MONTHLY COLOUR RAFFLE –February 14th

‘NEUTRALS’ –
SALT MARSH, KAZAKHSTAN

 

 

 

 

 

This will also be the colour/design source for the A3 Travelling Book pages.

FEBRUARY 14th MEETING - SIT & STITCH SESSION followed by HANDS-ON with Sue and Tracey.

Prior to the afternoon meeting there will be a Sit & Stitch session from 12noon with Sandra who will be demonstrating a variety of -  
COUCHING TECHNIQUES.

You will need to bring 1 or 2 pieces of A4 size fabric –one calico or cotton plus an openweave piece.
Small piece of felt – any weight.

SMALL amounts of the following -
A variety of threads from thin to thick - include knitting wool, ribbons and torn fabric strips. 
Selection of needles, plus your usual sewing kit and a ring frame.

                         *******

The afternoon session will be the first of our 3 Interlinked Hands-On series with Sue and Tracey who will be making Stencils and Print blocks –

You will need -
Craft knife and cutting board- only if you have them. 
A4 piece – medium weight card.
A4 piece plain paper
A4 piece of tracing paper.

Pencil and Rubber. Paper scissors.
Double sided and masking tape.

18” - 24” length of string – any thickness.

TRAVELLING BOOKS–FIRST EDITION.

The 25 members who have taken part will finish their travels at our meeting on February 14th.

I have been informed by 3 members that they will not be able to continue due to family and work commitments but have all said how much they have enjoyed the project and getting to know one another.

SO if anyone else finds that they cannot continue, can you please let me know a.s.a.p. before the next meeting so that I can re-organise our groups.

ALSO – if there are other members who would like to join in please let me know so that I can bring in some books.

The committee thought it would be good to show what everyone has done so far – so we will put them all out on display at the February meeting.
Thanks for making this event so successful.

Some pages are shown below -

 

OUR FIRST MEETING OF 2015.

A lively committee meeting this month – lots to discuss including Programme; Sit & Stitch; Hands-On and Travelling Books  as well as information from HQ which had to be notified and discussed at our main meeting.  
A report on this part of the meeting and questions raised will be sent to all members as soon as I get them all together – please remember to send to me if you haven’t already done so.

Our Show and Tell by 3 members was then a nice bit of light relief – just listening to how each of them had initially stitched in their earlier years – one from the age of 9; and how they had approached their City and Guilds courses at two different centres with some wonderful results - some of which are shown below – in order of speaking -

Caroline Percy    and     Sue Chisnall-Sumner

                         

and Marguerita McBride.

It is such a pity that these courses hardly exist now, as many ladies have found that it gave them a focus for their future retirement - some going on to teach others, or joining/forming exhibiting groups and generally keeping the Guild membership thriving!

However in the North West, the Region have been running courses for the past couple of years but we don’t know for how much longer this will happen.

January Meeting–Saturday 10th

There will be a committee meeting this month – starting at 12 noon prompt. Agenda’s will be sent out prior to the meeting so to all committee members - please let Kay have any notices as soon as you can.

The afternoon meeting will be a Show and Tell by 3 of our members – Sue Chisnall-Sumner, Caroline Percy and Marguerita McBride - who attended a very interesting course  in 2014 and they will be sharing their experiences and finished pieces of work with you.

 

MEMBERS BLOGS & WEBSITES.

If you would like to see what some of our Branch members are doing, there are a few who have their own Blog or belong to a Group blog or website.  You can catch up with their latest news by going to the “Links” on the Branch blog and follow what is going on in neighbouring branches as well.
Our members with personal Blogs are

Karen Hurrell >serpentinestitches - who posts news of her latest miniature quilt pieces;
and
Tracey Ramsey >traceysthreads.blogspot.com
and who belongs to Natural Progression.
and
Sue Chisnall-Sumner- suecstextiles.blogspot.com  
Her latest news includes the textile courses she runs at Avant Garden Centre.  

We also have members who belong to different exhibiting groups and information can be found on the following sites -

One Step On > onestepon.co.uk
and
Preston Threads> prestonthreads.co.uk (this site is in the process of being updated at the moment but does show an archive of past work).

 

Christmas meeting–13th December

Our stitch and chat Christmas event was a great success with 35 members in attendance – all of whom actually took part in the Stitch Challenge and of course the chat and hearty lunch, with one of Kay’s wonderful cakes to follow and Mincepies of course – many thanks Kay.

The rest of the ‘banquet’ was provided by a local village caterer thanks to the work of Marguerita, our branch secretary, who unfortunately had to miss the event due to a chest infection.  Hope you will recover soon Marguerita – unfortunately we couldn’t keep any food for you!!!

 
Coffee or tea – while you stitch!

Members concentrating on their stitching.

 
‘The tea ladies!!!! – Carole, Deborah and Kay – our joint Chairmen and our assistant Programme Secretary – many thanks ladies for all the hard work.

 
Kay's ‘Friday night Cake Company’

All the eating and chatting was interspersed with 2 very different quiz sheets which baffled many of us and was followed by the prize giving for the best Christmas decoration.

Look below for ideas and inspiration!!

    

The winners are shown below – June’s Christmas Angel won first prize and …….

Karen’s extra large Bauble won third prize – on the left below.

There was a second prize winner – Gilly – but the photograph of her piece – a pretty little bauble - did not print well enough – sorry Gilly!
It is the brown background of the table which does not show things off to their best – must remember a cloth next time!!

Have a good holiday everyone and see you all in 2015.