
When it was well stitched and feeling sturdy we took the fabric out of our hoops.
Lunchtime provided a good opportunity to move around and catch up.
Yvonne was putting the final touches to her cushions’ design for our gift to mark 70 years of Preston’s twinning with Almelo, helped by suggestions from other members about thread colours and finishing details.
Members will be delighted to see the finished results of these pieces of work, I’m sure.
Tracey talked to us about a Poppy Appeal she is involved with. Tracey has accumulated 1300 crocheted poppies made not only by her, but sent to her, from as far away as Canada. The aim of this appeal was to achieve a million poppies one for each life lost in the Great War,1914-1918. Some poppies are white to indicate lives lost by non-combatants, stretcher bearers, ambulance drivers and many others who played their part. Read more about the project under 'Other News'.
Thank you Tracey for sharing this with us, it resonates so well with the Guild’s initiative, “100 hearts.” Guild members are invited to make commemorative hearts which will be displayed in different venues; 100 hearts, one for each year to mark the centenary of WW1.

After lunch in her next demonstration, Ann showed us how to cut out our motifs, first roughly and then carefully. Fold any tricky part and pierce with the scissor points to get into it and cut out. Ann told us not to worry about a little fraying. Before too long we each had a completed motif and were ready to try another.

Ann had kindly brought a good selection of pictures to choose from. Clipart is a good source as well as magazines and your own drawings.

The next stage was to place your chosen fabric background over a piece of pelmet Vilene/iron-on interfacing. Lay it under the aperture in your card front and draw lightly around the shape, so you know where to place it. If you want to write a message in that space write it lightly in pencil before removing it and free machining over it. Motifs can be applied to the card using craft dots or double sided tape.

You can cover the back of the front page with a sheet of paper/light card when you’ve finished, to give a more professional look.
When making a collage, apply your motifs to the background and then mount onto a larger piece of card or board.
Thank you also to Sylvia, Stephanie and Zena for running the shop, library and raffle respectively.
It was a lovely start to the New Year and we can’t wait for next month!
D.E.