Exhibit at the Corvallis Museum until September 20, 2026

 Death Becomes Her: Women's Mourning Dress 1860-1919

Come explore the exhibit and discover how mourning fashion, etiquette, and personal expression shaped public displays of grief in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Presented in partnership with Jennifer Mower, PhD, Historic and Cultural Textiles and Apparel Collection Manager and Design Instructor, the exhibition draws on her research in historic fashion and cultural meaning. Developed with Dr. Mower and her student Jake Wright, and with curatorial support from Benton County Historical Society Curator of Exhibitions Natascha Adams, Death Becomes Her invites visitors to consider how grief, gender, and tradition were worn on the body.

• Displayed in the Fred & Mary Brauti Gallery, June 6th - September 20th, 2026
• OPEN: Wed - Sat 10am -4:30pm, Sun 12 -4:30pm
• 411 SW 2nd St Corvallis, Oregon

Here are a few photos taken at the exhibition to encourage you to visit:

Guild Meeting on Tuesday, June 9, 2026

 Our program this evening was orchestrated by Mariana Mace and Deb Curtis, two guild members with extensive knowledge and practice in basketry. 

The program began with Mariana and Deb showing some examples of interesting baskets from their collections, talking about the materials and techniques used to make them.

Next the floor was opened for our guild members to share baskets that they had selected from their homes to learn more about them. It was a riff off of Antiques Roadshow with a basket theme. There were baskets made in a number of countries including Japan, Australian, France and the areas of the U.S. With the knowledge of our presenters, we learned the materials and techniques that were used to make and care for these baskets.

Here are a few of the baskets from guild members that were shared: 

And now, a few of our Show and Tell projects:

Kris wanted to add pockets to a RTW jumper, so she used the technique she teaches, textile origami, to add a unique touch.

Beautiful Japanese cloisonne buttons were the inspiration for the jacket Karen created from her hand dyed fabric and her Katazome stencils.

Jane made cards using paper she made years ago, embellished with various ephemera in her stash.

Belinda took a class at Pudding Art Studio in Eugene to learn this technique for a no-sew fabric art piece.

Guild Meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2026

 

Guild member Kris Berg shared her experience teaching a Textile Origami workshop at the Museum of the Home in London as part of Selvedge Magazine's first London Textile month. She also shared her photos taken while viewing the galleries at the Biennial Contemporary Lace Exhibition in Girona, Spain. 

Several guild members shared their recent and ongoing projects. Peggy is embroidering pillowcases for a wedding gift, Karen modeled a jacket she made, and Nancy is creating quilts inspired by C.C. Jung's work.

Guild Meeting on Tuesday, April 14, 2026

 Our guild meeting's guest speaker was Sheryl LeBlanc, Eugene fiber artist. Sheryl was educated as a printmaker, and focuses on pattern and visual texture in her art quilts. She explores the complexity of scale, layering materials and visual information. Her inspiration is often found in her dreams. 

Guild members carefully studied Sheryl's art quilts 

Our meeting ended with Show and Tell from several members.

Karen shared a recent commission for a wall piece:

Jennifer is working on a lace triangle to be part of the Columbia Gorge Museum's Community Lace-Making project:

Rita wore a coat she made while attending a workshop:

 

Guild Meeting on Tuesday, March 10, 2026

After a two-month winter break, we resumed our monthly meetings with a large turnout at C3. Our guest speaker, Jessica Hougen shared her knitting adventures with us. Being an avid knitter, she thought often of owning a yarn shop. The stars aligned when some funds became available at the same time that a space was available in downtown Corvallis. Opening in December, 2025, the Lonely Skein offers a lovely selection of yarns, most of which are sourced from small independent businesses. 

 We enjoyed circulating the yarn examples Jessica shared with us, ending up in Mary's lap.

Jessica is the Executive Director of both the Corvallis and Philomath museums. She shared some exciting events coming up at the Corvallis Museum. Check out:

https://bentoncountymuseums.org/events/

We concluded out meeting with Show and Tell. There were many terrific projects shared, but only a few were captured for the blog. Linda completed the crazy quilt top for a client, now ready for quilting. Linda added lots of the customary embroidery typical of crazy quilts.

Cheryl renovated a sweater with needle felted vines, enhancing it beautifully.

Mary took a 4 day workshop in Minneapolis from a Swedish weaving instructor. Two days were spent weaving and the subsequent two days were used to build the backpack.

Gwen brought a quilt she created from pieces of recycled cashmere sweaters. Heavenly to touch and even better to sleep under one of her bed quilts. Note the hand quilting.

It's great to be back to monthly meetings, second Tuesday from March through December.

Gallery talk by Niraja Lorenz at The Arts Center, January 3, 2026

 Our CFA guild hosted a gallery talk with the fiber artist Niraja Lorenz featuring her amazing art quilts now on exhibit at The Arts Center. Her art quilts have been in numerous national juried quilt exhibitions. 

Niraja shared a little about her background and the journey that brought her to creating art quilts. She shared her creative process in detail with us, and answered audience questions. 

Here are a few samples showing the intricate narrow strip piecing:

Our guild members thank Niraja and the staff of the Arts Center for offering us the opportunity of this wonderful, inspiring gallery talk. And thanks to all who attended.

 

 Guild meeting on Tuesday, December 9, 2025

For our December guild meeting, we gathered around tables as we created star ornaments. Members brought sweet treats to munch on while the glue dried. 

There are many possible variations of this type of paper star. As usual, the members were very creative! The star instructions can be found on page 120 of Stars and Snowflakes by Jennie Lantz and Cecilia Moller Kirchsteiger.

    

        

            Happy Holidays everyone!