June 2018

 A little group of four met last Saturday for our monthly meeting, with some of our members un-well, and others attending Stitching At The Tops. We were lucky to meet in the front room up stairs to enjoy the warmth and sunshine, as well as dedicate a whole table for show and tell.

 

Jenny had finished the needle lace edge on her UFO letters and had added them to a book cover. UFO number three completed.

At the same time that Jenny had found her unfinished letters, she also found a part worked circle of Tenneriffe Lace, still on it's little home made pillow complete with pins.

The circle of lace has now been finished and mounted into the corner of a purchased handkerchief.

 A little needle lace edge was also added around the edge to finish it off. UFO number four finished.

Meet Sheila with her completed 'Monet and Me'. It was Sheila's challenge in April to do a stitched collage every day. She enjoyed the practice so much that she extended it into a project to completely fill the Monet Diary. The diary no longer closes and is more or less tied closed.

A fabulous view from the side of Sheila's 'Monet & Me'.

Just one of the many pages inside Sheila's 'Monet & Me'.

Gerri was preparing for Christmas making multiple cross stitched tree decorations in mini hoops.

Multiple appliqued pillow cases were also on Gerri's Christmas preparation agenda. This is only the beginning with many more to go. These ones have been appliqued with buttonhole stitch using  items from her stash. 

Robyn had been having fun stitching a design from the circle exercise back in  May . She is using Bokhara couching in different patterns to  give different textures.

Our little creative exercise for the day was to play with Pueblo Stitch. Sheila had found instructions in a Stitch magazine, and we all went off in our own creative direction, using different threads and fabric bases. I wonder what will eventuate form this stitching play?

Sheila also entertained us with recalling 'Susan and Sheila's Excellent Adventure', a trip the two made together in late May and early June. The purpose of the trip was to see the Marimekko exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. 

On their travels, they also took in Donna Caffrey's exhibition at the Creators Artspace Gallery in Woodonga. Donna is a member of our group  who now lives in Southern NSW. We congratulate her on an excellent exhibition.

'Grandmother's Garden' was an installation of an eclectic mix of re-purposed linens reminiscent of old time afternoon teas.  The grandmothers, wearing the appropriate head gear for an afternoon of gentle conversation, kept an eye on the visitors.  A delightful exhibition staged in a gallery within an arts precinct.  We congratulate Donna on the success of her installation.

Continuing on their journey, the girls also took in the Raquel Ormello exhibition at the Shepperton Art Museum and the Michelle Hammer exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. Both are textile artists and the exhibitions are well worth a visit.

Some fun was definitely had over the last month by our members. I wonder what fun we will have over the next few weeks? Please come back and check out what we get up to. Until then, happy creating.

September 2017

Our meeting this month was held in Gerri's temporary residence in Randwick, in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. After a quick catch up on all the news, we settled down to morning tea and show and tell.

Jenny had finished her first ever bobbin lace handkerchief edging. Made in the Bedfordshire style, the edge uses 90/2 Linen thread. The edge is mounted on linen fabric using 'Nun's Stitch' in the same linen thread that the lace has been worked. The full story of this edge can be found on Jenny's personal blog.

Jenny had also finished another bobbin lace Christmas decoration. This star pattern came from an old issue of an Anna magazine, and has been worked in DMC No50 Cordonnet Special thread

Gerri has been working on 3" (75mm) embroidery hoops and themed fabrics in preparing mini Christmas trees. Once stretched into the frames, the fabrics are then embellished and stitched with beads.

The hoops will be then backed with felt, and joined in the shape of a Christmas Tree to be hung on a door or wall.

Robyn continues to work on her country piece, stitching through tea bags and dyed fabric

The Saga with crochet squares continues as Gerri experiments with more shades from the Cake balls of wool. These will be joined into another rug for a Christmas present

This month Robyn has been playing with drawing faces, stencilling, ink, acrylic paints and textas in her journal.

Susan has  started a new unit in her course, Sculpture/Studio Processes, and tried to do some work for it while on holidays  in the forested hills inland from the Sunshine  Coast. Her  first exercise was an ephemeral sculpture and working on the theme of time. Susan was to use found materials, create a form, a la Andy Goldsworthy, and photograph it over 5 days to show the effect of time on ephemeral materials. The photos show 2 things that Susan  created on the day , and which she found was quite fun to do. 

Our travelling adventures are still happening while our new Guild building is being completed. Maybe next month we will be in our new space. Please come back to visit next month, not only to check out what we have been playing with, but maybe also our new meeting space.

August 2016

Our meeting this month was held in the beautiful Illawarra. Four of our members travelled to Wollongong to meet for morning tea, show and tell, lunch, and then a visit to The Wollongong Art Gallery.

We met at the gallery, and migrated to a little coffee shop just down the road , where  morning tea was the first order of the day. Show and tell followed.

Sheila had been making a journal cover using her favourite stitch of raised chain band around the outer section of the circles, and imitation bullion in the centers.

Jenny was getting in early on stitching a new Christmas decoration for her tree. This one is a Hardanger design found through Pinterest here. The little heart shaped decoration has been stitched onto a scrap of linen found in her stash, and still needs to be finished off by cutting, and applying a backing.

After  stitching the Hardanger Christmas heart, there was still fabric left in the linen scrap used, so Jenny also decided to make herself a new bookmark from the fabric that was left. Another Hardanger design, using a mix of threads in her stash, including a hand dyed one. 

Annette had been knitting using 4 ply wool. This cute little cardigan is for nine week old Eleanor.

Jenny had also been knitting a blanket. Using a pattern from the Shepherd Baby Shawl Collection 1 book. Jenny had struggled with the edge pattern provided in the book, so decided to use another one. The leaf and berry edge pattern is available free from here, but the pattern only contains instructions for the edge, not a corner. As Jenny wanted the edge to go all around the blanket, she devised a corner using a series of short rows, and the lace edge from the leaf and berry pattern.

Gerri was starting a new scarf cowl, finally meeting a new challenge to crochet something different than Granny Squares. The cowl will eventually look like the pic below. 

Gerri was also learning how to do diagonal basket weave crocheting, and was just loving it. 

Jenny had also starting knitting a new jumper. Using an 8 ply "Savanah" yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills which is 70% wool and 30% alpaca. The pattern is also one from Bendigo Woollen Mills

Annette had been making the most delicious marmalade using an unidentified citrus fruit, possibly a tangerine, from her brother's tree. The tree had produced abundant fruit which was put to good use in 3 batches of marmalade and two batches of cordial.

Following show and tell at the coffee shop, we enjoyed lunch before making our way back to the gallery to view the exhibition ' Through The Eye of The Needle'. This exhibition is a body of works stitched by the members of the Embroider's Guild Woolongong Group. We were guided through this exhibition by the lovely Jan Williams and Sue Harper. The exhibition is free, and contains a number of collaborative projects, as well as traditional and contemporary individual pieces. 

Following this exhibition, we had a quick look at the 2nd Tamworth Fibre Triennial which was also on at the gallery.

A great day had by all who attended. 

November 2013

Another Small group meeting this month with only five of us present. It was only a morning meeting this month as there were exhibition presentations to attend.

Congratulations go to Sheila for winning the "Say It With Words Challenge" . Sheila  won for her piece "Haystack", and also won the peoples choice award. All the entries can be seen here.

 Even with only the five of us, show & tell is always inspiring.

Donna had made this fabulous statue using knitted fabric, T-shirt fabric, and a doily. All were stiffened with a fabric hardener and Donna is now thinking of a series of statues.

Another book cover by Sheila using raised chain stitch and couching.

 

Donna's lace collage with beads & a tiny bit of hand stitching.

Robyn's needle-lace pumpkin flower, a UFO from 2009 that she is trying to finish.

Sheila's quilt that she made for her grandson. Mostly machined in the "quilt as you go" technique.

Robyn's ribbon and beaded Christmas Decoration.

Sheila's Christmas decorations made from felt and sequin waste, using a design from a "Stitch" magazine.

Following show and tell, there was some inspirational discussion on our direction for 2014. No letting the cat out of the bag though, you will all have to come back next year to find out what that is.

August 2013

Our meeting this month brought seven of us in attendance. Of course there was the usual show & tell, along with discussions on a possible combined group project

Donna had created these little dolls, the start of some brooches. Stitched using Perle threads, cotton, ribbon and sequins made by "Colourstreams".

Jenny had finished stitching the border on her drawn and counted thread sampler. It is yet to be blocked & framed.

Gerri had made these little biscornu pin-cushions, experimenting with stitches and glittered even-weave fabric. Warning - the glue from the glittered fabric attaches itself to the needle! Finished result s are great Christmas stocking gifts.

Gerri had also made these Christmas decoration dream catchers. Once again, Christmas stocking fillers that can be decorated as you go, however you like.

Robyn's self made printed fabric, inspired by Rosalie Gascoigne's art. The fabric will be used in her "Say It With Word's " challenge later in the year.

November 2011

Our meeting this month was our last for this year, so food & Christmas lunch was the order of the day. There were seven members present, & two visitors who are both thinking about joining our group.We did do some work in between all the eating & chatting, planning our activities for 2012.

Show & tell as always provided much inspiration & discussion.

Robyn was working on a piece of Ukrainian Whitework ( in colour) using patterns from Gay Eaton's Book "Ukrainian Whitework" .

There were also these Christmas Strawberries by Robyn which had been made at a workshop with Molly Mc at a Hawkesbury retreat.

 Jenny had finished two tissue packet covers, experimenting with colour schemes. Both were stitched in the same pattern of a blackwork design on the same fabric, but using different coloured threads. One in harmonious colours, the other using triadic colours, the effect of each being  quite different.

Donna's  mixed media work  is  still a work in  progress. Fabric, machined cords and papers applied to heavy vylene, hand and machine stitched , painted with gesso  and then acrylic , further embellished with counched threads, hand stitching and beading and filmo face made using a caste created by Pearl Moon.

During the day there were some experiments with some pulled work stitches ready for a major piece.

Sheila had been stitching book covers in raised chain stitch using her own hand dyed threads. 

There were also many animal activity book pages, using a Vogue pattern.

 

 

 

 

Esther had made this felted bag at a workshop in Mudgee

 using wool & silk, with wool scraps as decorations.

Well that is the year that was for 2011. Come back in January for another visit to see what we have planned for 2012.