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July 2021 – Month 16 - coming out of Lockdown - Strawberry Tea and Making Paper Flowers with Mel Charters.

6/7/2021

It was lovely to meet once more and we felt as if we would be well tutored in the art of making paper flowers when Mel began her careful explanation of how to make them.
We started with a rose made from a spiral of paper and a different model using the same technique but with a folded edge. The slide show below shows you the technique we used.

Next, we attempted the origami flower where five individual petal shapes are made and then glued together to form an origami lily. Another slide show follows. Have a go, they are quite easy to make.

Liz suggested using the paper from a square note block to make the flowers. Each piece is cut to the right size and can save a lot of time cutting out 10 cms squares. Also she has made a Christmas bauble using the same method (see opposite).
Thanks to Mel for her inspirational mini workshop.

When the activity was over we showed the strawberry items we had stitched before the meeting. These varied from strawberry pincushions, to a punnet of strawberries made by Sandie. “The strawberries are made of felt with machine embroidery on water soluble fabric.” We had strawberry keyrings, embroidered strawberry motifs and a strawberry brooch. The embroidered strawberries were stitched by Barbara using needle lace.

As we chatted we got stuck into our fresh strawberries and several of us enjoyed a glass of prosecco.

Finally we showed our monthly challenge, which for some members had been a challenge. The June piece had to show the use of mixed -media. What is mixed–media? This is an artwork made from a range of materials to add interest and texture. You can use just about anything. Once this had been established the pieces created were so different.

“I have stitched two pieces this month. Both pieces have calico bases with gesso and then gold gilding wax and some light silk paint applied over the top. The medieval one is finished off with cog wheels on top of machine embroidered circles on water soluble plastic, which was then dissolved and sewn on.”
“The second one has three small labels. The first label has a small needle lace patch with scissor charm, the second one has punched holes threaded with silk ribbon and I made a small tassel, and the third has a machine embroidered patch made on water soluble plastic and large scissors sewn on. The whole piece has been finished off with sewing charms.” Sandie

“I was inspired by the Delphiniums in the garden. I used a range of mixed media, including handmade textured paper backgrounds, metallic and card petals with free machine embroidery, ribbons, daisy lace painted with gesso and decorative with buttons and beads.” Ann R

“Here are my June pages. The mixed media piece is made from Tyvek with gold backing. It is painted with acrylic, and then embroidered and has gold beads.” Irene

“Mixed media; a bit scary. I used magazine paper, wall paper, a sweet wrapper, a 'used to clean paint spills' wet wipe, a bit of Lutrador and foiled Expanda foam, shells and finally some embroidery in my piece. It reminds me of the beach huts at Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.” Edwina

I have called my piece June Bride. I haven't worked with wire before, but am fairly pleased with the result. Margaret G.

“The mixed media was a learning curve. I used heavy Lutrador as the base with lace and ribbon painted. I used a mixture of stitching and a type of glue to put it all together. Barbara.

I have used a mixed media background using a variety of papers with running stitch all over it. I have
Blanket stitched around the edge as well. Mel. C

I used a variety of textured papers with machine embroidery and embellished it with buttons and an owl. Kath R.

Some other pieces had been completed over the month including some gold work and pincushions from last month’s Zoom meeting by Irene. Kath R. has stitched a cup of fungi

Next month the challenge is to try a new technique. That might be tricky for more experienced stitchers who have probably tried all techniques but we shall look forward to seeing the pieces.
There is no Zoom meeting planned for next month but I will put up the ‘Monthly Challenge’ pieces. Can’t wait to see them. In the meantime keep safe and keep stitching.
Ann R

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June 2021 - Month 15 - Coming out of Lockdown- Felt Activity and Stitch and Chat.

8/6/2021

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Once again it was so good to see many of our members and some faces we hadn’t seen for quite a while. Kath (Chair) welcomed everyone and then Ann explained the felt activity- A needle case in the shape of a Victorian child, a heart which could be used for a lavender bag and a bird pincushion.

The idea was to interpret the designs in any way and lists of requirements were sent out previously. Some members had brought their own work along and from gold work, banners and cross stitch motifs and appliqué we soon got well into stitching.

It was lovely to stitch and chat and we covered many topics rather like the neighbours visited every week on the ‘ONE Show’.
Liz explained how she stitches her cross stitch motifs onto ‘T shirts’ for her great nephew using a special canvas, which is removed once the motif has been finished. Something many of us felt we would like to try.

The monthly challenge had a great variety of ideas as usual. This month we were asked to use shades of one colour. Watch the slideshow below to see the range of work.

Here is what each member said about their work:-

May is created in pink. The background is stitched in seed stitch. The ‘M’ outline is split stitch and Jacobean couching on the inside. The ‘a’ outline is in stem stitch with French knots on the inside and the ’y’ outline is backstitch with cross stitch inside. The whole piece is edged in running stitch. Mel

I used the colour purple as required and on the other page I have machine embroidered a picture to match my rhyme. Irene.

I used bonded appliqué of fabric and silk paper. The tatting is from a card made by my friend Val. Edwina

I am attaching my May work which I have called May flowers. I have decided to continue using the 6 inch embroidery hoop, so that once I have finished they should all be of a similar size and scale. In this small work I have used stem stitch, rope stitch, satin stitch, lazy daisy stitch and a leaf stitch I'm not sure of the name of! Margaret

I was inspired by the beautiful Cherry blossom in all shades of pink. I wonder why once the blossom comes out the wind and the rain begins causing the blossom to fall. I have named it ‘Cherry Blossom Confetti’ and used a range of stitches to stitch the petals. Ann R

I had had a thought about doing my daughter and grandkids hand print for a while, when pondering what to do with one colour the penny dropped, so I put the two together. So that was the inspiration for my piece this month. Barbara

I have stitched a piece of canvas work in shades of pink. Sandie

I went back to the technique I love to do, ‘needle weaving’ and produced this poppy in a variety of pink threads. Kath R.

Other projects seem a little thin on the ground this month. Perhaps we are all starting to feel a little jaded and can’t wait to meet up once again in real life but here are some of the pieces that have been sent in.
The hen brooch I made for my friend whose hen died recently. Irene
I stitched a birthday card for my sister's 70th. The idea was taken from the poem by Jenny Joseph, 'When I am old I will wear purple'. I included a picture of as many of the lines as I could.

Kath R. has been crocheting bunnies and Mel has stitched five more tags.

Next month Mel C is showing us how to make paper flowers from A4 paper and old books. We also hope to enjoy a strawberry tea on Zoom, of course, and please stitch a strawberry item to show. The monthly challenge is a piece using mixed media. Lots to inspire you we hope. In the meantime keep safe and keep stitching.
Ann R.

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May 2021 – Month 14 coming out of lockdown - From Indian Embroidery to North Country Quilts- Talk with Helen Barnes.

4/5/2021

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The 1st of May, May Bank holiday weekend but still many of the group joined us once again for our ‘Zoom’ meeting.
After welcomes, Helen Barnes was introduced to the group. Helen has grown up loving the textures and colours of fabric, stitch patterns and motifs used to create beautiful textiles. A passion that has grown with her through the years.
As an Art and Textiles teacher she continued her interest by studying City and Guilds Embroidery Part 1 and 2, and more recently she has been awarded an MA in Art and Design from the University of Leeds.
She has been fortunate enough to travel extensively, researching textiles in far reaching places and recently she has been investigating her own heritage of the North Country quilts.

It is with the travels that Helen began her talk. Inspired by the skills and techniques of villagers in India she collected a variety of pieces showing Shisha work, chain stitch and sequins. She was amazed at the beautiful colours that were used and how the villages co-operated with each other to support their work. In a later visit to Bengal, she was once again intrigued by the Kantha work of the area. It wasn’t just running stitch but intricate embroidery of animals, flowers and pattern work.

Another visit, this time to Peru, also inspired and amazed her. Again the embroidery she saw was bright, colourful and showed how pieces of lace or gold would be added so nothing was wasted.

It was at this point that Helen decided she should look into her heritage and that is where her fascination for North Country Quilts began. As a child she always loved the quilt on her bed-it was a totally cotton cloth quilt, including the wadding. As like most North Country quilts (which includes the areas of Durham, as well as Cumbria and Yorkshire) it had a flower in the middle and shapes called flat iron, shells and feathers. These are traditional designs which are repeated and shared with generations and throughout villages giving a real sense of community.

There are several traditional types of quilts from everyday stripy quilts to Patchwork and Club quilts but they all have one thing in common. They are hand quilted with traditional patterns like running feather, trail and cable, flowers, hearts and semicircles as well as the square diamond. Helen suggested if you come across a quilt to look at the back, especially to see the range of the stitched designs.
Helen makes her own quilts usually about one metre square and she uses her own templates in the traditional fashion by folding paper (like a snowflake as we have done many times as children) or by using old pennies and half pennies, wine glasses ,plates and iron plates to design cables, feathers and flowers. Her designs are planned on paper and card, which she moves around until she is happy with the layout. She has made samples of 50 patterns, which she is hoping to put into a book. It seems the stitchers changed some of the general designs to make their own. Maybe there are still more out there!

Many thanks to Helen for her inspiring and informative talk. I am sure someone in our group will try out this type of quilting in the future.
After Helen left us we showed our Monthly Challenge pieces, which this month had to include a textured surface. Take a look below.

Sandie: Sue and I did a project last year she saw on line, it could have been Janet Brown but cannot completely remember! I have done two lines of about 6 inches wide x 6ft to go down each side of my cabinet. The technique really is to cover the fabric with Suffolk puffs, strips of fabric gathered with running stitch and then beads can be added. In fact you can use any technique you want until the whole of the fabric is covered.
Margaret. G: April showers - although we have been very much without rain this month. April is usually a month of sunshine, showers, primroses and blossom. I have added clear glass beads to the single strand rain.
Kath R: The textured piece is just rough dry paint on linen. Then beads and threads were used for a dandelion clock.
Mel C: April – I used padded satin stitch, Casalguidi stitch, spiders’ web, French knots, fabric manipulation and edging stitch.

Irene: The April page for my book shows surface textiles on the top left hand side using velvet and gauze. On the right I have machine embroidered a water coloured background.
Ann: This month I was inspired by the trees. Not just because of their lovely fresh green leaves but their amazing bark, so I went out and took some bark rubbings. It was good fun. I then used some of the ideas to stitch my piece. I wrapped string with variegated perlé yarn and some with variegated slub yarns and couched them in place. I then wrapped beads in chiffon and stitched some of these between the yarns. I filled in other spaces with fly stitch, line stitch and French and bullion knots.

Barbara: My piece includes calico covered in paint with dyed muslin. Using perlé thread I secured a pebble and then did drizzle stitch, bullion stitch, French knots and needle weaving and I finished it all off with a few beads.
Kath H: I used a mini loom to weave wool pieces and then embroidered these with flowers, April showers and Spring lambs. Each piece is mounted on covered clothing tags.
Edwina: I still have some more to do on my piece but the original was from a Regional Day workshop run by Sandra Kendall. Sandra supplied the blue fabric ready stitched with the 'hole' in the middle and showed us how to make the tree trunks. These are wrapped threads. I love bluebell woods and the bluebells were out in April.

And what else have we been up to?
Irene has been making novelty pincushions: flowers, bees and bags for the church sale one day!
Kath R has made a vessel in sheers and dissolvable fabrics, which were then machine stitched together before the dissolvable fabric is almost washed away leaving some behind. The vessel is shaped over a bowl covered in cling film and Vaseline and then allowed to dry.
Mel C has also made a machine embroidered thread bowl and a scarf which she dyed using leaves as prints with iron as a mordant. This was an idea was from a workshop with Maggie Pearson.
Her stitched wheel was a project run on YouTube by Cathy Reavy, and was started in January as a stitch sampler. Three new stitches were added each week on a Thursday. Lots of the stitches she hadn’t tried before, so a bit of a learning curve.
She has also completed four more tags with Anne Brooke 52 tags.
Liz has cross stitched these designs for a couple of T-Shirts, she also used the same technique on sweat shirts in the past.
“I wondered about using a canvas style pattern on a sweat shirt but don't know if I'd need to use an interfacing to stiffen the design once completed due to using longer stitches. Can anyone help?”

Next month the challenge is to use shades of one colour in your piece. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
We will also be taking part in a stitching activity. Information will be sent out to you in plenty of time before the zoom meeting. Until then keep safe and keep stitching.
AR

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July 2021 – Month 16 - coming out of Lockdown - Strawberry Tea and Making Paper Flowers with Mel Charters.

June 2021 - Month 15 - Coming out of Lockdown- Felt Activity and Stitch and Chat.

May 2021 – Month 14 coming out of lockdown - From Indian Embroidery to North Country Quilts- Talk with Helen Barnes.

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