February 2011

Welcome to a new year with our Stitchers Plus blog.

There were eight of us in attendance for our first official meeting for the year. Lots of general chit chat, planning for the comming year, and lots of show & tell, .

First up we have Sheila's brooch. Made in a summer school class with Karma Bains


Next is the quilt that Sheila made from scraps of silk fabric.




Wendy had also been to summer school, attending the "Image To Stitch" course by Effie Mitrofanis. This is Wendy's sample of couching stitches using silk threads.



Robyn had been working on finishing three more squares for her biscornu pin cushion

Susan had been practising her crocheting with this colourful beanie. The article in "Interweave Crochet Accessories" - "Circle In A Perfect Hat - How to Create Your Own Beanie Pattern", was used to make her own and very first beanie. Made in a hand dyed wool, using double crochet and a reverse crochet edging.

Donna's "Blue Boquet" can be seen on her personal blog , made with buttons & embroidery on felt. There are plans to mount it, & see what, if any, more work is required.

Jenny's play with filet, teneriffe lace & bullion picots are also on her own personal blog.

Let's see what fun March will bring.

November 2010

This past Saturday was our last meeting for the year so Christmas lunch was in order, with everyone bringing a plate of yummy food to share. There were ten of us present from our group and one guest.

The day brought a new member to our group. After seeing our exhibition in August, Annette has decided to join us . We welcome her to our group & look forward to her participation. It was also great to see Libby back after a long absence.

In the morning, Anne directed us in a design exercise, while in the afternoon ideas were discussed regarding our next exhibition & some loose plans made towards it.

Show & tell brought this tote bag "Autumn Leaves" made by Susan. Using cotton fabric, the bag is Susan's own design & features patchwork, applique, machine embroidery& buttons .
Susan had also made this scarf using Paton's bamboo & cotton yarn. The trellis stitch has given a lacy look, while the picot arched edge has given a decorative finish to the ends.

Sheila had been making more book covers, first printing the fabric, then using running stitch to add more detail.

Donna had been painting these abstracts. Inspiration was gained from part of a chair, and the designs will be used later in some of her appliqué work.



Jenny had been playing with her camera, trying to learn about ISO, aperture, shutter speeds, & all the other little buttons that adorn it. Samples of her learning will be visible here.

On that note, this will be our last post until January, 2011, when the creative journey of our group continues. So to everyone who visits our little space on the WWW, we at Stitches Plus would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a Creative New year. We would also like to issue an invitation to come back in January to continue following our creative exploits.

October 2010

Our meeting this month co-in-sided with Guild meetings. (the AGM, the Convenors' meeting, and the Building Project Launch.) As about 4 of our members are officially tied up with these meetings on one way or another, the rest of us tagged along to show our support. There was a good buzz in the room with the architects in attendance, the mayor of Canada Bay council and the federal member of parliament whose wife was there and keen to join the Guild.

Back together as a group, Donna had organised a little stitch project making felt angels using stitches pulled from the hat.

Show & tell produced two wonderful 2" square faces by Sheila. They are samples to see if she could do it, and of course, now wants to do more. So now, the tiniest piece of fabric can’t be thrown away.

Wendy's colourful scarf.
The next two canvas work squares are by Robyn, who is going to turn them into a pincushion.

September 2010

Our meeting day his month saw us playing with designs again, as well as our usual show & tell.There was also some discussion as to our next exhibition.

Show & tell brought the following:-

A free machine embroidered apple by Donna, inspired by playing with paint & learning to blend colour. The piece will turn into a small wall hanging.


Jenny's experimental pulled thread piece, from a scrap of dress fabric. The piece of fabric was saved for some experimental drawn thread, but once needle went into fabric, pulled work became the order of the day. The piece will probably end up as a notebook cover.

Sheila's "Stitch Marks" book - stitches on paper.



Robyn's knitted cardigan with a crochet edge.

Sheila's surface stitching with her own hand dyed threads on striped fabric.

Then there was the design exercise of the morning. Starting with this original by Robyn, we traced only parts of the design. Then we played with pattern repeats, rotations, & mirrors.


It was amazing how many different designs we could come up with.

August 2010

Another wonderful day full of chit chat about our current exhibition and the comments that were passed, both on the preview night and in the time it has been hanging. We spent the morning folding raffle tickets ready for the big draw, the raffle helping us to raise over $300 towards the building fund. The raffle itself was drawn by Annette Hinde, the tutor of the "Ways With Lutrador" workshop in the room next door. Present were all our Stitchers Plus group, plus the participants in the workshop, and the lucky winners were.......................... drum-roll.................

1. Averil P - Bag
2. Gillian W - Postcard
3. Lee S - Book
4. Heather M -Brooch

All winners were notified & arrangements made to deliver prizes.

As a result of this exhibition, we have had inquiries about new members joining our group.

Discussions then began on the plans for our next exhibition.

There was also much show & tell.

Wendy had made this stunning rainbow rug from a family "four leaf clover" pattern. Traditionally it was made for the first baby in a family. This colourful version will wrap her in memories of her mother, grandmother, babies, aunts, cousins & friends when she can no longer knit & sew.


Sheila had been to a quilting course run by Deborah Louie. The pic above shows just four of her resultant pieces.

Robyn had been playing with some pattern darning, and will continue to stitch panels, using elements of the above design to make a work bag. Instruction has been given by Heather Mathews.



Jenny was starting to play with the above piece of creative pulled work.


There was also this piece of counted thread work which Jenny had taken with her to stitch on holiday.

A pieced & appliqued lap quilt by Donna, and features buttons for quilting, although it may eventually be hand quilted. The quilt was actually finished while she procrastinated about what to finish for the exhibition!

There was also this piece of canvas work by Donna, a work in progress using a mix of perle, stranded, wool & metallic threads, as well as a variety of stitches.


Layered white silk, black & printed nets, is Susan's experimental piece. It will be stitched & ripped to show "The Light Within".


This is the beginnings of Anne's crazy patchwork that will eventually turn into a bag.



How is this for a box of colour? Cathy's thread box, in which is stored her threads that are being used to stitch on her current paper piece.

All in all a great day had by everyone.