September 2012

Our meeting this month saw 9 members and two guests, a total of 11 people in all. Our two guests were sisters of two of our memebers, one all the way from Canada, and  the other from Tamworth in the New England region of NSW.

 
Show and tell as always filled the day. Susan's canvas work is a work in progress called "Spring Walk". An abstract interpretation of the glorious spring - flowering gardens that she walks past at the moment.

  The above is the beginnings of a journal cover by Donna using raised chain band. A lot of fun, and with some luck Donna will remember how to work raised chain band forever.

Jenny brought in her reticella table mat for some of our members who had not seen it finished. The piece had recently been on exhibition, and the full story of the piece, as well as other pieces of Jenny's in the exhibition, can be read about on her own personal blog.

Both Robyn and Jenny had been to a private, invitation only, workshop with Chrishine P. Bishop in Byzantine Lefkara Lace. The workshop was over two days. The above piece is Robyn's WIP while Jenny's can be viewed on her own personal blog.

Wendy had been making bookmarks in various techniques using silk thread on linen fabric. Being free in design, the bookmarks will be displayed at Concord and Five Dock libraries during October and November, along with other embroidery works and textile books.

Gerri's samples above are a work in progress from a class in Ukranian Insertion stitches. For Gerri it was a breath of fresh air to learn new things.

Sheila had recently been on a trip to Uluru and Kata Tjuta in Cental Australia. The above drawing is one in her travel diary where she used sand from the location to colour the page.

This is a fabric rubbing done by Sheila using oil pastel on cotton fabric. The design was on a bench in Alice Springs.
I wonder what our next meeting will bring. Be sure to pay us another visit to find out.

August 2012

There were nine of us at our August meeting, all with show & tell a-plenty. This was the last meeting day before our pieces for the "Changing of the Seasons" challenge was due in. The challenge is open to all members of the Guild and will displayed at the City of Canada Bay Library, Concord Branch in October 2012.

Jenny had finished her "Changing of the Seasons" Challenge piece, titled "Seasons of Sneezes". Above is only a small snippet of the full piece which features Reticella & creative modern black-work. The full piece can be viewed at the Exhibition in October.

Susan had also finished her entry '"Memory of Trees- Autumn". A 3 part stitched canvas hanging, expressing her delight in the ephemeral beauty of autumn.

Annette was also getting ready for an exhibition, "Embroidery - Beyond Fancywork", to be held at the Mittagong RSL, Friday 24th & Sat 25th Aug 10am - 4pm. Her piece, the fillet lace lace above, was started in a class with Margaret Morgan through the Australian lace Guild.The piece is worked on 14 count purchased net in perle 12 thread.

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The book page above is also by Annette. "Ghosts of Past Embroidery" has evolved from a class with Kath Wilkinson during Summer School which  included converting unfinished embroidery into book pages. The above book page features withdrawn & pulled thread work, as well as a small piece of Brazillian embroidery. The background to all the pages is a French fabric from mid 1800's old undergarments, threadbare & patched.

Robyn had finished her Thracian embroidery roll. Started in a workshop with Allison Snepp, the piece will be on display at the "Coral Calypso" exhibition. This exhibition is showcasing works of the Panania Group & will be held at the Padstow Babtist Community Church, Friday 24th & Saturday 25th August, 2012.

Robyn had also finished the beading on her leather, ready to be made into a phone case.

Donna had been inspired to make this journal cover after attending a weekend workshop with Judith Langdon. It features her practiced blanket stitch variations.

Gerri had been having fun with twirls & swirls, knitting with bright coloured yarns with friends in mind. these scarves were introduced to her by her sister & will be presents ready for Christmas.

Cathy had to been to Context Art Forum with Kim Tittichai & produced this waterfall. It features painted lutradur, stitched, burnt & manipulated to form the waterfall.

While she was at the Forum, it was raining, inspiring this piece of painted vlysafix with the addition of hydrangea flowers, foils & metallic leaf.

So much to see & do. Come back next month for some more inspiration

July 2012

 

Our meeting this month brought eight members and four visitors. Roz came to see what we were about and is thinking about joining us, while Wendy was playing hostess to some English viitors, including Kath Danswan, and her partener, who came in to meet us all. Kath is an English textile artist, and brought some of her hand made bowls to share with us (seen above). Silk caps, layered between water soluble fabric and machine embroidered. More of her work can be found on her personal blog.

The brooches above were also made by Kath. We were privliged to have Kath speak to us and show us her work

Show  and tell, as always, was worth seeing.

Sheila had been busy making more book covers. the top one featuring her own hand dyed fabric and  threads with chain stitch. The blue one above features layered and frayed fabrics with couched gold thread.

Gerri had finished "Farmer Sheaf", an exercise and play on sheaf stitch, to find how many ways, and variations  the stitch could be used.

Dianne had been playing with colour V's grey, a visual demonstration of how the two could be used.

Donna had created this "face" pin using a mold by Pearl Moon. Beaded to ensure the face holds to it's background of hand felted wool background.

The above shawl was made by Roz. Inspired by the Citron Shawl, (a free pattern from Ravalry) Roz hand spun & hand dyed her own merino and silk blended yarn.

This rose basket 3D fower block is also by Roz. Originally planned to go in a Baltimore quilt, it is now destined for further embellishment and to be made into a cushion.

The two pannels above are also by Roz and are part of a series to go into a quilt. Using Moda towelling fabric, the original designs are stitched using Finca Presencia No 16 in a number of shades of red.

Jenny had been fixing and adding to a counted thread band sampler. The full story can be found here on her own blog.

Another great day. Perhaps you would all like to come back next month to see what we get up to.

June 2012

Another great day was had last Saturday with seven members attending our  group day. We had  show & tell in the morning, followed by some discussion as to our up-comming group project after lunch.

Beginning show & tell was Gerri, with the most stunning "Jacobean Tree Of life" . After two years, 101 stitches, & several classes with Margaret Light, the stitching  is finally finished, all that remains now is for it to be framed. Gerri commented that every time she returned to work on it, it was like visiting an old friend. A family heirloom that will adorn walls for generations to come. The two pics above show only two small sections of the piece.

Robyn had finished the stitching on her Ukranian piece. Another stunning piece that will eventually be made into a needle book.

Sheila had made this book cover using raised chain stitch on a background that had been stamped  using a cut eraser.

There was also this piece of surface stitching by Sheila using soft muted & blended colours.

This "Scrap Happy" quilt by Sheila was made from small scraps left over from quilts. The design came from a quilt in NZ Quilter 

Congratulations also go out to Sheila for receiveing a Judges Commendation for her Dizzy Eye Dance quilt at the recent Sydny Quilt Show.

Jenny had been digitizing shoes & stitching them out ready to make shoe bags for a sales table. More of her shoe designs can been seen on Jenny's personal blog.

There was also this scarf that Jenny had finished using a fine 2 ply cashmere yarn from  Belisa Cashmere in Bundanoon.

On the day, Robyn was stitching Palestrina knot stitch onto pig skin leather, combining it with some beads.

All in all a great day was had by those who attended.

May 2012

What a great day we had on Saturday. There were six of us present on the day, & Robyn gave us all a "Stitch Play" exercise. We were all given a different stitch to go home & play with in our own way. It will be interesting to see what we all come back with. 

As usual, there was  show & tell aplenty. 

Annette was working on her Giraffe,  "Terrific Textures" book cover. It featured scrunched & bonded tissue paper on scrunched calico, decorated with stitch, cut up crochet work & paint. At this stage it was not quite finished.

Gerri had made a name tag using a combination of needle-lace, chain stitch, lazy daisy, french knots & back stitch. It was further embellished with beads. Stitched onto seeded calico & mounted onto card that was  encased with pellon.

Jenny had been playing with a black-work pattern. It was her own design that she had created using a photo as inspiration. This sample was just to find out how the pattern could be played with using position, colour, additions & subtractions.

Sheila was in the process of making a book cover from her own discharged velvet which had been dyed & stitched. The herringbone stitch was being worked in her own hand dyed threads.

This book cover was also made by Sheila at the  Contextart class with Sue Dennis. The fabric was first dyed, then quilted & painted.

These little thimble holders are also by Sheila & were made from minky fabric.

Jenny was   knitting a new scarf using a fine 2 ply cashmere yarn from  Belisa Cashmere in Bundanoon. The pattern is a simple drop stitch one found at Frazzled Knits.

Robyn was starting to cover her wire tree, using silk fabric that she had dyed with silk dyes. The beginnings of this tree were in our April posting. I wonder how much it will have grown by June? Perhaps you will all have to come back then to find out & to see what else we have been up to