Preston Embroiderers' Guild Blog

April 2021 -Month 13 Coming out of lockdown –Talk with Liz Almond- Islamic Inspirations -Exploring architecture through Embroidery.

5/4/2021

After welcoming everyone to our Saturday zoom meeting, Ann introduced our speaker Liz Almond. Liz has travelled extensively and has taught throughout the Middle and Far East, from India and beyond and has been fascinated by Islamic Architecture, which has influenced many of her designs.
Her visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi was a real highlight in her journey and alongside visits to the Alhambra Palace in Spain, the Red Fort in Delhi, India, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey as well as numerous other buildings throughout her travels, Liz has been inspired by the shapes and designs which fit so easily into Blackwork and other types of embroidery.

Liz explained how the art she has seen can be transferred into ideas for embroidery. Islamic art is based around geometric designs and within an Islamic building there are three elements that can be found: calligraphy, geometric and arabesque styles. The domes, minarets, doorways and windows all lend themselves to designs for embroidery.
Liz gave us lots of advice on how to tackle a design:

First look at the pattern, decide how it works and then how it would fit into the overall design.
Complete the framework first and then fill in the spaces starting from the centre of each section. Using cross stitch for the outline is easier than back stitch for many stitchers.
Try out Blackwork alongside pulled work and other embroidery techniques.
Be creative and use variegated threads but test the threads to make sure they are colourfast before you begin stitching.
When planning a piece try out various designs, get out the threads you want to use and then leave it so you can really consider what will work best. Taking time with the planning stage will avoid lots of mistakes later.

Liz showed us some of her work, including a Blackwork chessboard, the top piece of a footstool and the piece she is working on which will be a wall hanging of a mosque with numerous domes and minarets.
Thank you Liz for such an inspiring talk and thanks to your on-hand technician George. There were lots of admiring comments for the beautiful work you have produced and developed. Certainly a world class journey.

To see more of Liz’s stunning work go to: www.blackworkjourney.co.uk

We look forward to seeing Liz face to face for a dayschool in March 2022, when she will inspire us with her knowledge and embroideries using Kogin and Sashiko.

Now onto some other news. Some of our members have been taking part in the ‘Dab Hands’ project, an embroidered artwork based on Donald Sammut’s anatomical drawings. You can read more about it at www.lucysart.co.uk/stitches
Tracey’s piece shows the carpal and dorsal bones of the human hand. She added, “We were allowed freestyle background, so I added some words of things we do with our hands.”
Ann’s piece is of a hand with skin and all. The background is stitched in running stitch using the colours of the rainbow.
Mel’s piece was part of the finger joint.
The finished piece of artwork will be on display at the Manchester Museum, sometime next year or 2023, after the extensive renovation of the museum.

Our March challenge was to introduce some appliqué into the design and we were not disappointed by the variety of the work.
Mel appliquéd tulips which were dyed and then stitched in running stitch.
“I found a lovely saying in my ‘Everyday Blessing’ Book for March:
‘Don’t be afraid to give yourself everything you’ve always wanted in life …Anon. Plus another quote for March from the book - ‘Always go to the bathroom when you have a chance’- King George V.
Very apt as we get older.”
Irene has also appliquéd tulips onto velvet with machine embroidery and the other picture is a watercolour background with hand embroidery on it.
Edwina’s March piece is based on the excitement of the clocks 'Springing' forward. Her design shows appliqué and running stitch in a clock shape.

Ann was inspired by the saying ’As mad as a March hare’. Her piece is an appliquéd hare with free machine embroidery.
Kath H. also stitched along the theme 'March hare'.
Margaret was inspired by the March winds. “I have called this March Winds. I have used stem stitch, reverse chain stitch and ribbed wheel filling. This last stitch I haven’t done before, and whilst this is not perfect, I am pleased with it for a first time. The lady's coat is done in felt.”
Kath R. was also inspired by the March winds and used reverse appliqué for her postcard.
Barbara S. was inspired by the lovely daffodils and drew a fabulous sketch of one in flower and her appliqué piece is of a lamb. She has made it into a little hanging as well.
Liz is catching up and has completed her February challenge, which had to incorporate some lace into the design. She has completed two pieces showing snowdrops; one with the lace used to create the lovely heads of the snowdrops and another in cross stitch.

And now a look at some other projects members have been getting on with:
Edwina has made an edge-to-edge casual jacket.
Janet has finished a lovely bed quilt for her granddaughter.

Kath H. said “Not much embroidery but the T shirt was fairly new and got splashed with spray bleach. I covered the spots up with owls and Sashiko stitching and I have made a cover for my smaller machine. The butterflies are made using the Nikki Parmenter's method, using the plastic bodies from some that were broken.”

Kath R has crocheted another little dog as well as completing an appliqué cushion.
Mel, as usual, has been incredibly busy and creative finishing another four of the Anne Brookes tags, an appliqué garden shed from a Janet Browne workshop, a piece called ‘Hunterwasser Lollipops ‘ with Nikki Parmenter and a piece from a Maria Livesey workshop using French knots to cover a painted background.
How do you fit it all in Mel?

Just a note from Nikki Parmenter who ran last month’s workshop for us, “I am hoping that my exhibition at Gawthorpe Hall will open in April. If you check on the National Trust website dates will be posted there. Also ‘Textile 21's’ (a group Nikki is a member of) are hoping to hold an exhibition at Chester Cathedral in June 2022.

And finally, this month’s challenge (April) is to work a textured surface. You can find the list for each challenge under the notices tab just in case you want to get in front!
In the meantime stay safe and keep stitching.
A.R.

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March 2021- Month 12 in Lockdown – Zoom workshop - 'Plastic Entrapment' with Nikki Parmenter

8/3/2021

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After a very unusual week for the Guild it was good to see familiar faces and a sense of togetherness as many of us waited in anticipation to start our first Zoom workshop. It was also good to see one or two ladies joining us for a stitch and chat and to observe the workshop.
Once again Kath R. let us into the meeting- no glitches this time and Kath (Chair) welcomed everyone. After a very brief introduction Nikki began the workshop.

Nikki is an ex Art teacher and self-taught textile fanatic. She first began sewing in 2005 and now specialises in large scale textile and mixed media pieces. She is inspired by history, myths, legends, symbolism and the natural world. She is a member of the EG and Textile 21, and has exhibited widely with both group and solo shows. She has also written projects for publications, such as Stitch magazine and Maggie Grey’s WOW book.

Nikki had already sent individual packs of materials and we had traced one of the designs onto the plastic ready for the workshop.
The first task was to layer materials on to the template of the creature or flowers we had chosen to make. The materials varied from chiffon/organza, metallic film, dotted plastic and silver paper. We then encased them with another layer of plastic, and pinned the layers together.

Next we had to stitch around the design in a dark coloured thread. The thread Nikki used was just ordinary Coats Thread but several of us chose to use machine embroidery thread.

Once the outline was completely stitched, we then changed the colour of the thread and started to fill in some of the shapes with machine embroidery. The method of stitching depended on the design to be stitched.

Nikki suggested leaving spaces where some of the plastic or silver paper came through and she showed us how to apply the safety eye, if needed, with a surround of craft foam. She went on to explain how to pad some of the design to give a 3D effect, how to cover the fuzzy pipe cleaners and apply the lovely plastic dome sequins, so that they too are trapped in the piece. Finally she showed us some of her brilliant work explaining how to apply the creature or flowers to a frame with a stitched, sequined and beaded background. She even suggested using a string of led lights in the design. Time was flying by so Nikki asked each of us to show our work and requested an invite back to see our finished pieces in the future.

Fish By Margaret W.

'Bird' by Sue E.

The workshop was enjoyed by all of us – I had some very nice comments with the photographs that have come through for the blog.
“I really enjoyed the Zoom workshop and will do more as time allows. For me the plus points were not having to carry a sewing machine and set it up somewhere else and having all my equipment around me. Another plus point for machine embroidery is the ability to mute sound. I once went to a machine embroidery workshop with about 30 women and a Ukulele band in another room. The noise was awful.”
"I really enjoyed the workshop and it was something I’ve never done before."
"Thank you all for organising that lovely afternoon. I found it a bit difficult at first managing the computer and the sewing machine but managed in the end."

Barbara watched the workshop and here is what she said,’ “Thank you for letting me listen into the workshop, machine embroidery and me are not the best of pals (I need more practice) but I did enjoy watching. It did give me some food for thought for perhaps doing something similar by hand."

It was a new experience for many of us. It was certainly a different technique to learn and good fun as well. Thank you so much to Nikki who inspired us and answered our many questions and helped us to develop our pieces. Watch this space for the finished pieces in the forthcoming weeks.

Many of our members have been busy with the monthly challenge, which is so pleasing to know. This month (February) the challenge was to include a piece of lace. Below the slide show are comments from members about their work.

‘My inspiration was the robins in the garden in this very cold weather. The robin is needle felted onto felt’- Edwina.
‘The inspiration for my piece was a Christmas card I had received. I used lace dyed purple to cover the head of the flower. The top is tufted and leaves have straight stitch and split stitch with beading at the top’- Mel.
‘My inspiration for February are the many snowdrop walks that take place around this time of year. Lytham Hall snowdrop walk comes to mind. On some of my many daily exercise walks I have seen beautiful verges full of snowdrops as well. I used the lace to create a meander of white amongst green muslin and a brown background. I couched leaves and stems and then used Broderie Anglais lace edging to create the snowdrop and the buds’ - Ann R.
‘I stitched a house in Canvas work, of one of the married quarters we lived in Helens burgh. The lace is in the windows ‘ – Sandie.
I have called my project for this month February Dawn. I was watching the sky lighten early one morning, and all the colours of the rainbow seemed to be there. The tree on the roadside outside our house looked so stark against the colours in the sky - I have tried to reproduce them, but nature is so much more intense isn't it. I couldn't incorporate any lace as I don't have any that is suitable. Let's hope it isn't too long before we are able to get around again and able to mooch about and replenish our stocks’ - Margaret G.
‘My poem is taken from an old poem from a children’s book I had years ago. I have adjusted the words to fit my pictures. The lace required is in the window looking out onto the February weather. I used crewel wool for the bulbs and boy figure and watercolour paint for the background’ – Irene.
‘My inspiration for this month was obviously Valentine's Day and the snowdrops popping up. It's such a positive move towards Spring’ - Barbara S.
'I have stitched a crocus for my February piece' - Kath R.
'The lace requirement for my hellebores and crocus is the base of the hellebores like the one pinned and cut out at the side in the photo. I have also included my photo for January which shows snowdrops with applique and seed stitch' - Kath H.

Kath R has continued with her love of crocheting and made this lovely elephant too!

Mel has been super productive and an inspiration for us all I think, so I have put more of her pictures in her own slide show. She has not only completed our monthly challenge but has taken part in several workshops on line and other challenges. Here is what she has said:
“I have completed two coral pieces from the Zara Day course on coral. One is a coloured piece and the other is a bleached coral reef after pollution.
Another piece is from a mark making workshop with Maria Livesey. I used chain stitch and running stitch in this one and the fourth piece is also from the same workshop using freezer paper templates of tulips and stitching around them.

I have also been taking part in the Anne Brooks challenge, which started on the 1st of January. The idea is to complete 52 tags, one a week and to write something that has happened that week on the back of the tag. I can’t believe I have done 10 already! “

Next month we have a talk by Liz Almond entitled ‘Islamic Inspiration- Black work Embroidery in Architecture’.
The March challenge is to incorporate appliqué into your piece. We all look forward to seeing your lovely work and once again it isn’t too late to have a go, so please join in if you can.
Stay safe and keep stitching,
AR

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February 2021 – Month 11 in Lockdown – Zoom meeting – ‘Bite-sized’ talk with Joanna O’Neill

8/2/2021

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Although it was cold, wet and even snowy in some areas of Lancashire the monthly Saturday meeting brought a little bit of sunshine into our lives once more.
After a few technical glitches, Kath let members into the meeting room and Kath (Chair) welcomed everyone, including several members of the Lytham Branch. Then Ann introduced our speaker Joanna O’Neill all the way (via Zoom) from Northumberland.

Originally from Berkshire Joanna studied embroidery under Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn graduating in 1999 with the Diploma in Stitched Textiles. Her stitching career since then has included exhibitions, commissions, workshops, writing magazine articles and quilt judging. Since she moved to Northumberland in 2012 she seems to have become the ‘Stringer in the North’ for British Patchwork and Quilting magazine.
Joanna explained the term ‘Journal Quilts’ in case anyone had never heard of them. I certainly hadn’t so it was an interesting start. They are small quilts about A4 in size and were introduced in 1998 when a textile artist called Jan Williamson decided to ‘play’ and produce a small artwork each week. Several years later she is still doing this.

Eventually the pieces became a monthly task and as each piece was about the size of a sheet of paper they became known as Journal Quilt pages. Over five years, 918 artists from all over the world, stitched nearly 6,000 journal quilts 81/2 x 11 inches and 400 of these can be seen in a beautiful book called ‘Creative Quilting – The Journal Quilt Project’ by Karey Patterson Bresenham.
When Joanna joined a contemporary quilt group in 2007, a challenge of stitching a quilt a month was set and although voluntary many of the members took part. It has become a challenge ever since. Joanna said that stitching Journal Quilts had many advantages over making large quilts, including they are inexpensive in both time and materials as they are only small. They are portable, easy to store, easy to stitch by hand or machine. A series of the same theme are easy to compare and are brilliant teaching aids to share whether in schools or textile groups. Just one disadvantage you won’t have a large finished piece.

From 2009 to 2020 Joanna has developed lots of ideas for each series of twelve quilts from months of the year, folk art, sketch book pages, medieval tiles, disruptive patterns and colour schemes of red, yellow and blue to name just a few. The size can also alter from square to A4. She uses beautiful fabrics from the Heidi Stoll-Weber collections www.farbstoff.com. as well as felt and recycled fabrics.

May 2011

February 2014 October 2011
As journal quilts are intended not to be washed Joanna also uses oil sticks, handmade paper, crayons and acrylic paint. She makes stencils from freezer paper and has tried using jelly plates. Some of the quilts have embellishments like buttons and shisha mirrors, some are hand stitched and others are machine stitched.

December 2017 September 2020
Her work was very inspiring and has given us lots of ideas for our own monthly challenge. After several questions Kath (Chair) thanked Joanna for a really interesting and inspiring talk and thanks also for giving permission for us to use these pictures of her Journal Quilts on our blog.

Once Joanna had left, we showed our piece from the January challenge (see the slide show below).
Here is what each member wrote about their work

My inspiration came from an email I received from Peter Kieser, the shoe company. They had a wreath around a shoe in red, white and blue. I thought about using the word January and thought it would work well inside the wreath. I have used stitches that I don’t normally use and several I learned on the Zara day Course… padded satin stitch, woven picots, lazy daisy and a variety of different beading. Mel C.

A winter scene
Unfortunately it looks better in the flesh as the background is sparkly with snow, made using water soluble fabric and crystal machine thread. The trees are made using cake wires. Sandie M.

The photo was taken by my late husband, Ian, on a trip to see the snow one January in the early 2000s. The embroidery is straight stitches in a slightly sparkly single Madeira machine thread and a double strand of stranded cotton. The fabric is in layers starting with a slightly patterned cotton, then a double layer of netting and then organza. Edwina W.

One day last week we were watching the snow coming down - which is unusual for Blackpool. My husband was sorting some old photographs and I was knitting as we are due to be great-grandparents at the end of February/early March. The house was warm and with the dull day and snow outside we were cosy and warm. The snowdrops are showing in the garden, which prompted my theme for January and the children's nursery rhyme for my poem this month. Margaret G.

I am using a poem to illustrate my sewing each month. For the big picture I used Lampshade Vylene, painted in the background and embroidered the silhouettes by hand. Irene P.

I used a range of organza and free machined embroidered the pieces in place. I then machine embroidered skeleton trees and shrubs before hand stitching with line stitch, French knots and single chain stitches to represent the little flowers and blossoms you can see to brighten the dark days of January. Ann R.

I was inspired by a walk across the local nature reserve, it was so frosty. I knew the colours had to be very cool for this January, so the gold work seemed to fit the bill. Barbara S.

This one is machined sheers on a dyed background (white). The next one is machining on dissolvable fabric with dyed leaves on a dyed background (purple). I used dissolvable fabric and organza to create hellebores. Kath R.
Kath has also been busy on a couple of other projects; a purse and a needle woven picture of a parrot tulip. For the purse she made the background by snipping bits of fabric onto a dark background. Then she stitched through the fabric with metallic thread. She cut out a bag shape from the fabric, made a lining and attached the fabric to the clasp and embellished it with beads.

Ann reminded everyone that the next month’s challenge (February) should include a piece of lace. Next month we have a ‘Zoom’ workshop with Nikki Parmenter and packs will need to be ordered by the 12th February.
We then had a general chat about happenings in The Guild. Again the time had flown by and soon it was time to leave.
Thanks go to Kath. R for overcoming technical problems with her usual calm and efficiency.
Keep safe and keep stitching and we’ll see you next month.
A.R.

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April 2021 -Month 13 Coming out of lockdown –Talk with Liz Almond- Islamic Inspirations -Exploring architecture through Embroidery.

March 2021- Month 12 in Lockdown – Zoom workshop - 'Plastic Entrapment' with Nikki Parmenter

February 2021 – Month 11 in Lockdown – Zoom meeting – ‘Bite-sized’ talk with Joanna O’Neill

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