October '08

It was the October meeting of our group recently with all of us attending. It was the day that all our pieces were due in for our combined project. OK, so what is this project you all ask? Well, all will be revealed in due time, just not today. But to give you a hint of what is to come, check out the pics below.

lace work in the raw

Spent a lovely week in West Gippsland with an unplanned stop at Warrigal. I took an early morning walk and was surpised to see many, many circular spiders webs.

September '08

Our September meeting was held last Saturday with all of us in attendance. During the day we were all busy stitching pieces for our special combined project, as well participating in show & tell, chatting over cups of tea & catching up with each other. Below is just some of our "show & tell" for the day.

Cathy had made this tree as part of an ATASDA charm swap. The tree is made from 50mm copper service cable, which had been untwisted & formed into the tree shape. The orange beads on the ends of the branches stopped the charms from falling off, while the other beads are just for decoration. The charms were made by Cathy and other members of ATASDA.

Cathy had also been knitting this cardigan using the variagated Italian 100% wool "Bizarre". We were all offering opinions as to how many buttons to use and in which colour order.

Sheila was back from a 3 month trip to Canada, where, as well as visiting family, she participated in a bookmaking course at Red Deer College with Michael Jacobs. Attending the course with two of her sisters, they were handed a challenge at the beginning of the course to create a "family" book. Below are pages 2 & 3 of Sheila's book about her sisters, using foam core bases, acetate windows, wire bending & paper.

I had been working on a wrap to wear to a family wedding. It has been made by withdrawing threads from a piece of raw silk, stitched with 4 sided & hem stitch, then fancy knitting threads have been woven back into some of the spaces.

This is just a closer view, and my experiments for this piece can be seen here.

Robyn was beginning to choose blue beads for her next beaded stone.

This one will be the third in a series, while the first of the series is this wave.

Donna had been making quilts for the "Exhibition Corridor" of St Vincent's Hospital, following the theme of "Arabesque". These two pieces have been inspired by Islamic/ Moorish tile patterns, and feature her own hand dyed fabrics with machine quilting. More can be read here.

August '08

Another month has come & gone & so has another meeting of our group. Donna was our only member with show & tell for this month, after being to a Jean Draper workshop.

First there was the initial inspiration and the copies of the sea urchin shell.

Then the sketches & the stitching samples.

Followed by more stitch interpretations.

Followed by a final stitching product.

Libby continued on her personal series of works, and told us the great news that the following two pieces of her work, (made for an Exhibition in Pittsburgh USA) , “Cave” and “Wollondilly Shire”, have both been sold.

Robyn continued on her rock, and I continued on my major piece. All of us will reveal pics upon completion, sometime in the future.

July '08

Another meeting of our group last Saturday with only a few in attendance & only a small amount of show & tell.

Libby had the best news in that one of her pieces, " Waterfall", had been purchased by the Embroiderer's Guild of N.S.W for their collection. It is a piece featuring calico manipulation. Her work in the letter "E", (pictured below) is for a banner for the North Shore Craft Group.

Susan had crocheted this scarf using hand spun, hand dyed, yarn. The yarn is a blend of alpaca & merino fiber which has made it very warm.

This cushion pannel is also work of Susan's. The design was an adaptation from a book on Swedish designs.

Speaking of books, Robyn presented me with this most stunning book, "The Grand Tour - Shrines of Power". The cover alone has enough inspiration for a lifetime, so imagine the stunning pics inside that will inspire more lace. Thankyou Robyn.

The lace Exhibition mentioned in the May post was recieved very well, & the newspaper article can be read here.

Stitching for the day included Robyn continuing to work on her Reticella piece from last month, Libby woking on a new garden & myself coninuing on a piece for our group project. Other work of mine can be seen here.

June 08

Our June meeting for our group produced only 4 members for the day, but even so, show & tell proved interesting.

Robyn had been working on some creative Reticella.

Cathy had been to Fibre Forum at Orange in the Central West of NSW, playing with a new product "Aquatics Bond", also known as "Aqua Magic", which is a sticky backed water soluble fabric. A sandwhich of AB, threads, & small pieces of fabric and another WSF was then FM embroidered, had stitched & embellished to procuce these pieces.

Libby is in the process of creating a series of works to illustrate man's relationship with plants. So here are some snippits of the first piece.

I have been slowly working on my major piece & will show pics when it is totally finished, sometime in the future.

May

Another month has gone by and so has another meeting of our little group last weekend with more show & tell.

As you will recall from our last meeting, some of our members were away at Fibre Forum at Orange in the Central West of NSW doing week long workshops, so the first of our pics this month is of Sheila's bookmaking workshop with Marianne Little. This first one opens out to a wonderful fan shape.

Then there was this little cutie.

After "Show & Tell", Sheila sat working on this stunning piece of goldwork.

I had finished playing with samples for a major piece & turned them into bookmarks. One used hand dyed fabric, the other two used hand dyed thread. (Pics soon). I had also hand dyed a piece of linen & some perle 12 thread ( on the white reel) in readiness for stitching. The other three balls of thread are commercially bought ones that I may also incorporate into the design somewhere. Why was everyone not surprised at my colour scheme?

I had also been getting ready for an exhibition with some fellow lace makers at the Fairfield City Museum & Gallery. Robyn had finished her play from last month with the Inktense Water Soluble Pencils,

and during the day began stitching on her second beaded rock.

April

Last Saturday was the April meeting of our group, so below is an update of what we have all been doing.

Donna had been dying fabric. There was a suitcase full of beautiful pieces of all colours using techniques such as tying, stitching, marbles, scrunching, folding & pegs. Here are just a few of her pieces.

There were also some pieces featuring potato stamps & paint. This is one of a series of 3 panels which will be quilted & ebellished further.

Robyn had been playing with a Reticella design that will eventually turn into a needlecase/holder of some kind. Note the hand dyed thread being used to give a different look to the traditional.There was also an experiment using her new Derwent Inktense water soluble pencils.

I had been making postcards using my digitizing program. There were also my filet lace trials which I had been wanting to do for a very long time. I spent the afternoon experimenting with my own hand dyed even weave linen & threads. I am sampling for a major piece which will be part of our group project later in the year.

Libby had been busy with exhibitions. There was the combined exhibition of the Mt Colah & St Ives groups of the Embroider's Guild of NSW, "Threads Of Imagination", which was held at the Hornsby Art Gallery. Currently, her work is at The Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Qeensland, in an exhibition titled "After India". This exhibition was inspired by an Indian Artisan that a group visited on a recent craft trip to India. Libby will also be the featured artist at the Wiseman's Ferry Artist's Gallery sometime in the future. We will keep you all updated on that one.

Other members of our group were away on textile workshops & conferences, so I am sure there will be great show & tell for our meeting in May.