June 2011

There were only five members present this month, and as the leader of our proposed exercise for the day was MIA, Wendy & Donna led an impromptu stitching exercise using a piece by Karma Victoria Baines as inspiration. A great day of stitching was had by all who were present.

Below are the pieces the girls came up with.

Sheila

Robyn

Donna

Cathy

Wendy

A collaboration of all the pieces for the day

Show & tell brought the following

Donna's Canvas doll with shells

Donna's applique from the Cook Islands

Cathy's piece from a workshop at Orange with Janet De Boer.

May 2011

A very quiet meeting this month with only four of us attending. We had prior notice of other commitments of some of our members so our planned exercise for the day was postponed.

Instead we had fun chatting over a cuppa, sharing magazines & discussing show & tell.


Sheila had created this face as part of a quilt for someone special. It features machine applique & free machine quilting.

Also using applique & quilting by machine is this cat quilt by Sheila, made for a baby.


The above book & single book page, also by Sheila, were made in a TAFTA Forum class with Liz Powell. They feature lino prints on various papers & backgrounds.


During the course of the day, Robyn continued to work on her needle-lace pomegranate seed pod. Worked in silk threads, the design is her own, and shows the cordonnet, lace stitched leaves, & free buttonholed stones.



Jenny was in the process of knitting this ruffled scarf with picot trim.


Over the course of the day she also played with some variegated knitting yarn. By home coming time had perfected & produced this triangular motif, inspired by one from an old Crochet Monthly magazine ( No 45) of her Mum's.

Come back next moth to see what we get up to in June.

April 2011

There were only five of us at our meeting this month so show & tell was a little slim.

Robyn had finished her biscornu which was inspired by one in a "Stitch" magazine. Using her own colour combinations with canvas stitches, adding bells, mirrors & buttons to make this pin cushion a one of a kind. Long armed cross stitch was used to join the 15 squares together .


Below is just one of Donna's sample pieces that she had been working on over the last month to add to her sample book. Featuring woven wheels & spider webs worked on linen in a variety of threads.
Another part of the day was Wendy leading us though a stitch study, where we looked at a finished piece & how the embroiderer had used her stitches. This led to an afternoon of stitch play on a doodle cloth. Jenny managed to turn her stitch play into a bookmark.

Earlier in the morning Susan led us though some fun exercises in shape. Between us we came up with some interesting designs.










All in all anther great day. What better way is there to spend a cool, miserable wet day than stitching & designing with like minded people.

March 2011

What a great meeting we had this month with 7 of us in attendance . To begin, Jenny lead the group in some simple fun exercises involving lines, which resulted in some great discussion about the use of lines in design & how they could be interpreted into textiles & embroidery.

Later in the morning Wendy got our brains thinking with a list of questions about how we view a piece of textile work. As a group we discussed why some pieces of embroidery work and others don't, and what we could do to make them better.

Show & tell came after lunch & included the following:-

Jenny had been playing with some creative drawn thread work on her own hand dyed linen.

There was also some play with Wessex Stitching

Robyn had been to Oberon attending a Thracian Embroidery workshop with Alison Snepp. This gorgeous stitching will eventually be a work roll cover.
Susan was finishing this cuddly hand crocheted shawl. It consists of two different 100% wool yarns, one a hand dyed thick yarn for the treble crochet main section, & the other an 8 ply merino yarn for the edging. Just in time for the cooler months ahead.
Susan had also made this bag by crocheting in hand dyed yarn & then felting it, giving it great texture.
Although Donna was away for the weekend, there was still this piece of canvas work.

Anne had been making silk paper using teased out silk tops between layers of tulle. Coated with textile medium, the tulle is peeled off when dry.
Next meeting we are planning a discussion on shape.

February 2011

Welcome to a new year with our Stitchers Plus blog.

There were eight of us in attendance for our first official meeting for the year. Lots of general chit chat, planning for the comming year, and lots of show & tell, .

First up we have Sheila's brooch. Made in a summer school class with Karma Bains


Next is the quilt that Sheila made from scraps of silk fabric.




Wendy had also been to summer school, attending the "Image To Stitch" course by Effie Mitrofanis. This is Wendy's sample of couching stitches using silk threads.



Robyn had been working on finishing three more squares for her biscornu pin cushion

Susan had been practising her crocheting with this colourful beanie. The article in "Interweave Crochet Accessories" - "Circle In A Perfect Hat - How to Create Your Own Beanie Pattern", was used to make her own and very first beanie. Made in a hand dyed wool, using double crochet and a reverse crochet edging.

Donna's "Blue Boquet" can be seen on her personal blog , made with buttons & embroidery on felt. There are plans to mount it, & see what, if any, more work is required.

Jenny's play with filet, teneriffe lace & bullion picots are also on her own personal blog.

Let's see what fun March will bring.