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January 2020 - Stitch and Chat

4/1/2020

The hall was buzzing as members gathered for the first meeting of the New Year. In fact more tables had to be set up.

Carolynne was on hand in her new role as membership secretary to welcome any visitors and five new ladies came through the door. Welcome to everyone. They seemed impressed with the folder Carolynne had put together showing the range of day school and workshop activities we have held in the past.

After the notices everyone got to work on their own projects. Some projects from a previous workshop were being finished.

Others included reverse appliqué, bead work, crewel work, cross stitch, soft toy projects, patchwork, appliqué and drawn thread work. Again we were amazed at the variety of techniques being stitched. Through numerous cups of coffee and tea, we all caught up with family news and activities from the holiday season.

Eventually the committee retired to the meeting room to discuss and plan future activities, including the Savick bunting project, the Exhibition sashes and the NW Regional Chair’s challenge. Instructions and materials will be available at the February meeting.

By early afternoon members started to pack away, our new visitors had thoroughly enjoyed their day and mentioned that they were interested to visit again.

Keep stitching everyone.
A.R.

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December 2019 - Christmas Lunch and Lecture - ‘Quirk, Strangeness and Charm’ with Karen Leathard

9/12/2019

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The members began to gather for coffee and drinks in the lounge area of the Hallmark Hotel, Leyland for our annual Christmas lunch.

The tables had been laid and decorated and the competition table had been set up ready for entrants for the ‘Christmas Scene’ competition.

As the meal was served members chattered and laughed together and then they voted for their favourite competition entry and took part in the festive raffle. Thanks to Kath R who had put together several excellent gift bags full of goodies for future projects.

Once the final coffee and mince pies were served the competition winner was announced followed by the raffle.

The winner of the competition was Kath H (our chair) and Stephanie (vice chair) presented her with a certificate and voucher.

At 2:00pm we made our way to the lecture and were met by an array of wonderful crafted dolls – we were in for a real treat.

Sandie introduced our speaker Karen Leathard who began by explaining her interest in dolls began over 13 years ago starting with her first interest, marionettes. As she was a needle worker rather than a woodworker, she developed her interest making jointed dolls. She explained the dolls show her way of expressing her sense of humour. Every doll has its own name and even though there were several witches, each one was an individual character.

The dolls begin as the ‘Chicken’ stage. The body made out of doe suede has jointed shoulders, arms, knees and hips. They actually do look like a chicken! The heads are in four pieces, which when stitched together form the basic head shape and nose. Once stuffed the facial expressions begin.

The face is sculpted by tiny stitches starting at the back of the head and stitched at the front and pulled tight at the back once more. These stitches pull the face into the character. Only the eyelids and eyes are different.

Once the body is finished Karen has great fun creating the clothes and accessories down to the finest detail.

As the dolls began their journey around the room there was great discussion, laughter and an appreciation of every different character.

After the final round of questions Karen presented two members with a tiny crafted rabbit.

The afternoon came to a close.

Thanks to all the staff at the Hallmark Hotel for their hospitality and a wonderful meal. Also thanks to Karen Leathard for her amusing talk - ‘Quirk, Strangeness and Charm’ and thanks to Kath, Stephanie, Dee and the rest of the committee for organising the day.

Hoping you all have a wonderful Christmas and Peaceful New Year. Until 2020…….
AR

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November 2019 - Silk Paper Making - Workshop with Pat Richardson

6/11/2019

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After Kath had welcomed us all to the meeting and read the notices for the day. Those taking part in the workshop were keen to start their adventure into silk paper making.

Pat had arrived loaded down with interesting equipment. A beautiful picture and cards, to show us what can be achieved when you use your own hand made and designed silk paper.

First Pat handed round silk tops in vibrant colours and used them to demonstrate making wet silk paper.

For this technique you need 2 sheets of fine gauge net, a kitchen sponge and CMC paste.

The silk tops were thinly spread out, on one sheet of gauge to form a pattern. At this stage different colours of silk tops can be added to introduce colour. Flower heads, petals, leaves and ribbons can also be added to the design.

The silks were then sprayed lightly with water and another sheet of net pegged over the top to hold the layers in place.

Pat then used a clean washing up sponge dampened with CMC paste to push the fibres out towards the edges of the piece. She explained that you can gently lift the top layer of netting to push the fibres over any gaps or to re-position petals etc.

Pat continued to work on the paper until it was translucent and she had remove any excess fluid.

Depending on the finish required you can leave the top netting on for a textured look or remove it carefully for a smoother finish.

Paper made this way can take a few days to dry out completely and was put on one side while Pat demonstrated Cocoon silk paper making. For this she used ;

2 pieces of parchment /baking paper, a water spray and a bag of neutral
coloured cocoon silk.

This silk has a course texture and naturally bonds together under heat. The fibres were spread out thinly as previously demonstrated and leaves, silk threads etc. were added and sprayed with a little water to activate the natural gum inside the silk.

A second piece of parchment was placed over the final design and a hot iron used to bond and form the paper

Pat painted the paper with acrylic paints and then added tea bag paper which had been printed on the jelly plate and torn into pieces. These were added to the paper with matt gel medium.

The paper can then also be printed on and cut as required. Acrylic wax can be used to finish the piece adding strength and a soft lustre.

Pat explained that Bendix and Matt medium gave a good finish and they don’t leave a residue or turn yellow. These were used to add stamped and painted tea paper to the silk.

Extra finishes were shown using embossing powders, die cutters, stencils and stamps.

After the demonstrations and making our own silk paper in the morning we stopped for lunch and a chat.

During our lunch break, Kath presented Pat Richardson with her trophy from last month, where she won first prize in the ‘Gertrude Goodenough' competition.

At lunch time, we also received a welcome visit from Jennifer and Michael, from Savick Library. Due to the delay in the building being ready, we have not been able to visit regarding our planned 'bunting project.' Jennifer gave us an update on what was happening and brought boxes of delicious cakes for us to share. It was such a lovely surprise.

An enjoyable afternoon was spent making more paper with different designs using honesty seed heads, leaves, ribbons and threads.

We finished our designs by experimenting with all the dyes, stamps stencils and the jelly plate that Pat had brought with her.

Those who had not taken part in the workshop, were busily working on their own pieces and having a chat, as can be seen below.

During the day, Tracey very kindly set up a stall of home made items she was selling in aid of Poppy Appeal.

We had received quite a few comments about the day from various members:

- A relaxing and informative workshop, thanks to Pat.
- Great fun playing with colour and texture.
- Lovely day experimenting with lots of different techniques and ideas. Thoroughly enjoyable.
- Excellent ideas using so many techniques. Loved the dry silk paper making, embossing and printing. Thanks to Pat for her tuition and kind sharing of materials.
- Doing my own thing gives me a chance to catch up on embroidery that I can't get done at home.

As you can tell, we all had a wonderful day learning a new technique and using all the
various finishing products. Pat was given a well-deserved round of applause and thanked for
leading the workshop. Here are the results:

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January 2020 - Stitch and Chat

December 2019 - Christmas Lunch and Lecture - ‘Quirk, Strangeness and Charm’ with Karen Leathard

November 2019 - Silk Paper Making - Workshop with Pat Richardson

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