Sunday, 29 September 2019

September 2019

Our group had twelve attendees this month, including another new member, a visitor from Canberra, and a young family member of Wendy's. Susan and Donna also joined us via Zoom.

Show and tell this month begins with Marina who is undertaking the Creative Correspondence Course ( CCC) through the Embroiderers Guild NSW. One of the exercises was to explore Chain stitch



The clutch purse above is Marina's finished exercise, worked in various forms of chain stitch.



Marina  saw this stitchery and decided it was just her,  so she bought it and stitched it. She has  made it into a bag to take her projects to classes and groups. The words say:
‘I cannot count my day complete ‘til needle thread and fabric meet.’





Sheila found woven picot stitch from last month addictive. She stitched on a natural dyed raw silk fabric using her hand dyed threads. She will continue filling in around the lighter areas and then decide what to do next. 



Jenny had been working on a piece of Ukrainian Whitework, but in colour. A counted thread lover, Jenny was inspired by her friend Robyn's piece of coloured Ukrainian Whitework from a few years back. The piece is being worked on blue even weave linen in a variety of threads including Anchor Perle 8 variegated and DMC stranded.



Sheila has finished her entry for The Embroiderers' Guild of NSW Margaret Oppen competition. The works will be displayed in October at Gallery76.  She has also completed her Quilt NSW entry for the annual suitcase challenge. Only the back can be revealed  at this stage, and is shown above. She used the design on the back to quilt the work. 


Sheila has also been making butterflies for our exhibition in May of next year.  The first butterfly has stitching on a coloured paper towel.  The paper towel has been mounted onto iron-on interface for stability when stitching.  The second butterfly is machine applique using the positive and negative image.  More butterflies are in the planning stages.

Sheila's daily practice for September was to create a collagraph each day printing with a gelli plate. She incorporated Birgit Koopsen's Instagram challenge  prompts into the activity from day 3 onwards.  Interpreting the prompts in a way to incorporate the collagraph has pushed her creativity into new territories.

Sheila's work can be found at:



Gerri has revamped an old bag which she loves with some butterflies to brighten it up.



Annette H has finally finished one of seven cot panels bought by her  mother before her death. The idea was  so she could  hand quilt them and give them to her grandchildren when they had a baby. Annette and her sisters  have worked on them when the occasion arose and Annette has finished this  last one for her new grandson . 








Although Annette Y was unable to join us in our meeting, she has been working hard on her Introduction to Embroidery course. The above four photos show her final applique pieces that were submitted for assessment.  They demonstrate the techniques broderie perse, mola, needle-turn and the last has over stitched raw edge pieces.


Project 3 from Marin's CCC was her own choice. The task was to design the lid of a box. Romanian, Cretan, fly, and running stitches have been used.


Project 5 from Marina's CCC was 'Waves'. Marina used couching for the task which was to make a design depicting waves. Her  inspiration came from seeing a surfer surfing through a tunnel. After many attempts, this was her favourite 




Project 1 from Marina's CCC was leaves in running stitch. The task was to  walk around a park and pick leaves, draw them then make a design using a leaf or leaves. Marina's is gum leaves, which have been  stitched in green, and the lines in between depict different gum tree barks.



The activity for the meeting was picking a stitch name at random from a box then stitching it. Marina is  continuing to pick stitch names and when finished, will make it into a little purse.


Project 2 from Marina's CCC was the sun. 
The task was  look at pictures of the sun and design a depiction.  Marina's is the sun in the centre  with warm colours on one side warming half the earth and cool colours on the other side cooling the other side of the earth. Fly stitch has been used.



The beginning of the butterfly adventure by Annette H. Butterflies start life as an egg, then become a caterpillar. This piece started life in our simple exercise class on circles that Jenny gave us. Her scribbles translated beautifully into a caterpillar of a non specific type. So far it is felt shapes on cotton fabric that will be embossed with stitch.



From the back of Annette H's cupboard, a  UFO in Mountmellick work which she will try to finish. Worked on cotton fabric in Perle 5 thread, the piece has a buttonhole edge rather than the traditional knitted edge.


Annette H's  chosen stitch for the day was feather stitch. She  tried it using 3 different threads,  then tried Cretan stitch after reading about it in an old 1967 copy of the Record.




Susan has been exploring crochet, to expand her skills. She is  trying medallions from Nicky Epstein's Crochet on the Edge,  having fun with the textures and other techniques. 


 Susan also tried some 'inchies challenge' after Sheila's practice last month.


  One of Susan's drawings from her regular Tuesday Drawing group in Bathurst. 


Jenny is on another learning curve, trying out a new bobbin lace edge design. It is design No7 from Pamela Nottingham's book 'Bedfordshire Lacemaking.

Gerri has been busy making teddies, towels and owls for a stall that supports cancer care patients.

It is wonderful to watch our new members grow in their stitching, and fabulous to see how our monthly exercises can take us in new directions, both up and out. As our numbers grow, our skills grow, and so does our creativity. So come back next month to see our creativity in action, and see which direction it will take us.








Friday, 23 August 2019

August 2019

Our group grew further this month with the addition of Margaret K who will be joining us, bringing our total numbers up to 16 when we are all present. For this month we had 12 in attendance, including Gerri who returned  after a long absence, while Susan and Donna joined us from country NSW via the internet and Zoom.



Our creative exercise for the day was led by Sheila. Our task for the day was to learn and play with woven picots. Above we can see Robyn's efforts in making them stand up to add texture.

Show and tell is always a treat with some amazing work being produced.


Gerri had pieced a landscape by machine using applique.



Leslie had completed her butterfly for the goldwork  module of the Introduction to Embroidery - Year 2 course. 



The duck is another "postcard" for the CS and D Course that Leslie is doing, and features dense straight stitching, using a low key colour palette. 


A hanging pin cushion by Gerri with a pocket for nic nacs.



Another butterfly by Leslie for the Applique module of the Introduction to Embroidery - Year 2 course. 



This month Robyn has started on her butterfly projects for May 2020 exhibition at the Embroiderers Guild NSW.  Above we see two brooches inspired by butterfly wings. Stitched with one strand of silk through tea bag paper. Some colour has been added with water colour paint.



Jenny had found four  half finished bookmarks looking for something else. This one features wave stitch as a filling, and only needed a tassel to be finished.


The second book mark features eyelets and some uneven satin stitch, and also only needed a tassel to be finished.


The third one features eyelets, satin stitch, and cobbler stitch, and also just needed a tassel to be finished.


The fourth one features eyelets combined with a diagonal satin stitch, and a fourth tassel was made to complete it


Jenny had also finished and blocked her latest baby shawl.  The pattern is 'Hush little Baby Please Don't Cry', free on-line, but with mistakes in the pattern. Jenny overcome the pattern mistakes, and also made it larger.



Some years ago Jenny had attended a workshop with Christine P Bishop. The workshop was for a Dresden style table mat featuring pulled work, and a curved hem with picots. The attraction was to   learn how to work  curved hems on even weave linen. All the stitching on the piece had been completed, and only the hem was left to do.
The hem has now been completed, the piece has been blocked, and is now waiting to be cut.


A postcard size exercise worked by Lisa in straight stitch (back stitch) in high key colour. Inspired by a photo sourced online of a piece of architecture, Lisa  drew on the shapes, lines and curves of the design. It’s for Mary’s  Colour and Design class.


More of Robyn's butterfly inspiration, running stitch  on an original applique design .



Robyn has also been couching the cordonnet on her original butterfly design before doing the Needlelace fillings.



Susan had finished her latest "quote embroidery".
 
The quote itself is from a work by Raquel Ormella, and is Susan to a 'T'. It is stitched in stranded cottons, with the background in irregular satin stitch blocks, and the script is in chain stitch. Over a dozen different colours and shades were used to complete the embroidery.



Gerri had been making a crocheted bag. Decorated with hand made flowers, it has been made reversible with a zippered pocket.




Gerri has also been turning our circle exercise from last year into cushion covers. They are still a work in progress.


Suganthi's work in progress - a collage - a non-assessable task for Mary Brown's component of the Contemporary Stitch and Design course.
Materials used: Black cotton, silver paint, glue, thread, beads, cut out flowers from her fabric stash, cut out sari borders bought from Blockwallah at the Craft and Quilt Fair in Sydney.

Thank you all for visiting. I wonder what we will all get up to next month? Please come back next month to find out.











Monday, 29 July 2019

July 2019

Our group met last weekend and is growing still further with the addition of Annette Y. We welcome her to our group and hope she enjoys her time with us. Nine of us enjoyed a day full of creativity, fun and laughter. We missed Susan via an internet meeting, with technology not quite working on the day. Maybe next time.

Show and tell always brings out some amazing work, all of which is showed below.




Sheila's work 'Strata 2' is currently on display in the Bainz Gallery in Wangaratta.  The work was created for the exhibition, 'A Sense of Place' as part of the biennial Stitched Up Festival.  The work measures 50 cm by 50 cm and is stitched solidly with raised chain stitch using her own hand dyed threads and some commercial threads.  Additional found objects have been incorporated into the work.  The Stitched Up Festival is finished but the exhibition continues through to the end of July.




The Two stitched "postcards" above are by Leslie. Both are non assessed homework for Mary's Contemporary Stitch and Design Course. The brief was to use dense, straight stitches.



Continuing on from last months Rice Stitch exercise, Robyn has completed the flap for a shoulder bag. She has made the bag from Pig skin leather in three different colours. 



Jenny had turned her rice stitch exercise from last month into a scissor fob.



Jenny had also finished off a bobbin lace book mark. The pattern is from a book of 'Bedfordshire Lace Making' by Pamela Nottingham. The book mark is made using  a King Tut variegated quilting thread for the border, and  a combination of the King Tut thread and a Mettler Silk finish 100% cotton No 50 for the flowers. 


Jenny was also continuing on with her knitted shawl, working the final border. New things learnt with this project have been 'Bee Stitch', and joining the border to the main body as the shawl is worked.  The pattern is 'Hush little Baby Please Don't Cry'. 



Susan's embroidery started this month is a quote  from an artist whose exhibition Sheila and her saw on their  Bendigo trip back in 2018. 


Sheila and Susan traveled together during July visiting various art galleries.  They saw the Ceramic Award at the Shepparton Art Museum and the royal portraits at the Bendigo Art Gallery.  Then they spent three days taking in all the exhibitions in and around Wangaratta, that were part of the Stitched Up Festival.  The Wangaratta Art Gallery was exhibiting the Contemporary Textile Prize, where textiles are pushed and pulled in all kinds of directions.  Well worth a visit.  All interested textile addicts should attempt to attend the Festival in future.  You will be well rewarded.



Above is Susan's development of a design, using a small part of an image of a mixed media work in Shepparton as inspiration.




Susan has also been creating a 'Library of Shapes'  from their trip to Wangaratta. Thanks go to Julie Paterson for the idea. The double page image is an example of shapes that she collected from various exhibitions that they saw, and there is an example of the print blocks that Susan carved from her library of shapes


  Sheila was using lines repeated on an index card as part of her ICAD  challenge. 
The line used was one she created from an exercise on line earlier in the day. 

Our challenge for the morning was an exercise on line that Jenny had prepared. We all picked three types of lines from a container, then put pen to paper using the three words as inspiration.

Below are some of the results of this exercise that was produced on the day.










Our little group has grown and the inspiration and work produced is diverse. So please come back next month for another visit to see what we get up to.