April

Last Saturday was the April meeting of our group, so below is an update of what we have all been doing.

Donna had been dying fabric. There was a suitcase full of beautiful pieces of all colours using techniques such as tying, stitching, marbles, scrunching, folding & pegs. Here are just a few of her pieces.

There were also some pieces featuring potato stamps & paint. This is one of a series of 3 panels which will be quilted & ebellished further.

Robyn had been playing with a Reticella design that will eventually turn into a needlecase/holder of some kind. Note the hand dyed thread being used to give a different look to the traditional.There was also an experiment using her new Derwent Inktense water soluble pencils.

I had been making postcards using my digitizing program. There were also my filet lace trials which I had been wanting to do for a very long time. I spent the afternoon experimenting with my own hand dyed even weave linen & threads. I am sampling for a major piece which will be part of our group project later in the year.

Libby had been busy with exhibitions. There was the combined exhibition of the Mt Colah & St Ives groups of the Embroider's Guild of NSW, "Threads Of Imagination", which was held at the Hornsby Art Gallery. Currently, her work is at The Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Qeensland, in an exhibition titled "After India". This exhibition was inspired by an Indian Artisan that a group visited on a recent craft trip to India. Libby will also be the featured artist at the Wiseman's Ferry Artist's Gallery sometime in the future. We will keep you all updated on that one.

Other members of our group were away on textile workshops & conferences, so I am sure there will be great show & tell for our meeting in May.

March Meeting

I am a bit late in updating this but life has been a little hectic. So hectic in fact that I personally could not participate in this meeting of our little group. So a big thank you to Cathy who took all the pics.

The theme for the day was space dyeing. Here we can see Libby, Robyn & Sheila admiring their own handiwork as it dried.

Next we have Libby's selection of beautifully coloured threads. Libby had a clear idea as to what she wanted , prepared the threads well beforehand and kept them all seperate this time to avoid contamination with each other. We'll all just have to watch this space to see what wonderful creation they will turn into.

Next we have still more work of Libby's. This is her version of Neptune's Necklace which has been created by hand stuffing a hollow thread, tying off in intervals, then being hand painted with the dyes. It will be interesting to see what this gets added to.

These are Robyn's own hand knitted diagonal cream squares using Totem wool. They were concertina folded , creating a 2.5cm fold strip, stitched through the middle of the pleated strip to create a little resist, dip dyed along the folded edges in one shade of brown, allowing the dye to seep in and up the concertina folds.

Here are the knitted pieces laying flat, giving an interesting effect that only Robyn knows what is going to happen to.

More thread that Robyn had played with.

The next 3 pics are Sheila's selection of "threads". There are ribbons, ric-rac, lace, fancy knitting yarns, fabric & all kinds of interesting bits. A sample of how Sheila may use these can be seen here.

All in all the girls had a wonderful day. I am only sorry that I missed it.

Libby's Cardigan

This is a whole view of Libby's beaded cardigan. The motif s at the bottom are her own design. Isn't is just yummy?

February Meeting

Today was our first meeting for 2008. It had been such a long time since we had all been together, so you can imagine the catching up we had to do. So armed with home made cake & cookies, lots of cups of tea, show & tell was the order of the day.

Susan was first with beautifully stitched gum leaves.

Sheila had made the most gorgeous brooch featuring her Fairy Shoes. She had worked the shoes following the instructions in the latest issue of "Stitch" magazine.

There was also Sheila's on-going stitching sampler using her own yummy hand dyed threads.

Robyn had been playing with stitching shisha mirrors onto canvas.

Libby had been busy turning her paint cleaning cloth into a work of art, and also adding beads & crystals to her cardy.

I sat & continued stitching eyelets onto my current counted thread piece while I contemplated my next major piece.

There was also much discussion as to our major collective project for this year, 2008, as we celebrate 10 years of stitching together. Watch this space to see what we reveal!

Happy New Year

Happy new year all.

I have no pictures to post but can say I have made a few resolutions for the coming year. My first priority is to tidy my sewing space and start calling it my studio. I am fortunate to have a room to call my own and this year I intend to utilise it properly (so that is more than a storage area) and get to work. I have an unfinished portrait of my daughter and a number of quilts to complete by the end of May, and, of course a heap of ideas. Another a resolution is to work on to recording my ideas and inspirations.

Cheers all

Wishing you a happy, healthy and productive 2008.

Donna