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.