August 2017

Our group met in Wollongong This month.  Gerri very kindly organised a meeting room at the Xavier Centre which was a well situated venue for us.  And we started with a yummy morning tea thanks again to Gerri.  After catching up on social  events, we shared the work we have been doing in the past month.

This quilt has been made by Gerri for her Grandson. It includes school photos throughout the years, family, beach, thongs, cherries for Young where he spent his younger years, and his love of combi vans.

 This is the back of the quilt .

 Gerri had also completed this comfort crochet blanket from the "cake" seires of wools from Lincraft.

 Jenny had completed her scarf ready for next winter. Knitted in a drop stitch pattern, two different yarns have been used, one plain, and one variegated to give an interesting result.

Sheila had a day space dying threads, fabrics, tapes and laces.  The techniques used have been used by our group in the past.  Sheila's favourite stitch, raised chain, looks fabulous when the space dyed threads are used.  The fabrics, tapes and laces will find their way into quilts and and embroidered projects.

This bag is one that Sheila has made using hand dyed upholstery fabric, and some of the tape and threads from the above dying day. The tape has been decorated with raised chain band, using a variegated knitting cotton which was also over dyed in the space dying process.

Created for the annual Quilt NSW challenge, Sheila's quilt addresses the issue of ageing and memory.  The full quilt will be revealed after the challenge is judged in October.  The threads used were hand dyed and shown in our July post.  Raised chain stitch gave the quality of stitch required for the quilt.

QuiltNSW can be found at:  https://quiltnsw.com/

After Gerri and her husband, Graham, provided lunch, we were delighted to attend the Lateral's exhibition at the Old Court House in Wollongong.  The Laterals is a well established creative group within the Embroiderers' Guild of NSW.  'Off the Rails' showcased the group's work from the last year or so.  Details of the monthly challenges along with the works completed by the members answering  the challenge were displayed together.  This gave the viewer the opportunity to see the varied ways in which the challenge was realised by the members.  For the viewer, it was interesting to see embroidery taken to three dimensions in a number of the challenges.  We had the opportunity to meet with friends in the Laterals and discuss the works, the group and it's dynamics.  It was a fitting end to our day in Wollongong.

It has been fun finding new venues to have our group meeting. Next month we hope to be in our new space at our re-vamped and updated  Guild building.