HAPPY NEW YEAR

2013 will be a busy year with our programme of talks and workshops for the rest of the year and an exhibition in June to prepare for.

We look forward to seeing you all at our meetings and hope to welcome new members to the Branch.

JANUARY 12th MEETING–Show and Tell

Four members of the Branch will be talking about an aspect of their work – as follows -

Sarah Ruaux – a Young Embroiderer – will be talking about some of her handmade shoes – describing the techniques she uses including woodwork, goldwork and beading.

Kay Kellaway – talking about ‘My Glove’ – and the work of the Duke of Edinburgh design artist Patricia Roberts, her designs and her wool and she will be bringing some of her books.

Anne Baldwin – talk entitled ‘Wanderings’ - 
Ann’s textile journey which has been mostly in felt, was followed up with a C & G - new level one 2011-12 at aged 70, She will be bringing some samples and items to pass round, both stitched and felted.

Sandra Kedzlie – ‘My Diploma Poster’ – a talk about the development from initial design stages through  sampling to finished pieces, one of which was chosen for the college poster in 1997.
Sketchbooks; design sheets; samples to look through.

A good way to start off the New Year.  Look forward to seeing you all there.

SUMMER SCHOOL NEWS

The Regional Summer School will take place from 11th to 14th July 2013 with the following tutors and we now have the prices for the courses as follows -

11th to 14th – Isobel Hall - 'Hard backed books with open embroidered spines' £295.00 p.p single en-suite £286.00p.p shared en-suite £205.00 p.p non resident.

12th to 14th – Amy Senogles – 'Embroidery Experiments' 
and
12th to 14th – Pat Barrett – ‘That Darned Stitch’-
both at
£200 single en-suite; £194 shared en-suite; £140 non-residential.

Remember – your application/booking form has to be returned to Sue Widden by 15th January.

December 8th–Christmas meeting

A very busy and productive day with about 20 Christmas trees having been produced - from 3D stand-up to flat ones on card – many thanks to Sue C., Carole and other members of the committee who had provided felt, card and many, many other bits and pieces.

Women at work – busily stitching!

And now for some trees -

 
One of the 3-D trees – “a shoe tree”!

And now for our raffle winners with their baskets of yummy bits and pieces!

  First

  Second

  Third

I didn’t dare photograph all the food we had – a constant nibbling of mince pies, chocolate biscuits, cakes and boxes of chocolates were on hand throughout the day – we hardly had room for our sandwich lunches but we seemed to manage quite well.
Many thanks to Kay and Audrey for providing and organising the food arrangements.

AND -
As a result of our display and demonstration at Eccleston Library we had two visitors who joined in with the fun and even won a prize or two – so hopefully they will return and become full members of the Branch.  We look forward to seeing them in January.

A Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year to you all. 
SANDRA.

 

Chairman’s Challenge

A message from our joint Chairmen – Anne Baldwin and Sue Tyldesley -
The Chairman’s Challenge is a 3 yearly competition for members, coinciding with the outgoing Chairman’s final year in office.

The theme for 2013 will be  - 'My favourite Place' and should comprise a piece of embroidery or textile work of any kind, no larger than A4 in any direction (3D work can be included).

Please feel free to interpret the theme widely -it does not have to be a real place!
Closing date –14 September 2013-our AGM.
So get your thinking heads on – you have about 9 months to work on an idea.
BUT of course you will also be working on exhibition pieces for June 2013, so a busy year ahead.

Should keep us all out of mischief though.

DECEMBER MEETING–Colour Raffle–GOLD

ALL THAT GLITTERS -

AND THE BUMPER BASKET HALF YEAR RAFFLE

3 baskets of ‘goodies’ will again be available  for our extra-special stitch related prizes – worth far more than the price of one raffle ticket!!  So come and buy and have a chance of winning really good prizes

Christmas meeting–December 8th

‘A QUIRKY CHRISTMAS’ HANDS-ON’

All you need to bring is a simple sewing kit,  – you will be making a Christmassy object and you will be provided with templates, green felt and all other bits and pieces you might need.

The day will include a quiz, which you can study over lunch and you will need to bring your own lunch.  Cake will be provided!! 
Should be a fun day.

AND DON’T FORGET – we start at 11.30 so don’t be late.
Sue Chisnall.

ECCLESTON LIBRARY VISIT–24th NOVEMBER

The Eccleston library had put up a display of our work with a collection of craft books to advertise our event.
This created a lot of interest  and the people who came to take part had come mainly because of  the display, although it had been advertised in local newspapers, shops and hand-out flyers at various venues.
Some very creative people turned up on the day and have expressed an interest in visiting our next branch meeting. We look forward to meeting them again.

Julie, the Librarian took a picture of us all and it has been posted on to Twitter – so do have a look if you can.

Our next event of this kind will be at Leyland Library on 19th January 2013 – hope to see some new faces there – you will be most welcome.

Report by Angela McLarnon.

TALK BY MARIA WALKER–10th NOVEMBER

Maria gave an interesting talk about the developments in her textile work over the years.  These included the use of old family photographs, albums, letters, dressmaking patterns etc., and an interest in ‘women’s history and she had brought a range of finished pieces which included aspects of all these things in her work.

Her love of poetry and lettering – shown in the pieces below were part of her display of personal work relating to her family history and had been stitched on old blankets using reverse applique, machine embroidery and many other techniques.

        

To see more photographs and information on an amazing
co-incidence that happened when she came across a bundle of old letters in an antique shop in Cheshire (too long to relate here) go to Maria’s website at – www.mariawalker.co.uk

WORKSHOP WITH LIZZIE WALL–Saturday 3rd November

Report by Sue Chisnall -
We had a fabulous day, with 12 members attending a very relaxed workshop, with a lovely friendly atmosphere.
Lizzie provided all of the fabrics, templates and wadding, and we appliqued small pieces using these fabrics with bond-a-web to a background of our choice, to form an owl.
Each owl developed naturally into little personalities, and were very different.
Members machine or hand stitched the pieces into place, and quilted their pieces to form a hanging.

Photographs taken at our monthly meeting – sorry don’t have names -
I must say I think Sue is right they do have their own individual character – must be the choice of fabrics.

  The Wise One!!

  The Cuddly One!!

NOVEMBER RAFFLE–SILVER

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary.
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
and pretty maids all in a row.”

AND – don’t forget that we shall need a supply of stitchy things for our Christmas bumper raffle – please bring anything you can spare.  You might even win one of the three baskets of goodies.

NOVEMBER 10th MEETING–TALK BY MARIA WALKER

“RAGS TO RICHES – Taking inspiration from the past” - will be  based on  Maria’s creative journey as a textile artist; where she finds her inspiration and the techniques she uses.
Maria will also tell us about her solo exhibition at the Brindley and how this came about.

Maria has a website with a lot more images of her work – this can be viewed at – www.mariawalker.co.uk

LINUS DAY–6th NOVEMBER

A Linus Day is to be held at Sticky Fingers in Coppull from 10a.m to 4p.m.
You can go along to the workshops and help make small quilts for children while having a good time with friends.

All fabrics will be provided – you just need to take your usual sewing equipment and a packed lunch

Please book your place in advance either in the shop or by phoning 01257 794468.

APOLOGY

An apology -  I showed  Kay Kellaway’s piece of work in the Blog entry for  24th August and attributed the work to Pat Bean.

Very sorry about this, but I would appreciate a small name tag on all pieces of work brought in for display – I saw both Kay and Pat handling this piece, but I really should have checked with them before publishing.  Please forgive – I will try to be a better girl!!

BRANCH EXHIBITION 2013

The Committee have agreed to organise an exhibition of members work from 11th June to 22nd June at ‘The Art House Gallery’ on Eastbank Street, Southport.

The  theme will be “SCAPES” and can include – Landscapes, Seascapes, Skyscapes, Townscapes and any others you can think of.

One of my photographs - taken recently looking across to the pier at Southport on a wet and windy evening – very atmospheric and a wonderful subject for a skyscape or should it be sunset-scape!!! As usual you get a very good view of the rain falling!!

 

And another – taken last week looking from my bedroom window – WOW!!!!!

SO get those creative juices flowing to create something for this Branch exhibition.
The last one in 2005 was based on Rufford Old Hall and we were amazed at the amount of wonderful work produced so do have a go –we know you can.

More details and deadlines will be announced in the new year.

Painting with Brusho and Marbling on Shaving Foam–Saturday 13th October.

Sue Chisnall and Caroline had us working flat out all afternoon to produce wonderful pieces of decorated papers and fabrics – to be used in 2 further Hands-on sessions later in our programme.

A very different way of producing marbled fabrics and papers and much quicker and easier than boiling up Carageen moss, waiting for it to cool and set before getting to work.

This method does not produce such crisp results as the traditional method of marbling but for quick backgrounds it is ideal.

I was supposed to photograph you all at work but got so engrossed in what I was doing, I just did not have the time, so you will have to put up with my efforts.

 
Fabric print.

Print on paper.

My grandaughter came with me and we found the best results for marbling were by taking the first print onto fabric and a second could be made onto paper, which lifted with it a lot of the foam, so gave different results.

We moved on to painting with Brusho powders and putting a piece of paper under the fabric when painting, gave us a bonus painted paper.

Fabric painted with Brusho and while still wet, some contrasting dry Brusho powder was sprinkled on top to create interesting effects.

The paper print was very effective as the wrinkles in the paper created further patterning -

Everyone was delighted with their results so we now look forward to the next session when we start to stitch.

Thanks to Sue and Caroline.

November 3rd –10a.m to 4p.m Workshop with Lizzie Wall- Appliqué Owl

The aim of the day workshop is to produce a quilted wall hanging depicting an owl, which is made by appliquéing cut out pieces of fabric to a base ground using bondaweb, and machine/hand stitch to fix.
The cost of the workshop will be £25 for EG members & £30 for non members; this will include all fabrics, bondaweb & design material.

You will only have to bring a pencil, small sharp scissors which can be used to cut fabric & through paper as well.
If using a sewing machine, which must have a darning or free machinery foot, please bring suitable threads (variegated would be great) & if hand stitching bring suitable hand threads & needles.

If you wish to attend please contact Sue Chisnall or book at the October 13th meeting.

OCTOBER COLOUR RAFFLE - WHITE

Mary had a Little Lamb

Its Fleece was WHITE as snow………..

Internet image……………

OCTOBER 13th MEETING–HANDS-ON SESSION

This meeting will be led by Sue Chisnall when we will be exploring ‘The Wonders of Brusho’ and ‘Marbling with Foam’.

This will be one of three Hands-On sessions, in which you will colour cotton fabric with a selection of colours using Brusho, and marble patterns onto cotton fabric/paper using acrylic paints & shaving foam.

The coloured/patterned fabrics will be used in further sessions as backgrounds for simple stitch & finally a made piece  eg: bag or book cover etc.

Requirements for the day -

Cotton fabric – 2 pieces of pre-washed plain white cotton fabric approx. 16”x12”.
Cotton fabric – 2 x  A4 pieces of pre-washed plain white cotton fabric.
4small plastic bags to take work home as fabric may be wet.
Rubber/plastic gloves (optional)
Apron or old clothes.
Old used credit card for scraping.

A MEMBER’S ENTRY FOR A COMPETITION IN HER OWN WORDS by Karen Hurrell.

I signed up for Janet Browne's workshop at the NW Region Summer School at Alston Hall this year, but struggled to think of what I would do during the workshop. I came up with an unusual solution. I took along an idea for a piece on the theme of 'York - celebration of a city' which, if I could make it quickly enough, could become part of an exhibition celebrating York's 800th anniversary. I hoped that this would prevent me from ending up with another UFO in the cupboard!

Well, I spent the Summer School weekend working on two samples (still unfinished) and only got as far as drawing up a design for the full size piece. A couple of days' leave and a weekend later, I had managed to do most of the appliqué and submitted two rather poor quality photographs of my 'work in progress' for consideration - on the final morning for entries. Over the next two weekends I continued working on it: finishing the appliqué, embellishing with free machine embroidery and adding texture with free machine quilting. I still didn't know at this point whether it would be selected.

On 13 August I got the email I had been waiting for, and to my surprise my work had been selected! I then had only five evenings to finish it: adding a facing to the shaped edge and finally a label and hanging sleeve. I just managed to finish before heading off on holiday. You can see the finished piece on display, along with 30+ other quilts, in York until 16 November. A list of venues is available from York Tourist Information, the Quilt Museum and Gallery or anywhere displaying a quilt.

Go to Karen’s own blog for more information and close up pictures – Serpentine Stitches

Well done Karen – a great achievement and a super piece of work.

SATURDAY 6th OCTOBER at TARLETON LIBRARY–OUTREACH PROGRAMME.

A few of our members  will be demonstrating and showing some of their work at this Library in Mark Square, Tarleton PR4 6TU - just off the A59/A565 junction.  Turn at the A58/A565 cross road traffic lights towards the village centre; row of shops on left and the Library is straight ahead – turn right at the  mini-roundabout and first left will take you to a large car park at the side and  rear of the shopping precinct.

We will be there from 9.30a.m to 1p.m and we are inviting the public  to come and see what we do; talk to the members and pick up a programme for the forthcoming year. 
Branch members will be working on small pieces of hand stitching – called INCHIES - and you might like to come along and ‘have a go’ and find out what they are!! 
Please pass this on to as many people as you know who might be interested.

For more information you can contact me through the Guild website – Parbold Branch page.

NOTICE – We will be doing 2 more of these events at Eccleston (24th November) and Leyland Libraries (19th January 2013) – more details of these nearer the time.

NATURAL PROGRESSION AT BRABINS

5 of our members belong to the Natural Progression Exhibiting Group, and they will be showing their work at the Brabins Gallery in Chipping, north of Preston as follows -

The exhibition and sale of Textile Art  - “UNDERGROUND, OVERGROUND”
will be open from 3^rd - 30^th October 2012

Brabin’s Shop & Gallery, 22 Talbot St, Chipping, Preston PR3 2QE.

Telephone: 01995 61221

SATURDAY 8th SEPTEMBER–Talk by Nikki Parmenter

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What an inspirational afternoon we had with Nikki who gave us a great talk today, full of colour, fun and enthusiasm.  
She is a fine artist by profession, but after working on paper and then wood, decided to work on fabric, creating HUGE and exciting hangings and 3D pieces based on cultural and religious themes.
In fact many of her pieces were so big they had to be ‘displayed’ on the floor!!
She incorporates various items, mostly bought at BQ, and which include hosepipe and garden mesh; beer cans and acetate sheet, with paint, fabric, old lace, ribbons, beads and even hair extensions! - to create her work. 

Our members really enjoyed the talk & I am sure the memory will last for a long time – the vibrancy of the colours and the amazing 3D animals making her work almost surreal.

Many thanks Nikki for a fascinating afternoon – a new experience for us.

I’m sure my photographs will not do her work justice, but here goes………    

      

AND the ‘piece-de-resistance’ was the last piece of her display which is still ‘work in progress’ – The TURTLE – a turtle on a plinth with an Elephant on his back carrying the World on his shoulders – amazing!!!!!

The words are both mine and those of Sue Chisnall and the photographs are mine – ENJOY.

SEPTEMBER RAFFLE

This month we start our new Colour Themed raffles based on Nursery Rhymes – the first one is

LET’S MAKE THE COLOUR PINK – red and white in different quantities for various shades, and I couldn’t resist this picture of roses – my favourite flower.  So bring along as many shades as you can find.

September 8th–A.G.M and Talk by Nikki Parmenter on ‘Experimental Textiles’.

Our September meeting will be preceded by our AGM when new members will be voted on to the Committee and reports given on the year’s events.  Do come along to support our hard working committee and remember to bring your subscription for the new year which starts this month.

By the way have you completed your registration on the Guild website?  If not you can fill in a form and hand to Carole who will load it into the system for you.

The AGM will be followed by our speaker Nikki Parmenter – who takes her inspiration from a variety of multi-cultural sources which are rich and complex.  She is intrigued by the symbolism created by different races and societies and the way in which objects, natural phenomena, birds and animals, are given magical properties.  She will talk about the inspiration for each piece; the importance of good solid research and the use of drawing.  A sample of her work is shown below.

PHOTOGRAPH UPDATE

The following photograph of our Hands-on session in July – Using Modern Materials – was provided by John Clark – a montage of work from Sue, Tracey and me on Tyvek, Lutradur and Bonded Foils.

The next pic’ shows a piece of work (in progress) influenced by Sue Rangeley’s new Book –‘Embroidered Originals’ and made by Pat Bean.

TALK by SUE SERCOMBE ON THE HISTORY OF THE SEWING MACHINE

Sue entertained us with a slide show of a selection of Machines and their history – starting in 1755 – some made in Germany, France, USA and here in Manchester.

She had brought part of her own collection of machines which were fascinating to see at close hand and she started her talk by saying that although many people still have collections of machines – inherited from family members – they are usually not worth much, as there were so many made that most of them were eventually worth only scrap value!!

I have taken the following pictures from the internet being some of the variety talked about by Sue.

 The Windsor machine

  A Singer – I learnt to sew on this type (my mothers) – a hand operated model.

It was eventually adapted to become a treadle but I never really liked it as my feet and hands seemed to work in different directions and my stitching met itself coming the other way!!!

However this was the one that fascinated me the most as it was made in Colditz by the prisoners, ostensibly to make theatrical costumes, but needless to say other clothing was also being made at the same time!!
Co-incidentally I did in fact see it on a television programme earlier this week - about the making of an ‘escape aeroplane’ which showed this machine in one of the scenes.Thanks to Sue for a fascinating afternoon.

CREATIVE STITCHES AND HOBBYCRAFTS SHOWS - EVENT CITY, TRAFFORD CENTRE, MANCHESTER. 13-15 SEPTEMBER

All details for this show, sponsored by Women’s Weekly magazine, will be found on the exhibition website.

For the first time PRESTON THREADS, the exhibiting group of Textile Artists which I belong to,  will be showing their work, based on – “an Exploration of Colour” which includes the original design/sketchbooks.

Do hope you will be able to drop in to see us – I shall be stewarding on the Friday so come and have a chat about my ‘Blue Collection’ of books, bags and panels.

    

ALSO - ONE STEP ON TEXTILE ARTISTS GROUP
will be exhibiting ‘TIFFANY IN STITCHES’.
From 4th September to end October at Samlesbury Hall near Preston and includes work by 6 of our members.

          

You will find more images of other pieces on the Blog entry for May.

PROJECT LINUS AT CHORLEY

I have just heard that Linus will be holding an Open Day event on Saturday 4th August at -
Craftypatch, The Old Stables, behind 20/22 West St Chorley PR7 2SJ 01257 277324

You are invited to ‘pop in’ and have coffee and a chat with Lesley.

AUGUST MEETING–E.G.M and TALK

After the short business meeting to nominate new committee members we will follow this with a talk by Sue Sercombe –      
 
“So Who did Invent the Sewing Machine”
As well as talking about the history of the domestic sewing machine she will bring along some of her collection for us to look at.
I think a lot of us will be able to relate to the old treadle used by our Grandmothers, so it should be a walk down memory lane kind of thing!!
My mother had at least 6 machines so I am looking forward to seeing if any of them are in Sue’s collection.

*************

MONTHLY COLOUR RAFFLE – PERIDOT -
A yellowish emerald green – a mineral linked with optimistic energy, with good luck, good physical condition and peace.

 

JULY HANDS-ON

Sue Chisnall demonstrated a different method of using Tyvek

Method-
After painting/stamping the Tyvek and when dry, this is free machine embroidered onto a base fabric, remembering that the more stitching, the less is burnt away.
You  then iron over the Tyvek, using parchment paper to distress the piece. Check frequently to see if the desired effect has been achieved.
You can also make beads by wrapping painted Tyvek around a knitting needle, secure with wire & zap with heat gun.

I demonstrated Foiled Velvets

Method -
Using black or coloured velvet as a background, Bondaweb or any other fusible webbing, was ironed on in strips or pieces and heat transfer foils applied over to create a shiny but subtle metallic background.  Further metallic embellishments were applied by attaching Bondaweb to the back of metallic ‘sweetie’ papers – cut to form patterns.  Use to create heavily embellished boxes, bags, caskets etc.

Sue, Tracey and I hope to see some finished or part-finished pieces from those who took part – please bring them to the next meeting!!

MEMBERS EXHIBITIONS

NATURAL PROGRESSION TEXTILES GROUP                    
will be holding 2 exhibitions during the summer, including work by 4 of our members.

TITLE – ‘ROCK ON’ based on Geology.  
30th July to 1st September at Alston Hall, Longridge PR3 3BP Telephone: 01772 784661 – open daily 9a.m to 5p.m and most evenings (please check with the Hall).
AND
TITLE – ‘UNDERGROUND, OVERGROUND’ – based on Geology and local Landscapes.
3rd to 30th OCTOBER at Brabins Shop and Gallery, Chipping PR3 2QE – open daily 7a.m to 5.30p.m

PLUS

ONE STEP ON TEXTILE ARTISTS
will be exhibiting at Brabins Shop and Gallery (see details above) and includes work by 6 of our members.
From 4th to 30th July -    TITLE – ‘TIFFANY IN STITCHES’

 

ADDITIONS TO OUR LIBRARY

As most of you will know we have been sorting out the Library books, DVDs and Videos etc., over the last couple of months, as our small cupboard is not able to hold a lot and we have to lift and carry everything into our meeting room.
We have therefore gone through the older books which were not being used and most members had read over the years; sold them on to some members and donated the remainder to Charity shops, which means we have been able to purchase a new but small selection of modern, up-to-date books and DVDs for you to enjoy.

These will be available to members at our July meeting and include 8 book titles and 7 DVDs by the following -Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn; Ineke Berlyn; Isobel Hall; Myfanwy Hart; Gwen Hedley; Angie Hughes;
Sarah Lawrence; Linda Rudkin; Kim Thittichai

To give everyone a chance to borrow these PLEASE only make your loan for ONE MONTH and return at the next meeting.
We hope you enjoy the selection – chosen from the list sent around to members at the last meeting.

 

JULY MEETING–COLOUR RAFFLE

THE BIRTHSTONE FOR JULY -  RUBY – DARK REDS

JULY 14th MEETING–HANDS-ON

Three different techniques will be available for you to try at this Hands-on session -

With Sue Chisnall – TYVEK – A different way.

With Tracey Ramsey – LUSCIOUS LUTRADUR.

With me – VELVET; Bondaweb /Misty Fuse and Foils.

Come and make a sample of each to take home and stitch.  You won’t need to bring anything with you – all items will be provided.

The Following samples are not necessarily what you will be doing on the day.

  TYVEK

 LUTRADUR

 
FOILS on Velvet

A collection of beads made from Tyvek, Lutadur and Foiled webs.
Should be a fun afternoon.