Wednesday 1 August 2018

July 2018

Our group's monthly meeting for July was a little different. Six of us met at Guild Headquarters at 76 Queen Street , upstairs in the library, while two of us attended via technology. Susan had suggested a few times that we try this, and this month we did it! Susan had prearranged a meeting time with the Zoom platform of video conferencing, and as we all ironed out teething problems, we had six members in the library in Concord West, one in  Southern NSW, and one in the Central West of NSW! Welcome to a new age of creative meetings!


We only had 40 minutes of time and it went very quickly! There were teething problems to work out, like electronic feed back from all the devices so close to each other. In the end, we worked out to only have one lap top for the six of us at Guild Headquarters. Then we had to find where the camera was, and the microphone, so we could talk to the other two, show them close up what we had been doing, and have tours of both Donna's and Susan's new spaces. It was a very quick show and tell via technology.

Before the video meeting, Gerri led us through a little exercise of adding texture to some traced fabric animals.

After the video meeting, we held our normal show and tell.


Susan had finished her "Be Yourself" embroidery. Worked all in chain stitch in stranded cottons from her stash, Susan originally wanted a Raquel Ormella style embroidery, but it became much bigger and more 'Susan'.


Sheila had been making coin purses with furnishing fabric scraps. They have been decorated with buttonholed washers and stitching as learned in Jenny O'Sullivan's Summer School. The purse design is from a purse purchased at the Castlemaine Embroiderer's Guild Retrspective 2017.


 Sheila's quilt "Looking Up", was made for the 2018 Quilt NSW annual exhibition. The theme for the year was 'Southern Stars' . Made with polyester chiffon on polyester felt, holes were burned then stitched. The top was then backed with lurex and hand tied to form the quilt. The quilt represents the night sky in both summer and winter.


This is Annette's withdrawn thread book mark. It is hemmed down both side edges and fringed at each end. The book mark features interlacing, Italian hemstitch and ladder stitch.


Gerri followed a Simplicity pattern for dolls to put together a ballerina doll for her grand niece. As each piece was embellished, a living doll appeared. It is the result of both machine and hand stitching. Her name is Charlotte.



Jenny had turned her Pueblo Stitch fun from last month into a book mark . The stitch had called for two different threads, and Jenny had used a plain Perle 12 with a variegated crochet thread. The plain thread was used to work the hem and the head of the tassel, while the variegated was used in the tassel skirt.


Gerri has turned her Pueblo stitch exercise from last month into a place mat. A wandering style of small to large stitches using two threads at the same time was used to create the piece, which was later joined with other fabrics to form the place mat.


Jenny had completed another bobbin lace handkerchief edge. It was a repeat of an earlier pattern, this time in blue variegated Guttermann Sulky No 30 cotton. The pricking had been fixed to produce a square hankie, and a double thread of plain blue Guttermann Cotton was used along the edge to create a gimp. 


This bobbin lace book mark was also made by Jenny. Using a different colour of Guttermann Sulky No 30 Cotton, the book mark is a repeat of another one worked earlier this year. The pattern contains double eyed spiders which have proved to be a challenge for her to work. In the last attempt all the spiders were different, while in this attempt they have all managed to be the same. Jenny has made notes for herself on how to work them, but has yet to perfect these notes. Another bookmark is planned purely to make sure her notes are a good reference for later use.


This is Susan's first ever baby blanket, made for her grand niece. Worked in 8 ply wool, the blanket is Susan's own design using a wave pattern variation from a stitch dictionary. A border was added using rows of double crochet in each of the two colours, and finished with a row of reverse double crochet.



 Annette had made this striped cardigan for her 2 year old grandchild. Morris and Son's 8 ply yarn has been used with an old Paytons pattern. The cardigan still required buttons.

Our meeting this month was certainly a different one. Using technology and video conferencing may just become the norm for us as our members travel and wander. Follow us as we iron out all the hurdles in learning how to use it, and share with us all in our creativity.  






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