July 2017

The NSW Art Gallery was our meeting place this month. Four of us gathered in the park opposite, then moved on to morning tea and show and tell in the coffee shop inside the Gallery once it was opened. 

Sheila had been stitching this face design using her favourite stitch, raised chain band. The design is based on a  Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencil, and will eventually turn into a bag front.

Both Jenny and Robyn were learning a new  pulled work stitch called 'Gros-Rose Stitch'. Based on a drawn background of cut 1, leave 3, the stitch gives a very open and lacy effect. The above sample is Jenny's.

This is Susan's  soon-to-be journal cover, with one of her small embroideries that was stitched about 4 years ago.  Susan has added appliques of scrap fabrics, and covered the raw edges with couching. The outer line is raised stem stitch which may change with further inspiration.

 Susan's  "Memory Quilt" is growing.  Made with 3/4 inch hexagons, mostly cottons, Susan thinks it will continue to grow to  fit the top of this bed and just over the sides.  It has been so fun and relaxing  to do, Susan thinks it may even get bigger still.

Jenny had finished a second small bobbin lace Christmas decoration. The pattern came from an old Anna magazine and and DMC Cordonnet Special thread No 50 was used. There are six designs in the series, and Jenny hopes to work at least one of each.

These finger-less gloves were also made by Jenny. One 50gm ball of 4 Seasons Merino 4 ply just didn't quite make a pair. So the second glove was finished using Lincraft Lullaby 4 ply in a different colour, and stitching was added to both gloves to bring them together .

Sheila has had a number of attempts at graduated dying from black to white. In her first attempt, the dye was quite purple and both fabric and threads were over saturated. In the second attempt, the dye was adjusted by using black dye  with a golden yellow and some green to get a better black.  A white thread and an ecru thread were dyed as well as a stranded cotton, which are going to be used in her project.

This cotton cloth has been dyed by Robyn with coffee grounds over several weeks.  Round tea bags and a selection of threads have also been collected to start her next project.

Robyn continues drawing on index cards influenced by Daisy Yellow ICAD challenge.

Following show & tell, we all visited 'Making Modernism', an exhibition of works by Georgia OKeefe, Margaret Preston, and Grace Crossington Smith which is currently shoing at the NSW Art Gallery. This exhibition is on now until 2nd Ocober.

Our meeting next month will be.......... who knows? Our new Guild building is slowly taking shape, so maybe, just maybe, our next meeting will be in our new space. How exciting! Here's hoping.

June 2015

Our meeting this month brought only four members, with a few away manning stalls at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair.

Show and tell is always on the list though, and even with only four of us there was still lots  to see.

Robyn had been continuing to go "walkabout" on her bag panel, stitching with split stitch. The spiral has been stitched with back stitch.

Annette and Jenny had both been knitting. Annette had been knitting baby things for the new arrival, Poppy Bella Kell, who arrived on June 5th. First up was this beautiful shawl in 3ply pure merino wool, completed in time for Poppy's birth.

Next was this cute matinee jacket also in 3ply pure merino wool.

Then there were the baby socks made from left over sock yarn. Do we think Baby Poppy will be warm this winter? 

Jenny had made herself a pair of fingerless gloves. Never wanting a pair, Jenny had found sewing in her sewing room in winter was giving her cold hands. So a pair of fingerless gloves made in pure wool 4 ply was the answer. Her hands could stay warm while she still sewed and worked in her sewing room.

Jenny's shawl was also growing. It had taken on a mind of it's own and was becoming more 3/4 circle rather than the 1/2 circle that was originally planned.

Sheila was continuing on he "drawing a day" journey. The intention is to work in watercolour in her new diary/daybook.

Our next meeting will be in July. Come back and visit again to see what we get up to over the next few weeks

June 2014

Our meeting this month brought nine of us, and as usual there was show & tell a plenty.

Robyn was continuing on her piece from last month, adding some petals and more spirals  to her corn pad flower.

Sheila had made this fabric post card, inspired by a sketch of  the Miner's Memorial in Broken Hill. The postcard is hand panted, then free machine embroidered.

Wendy was continuing on this piece, using threads from an impulse buy. The piece used stitches that she enjoys working and is time well spent.

Sheila had been making bags, using up some of her fabric. The blue one above has been hand printed, then stitched in running stitch. The red gingham check one features recycled English Pieced hexagons with added stitching.

Gerri's "Love Life" beaded cross stitch piece. The piece features a neighbourhood scene and has given Gerri hours of enjoyment.

Next we have a variety of winter warmers, especially for the chilly weather of this week, and the weeks ahead.

Susan's granny square blanket is being worked in Payton's Gem, a 100% cotton yarn. Nine years ago, Susan was given 21 balls in 5 colours. What to do with it? The granny squares are joined together with a double crochet in white.

Annette had been knitting socks in a 4-ply yarn from Turkey. The socks are very comfortable & very warm.

This cloche hat is also by Annette. Knitted in 12 ply wool on circular needles, then felted in the washing machine. A very quick knit and very warm.

These gloves were made by Jenny, using her own  de-constructed version of the pattern  found in  " A Gathering of Lace" by Meg Swansen. Knitted in Paytons Embrace, a 2 ply yarn of  90% Merino , 10%  Silk, the gloves feature a moss stitch cuff.

There was also more chat about our collaborative piece. All will be revealed in the next few months, so please keep visiting to find out more.

May 2014

Before we start into our May creativeness, whatever happened to April ? Our April meeting happened in the middle of Easter, and considering some of our members were going away, we decided we would have an excursion for those of us left. Five of us gathered at the Art Gallery of N.S.W. to view the  "Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures" exhibition. We met in the coffee shop for morning tea, and as we were leaving to view the exhibition, spotted another group at a nearby table. This group were a part of "Meet Up Sydney - Knitting In Public", and were having a wonderful chat, complete with lots of show and tell. So our visit to the Art Gallery was full of inspiration, not only from the exhibition, but also  from other creative textile workers.

Now to our May meeting.

There were only five of us for our meeting, but the show and tell and chat was certainly abundant.

Jenny had finished her Teneriffe doily. Started because she wanted something to take to a lace meeting one day, the doily is worked in DMC Cordonnet Special thread No 80. Each wheel is worked separately, then joined together. A filling has been  added to the center, then a final edge of detached buttonholed scallops worked to finish it off.

Donna's crazy patchwork piece which will end up in a Hussif, planned to be in a book form.

Robyn's corn pad inspired flower embroidery around a continuing crewel work piece. Note the fabulous  pattern darning giving the water ripple effect behind the body beautiful.

Dianne's corn pad inspired spiral design to front an embroidery roll.

Dianne's doily featuring Maderia work. The piece was worked in a class taught by Ellen Wells.

Jenny had been having some fun playing with her new digitizing program. This dragonfly is the first one that she had digitized, and above is the first test stitch-out. Although checking on-screen with a slow re-draw tool, the file still had some faults and will need to be fine tuned. The finished product is still usable and will be used to decorate a mug bag. The full story of this can be found on Jenny's personal blog.

Jenny had also set herself a new challenge, to knit a pair of gloves in 2ply yarn. After knitting a scarf in the same yarn, there was still plenty left over to make a pair of gloves. Knitted in Paytons Embrace, a 2 ply yarn of  90% Merino , 10%  Silk, the pattern came from a book " A Gathering of Lace" by Meg Swansen. The full story of these gloves can also be found on Jenny's personal blog.

Now for some pages of Susan's "Transformation" book, originally for the printmaking unit of he BFA course.The dust jacket was created from cut-out prints left over from another project, a close-up of a print created from a  'glue' collagraph plate, and the same plate over the end papers. This book is now an on-going project, further exploring the theme of transformation with prints, mixed media and even textiles.

I wonder what we will all get up to in June? Come visit us again to find out

October 2011

There was only a small group of us for our  meeting this month due to a Convenor's meeting and an AGM.
Those of us that were present found some stitching or designs to work on, lots of people to chat to & inspiration a plenty.

"Pots", a still life by Donna, had her practising her FME on a piece featuring applique, pastel dye sticks and some hand stitching.

 
Jenny was experimenting with black work patterns & colour. The piece below uses her own hand dyed fabric with variegated threads,

while this second piece uses the same hand dyed fabric with numerous colours.

 

These gloves were made by Jenny, adapting a pattern from Payton's Classic Book 50 worked on 2 needles, to one using double pointed needles & so eliminating seams.

Mmmmm......... I wonder what we'll get up to in November?

August 2011

Our August meeting may have had only 4 members & one guest, but we still had fun. Donna led us through an exercise on texture, bringing paper & fabric for us to play with.

Jenny chose to play with fabric & threads, using running stitch to gather & pleat, as well as fraying edges.

Robyn over-layed paper with fabric, opening up holes in the fabric to reveal the paper underneath.

Donna also mixed paper & fabric with stitch.

Susan tore paper & over-layed it over more paper.

Our guest Ester used torn fabric strips & textured yarns to stitch over paper. Ester was visiting us for the day from Neville, in the Central Tablelands of NSW. Her passions are spinning, painting & art .

Show & tell brought the following:-

Jenny had been knitting. The feather & fan scarf above is in a 2 ply cashmere yarn from Belisa Cashmere in Bundanoon.

This blue ruffled scarf is in an acrylic yarn while the pattern is from http://www.interweaveknits.com/

This green scarf is using a combination of two yarns, one textured & one plain. It is worked in a simple drop stitch pattern.

These gloves are an experiment with knitting gloves on four needles. Jenny's last red pair were done on two needles exactly to the pattern which created seams. This experiment is using an old pattern from Paytons but adapting it to use 4 needles so as to avoid any seams & to get a more personalised fit.

Susan had been crocheting.
This bag is her own design & consists of two panels in a hand dyed wool. An alternating stitch pattern has been used featuring double crochet & treble stitches . The gusset at the sides & the base, and the top band have been worked in a contrasting wool with the top band worked in the round. A welt pocket features on the inside of the bag & the button closure is a hand-made porcelain one from Carcoar.
This is a corner of the shawl that Susan is currently making. It is worked in a trellis stitch using a Sirdar Crofter yarn. The pattern has been adapted from "Vogue Knitting & Crochet Scarves"

Donna had been sketching and her lovely sketches can be seen on her own blog here.

I wonder what September will bring?