterans and military service members touched by war.” Ten quilt tops (two of them stitched by a team in Arizona using some hand-dyed fabrics) were completed during this year’s […]
February warms the heart
Thank you for the wonderful response during our first week of registration and beyond! On February 1, we received 160 registrations and by the end of the week, we had reached an initial enrollment of 249. We are so looking forward to seeing you this year whether you’ve signed up for a class or just happen to stop in while on Washington Island! To mark our 40th anniversary we drew seven names, one from each day of registrations that first week, for a $40 Sievers gift certificate. The names drawn, in order from February 1-7 were: Cindy Dross, Carla Brining, Linda Mularski, Annie Kordesh, Karen Zeman, Lorraine Conroy and Ruth Madden. Congratulations! It’s fun to be re-connected this time of […]
Online Registration
We’re excited to hear from many of you tomorrow! We couldn’t launch each year’s new website without our behind-the-scenes webmaster, so thank you, Gregg! Sometimes, updating and uploading our site with new content each February 1st can create occasional hiccups when the switch is made. A few times when testing, we found a different class title in the cart, but after clicking on the checkout button, the correct class appears. If you have a problem, just call us at 920-847-2264 and remember, there’s no advantage to register on February 1st. Thanks!
