February 2020

Our group had our first official meeting for 2020 last Saturday. There were ten of us attendance, and Susan joined us via Zoom.

Show and tell is a huge part of our group, so join us below to see what everyone has been working on.

Sheila has finally hoop-framed her woven picot work from a group activity last year.  The addition of the stitches wrapped around the edge of the frame was inspired by https://www.instagram.com/feathercobbler/.

With the group's May exhibition fast approaching, Sheila has completed another butterfly.  This one has lots of sparkle with added beads and sequins.

Lesley had been working on collages for the Surface Stitching Module of the C Sand D Course. She picked a photograph, abstracted a small part of it, drew it and then created a fabric and stitch collage. Collage 1. above was inspired by an aerial photo of a dry river system between mountains.

 Collage 2 was inspired by a photo taken at Machu Picchu.

The bricolage was also a classwork exercise for the same course. For this, Lesley had to make a stitched composition out of various bit and pieces that appealed to her. Lesley's  included a torn piece of a watercolour painting, a fleecy covered wire, dress linen, upholstery fabric and leaves and seeds from a gum tree.

Our creative exercise for the day was led by Robyn, where she taught us to do a Pulled Back Stitch eyelet filler. Below are some of our efforts.

Robyn 

Suganthi

Jenny

Lesley

Jo

 Annette

Sheila

Jenny had completed a baby quilt for a new member in the family due in April. It was a panel purchased from Lincraft, which Jenny sandwiched with wool batting and yellow homespun, then quilted by machine.

The Southern Highlands group, which Annette is a part of, started the February surprise class by making cloth Singleton buttons. Both Singleton and Dorset buttons are an old British craft. The industry started in the 1700 and provided a living for many cottage crafters. 

Above is a sample of Dorset buttons. Annette  used the making of Dorset buttons for the February surprise class with the Southern Highlands Group. It was a very successful afternoon.

Jenny had also started a new winter cardigan in Bendigo Woollen Mill "Bloom" . Bloom is an 8 ply pure wool yarn with colour transitions that change within the ply to give a unique look . The colour way is ' Blackberry Bliss' and Jenny is using 'Dot Stitch'  to create a subtle texture.

Sheila continues with a small daily practice.  For February, she is stitching an alphabet on plant dyed paper using her hand dyed threads.  The plan is to make a book with the completed papers. The papers were created in an Embroiderers' Guild summer school with Samantha Tannous from https://dwellstudios.artweb.com/

A great day was had by all, and we were all buzzing over the ' Duality' Exhibition by Crossing Threads' in Gallery 76 downstairs. For details go to https://www.embroiderersguildnsw.org.au/Gallery76.

We are getting closer to our exhibition which will be held in May at 76 Queen Street, Concord West. It would be great id you could all come to see it, but in the meantime, check out our blog next month for more of our creativity, and like our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Stitchers-Plus-638409429660889/

November 2019

Last Saturday brought our final official meeting for the year. Twelve of us got together for show and tell, and to enjoy a final lunch together for the year. Susan made the effort to travel from her home in Country NSW to join us in person, and we welcomed another new member to our group, boosting our numbers still further

Our exhibition for May 2020 is gaining ground and pieces. Snippets of some of the pieces being displayed next year are shown below. 

Jenny is using butterfly wings as inspiration for one of her pieces. Circles on the design called for eyelets, the decision just had to be made as to what colour and thread to work them in. The photo above is a sample worked to test out various colours and threads. The first photo is just a snippet of the final piece.

Sheila has completed another 2 butterflies for our group exhibition in May 2020 at Gallery76 Queen Street. Both were made using previously coloured fabric samples. The blue butterfly above is a hand dyed cord stitched over the lines of a stencil. The green is raised chain stitch, again using a hand dyed thread. Both are finished with machine satin stitch around the edges. 

Robyn has been working on her Needle Lace butterfly this month, thinking about what fillings stitches to use.

Jenny has been trying her hand a bobbin lace butterfly. Taking a photograph off the internet, Jenny drew up the design, worked out how many bobbins to wind, and played with Finca 40 thread. This butterfly will join the crocheted ones from last month in a final piece with other added bits and pieces.

Susan has been working on her  "Memory Quilt". The top photo shows how it fits over her king single bed, and the other is a detail. The quilt is close to being finished, and Susan is keen to have it finished. It is a paper-pieced, 3/4 inch hexagon quilt top, all done by hand, using her own fabrics. Some of the fabrics are nearly 40 years old, and some are from her Mum's dressmaking fabrics. Started over 3 years ago, with no other aim than using up scraps, it's grown like topsy to become a bed quilt. Susan added to the memories held in the patchwork by asking friends in Sydney and elsewhere to contribute fabrics, so they are sewn in too. The task comes now to work out how it will be  put  together as a 2-layer quilt, with no padding.

Above are three pieces of Suganthi's. They are  non-assessable pieces for Mary Brown's component of the Contemporary Stitch and Design Course that she has been doing. They demonstrate  heightened, high and low key pieces.

Annette Y  has completed her Drawn Fabric bookmark and sampler  submitted for the final component of the Guild's Introduction to Embroidery coarse. She will now focus on butterflies.

Sheila attended a course with Helen Parsons on the south coast of NSW , where she  spent 2 days learning collage techniques. The final piece contained donated fabrics and found elements stitched onto a heavy paper. 

The next 3 days, Sheila learned about creating sculptural works. Helen provided many unusual textiles and fibres and gave everyone permission to play.  Sheila enjoyed making a wire face and working with pantyhose and stuffing it then adding stiff fibres to the blobs. Most  successful was the stitching through foam core with a thick paper thread. Thank you to Helen for leading the course and  thank you to the fellow stitchers who were great company. 

Our little group has grown to seventeen this year, including our country members who visit in person on occasion. Our tastes, techniques, and methods of working are many and varied, though we all have a united love of stitching and playing with textiles. I wonder what 2020 will bring? Please join us next year and follow along in our adventures.

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.