November 2018

We welcomed Joyce and Lesley to our November meeting and look forward to getting to know them and their work in the future.  Our last meeting of the year was a big day with our normal activities and the added bonus of Christmas lunch.

The first activity of the day was our mini class conducted by Susan.   The exercise was based on one for border pattern - making from N.I. Cannon's "Pattern and Design" .  Inspired with nine given elements , chosen combinations were combined with continuous lines to create interesting border designs.

For the design exercise, Sheila took two of the elements and developed variations for each iteration.

Robyn's interpretation of the exercise.

The two pages below are Lesley's interpretation of the exercise.

Susan's interpretation of her own exercise below.

Show and tell occupied the remainder of the morning, and without a meeting in October, there was a lot of catching up.  ​We also talked about our personal challenges that we gave ourselves at the beginning of the year.  Because we are all different,  progress was different for all of us.  

Personal Challenges

Sheila's personal challenge for the year was to have a daily artistic practice.  The focus of the practice was changed each month so Sheila could try a number of different things that were on her 'to do' list.  There was the added bonus of using some of her supplies.  This daily practice was deemed a success and will continue to be a part of Sheila's artistic development.

The daily practice for November is collage using a 1995 Anne Geddes diary as the base for the collage.  The photo on the opposite page may, or may not, influence the collage.  The diary tells us that Sheila was doing the basic course with the Embroiderers' Guild in 1995.  Proof that her artistic journey has grown since then.

Jenny's personal challenge was to complete a specified list of ten UFO's. Only five UFO's were completed, three off the specified list, and two others that were found along the way looking for other things. Life sometimes gets in the way of our personal goals, and a new baby in the family will usually throw everything out the window. Hence, a new baby shawl was started (and nearly completed ) instead of the remaining UFO's. 

There was also an OS trip to throw a spanner in the UFO mix. Jenny always has to take something to do when she goes away, and not knowing the lighting situation, it has to be something easy to see. On this trip, Jenny took some Lincraft Sorbet cotton/acrylic blend 4 ply yarn, a crochet hook, and an old trolley mat pattern of her Mother's dated 1947, and produced some motifs that will have an end life decorating a bag. They turned out much larger than expected.

Susan's personal Challenge  was to create some works exploring chain stitch, particularly for the Bathurst group display at  the Heritage Trades weekend in May.  Developing ideas for a series of quote embroideries was added  to the agenda mid year. Susan  did finish a few pieces, all of which appear in earlier blogs, and is happy because she created quite a few more works than she has in a long time .

Gerri's personal challenge was to work on HQ tasks and UFO's.  Life does sometimes get in the way, and although Gerri may not have been stitching much , she has completed lots. The list reads :- 
24 Christmas ornaments

30 tiny teddies

30 Christmas pillow cases

8 towels

8 face washers

8 hand towels

3 quilts

16 shopping bags made from coffee bean hessian sacks lined with fabric to form a three way inside out bag

16 table runners

2 dolls

1 rabbit with dress and crocheted blanket

Two knitted beanies and scarves 

Some of Gerri's work is shown below.

Lesley may have just joined us, but she has been busy stitching. 

The stitch samples and the stitched portrait are part of the Sue Stone course.

We all contribute to our shared Christmas lunch which was delicious as usual.  It is always a lovely way to end our year.

The afternoon continued with more stitching and more socialising and too soon the day was over.  We are all anticipating another year of creativity and personal development with an emphasis on stitch.

Those of us lucky enough to stay at the Embroiderers' Guild were able to attend the artist talk by Michelle Belgiorno whose installation of sennenbari is currently on display in Gallery76.  Michelle told us about her inspiring and emotional journey to distribute and then collect the stitched sennenbari.  The installation was created to commemorate the Japanese mini submarine bombing of Sydney Harbour in 1942 . https://www.embroiderersguildnsw.org.au

2019 promises to be another exciting year, with maybe a few changes thrown in the mix. Please come back next year to see what exciting things we get up to.