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.

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.

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!

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.

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).

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.

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.