Saturday 1 December 2012

November Meeting

Our meeting was held the day after most of us visited the Knitting & Stitching show so there was lots of talk about that.  Our congratulations go to the North East Region who put on an outstanding display with their work from 'Mining a Golden Seam' exhibition.  Everyone who saw it said how wonderful it was.

We have now got a quilted bag for the Regional Day in June and members are being asked to fill it with items in shades of Green.  Thanks to Jackie for doing that.  The banner bag now has some fabric so Jackie will get started on that for the January meeting.  The pincushion bases have started to go out now so I am looking forward to seeing some interesting ideas for completing them.

The speaker was our own member, Barbara Douglas, who talked to us about the Amish.  Barbara has visited them several times and had lots of information about them.  It was a very thought provoking talk.  She also brought along a couple of quilts she had made based on their designs.

We don't have a meeting next month but a few are going out for a Christmas lunch together.  Next meeting is January 26th with a talk by Kathie Selwood on Life with a Sewing Machine.

Saturday 3 November 2012

October Meeting

Another busy meeting, especially for the Treasurer, collecting subs and Knitting and Stitiching Show payments. 
The Christmas lunch is to be at The Manse on Saturday 8th December at 12.30 for 1pm.  If you haven't booked yet can you contact Janet Coe.  There was a small display of work in Lutradur and Evalon for members who had bought the fabric in our bulk order but weren't aware of the many different ways you can use it.
Jackie has put together some ideas for the new bag to carry the banner in and it was agreed to go with the machine embroidered squares alternated with hand embroidered squares patchworked together with sashes.  The colour theme will be brown backgrounds with pink and green embroidery and pink sashes.
Anita had made one of the pincushions up so that everyone could see how we can attach the stitched top to the base and they should work quite well.
The Rose Bowl challenge for next year will be 'A Summer Garden'.  Any technique and it must have been made within the last two years.


We had an interesting talk from Christine Shaw with 'Not a Hexagon in Sight'.  Christine is well known in the area for her patchwork and is a friend of many of the members.  The work that she brought to show us was amazing, some of it is shown below.








Sunday 14 October 2012

Regional AGM

I have just come back from the Regional AGM in Scarcroft and as usual it was well run by the Branch in charge (with lovely cakes at tea time) and provision of a sales table and raffle.  We said goodbye to Elizabeth as chairman who was presented with a lovely Moorcroft vase and we welcomed Pauline into her place.  Christine gave us a run down on what is happening at HQ which as always was informative and entertaining.  The speaker, Janet Browne, gave a wonderful talk on her 'Stitched Journey's' and brought lots of items for us to look at.  It was good to meet up with friends from other branches and I think these Regional get togethers are really valuable.  I picked up a good idea for a 'Challenge' and some useful tips on making a folded book.  It wasn't all business!

Monday 1 October 2012

September Meeting

A lovely day for our meeting despite the rally cars roaring past the door.  Not as many as usual attending today, is this because it is the AGM?  We got the business out of the way quickly and said a big thank you to Cath, Avril and Phil who are standing down from the committee this year and welcomed Geraldine, Jackie and Ann who have volunteered to take their places.
A busy meeting this month.  The Knitting and Stitching Show bus reservations are under way and they are filling up quickly this year.  Price is £20.50 to include the drivers tip and entrance, going on Friday 23rd November.  Contact Anita for further information and to book.  Ann has sanded all the pincushion bases for us and these are now available for sale at £1.50 each, proceeds to the charity in Haiti.  We will be having a meeting day in March to finish these off but if anyone wants to get under way now, they are welcome.  The raffle we have had over the past 3 months has raised £49 for the funds and was won by Ann who was thrilled to receive a huge box of threads and fabrics donated by Susie.  The 'Banner Bag' is under way and Jackie will be bringing some fabrics next month for us to choose the colours we want to do it in.  She will then piece together the patchwork squares and bring them in for us to embroider the seams with fancy stitches like a crazy patchwork. 
After all that we sat back to enjoy a really interesting talk by Wyn Ingham.  We knew we were in for a good afternoon as she has spoken to our group before.  She is a thoroughly entertaining speaker and although we over-ran and didn't have time for tea afterwards, nobody wanted to rush her talk.  As well as telling us the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, she described many of the places she had visited in France that were significant in this woman's life and also showed us some of the work she has produced that has been inspired by these buildings. 
Finally, we asked Wyn to judge our annual rosebowl competition.  This year the topic was a 'Chatelaine' with a minimum of three pieces.  There were six entries, all of them very different but the winner was Avril with her beautiful beaded pieces.  Below are photographs of all the entries. Christina did a plastic bag in turquoise and fastened the sea-life shaped needlecase, etc. inside.  Jackie's was a modern pouch with pockets for mobile phone, etc., Anita's was hand made felt, Barbara's was canvas work and Coleen was and IronAge chatelaine using old blanket fabric.  Well done to everyone for such a diverse range of techniques.








Tuesday 11 September 2012

AGM and other information

I have now been back off holiday for two weeks and it seems as though I haven't been away.  I had an amazing trip to Peru, a wonderful country and no I didn't treck up to Machu Pichu,  we took the bus! 

Down to business. It is the AGM on Saturday 29th September and we will be starting the meeting at 1.30pm.  This is so that we don't cut short the speakers time.  Wyn Ingham is the speaker and I know you all enjoyed her last visit and so won't want to miss any of this one. 

A reminder that we need at least one new committee member and also a programme secretary.  Avril and Cath are stepping down after doing a sterling job for the last few years.  If anyone would like to have a go, or maybe do a job share, then please let us know at the meeting.

There aren't many of you registered on the Guild website so if you are unable to do it yourself, can you make sure you bring your forms for Isobel to do it for you. 

A reminder that the subscription this year will be £30.

The coach for the Knitting and Stitching Show has been booked for Friday 23rd November.  Cost will be £20.50 and will include the drivers tip.




I have added a few photos of Peru for you to look at.  The first one is a pre-incan textile in the museum.  It was probably a cloak of some kind and all these shells were still attached to the fabric (wish my buttons stayed on this long).

Monday 30 July 2012

July Meeting

Several of us joined a trip to Bombay Stores and Salt's Mill on Friday 27th July and had a really good day out.  The weather was kind and the spending opportunities were great.

The monthly meeting on Saturday was well attended and again the weather held up for us.  We had a really good talk from Diane Freeman and Annie Smith who run the Pannal Embroidery Group as well as the City and Guild's course at Spofforth.  They brought some lovely pieces of work for us to look at and also lots of pieces that we could pick up and inspect more closely.  I think a number of people would be interested in the City and Guilds if we could get something set up nearer to home.

Our next meeting will be the AGM and we need three new committee members as there are three coming off this year. Two of these are the programme secretaries so we need at least one volunteer to take this job on.  There is a busy run at the begining of the year when you have to book  all the speakers and then it is fairly quiet for the rest of the year.  You just need to remember to contact the speakers about a month before the meeting to confirm everything.

Subscription for next year will be £30 and that will be due at the September meeting.  Don't forget to get your registration details to head office before then.  Either register on line yourself or contact Isobel and she will do it for you.

Knitting and Stitching Show will be on Friday 23rd November and will cost approx. £21.  I will be taking bookings at the September meeting and I would like a £5 deposit at the time.

Ann and her husband have sanded all the pincushion bases and they are now ready to purchase at the next meeting for £1.50 each.  If every member can purchase one, then we can send a cheque to Cecilia's son for the school in Haiti.  If you do not wish to keep your pincushion we will arrange to sell them and the profit will also go to Haiti.

Jackie and Jane have made a start on a new carry bag for the banner.  More news on this next month.

I have attached a couple of photo's taken at the meeting of Diane and Annie's work but unfortunately they have come out very dark.  I forgot my camera (as usual) and took these on my phone.


Friday 6 July 2012

June Meeting

Sorry I am a bit late updating this but it has been a busy week.  We had a very busy meeting as well trying to get peple sorted for the new registration system.  We made a start as it is difficult to catch everyone during the summer months and it saves postage if you can see people at the branch.

We are underway with making a new bag for carrying our banner in.  The old bag has seen a number of years of service and the banner is in danger of becoming scuffed round the edges so two ladies are designing a new quilted bag and they will come back to us next month to tell us what we have to do.  Hopefully, each member will produce a block, either patchwork or embroidery and these will all be stitched together and quilted. 

Another group project that is getting under way is the pincushions.  We have got a supply of wooden pincushion bases that need sanding and varnishing and one of our members husbands has offered to assist in this job.  When they are done, members will buy the bases for £1.50 each and make them up.  Proceeds will go to a charity that is building a school in Haiti.  If members don't want to keep their pincushion, we will try and sell them at a later date and again donate the money to Haiti.

Speaker this month was Jenny Boyle.  Her talk was entitled 'Barmy about Beads' and she certainly is!  There was lots of her own work to look at as well as pieces from around the world.  She gave a very informative talk about the origins of beads and how they have really become a part of our lives.  Sorry there aren't any photo's but I forgot to take my camera this month. 

Thursday 14 June 2012

Guild Postcards



I have just been to Huddersfield to view the embroidered postcards and they are quite an amazing sight.  There are nearly 3000 of them and they are spread all over the theatre.  The ladies of Huddersfield Branch have done an amazing job to get them displayed, I believe it took them over 7 hours to do.  It was fun looking at the pictures and trying to work out which country they represented.  Some Branches had put in an amazing amount of research, Lincoln for instance, had Comoros (has anyone heard of it) and they produced 14 postcards about the island, plus a flag!  Some branches had worked a theme into their cards.  Horsham had produced all theirs in Kantha style to represent Bangladesh. The smocking branch had obviously done all theirs in smocking and produced one of my favourite pieces of a wave and a beach.  I have printed another of my favourites, a picture of the northern lights in Finland.  I was also taken with an Iguana from Swaziland but unfortunately he didn't photograph well.  If you look carefully you will see Ryedale's contribution in one of the photographs below.  The exhibition moves on to The Customs House, Mill Dam, South Shields from the 27th June to 11th July so if you can get to see it, it is worth the trip.

Saturday 2 June 2012

May Meeting

Sorry for the delay in reporting on the May Meeting but my internet has been down.  The line from the telegraph pole had rotted in the box at the top of the pole and an engineer had to come out and climb up and reconnect me.  Apparently, most of the engineers work these days is repairing old cable!

Back to last Satuday.  We had a good display of finished items from the mini workshop we did last month using transfoils, pictures below.  We have also put together a small display of members work for the exhibition at Ripley in July. It was worth taking the time to work out how many pieces of work were needed to make a good display.

 We received an offer of wood pincushion bases that needed sanding and varnishing before completing with fabric, embroidery, etc.  Members have agreed to buy them at £1.75 each, all proceeds going to fund the building of a school in Haiti.  For those who don't wish to keep their pincushion, we hope to sell them to raise a few more funds.

 We are also setting up a quilting team within the Branch to organise the making of a new bag for our banner.  The poor banner has been transported around for years in a bag made from curtain fabric which has now got sadly saggy.  To prevent any damage to the banner, which is made with thick card so that it can be mounted on a stand and therefore can be transported to all our exhibitions, we thought that a quilted bag would be the best option.  I have suggested that to make all the members a part of the project, we all bring in a piece of fabric to go into the chosen patterns.  I am now leaving this up to the team to get together next month and sort out a colour scheme and design, it's nice when you can offload all your bright ideas for someone else to sort!!!

We had a very good talk from Elizabeth Almond entitled 'Blackwork Journey - New Beginning, where she explained how she came to start stitching blackwork and where here design ideas come from.  She gave one or two good tips for beginners and experienced stitchers.


Sunday 29 April 2012

April Meeting

What a busy day we all had.  In the morning we had a mini workshop using transfoils.  Many of the members had never used them before and as they are difficult to buy anywhere locally, we ordered lots of different ones from Art Van Go and we all had a go at the piece of work done by Jean Littlejohn in the Feb/Mar issue of Stitches.  It took about 2 hours to get to a point where people had either finished or knew what they needed to do to finish a small panel.  The results are below and they really did look good.  I hope to see them all finished off into book covers or something similar next month.

In the afternoon we had a wonderful talk by Katie Chaplin on the Traditional Costume of Japan.  She brought along her daughter to model for us and we were shown how a Japanese lady would be dressed in a full ceremonial kimono.  It really was interesting and as she also brought along some Japanese fabrics and kits for us to buy, we all ended up having a really enjoyable afternoon.



Sunday 15 April 2012

Wonderful Exhibition!!

The black & white and 1970's displays

Finishing the setting up

Members catching up on their stitching
First we thought the weather had let us down, the warm sunshine in March had made the daffodils flower early but then the cold spell last week kept them going and there was still a lovely display to encourage walkers to come and see them.  Then there was snow last weekend at Farndale and it took out the electricity for a few days but by Thursday things were starting to look better.  We set up Thursday afternoon and Friday morning we all arrived in a shower of rain.  The hardy walkers started to arrive and disappeared into the countryside, the sun came out and more cars started to come in.  By lunchtime we had a steady stream of visitors all of whom enjoyed our displays.  Saturday started with a blizzard but again the sun got the better of the clouds and although not such a warm day, we still had plenty of people coming through the door.

We would particularly like to thank the members of Guisborough Branch and York Branch who came out specially to support us.  All our members who came up to help or just visit enjoyed themselves, chatting with friends as well as visitors who were interested in our work.  Special thanks to Phil and Avril who manned the tea room for two days and did a sterling job.  You couldn't see them for all the cakes that had been provided.

The whole success of the day was entirely due to the beautiful work provided by our members.  Lots of new pieces never seen before, traditional and modern and of a standard to match the best in the country.  We did two feature tables, one in the centre of work done in either black, white or black and white which gave a very dramatic effect.  The other table was of work that members had done in the 1970's and it provided a wondeful contrast of designs, colours and stitches with the work that we are all doing today.

Another thank you to York Branch for loaning us their 'Rainbow Squares'.  The orange make a lovely contrast with our brown squares and make a really good display together.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Mini Workshop

For the April meeting we are going to have a mini workshop from 10.30 to 12.30 in the morning.  We will be using transfoils as many people have not used them before.  If you do not have any transfoil but would like to join in the workshop, can you ring Anita and she will order some from Art Van Go at £1.25 per pack. 
The main other requirements are:
Fabric - open weave that will take thick threads
Assorted threads in different textures and colours but mostly thick threads.  Some fine gold or sparkly thread for the top
Bondaweb
Chiffon - fine chiffon scarf fabric or organza
6" embroidery hoop would be useful

Above is a picture of what the finished piece could look like.  I am taking the instructions from a recent copy of Stitch magazine if you want to have a look at it yourself.

March Meeting

Not too many of us here today but a very interesting talk on the Lacemakers of Ripon by Mary Moseley and Avril Edmondson.  It is amazing how fine the threads were that the lacemakers used, no wonder their eyesight failed at a very young age. 

The preparations for the Exhibition at Farndale on the 13th and 14th April are well under way.  Unfortunately the weather has got a bit ahead of itself and the daffodils are out now but hopefully the cooler weather forcast for this week will slow them down a bit and we will still have a good show.  There will however, be a very good show in the Bandroom of all our work and I am looking forward to getting it all displayed. 

Information was given for a coach trip to Bombay Stores and Salts Mill on the 27th July.  Anyone who wasn't at the meeting but would like to come, please give Anita a ring to put your name down.  I know it is going to be on the day of the opening ceremony for the Olympics but the concensus was that shopping at Bombay Stores was more important.

Sunday 26 February 2012

February Meeting


This is a photo of some of our members with a few bits of work and our embroidered tablecloth in front of them.  We hope to get this picture into the newspaper in a couple of weeks time to advertise our exhibition (see below). 
A big thanks to all the members who have volunteered to either help at the exhibition or to provide cakes for the refreshments or both.  All we need now is your work to show! 
We had an interesting talk by Veronica Hartley about the making of hats.  She has her own business called 'Dottie Hats' and after giving us a brief history of headwear, she then talked us through how she designed and made hats.
We have got a possible interest in a trip to Bombay Stores later this year (we are all suffering silk withdrawal symptons) and we thought we might continue it at Salt's Mill, so that could be something to look forward to when the weather gets better.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

January Meeting

Not such a good turnout this month, what was keeping you all away ladies?  We all had great fun making beaded hearts with Cath.  Unfortunately our speaker could not come so Cath stepped in with a little workshop making these lovely red hearts ready for Valentine's day.  I have managed to finish mine and have put a picture up for you all to see.  I might make another one in a different colour.
We have changed the seating arrangements in the hall and I think it is much better, most people seemed to like it. 
Above is information about our exhibition in April.  I will be looking for volunteers next month to steward and generally help on the day and also to make cakes to sell.  Don't forget to get all your work finished to display and we are also having a seperate display of items in either black or white or a combination of both.  Any technique as long as it is monochrome.  We also hope to do a small display of old work from the 1970's.  I know you are all too young to have been embroidering then (!) but maybe you have something in your loft that we could borrow.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Keeping working!

I have been using one of my purchases from the Knitting and Stitching Show.  This is a thermofax screen and is used just like a screen print.  I have used mine with bleach on a piece of velvet from Oliver Twist's.  There are two designs of flowers and I have added some embroidered leaves and grasses and a few beads.  I made it into a jewellery bag for my daughter for Christmas so I can't bring it to the meeting to show you but I can bring a sample I have done and hopefully another piece I have started for our exhibition in April.