November Meeting

We had only three members missing today and we had four visitors one of whom was the Chairman of the Guild, Christine Poole.  We had hoped for more visitors as we had advertised the meeting in all the local free magazines and around the other Branches but it was their loss as it was a really good talk. 
Victoria Mcleod came from the North East Region to tell us about the Mining a Golden Seam exhibition which was so successful last year.  She showed us slides of each piece of work and added the artist's description to it.  While there is no doubt that all the exhibits were much admired when on display, the whole thing was so much more personal when you understood the memories and emotions that went into some of the pieces.  I can understand how the whole thing resonated with other communities up and down the country especially those where mining has been the main employment.

Other business:  The Knitting and Stitching Show coach went well with 48 people on board although we were a bit late arriving due to the dustbin collections in Snainton blocking the whole main road for twenty minutes.  Lots of money was spent and everyone had an enjoyable day.  On the Saturday, Jackie and Christina worked on the Guild stand helping people to do a small stitched project to take home.  They enjoyed their day and I think there was a lot of praise from the public for the Guild.

During the morning of our meeting today, Jackie and Ann ran a 'Make and Take' session.  There was a choice of two Christmas cards to make one in goldwork and the other with beads and Angelina fibres.  Most people had a go and for some this was their first attempt at goldwork.  Thanks to Jackie and Ann for organising this.  We have some more 'taster sessions' at our members day in January. 

We don't have a meeting in December but we are having a Christmas Lunch at the Crossway's Hotel so we are all looking forward to that.

These works in progress are the goldwork trees, all the ladies who did the beadwork trees had packed away by the time I got my camera out.

October Meeting

Another busy day.  A few more members have joined but we are going to be down in numbers this year.

Undetered by this, we have booked our exhibition for Friday and Saturday the 11th and 12th April next year.  Our central theme will be 'A Summer Garden' so we are all busy now making items with lots of flowers and trees. 

Jackie and Ann have organised a mini workshop for us next month making either a goldwork christmas card or a beaded one with Angelina fibres. Both look very nice and I hope to make one of each.  We have also got a good number of people interested in a beginners patchwork day so Jackie is also organising that for early next year.

I don't think the Knitting and Stitching Show bus will be full this year but we have enough to cover the costs.  Anyone else interested in going, please give Anita a ring.

Anthony Bentley the picture framer from Kirbymoorside, gave us an interesting talk on picture framing and all the new things that are now available.  He kindly gave out lots of advice to members who had framing queries for him. 

Regional AGM

A lively meeting with lots of discussion about the Guild and how it is run.  I will leave it to your Branch representatives to explain all that was said.

The main excitement was created by las years 'Tie Back' Challenge.  If you all remember, each branch was given three sets of tie backs and asked to produce something from them for this years meeting.  Several branches rose to the challenge and there were some amazing results as the photographs below show.  There were prizes given to the best individual entry and the best branch entry.  Hillary from Yorkshire at Leeds Branch won the individual prize for her covered box and Airedale won the branch prize.  Jackie made a wonderful patchwork bag, lap quilt and purse by mixing the tie back fabric with some of her own and then quilting it all.  Although it didn't win, it did get several comments on the quality of the work.

I now have details of next years summer school with some interesting tutors.  Regional committee have also supplied a map of the regions waterways to help you with your designs for the regional competition next year.

Unfortunately the speaker for the day was not able to attend due to a close family illness but we all managed to fill the gap with tea, cake and chatter.

September AGM

We commenced half an hour early to complete the AGM and business meeting to leave enough time for our speaker Heather Welburn.  Her talk was entitled 'From Nought to De Quervain's in 6 years' which intrigued us all but was very entertaining.  There was lots of lovely work for us all to look at which is always good.

As usual, at the September meeting we ask the speaker to judge the Rose Bowl Competition.  This years topic was 'A Summer Garden' and we had quite a good number of entries this year.  The winner was Jane Raines with her stunning knot garden in canvas work.  It was her own design based on the one at Sewerby Hall.  This is Janes piece:

 

There were lots of other lovely entries too.

 

This last piece is a dress made by Imelda but she wouldn't demonstrate it for us.

The speaker also brought lots of lovely pieces of work and here are a few of those.

Susie brought some trays of Maderia machine embroidery threads that she had left over from when she owned a shop and we all had a lovely time purchasing them from her and she kindly made a donation to the branch. 

The coach for the Knitting and Stitching show is filling up quite quickly this year so if you haven't booked yet, please do so.

Jackie and Ann have arranged to do a 'Make and Take' hour in November starting at 11am.  They will be doing some christmas cards and decorations that are predominantly gold work.  There will be a 50p charge for materials.  They are also preparing a patchwork workshop for beginners.  They asked if anyone was interested and as 13 or more people said yes, it will be going ahead.  Keep a look out for the date.

We have lost a few members this year but welcomed one new one, Janet.  Plans are afoot now to try and get some more members this year.

 

September Meeting

I am afraid I was a way for the July Meeting but I understand that Yvonne Brown gave an exceptionally good talk on 'The Story so far - the Developement of my Work'.

28th September will be the AGM and I will try to keep it short!  There are no members of the committee leaving this year, however, if you would like to join us in the running of the Branch, please let me know and we can put it on the Agenda.  Liz would like to finish as Treasurer next year so if anyone is prepared to take that post on, have a word with her and we can arrange for you to shadow her for a while.

The cake stall went very well and we raised about £120 for funds.  We also met lots of people we knew and had a very pleasant morning.  Hopefully we have also got a couple of new members as well.

Don't forget the Bowes Museum trip on the 26th September if you have put your name down.  It is 8.30 at Ayton Village Hall, 9am at Eastgate Car Park, Pickering and about 9.15 at Helmsley Garage.

June Meeting

An interesting meeting today as it had been suggested that as a group, we should maybe pull out of the Embroiderers' Guild as some members were not sure what the advantages of being in the Guild were.  However, I am pleased to say that we had an almost unanimous vote to stay as a Branch of the Guild.  After this discussion we had a fantastic talk by Maggie Smith.  I must admit that I have been waiting for this one all year and it did not disappoint.  She brought loads of work for us to look at and gave us lots of ideas for inspiration to break the 'Embroiderer's Block'. 
On Sunday afternoon, Wrelton Village Hall held a craft fair and we had a table to display work and another one to sell items.  We managed to sell several of the books from the old library which we are now trying to dispose of and met some of the other groups who use the village hall for their meetings.  Hopefully, we also recruited two or three new members so that will help to keep our numbers up next year.
Below are some photographs of Christine's quilt that she has made for her grandaughter, it is really lovely.

Regional Day

As always, Regional Day was very enjoyable and also a very successful one for Ryedale.  We had put several entries into the various competitions and both Christina and I got runners up prizes in the Challenge Cup.  We were both really pleased and it gave Ryedale quite a boost.  All the entries were of a very high standard but they were outshone by the Young Embroiderers whose interpretations of 'Underground' were extremely good.
  Nine members of Ryedale enjoyed two really good talks, in the morning Rubina Porter painted a very moving picture of the plight of women and children in Bangladesh and the work she is doing with them.  In the afternoon we had a very informative talk about Textiles in Elizabethan and Jacobean Country Houses given by David Bostwick in his fast moving and amusing style.
With a pleasant lunch, lots of places to spend our money and the opportunity to catch up with people and other branches, it all made for a good day out.

I apologise if I didn't get everyone's work in the pictures,  there was quite a crush round the tables everytime I went so I had to just go for it!

May Meeting

The first warm sunny day for a long time and we spent the day indoors!  However, we had a good meeting.  Moira had brought some of her dyeing equipment along and several members had a short tuition session on dyeing your own fabrics.  It was very much appreciated by all who joined in. 

In the afternoon we had a very enjoyable talk by Nicoa Hulme on Stumpwork.  This tied in very nicely with our recent workshop on that technique with Kathleen Laurel Sage.  It is always interesting to see how different people approach the same topic.  Unfortunately, although I had my camera with me, I completely forgot to take an pictures of Nicola's work.  It goes without saying that it way wonderful.

Stitching in the Dales

For the first time, Moira and I, joined a group of ladies on the residential course run by the Grassington Branch of the Guild and had an extremely enjoyable couple of days stitching.  Our tutor was Linda Westerman and the topic was 'Fragments of the Past'.  Everyone did something different, from memories of summer picnics to Egyptian tombs and all the work was brilliant.  Linda was an excellent tutor, never trying to overide what you wanted to do but guiding us through the moments when our brains seemed to just block up.  We had an interesting B&B by the river, in an old 17th century farmhouse.  All beams and stone staircases and doorways even I had to duck to get through.  The buffet lunches provided were amazing, the lady preparing it being only too pleased to have different tastes to the rugby players she usually provides for.  I am looking forward to seeing what they are going to run next year as I would love to go again.  I now have loads of work to complete from the two courses I have done recently but it feels good to have the inspiration going again.

Kathleen Laurel Sage Workshops

We have just had a wonderful 2 days in workshops with Kathleen Laurel Sage.  We  joined forces with the Textile Experimental Group who meet in Ayton near Scarborough and on Thursday we had a machine embroidery day in Ayton village hall, making organza panels.  This was a really busy day and lots of work was achieved with several people going home with a nearly completed panel.  On Friday we met in Wrelton village hall and had a much more sedate session doing stumpwork flowers and leaves.  We didn't have much in the way of completed work to take home but we did take away lots of ideas and information for the future.  Our thanks to Kathleen for being such a lovely friendly tutor.

April Meeting

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera this month and therefore I have not got any photographs of the wonderful quilts our speaker brought, nor of the experiments that were done in the mini workshop.

Members were interested to know what other people had used Lutradur for, so Christina brought along some painted Lutradur of her own together with her soldering iron and heat gun and did a mini workshop for those who were interested.  It was very much appreciated and the sharing of knowledge is what the Guild is about.

The Kathleen Laurel Sage workshops are fast approaching.  The Maching Embroidery Panel workshop is now full and the Stumpwork one on Friday 10th May has just 3 places left if anyone is interested.

Several members attended a workshop to learn about using their sewing machines.  They learnt all sorts of useful things about tension, thread, needles, etc.  Everyone agreed what a useful day it had been and some of them have booked further sessions.  Kathy Selwood who runs the courses has taught and serviced sewing machines for many years and there isn't much she doesn't know about them.  Even the manufacturers have consulted her!

We have got plans afoot for an exhibition next year in the Spring and to boost our funds while we wait for that, we are having a cake stall at Kirbymoorside Market on Wednesday 4th September.

An outing to Bowes Museum is planned for the 19th September where we hope to have a good look round the new textile gallery.

Our speaker was Antonella Jones who is a member of several quilting groups in Whitby and who brought lots of lovely colourful quilts for us to look at. 

March Meeting

A bitterly cold day but thankfully no snow.  We had a members day today and sixteen people braved the cold to bring their work and chat.  We all brought 'Something I have had for years and don't know what to do with' which got everyone talking together and sorting out each others problems.  One thing that did emerge was that several people owned lutradur and hadn't used it so next month we are having a mini workshop making small samples using lutradur and other mediums. 

The Kathleen Laurel Sage workshops on the 9th and 10th May have gone very well although we do still have a few places left on the Stumpwork day on Friday the 10th at a cost of £30 if anyone is interested.

Some members will be attending workshops with Kathy Selwood learning all about the sewing machine, getting the tension right and using different needles etc.  We have also had interest in an outing to the Bowes Museum so we hope to get that under way in July.We are all set for a busy year ahead, we just need the weather to warm up and encourage us.

At last we have managed to have a meeting.  It seemed strange to be wishing everyone a Happy New Year this late.  It meant that we had lots to discuss in the business part of the day but we started a few minutes early so that we could give our speaker as much time as possible.  The new bag for our banner is coming along and several members took squares home to embroider ready for piecing together with the machine embroidered squares that Jackie has prepared.  Bookings for the Kathleen Laurel Sage workshops are going well.  Thursday 15th May, Machine embroidered panel is now full but there are a few spaces left on the Friday 16th May for the Stumpwork class.  We are now opening this up to non members at a cost of £30.  Anyone interested please contact acassedy147@btinternet.com. 
Next month we are having a members day where we hope to make a start on putting together some of the pincushion bases we have bought and turning them into unusual pincushions.  We are also going to bring in 'Something I have had for years and don't know what to do with'.  I am sure there is someone in the Branch who can help you out!  We are all guilty of buying things that look interesting at the time but then we forget what we bought them for.  I hope everyone will get involved in looking at something that they haven't tried before.
Our speaker was Carol Coleman who gave us an interesting demonstration of a 'Clingfilm Sandwich'.  We were all fascinated by the variety of surfaces you can create using this method.  She also showed us how to cut and shrivel plastic carrier bags to make some interesting shapes.  I hope we will see some finished pieces from the members next month. 

Some of Carol's work using cling film and snippets of fabric

What you can do with an old carrier bag.

January Meeting Cancelled

The sudden fall of snow last night has caused me to cancel today's meeting.  As you can see from my front garden, I am running out of space to put the shovelled snow.  It's certainly keeping me fit.

Make use of all this white stuff and try some Snow Dyeing.  Disolve one tablespoon of soda crystals in half pint of warm water.  Double up quantities until you have enough liquid to cover your fabric.  Soak some cotton fabric in the liquid.  Place a sheet of glass or similar in your sink or bowl at an angle.  Lay the fabric on the glass then cover it with snow.  Sprinkle powder dyes over the snow and wait for it to melt and dye your fabric.  I have got some interesting colour and patterns from the pieces I have done.

Hopefully by next month all this will have gone and we can get out again and get back to normal.