May 2017 – Beading Workshop with Mel Charters

Once the notices had been given, Sandie introduced Mel to the group, not that she needed much of an introduction as she is one of our own members.

After a brief introduction where Mel explained the task for the day and showed many of her lovely examples of what we could achieve, we set to work.
Some of us used Mel’s designs transferring them onto our fabric using light boxes, whilst others began on their own ideas.

The morning was spent preparing the designs using a variety of stitches from Blanket Stitch around the outline of our shapes through to Stem Stitch, Detached Chain Stitch, and Overlaid Strands to fill in the shape.

In first place was Mary who was delighted and so appreciative of being able to hold the sampler for the year having known Kath personally.

As lunch time approached Jack Morton and his daughters arrived ready to present the ‘Kath Morton Sampler’ to the winner of the Chairs’ Challenge - ‘A Textured Necklace’. After a light lunch with Dee and Brenda, one of Jack’s daughters spoke on behalf of Jack to say how he and the family are always made so welcome. She also explained how thrilled and surprised Kath would have been to know how much her work is loved and cherished, not only by the Preston members, but by people all over the world, now that her work can be found on Pinterest. Soon the time had arrived to reveal the winner.

Second place was Frances and in third place Ann.
Well done to the winners and to everyone for entering the challenge.

Members had been asked to vote for the title of the next exhibition in February 2019 and Dee announced the result:
‘Shorelines and Seascapes’
It was also announced that one of our members (Ann) won second place in the Rose bowl Competition 'Entranceways, Gates and Doors', at the North West Regional Day in Lancaster.

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As the afternoon continued Mel demonstrated how to stitch on the beads explaining the threads and needles she uses. Then it was back to work, beading, and our designs began to develop even further. Before long the day had come to a close but as we looked at our work so far we were amazed, as always, at how different everyone’s was. Throughout the workshop Mel spent time with each member offering help and advice.

Zena thanked Mel for a great day and also Dee and Brenda for looking after our visitors.

As usual the ladies in the back room worked and chatted hard and another potential member spent the day with us. Previous workshop and day school items were also on display showing excellent stitching and felting as usual.