September 2019

Our group had twelve attendees this month, including another new member, a visitor from Canberra, and a young family member of Wendy's. Susan and Donna also joined us via Zoom.

Show and tell this month begins with Marina who is undertaking the Creative Correspondence Course ( CCC) through the Embroiderers Guild NSW. One of the exercises was to explore Chain stitch

The clutch purse above is Marina's finished exercise, worked in various forms of chain stitch.

Marina  saw this stitchery and decided it was just her,  so she bought it and stitched it. She has  made it into a bag to take her projects to classes and groups. The words say:
‘I cannot count my day complete ‘til needle thread and fabric meet.’

Sheila found woven picot stitch from last month addictive. She stitched on a natural dyed raw silk fabric using her hand dyed threads. She will continue filling in around the lighter areas and then decide what to do next. 

Jenny had been working on a piece of Ukrainian Whitework, but in colour. A counted thread lover, Jenny was inspired by her friend Robyn's piece of coloured Ukrainian Whitework from a few years back. The piece is being worked on blue even weave linen in a variety of threads including Anchor Perle 8 variegated and DMC stranded.

Sheila has finished her entry for The Embroiderers' Guild of NSW Margaret Oppen competition. The works will be displayed in October at Gallery76.  She has also completed her Quilt NSW entry for the annual suitcase challenge. Only the back can be revealed  at this stage, and is shown above. She used the design on the back to quilt the work. 

Sheila has also been making butterflies for our exhibition in May of next year.  The first butterfly has stitching on a coloured paper towel.  The paper towel has been mounted onto iron-on interface for stability when stitching.  The second butterfly is machine applique using the positive and negative image.  More butterflies are in the planning stages.

Sheila's daily practice for September was to create a collagraph each day printing with a gelli plate. She incorporated Birgit Koopsen's Instagram challenge  prompts into the activity from day 3 onwards.  Interpreting the prompts in a way to incorporate the collagraph has pushed her creativity into new territories.

Sheila's work can be found at:

https://www.instagram.com/thingstitcher/

Gerri has revamped an old bag which she loves with some butterflies to brighten it up.

Annette H has finally finished one of seven cot panels bought by her  mother before her death. The idea was  so she could  hand quilt them and give them to her grandchildren when they had a baby. Annette and her sisters  have worked on them when the occasion arose and Annette has finished this  last one for her new grandson . 

Although Annette Y was unable to join us in our meeting, she has been working hard on her Introduction to Embroidery course. The above four photos show her final applique pieces that were submitted for assessment.  They demonstrate the techniques broderie perse, mola, needle-turn and the last has over stitched raw edge pieces.

Project 3 from Marin's CCC was her own choice. The task was to design the lid of a box. Romanian, Cretan, fly, and running stitches have been used.

Project 5 from Marina's CCC was 'Waves'. Marina used couching for the task which was to make a design depicting waves. Her  inspiration came from seeing a surfer surfing through a tunnel. After many attempts, this was her favourite 

Project 1 from Marina's CCC was leaves in running stitch. The task was to  walk around a park and pick leaves, draw them then make a design using a leaf or leaves. Marina's is gum leaves, which have been  stitched in green, and the lines in between depict different gum tree barks.

The activity for the meeting was picking a stitch name at random from a box then stitching it. Marina is  continuing to pick stitch names and when finished, will make it into a little purse.

Project 2 from Marina's CCC was the sun. 
The task was  look at pictures of the sun and design a depiction.  Marina's is the sun in the centre  with warm colours on one side warming half the earth and cool colours on the other side cooling the other side of the earth. Fly stitch has been used.

The beginning of the butterfly adventure by Annette H. Butterflies start life as an egg, then become a caterpillar. This piece started life in our simple exercise class on circles that Jenny gave us. Her scribbles translated beautifully into a caterpillar of a non specific type. So far it is felt shapes on cotton fabric that will be embossed with stitch.

From the back of Annette H's cupboard, a  UFO in Mountmellick work which she will try to finish. Worked on cotton fabric in Perle 5 thread, the piece has a buttonhole edge rather than the traditional knitted edge.

Annette H's  chosen stitch for the day was feather stitch. She  tried it using 3 different threads,  then tried Cretan stitch after reading about it in an old 1967 copy of the Record.

Susan has been exploring crochet, to expand her skills. She is  trying medallions from Nicky Epstein's Crochet on the Edge,  having fun with the textures and other techniques. 

 Susan also tried some 'inchies challenge' after Sheila's practice last month.

  One of Susan's drawings from her regular Tuesday Drawing group in Bathurst. 

Jenny is on another learning curve, trying out a new bobbin lace edge design. It is design No7 from Pamela Nottingham's book 'Bedfordshire Lacemaking.

Gerri has been busy making teddies, towels and owls for a stall that supports cancer care patients.

It is wonderful to watch our new members grow in their stitching, and fabulous to see how our monthly exercises can take us in new directions, both up and out. As our numbers grow, our skills grow, and so does our creativity. So come back next month to see our creativity in action, and see which direction it will take us.

March 2019

Our March meeting brought seven members attending with Susan joining us via Zoom. Show and tell as usual is always a treat.

Annette had finally finished  her CWA handicraft day group project.  Individuals worked on their version of a Sue Spargo sewing roll featured in an Inspirations magazine. Annette decided to use up  some of her stash and changed how it was made. Of the 12 started there are 7 completed after 12 months.

Above is a canvas work cushion cover by Susan. The cover has all been worked  in a rice stitch variation, using up to 6 different threads for each part of the stitch. Susan played around with pattern by varying the colours  used each time, using up various Appletons wools she has leftover from many other, earlier projects. So easy and quick to do,  another has been started.

Sheila has been working on a major embroidery destined to be shown in the Bainz Gallery during the Stitched Up Festival.  The festival is held every two years in the city of Wangaratta Victoria.  For information about the festival visit:  https://stitchedupfestival.com/

Sheila's work is now completed and mounted onto a stretched canvas.  The work has been stitched solidly covering an area of 50 cm by 50 cm.  Raised chain stitch has been used throughout the work.  The work is not for public viewing until the opening of the exhibition but Sheila can show the back of the work which can be seen above.

New member Merina is undertaking the Creative Correspondence Course and has completed a design for her first project . The theme was leaves and the stitch was running stitch. 

Marina had also used stitcheries that she had completed to make a bag to carry her projects .

This Mountmellick bag is by Annette and features a typical floral design. Stitches include stem, cable chain, mountmellick stitch, coral knot and bullions. The stitches have been worked with various thicknesses of broder cotton, and the bag  has a traditional knitted fringe worked with no 4 knitting cotton.

Above is Donna's 'An Unkindness at Uranquinty'.   A group of ravens can be  either an unkindness or a conspiracy.    Donna stitched on a furnishing fabric sample with  a lovely weave that reminded her of clouds. The piece is  mounted on a black felt covered canvas. The scene is loosely based on views from the car when driving.  Uranquinty is a small town/area on the way to Wagga Wagga from Albury.

'Process' is Donna's  word for the year.  Her personal challenge is to explore what process means to her, and her practice.  A small painted canvas with small scraps of fabric, painted paper and tyvec stitched onto it, a face which she cast in polymer clay, bibs and bobs and the definition of process cut from an old dictionary.

Above  is a small cross-stitch project by Lesley - one piece of homework for the Counted Thread Module of the Introduction to Embroidery Course she is doing. Her  inspiration for this piece is Van Gogh's Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Robyn's  train doodle, including painting, collageing and Zentangling. This piece has been created  on the train as she travels  to and from work.

Sheila maintains a daily art practice outside of her stitching activities. The activity for the practice is changed monthly and may be used to extend and enhance her textile works.  The activity for February was paper collage placed onto pages in a pictorial diary.

Sheila's practice for March is to work in a mixed media journal. Anything goes in this journal.

Annette's  shawl is finished and blocked ready to be given to the expectant Mum and Dad. Washed and blocked it measures 105 x 105 cms. The outer edge is finished with a crochet-off edge. 2 knitting stitches from the left needle were placed on the crochet hook and the supply yarn pulled through. 5 chain stitches were worked and 2 more stitches were taken from the knitting needle and caught with a single crochet stitch. Not as quick as it sounds but a very pretty edge.

Jenny had started herself another cardigan while away on holiday. Using a basic cardigan pattern from  the Paton's 'Classic Knits for Women - Book 1245', and a lace pattern from 'The Harmony Guide To knitting Stitches' , Jenny has created a border pattern to decorate her new cardigan. It is being worked in 8ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills .

Gerri had finished this quilted banner with hidden running stitch around the flowers.

This cushion cover is also by Gerri.

Above are just two of the Twelve Apostles's that Gerri is sketching, tracing, and embroidering to her own design. She is using single strand DMC thread over laid chain stitch for the raised areas, and completed with long and short stitch.

The above are some placemats that Gerri has put together using prairie points for the first time. The hexagonal ones are an experiment using a triangle template.

 A basket that  Lesley has 

crocheted, made from window sash cord and some leftover charcoal grey knitting wool. It is very soft and quite organic in shape.  It will be used to store magazines, cards, and other resource material that Lesley will use "one day" for collage work.

Annette conducted our monthly activity giving us a stitch to learn.  Known as zigzag chain or Spanish knotted feather, the stitch required a bit of practice to develop a rhythm.  Some stitchers required lots of help while other stitchers were able to quickly work a satisfying rhythm.  We were then given the opportunity to attempt cable plait or braid stitch which is used in Mountmellick work.  Annette gave us a challenging stitch and bravely used her teaching skills to keep some of us stitching.

As you can all see, our little group is growing, and we all continue to play with  needle, thread, fiber, and anything else that takes our fancy. As our monthly activities are continuing to spur us along, so please come back next month to see what we get up to, Until then, happy stitching.