July 2018

Our group's monthly meeting for July was a little different. Six of us met at Guild Headquarters at 76 Queen Street , upstairs in the library, while two of us attended via technology. Susan had suggested a few times that we try this, and this month we did it! Susan had prearranged a meeting time with the Zoom platform of video conferencing, and as we all ironed out teething problems, we had six members in the library in Concord West, one in  Southern NSW, and one in the Central West of NSW! Welcome to a new age of creative meetings!

We only had 40 minutes of time and it went very quickly! There were teething problems to work out, like electronic feed back from all the devices so close to each other. In the end, we worked out to only have one lap top for the six of us at Guild Headquarters. Then we had to find where the camera was, and the microphone, so we could talk to the other two, show them close up what we had been doing, and have tours of both Donna's and Susan's new spaces. It was a very quick show and tell via technology.

Before the video meeting, Gerri led us through a little exercise of adding texture to some traced fabric animals.

After the video meeting, we held our normal show and tell.

Susan had finished her "Be Yourself" embroidery. Worked all in chain stitch in stranded cottons from her stash, Susan originally wanted a Raquel Ormella style embroidery, but it became much bigger and more 'Susan'.

Sheila had been making coin purses with furnishing fabric scraps. They have been decorated with buttonholed washers and stitching as learned in Jenny O'Sullivan's Summer School. The purse design is from a purse purchased at the Castlemaine Embroiderer's Guild Retrspective 2017.

 Sheila's quilt "Looking Up", was made for the 2018 Quilt NSW annual exhibition. The theme for the year was 'Southern Stars' . Made with polyester chiffon on polyester felt, holes were burned then stitched. The top was then backed with lurex and hand tied to form the quilt. The quilt represents the night sky in both summer and winter.

This is Annette's withdrawn thread book mark. It is hemmed down both side edges and fringed at each end. The book mark features interlacing, Italian hemstitch and ladder stitch.

Gerri followed a Simplicity pattern for dolls to put together a ballerina doll for her grand niece. As each piece was embellished, a living doll appeared. It is the result of both machine and hand stitching. Her name is Charlotte.

Jenny had turned her Pueblo Stitch fun from last month into a book mark . The stitch had called for two different threads, and Jenny had used a plain Perle 12 with a variegated crochet thread. The plain thread was used to work the hem and the head of the tassel, while the variegated was used in the tassel skirt.

Gerri has turned her Pueblo stitch exercise from last month into a place mat. A wandering style of small to large stitches using two threads at the same time was used to create the piece, which was later joined with other fabrics to form the place mat.

Jenny had completed another bobbin lace handkerchief edge. It was a repeat of an earlier pattern, this time in blue variegated Guttermann Sulky No 30 cotton. The pricking had been fixed to produce a square hankie, and a double thread of plain blue Guttermann Cotton was used along the edge to create a gimp. 

This bobbin lace book mark was also made by Jenny. Using a different colour of Guttermann Sulky No 30 Cotton, the book mark is a repeat of another one worked earlier this year. The pattern contains double eyed spiders which have proved to be a challenge for her to work. In the last attempt all the spiders were different, while in this attempt they have all managed to be the same. Jenny has made notes for herself on how to work them, but has yet to perfect these notes. Another bookmark is planned purely to make sure her notes are a good reference for later use.

This is Susan's first ever baby blanket, made for her grand niece. Worked in 8 ply wool, the blanket is Susan's own design using a wave pattern variation from a stitch dictionary. A border was added using rows of double crochet in each of the two colours, and finished with a row of reverse double crochet.

 Annette had made this striped cardigan for her 2 year old grandchild. Morris and Son's 8 ply yarn has been used with an old Paytons pattern. The cardigan still required buttons.

Our meeting this month was certainly a different one. Using technology and video conferencing may just become the norm for us as our members travel and wander. Follow us as we iron out all the hurdles in learning how to use it, and share with us all in our creativity.  

June - A Fifth Saturday Fun Day

Our second Fifth Saturday Fun Day was an outing to the Powerhouse Museum to see the exhibition 'Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear.'

Unfortunately, only two members were able to attend as it was a fabulous exhibition.  We encourage anyone with an interest in fashion, textiles or embroidery to attend.  The garments represented clothing from the 1700's to the present day.

We went through the exhibition oohing and aahing at various outfits and discussing construction techniques of the various garments.  Details that Robyn picked up and pointed out were matched with Sheila doing the same.

Most of the exhibition was taken in until towards the end where a welcome seat provided the chance to view short videos of the Reigning Men Ambassadors. Check some of them out here 

The gentlemen discussed their styles and also picked out some of their favorite outfits or suits.  With the viewing completed, Robyn and Sheila set back to the beginning to find their favorites.  And it was not an easy task.

One of Sheila's picks was a beautifully embroidered French coat and waistcoat.  The embroidery was extremely fine and exquisite, more refined than any embroidered coat seen before. 

Robyn took a liking to an Indian embroidered suit, perfect for the English colonials in the hot climate.  The jacket was embroidered, perhaps using a tambour, in a dark thread on a cream fabric.  A very stylish Indian design.

A Zoot suit from the 1930's caught the eye with a real sense of fun and wanting to dance and spin.  Also from the 1930's, a very elegant dinner jacket that was half white and half black.  Classy.

A Vivien Westwood suit consisted of a long coat and matching pants.  A series of stripes ran lengthwise down the front sides of the cream coat with a matching set of stripes crossing at shoulder to create a plaid.  Under the coat, a plaid shirt peaked out in pale colours.  A man dressed in this outfit would make many hearts swoon.

Perhaps the most stunningly simple article was a black woolen jacket with black silk detailing.  Lines of silk edged the jacket components as well as being used to emphasize angular design and shaping.  Absolutely stunning in it's simplicity.  The smallish jacket was made for the 'younger' man.

Fashion is alive and well for men.  Elongated necks, broad shoulders and narrow hips depict the perfect man.  Do make an effort to see this exhibition as you will not be disappointed.  

And we do have to giggle because there appears to be a direct reference to the Bridget Jones Diary movie where it is 'raining' men in a fight scene taking place in the rain.

June 2018

 A little group of four met last Saturday for our monthly meeting, with some of our members un-well, and others attending Stitching At The Tops. We were lucky to meet in the front room up stairs to enjoy the warmth and sunshine, as well as dedicate a whole table for show and tell.

 

Jenny had finished the needle lace edge on her UFO letters and had added them to a book cover. UFO number three completed.

At the same time that Jenny had found her unfinished letters, she also found a part worked circle of Tenneriffe Lace, still on it's little home made pillow complete with pins.

The circle of lace has now been finished and mounted into the corner of a purchased handkerchief.

 A little needle lace edge was also added around the edge to finish it off. UFO number four finished.

Meet Sheila with her completed 'Monet and Me'. It was Sheila's challenge in April to do a stitched collage every day. She enjoyed the practice so much that she extended it into a project to completely fill the Monet Diary. The diary no longer closes and is more or less tied closed.

A fabulous view from the side of Sheila's 'Monet & Me'.

Just one of the many pages inside Sheila's 'Monet & Me'.

Gerri was preparing for Christmas making multiple cross stitched tree decorations in mini hoops.

Multiple appliqued pillow cases were also on Gerri's Christmas preparation agenda. This is only the beginning with many more to go. These ones have been appliqued with buttonhole stitch using  items from her stash. 

Robyn had been having fun stitching a design from the circle exercise back in  May . She is using Bokhara couching in different patterns to  give different textures.

Our little creative exercise for the day was to play with Pueblo Stitch. Sheila had found instructions in a Stitch magazine, and we all went off in our own creative direction, using different threads and fabric bases. I wonder what will eventuate form this stitching play?

Sheila also entertained us with recalling 'Susan and Sheila's Excellent Adventure', a trip the two made together in late May and early June. The purpose of the trip was to see the Marimekko exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. 

On their travels, they also took in Donna Caffrey's exhibition at the Creators Artspace Gallery in Woodonga. Donna is a member of our group  who now lives in Southern NSW. We congratulate her on an excellent exhibition.

'Grandmother's Garden' was an installation of an eclectic mix of re-purposed linens reminiscent of old time afternoon teas.  The grandmothers, wearing the appropriate head gear for an afternoon of gentle conversation, kept an eye on the visitors.  A delightful exhibition staged in a gallery within an arts precinct.  We congratulate Donna on the success of her installation.

Continuing on their journey, the girls also took in the Raquel Ormello exhibition at the Shepperton Art Museum and the Michelle Hammer exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. Both are textile artists and the exhibitions are well worth a visit.

Some fun was definitely had over the last month by our members. I wonder what fun we will have over the next few weeks? Please come back and check out what we get up to. Until then, happy creating.

May 2018

 Our May meeting was once again in the library, this time with a visit from Jacky from  Victoria, and Margaret finally being able to join us after lunch . This gave us eight in attendance.

Show and tell always gives us varied and interesting items to look at, ponder over, and generally be inspired.

This little triangular coin purse was made by Sheila. It has been decorated after attending a class with Jenny O'Sullivan.

These coffee cups are by Sheila, ready for the display at upcoming quilt and craft show in June.

Jenny was adding a needle lace edge to some UFO letters that she had found while looking for something else.  The actual letters were unfinished when she found them, and they have since been finished, had extra stitching added, and hemmed. They will eventually adorn a book cover. The letters were started quite some years ago for another project.

Above are two pages from Sheila's journal, which was her daily practice for March. Her task was to journal every day, and her first priority was to complete the journal that she had made with paper shopping bags. Sheila had been working through the 'Art To The 5th Document Life Project' , and three years later the journal is finally completed. The two pages above have been completed with different journaling techniques.

Sheila's daily challenge for April was to do a stitch collage every day. The idea came from Cas Holmes 'Stitch Stories'. Sheila has enjoyed the practice so much that she has decided to continue until she has filled a 1984 Monet diary . Sometimes there is a connection between the Monet painting and her stitching or design. The leaf above is just one of her pages.

This Christmas tree has been made by Gerri using small wooden embroidery hoops. Using a variety of printed fabric, Gerri has added embellishments to the front, felt to the back, then glued the hoops together.

Annette had completed Gerri's mandala. Her starting point was that her life was going around in ever increasing circles, and that nothing was ever just black and white. The sparkly beads indicate the high points of her life.

Gerri had finished her needle roll from Annette's blind stitching exercise , gaining enjoyment and satisfaction by adding further embellishments.

This dove has been embroidered by Gerri using a cut out Christmas card as inspiration and made intp a small pouch.

This is the beginnings of Annette's Southern Highlands and CWA craft group project that many of the members are working on.Some of the ladies are working exactly to the published pattern, but Annette is modifying hers to make it more personal. She is using 'stuff' from her stash and will not be buying any extra bits.

Gerri had turned her two extended  squares from last month  into business card holders.

A crocheted mixed thread wall hanging made by Gerri using a large sized crochet hook. The work has been turned sideways with a fringe added to give extra length.

Susan has completed a top for the Installation 4 section of the EG exhibition at the upcoming Craft and Quilt Show. A top with moth holes became an exercise to do lots of chain stitch family stitching - more visible mending than a new wearable art garment

Susan's table runner has also been finished, with lots of fun playing with a family of stitches.

This is Gerri's Christmas quick fix Teddy. Used for stocking fillers and made from felt and blanket stitch.

A Very Nice Mice made by Sheila from Ann Wood's pattern and instructions found at Anne wood Handmade

Sheila had made a book of cards for her sister as an encouragement while she was going through treatment for a serious illness. Above are two of the cards that were sent.  

Early in the day Jenny had given us all a creative design exercise using only circles and their properties. Below are some of our efforts.

We will all meet again in June for another creative exercise, some more show and tell, and lots of fun and laughs . Please come back for another visit to see what we get up to.