DO YOU LIKE A GOOD READ???

I have been an avid reader from a very early age when I remember the excitement of waiting for the latest edition of the books by Enid Blyton. 
I still have my 1945 copy of  ‘Five go to Smugglers Top’  and the 1946 ‘Castle of Adventure’ and remember going to the Saturday book club in our local bookshop when the owner read a chapter  – why don’t they do that now?  What an encouragement that was to get children reading – we couldn’t wait to get home with the latest book to see what happened next!

However I digress – I now go to my local library where I am still an avid reader and the other week came upon a ‘Quilting Murder Mystery’ – yes that’s what it said on the cover, so I couldn’t resist and thought that those of you who like to read might find them interesting – this is not an advert!!
This turned out to be a series of books by Terri Thayer – the first called ‘Wild Goose Chase’ which those who know about quilting will recognise as a quilting design (I didn’t).  Having been to the Quilt show at the NEC I will now look at it in a different light!!

There are two more in the series – ‘Old Maid’s Puzzle and ‘Ocean Waves’ and I suppose these too must be quilt designs though I haven’t come across these yet.  If you like a good story with a bit of mystery thrown in – look out for them in your library. Hope you enjoy.

PROJECT LINUS UPDATE

After our meeting on 12th February, a remarkable 12 quilts and 6 knitted blankets had been completed and were passed to Lesley for distribution.
It was exciting to see what everyone had done in such a short time but we all agreed that this was probably down to the bad weather – no gardening and not much going out either!!   However we all hope to keep up a supply of items coming in for the future even if they are at a slower rate.

Lesley had brought more fleece and a lot of fabric scraps in for everyone to use, as well as the new ‘kit’ to make a star.  A lot was taken but I still have a supply of some of the fabric pieces so they will be brought to the March meeting.

One or two of the quilts and blankets are shown below.  Not all by Guild members.

  Sylvia

Lillian

Angela

Sue Tyldesley

AND……. another item, made by Angela McLarnon who took on board the Christmas Challenge of ‘Working in one stitch’ and instead of creating a book cover design, decided to go for a small panel. Looks great Angela.

OLYMPIC POSTCARDS PROJECT –SERBIA

To celebrate the 2012 London Olympics, the Guild is proposing a spectacular tribute by creating a series of textile postcards dedicated to each of the countries taking part.

Parbold Branch have been allocated Serbia as our country and the aim is to make a set of landscape ‘cards’ 6” x 4” with the national flag at the top of a concertina fold strip.  Aspects of the country can include costume, customs, currency, embroidery, fauna, flora, food, geography, landmarks etc…  The list is endless as are the techniques that can be used to replicate the ideas.  Images and information can be found on -www.flags.net/index.htm and you can also try http://www.en.wikepedia.org for other information about the country.

The Serbian flag is red, white and blue and it has been suggested that to make the strips of cards more cohesive, we will use at least one of those colours either as a background or in the stitching.  These are just some starting points so that you can investigate your own ideas.

More information, planning and making up instructions will be provided and we hope to have a workday to get them under way sometime in May.  They will probably need to be completed by the end of the year and more news on all of this will be provided later.

 

February 12th meeting: Hands-on session

Sue Chisnall and Tracey Ramsey will be commencing their three linked Hands-on sessions on “Colour Exploration”.
We will be painting onto watercolour paper and you will need to bring the following  for this first session -

Watercolour Paper 140 weight or equivalent – minimum of 12 pieces cut into rectangles of 6” x 4”.
Watercolour paints – at least the 3 primary colours – red, blue, yellow.
Large size paint brushes.
Jam jar or paint pot and mixing palette.
Notebook and pencil for note taking.
Apron.

Sue and Tracey will supply additional items and explain in more detail what will be needed for the second session in April.

February Colour Raffle

The Rose  - my favourite flower.

‘ROMANTIC RED’

Project Linus News

Prior to the Branch afternoon meeting, February 12th, the Village Hall has been booked for the first gathering of the Project Linus Group.

Commencing at 11.30 Lesley Mercer, Lancashire
Co-ordinator will attend with advice and supplies, AND to take with her any completed blankets or quilts – so please bring anything you have made or are still making so that we can all see how we are getting on.
We will also discuss how often to hold these meetings and how we feel they should be run and funded.

Please be prompt as we have to make sure we clear everything away by 1.30 for the setting up of the Branch afternoon Hands-on session.
If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

JANUARY MEETING–Sketchbooks

Well, I thought I had a lot of my own sketchbooks, but Ann’s collection was truly amazing.
She could even go back to her school days (of course - not so very long ago!!) and fascinated us all with memories of her family and their technical drawing skills which had rubbed off and influenced her work from a very young age.

Ann talked us through a variety of sketchbooks with the aid of a Power Point presentation; some to do with various courses she had done and her most creative was her ‘Chinese Book’ for her City & Guilds in Creative Sketchbooks’ taken as a distance learner with Linda and Laura Kemshall.  This is shown below.

I have included photographs of some individual pages below just to give you all a flavour of some of her ideas – lots based on holiday photographs and drawings and some on project work she is doing with ‘One Step On’.

Based on the Tate Gallery in St. Ives.

Work in progress

A small finished piece from one of her design ideas.

Thank you Ann for a very entertaining and informative afternoon.

Our member who gave a vote of thanks commented that she had not before realised that a sketchbook could  be a visual diary and not a finished masterpiece – you can keep dipping into it for ideas for many years to come.

SO how about it – let’s see more of them – bring yours in to our meetings so we can see how you are getting on.  Who knows some of your pages might be shown on the Blog eventually.
One drawing a week is a good place to start – go out and buy that empty sketchbook now and get drawing, sticking – whatever you want and good luck!!!