February Meeting

At last I have found a way to post photographs.  I have to open the blog via Google Chrome which is a longer way round but at least I get there.  I still can't do anything via Internet Explorer despite numerous messages to Blogger.  I think it is just another way to make you use Google products.

We had a very good meeting with 27 members and visitors there all day.  Lots of work seemed to be done except at my seat.  In the afternoon we had a 'Show and Tell' session.  We hadn't done one for a while and it was interesting to see what people have been doing.  It also gave some inspiration to some of our visitors.

We started with Christina who showed us her two pieces from an exhibition on 'Elements'.  She had looked at farming ancient and modern and produced one piece showing strip farming and done in hand embroidery on natural fabrics.  The second piece, pictured here, was on modern mass farming using modern techniques and fabrics.

The second speaker was Barbara who is also a member of York Branch and at their last meeting she had got hold of some Bernat Klien knitting wools.  This reminded her of a few years ago when she was doing her weaving degree at Bradford and she gave us a short talk on Bernat and his work.  These are some of the wools she has collected.

Our third speaker was Moira who had a a nasty accident with a washing machine and a jumper.  She showed us how she had used the shrunken garment(s) to make cushion covers and the one in the photograph was my favourite.  The back of the cushion is the back of the jumper.

After Moira came Colleen who described how when her father died she kept some of his shirts and sent out small pieces of them to a number of people, asking them to embroider something small on each piece.  As they all started to come back she made them into hexagons and stitched them all together to make a lovely memory quilt.

Colleen also told us about her button collection and how she was amazed at the price old buttons are sold at these days.

Ann brought us a wall hanging made from a beautiful tablecloth that her grandmother had embroidered.  She had never known her grandmother which made it all the more poignant.  She also brought a tablecloth embroidered by her mother and a tray cloth she had done herself when young.  Three generations of embroiderers.  This is her grandmother's cloth.

 And this is her mother's.

Christina had also brought her piece of work that gained her a 'Highly commended' in last years Guild competition.

This was a lovely piece of work that Ann was doing during the day.

January Meeting

I am still having problems with blogger, I cannot upload photographs, it keeps telling me that it has lost the connection to the server.  If anyone out there has any idea how to remedy this I would be grateful for some advice.

We had a good meeting with one new member joining and four visitors, some of whom we hope will join next month.  We had a lively discussion about the changes proposed to the Guild and some questions were sent to HQ from this.  Terry has already replied to these and where possible they have been forwarded to members.

There were a few items on the finished display but I think most people have had some time out over the christmas holidays.

Our speaker was Cluny Chapman who gave an interesting talk on Archaeological Inspiration and it certainly was inspirational.  You could spend a lifetime using archaeology as a basis for your designs.  Her work was beautiful and was much admired as were her rare breed sheep!

Although it wasn't a very nice day, I think everyone was glad to get out and meet up with friends again.

November Meeting

I was hoping to give you a display of finished patchwork from our workshop a fortnight ago.  Some pieces did come in but several were missing because they weren't completed.  Below is a picture of the ones we did see.

In the morning Jackie and Ann did another 'Make and Take' session with the help of Moira as well.  We made a variety of Christmas decorations and cards as you can see below.

Everyone who takes part in these sessions enjoys them and it is great for getting to chat with people you don't normally sit with.

We had a great speaker in the afternoon, Diana Barrett whose talk 'For What it's Worth' looked at the perceptions of embroidery throughout the ages and how it has always been deemed 'Women's work'.  It caused some discussion over the tea cups at the end of the day.

This last picture is a christmas tree that has been on display at the Beck Isle Museum.  Each year they ask local businesses to sponsor and decorate a tree and this is our Branch's tree.  All the decorations have been made by members.  Christina carefully looked after them all year when we took them down from our own trees in January so we didn't have to go digging in the decorations boxes in October.

I think this looks super and so much nicer and more traditional than the 'tastefully toning' arrangements you see today. 

Patchwork Day

We had a really good day with Jackie and Ann demonstrating how to piece together a table runner.  Most of us made christmas ones, some made square table centres and some made non christmas items.  We were all kept very busy by Jackie, there was no slacking or sitting chatting but Ann made up for it with a supply of her wonderful blueberry muffins.  Some were so busy that at the end we didn't get chance to display everyones's work together so we are bringing it to the next Guild meeting when hopefully there may even be a few completed pieces of work.

October Meeting

Today we presented our advent calendar, that we made for the Regional AGM challenge, to Cath Temple who will take it to the local Guides and Brownies to raffle for their own funds.  We also made a decision on our new Rose Bowl Challenge for 2015 and it will be 'Winter'.  You can do any technique or any item but it must have a winter theme.

Some of the members recently went on a trip to the Royal Armouries at Leeds.  It was organised by another local group who are doing work on a theme or 'Warriors' so it was an appropriate place for them to go.  We all had an enjoyable day and everyone got some ideas for future projects.

We have another 'Make and Take' session coming up next month and we are doing 'Christmassy Things' similar to the items in this photograph.

We also had a selection of the flowers that Brenda showed us last month that people have got finished and one item even included into a cushion cover.

Next month we are having another patchwork day and will be making a christmas table runner or a table centre, whichever you prefer.

Christmas lunch is booked for the 13th December at the Crossways so anyone not yet booked who would like to go can you contact me as soon as possible and I will get your name on the list.

We are hoping to have a joint meeting with Hull Branch and do two 'Make and Take' sessions at the March meeting.  They are only a very small Branch and don't have much opportunity for workshops so hopefully this will be the start of many joint ventures.

We had a very enjoyable talk from Gina Smith about her 'Travels with a Needle' who brought along some lovely pieces of work for us to drool over and who gave us an entertaining journey through her holidays and trips to some very exotic places and some not so exotic but just as beautiful.

Regional AGM

This year Ryedale Branch hosted the Regional AGM at Scarcroft near Leeds.  It was a busy day for the seven of us that went but we managed OK and had an enjoyable time meeting up with other branch members.

We provided tea and coffee for the morning, lunch and afternoon with some luscious cakes made by our members.  We also ran the raffle for the Region and a sales table that we made £80 on for our branch.  So a worthwhile trip.  The speaker was excellent and provided much discussion among members about multi-cultural groups.  I was lucky enough to win a raffle prize and went home with some wine and chocolates along with a colourful hand made bag, so that was my evening sorted with Lewis on the TV that I had recorded earlier.

These are the members of Ryedale who worked so hard all day.  Thanks to Jackie for making the sashes which received several compliments.

Hanging over the front of the table is our new banner bag.  It has a number of squares made by members and all put together by Jackie.  You can just see our banner in the background and now it can be transported around much more safely.

 

The next photos show some of the entries in the Chairman's Challenge which was once again won by Leeds Branch.

The winning entry are the small hangings next to our advent calendar, not a very good photograph I'm afraid but they were voted best by all the members present.  Now I have to go and reveal to our members the new challenge for next year, hope they all like it!

 

 

September Meeting

I was away on holiday for the July meeting so I don't really know what they got up to in my absence and therefore couldn't post a blog, so it really does seem a long time ago since I updated our information.  However, there were a few items brought along that had been made at the July meeting and also some more of Barbara's weaving from her talk.

Here are some cards that had been made last month and also some 'apples' that Ann has made using her own dyed fabric.

Barbara's beautiful weaving, you could make a dress from some of these patterns, they are that fine.

Down the side we have our new programme for 2014/15.  If anyone can tell me how I can get to highlight the bottom items that are all in black I would love to know.  For some reason it won't let me highlight a single letter never mind a whole name as I have done above.  Technology - huh!

September was our AGM and we gave our thanks to Liz who has now stepped down as Treasurer and welcomed Imelda into the post.  A bit of a baptizm of fire to start on the day that subscriptions are collected along with the Knitting and Stitching show money as well but she coped admirably.

We now have a new banner bag thanks to Jackie who pieced together all the individual embroideries that the members have done and this is the result -

We can now carry our banner around it style.  Come and see it at the Regional AGM.

The rosebowl competition this year was for a book cover and we had 8 entries, all of which were stunning but the winner chosen by the members was Christina.

Here are the entries -

 

and here is Christina with the rosebowl.

 

Our afternoon was spent making flowerpots that Brenda had brought along las month and everyone thought they were lovely, so she has kindly spent her time drawing desings onto calico for the rest of the group.  This is what we are doing and I expect to see a nice display next month of finished pots (ours are smaller than this one).