Thursday 8 December 2011

Christmas meeting

Hello everybody, I thought I would just say that a few people came up to me at the meeting and said that they think we should have the mini workshops more than once a year. That they think it is a really good way of mixing in and meeting new people and making new friends. I do agree and think it may be worth having this type of day in the summer also. I will suggest it at the next committee meeting at the beginning of January. So watch this space!!I was running the 'Tiny Tea Lights' workshop and I really enjoyed it.Everybody made a tea light,they were all very different colours and different decorations were added.They all needed to be dried at home and then finished off - but I would love to see them finished - so maybe those people on my table would bring them to the January meeting and we can have a little display.Pauline (Treasurer)

Wednesday 7 December 2011

What a long time!!!!!!!

Hello girls
What a long time since I last spoke to you - I really don't know where the time goes to and I have been very remiss in my updating of the blog. Please accept my apologies and I hope to do better in 2012.
I have come on today to give a brief report about last Saturday's meeting which was excellent.
Our Christmas meetings are listed as Members Days and can take a variety of formats - this year was a direct repeat of last year which had to be cancelled because of the atrocious weather conditions.
Dulcie had enlisted the services of several of our members to organise little mini-workshops to last approx 2 hours and we were offered various alternatives (usually with a Christmas theme): so we had card making options, two angel options (though one was listed as a hairy fairy!!!!), small christmas bags and boxes, tea light holders, tree decorations etc. etc - you get the idea.
We had a quick (for us) business meeting and then we were up and running or heads down and on with our activities - you can always tell when something is going well as there is a quiet hum of activity as people concentrate and then start to quietly chat amongst themselves as their confidence with the task grows - we had a great afternoon and I think practically everyone went home with something  complete or that they could complete easily at home.
 On my table I offered bird tree ornaments and I was really pleased with my pupils efforts and hope to see embellished birds in January.

I on behalf of the committee would like to say a big thank you to those who volunteered!!!!! to teach for the afternoon as without you the day would not be such a success. Thank you for all the preparation beforehand, your time and expertise on the day and for leaving your workstations tidy at the end.  Also thanks to Dulcie for organising the day - everybody was in the right place at the right time - no small achievement.

Other highlights of the afternoon were a bran tub, raffle, Christmas bag competition ( I would like to tell you who won but I wasn't listening when it was announced - sorry) and best of all we had cake at half time for which I have to thank Liz Lumb as it was her usual lovely cake. I had both the fruit side and the sponge side!!!!!!

I am going to invite some more committee members to participate in the Blog so you should have a better chance of getting information next year - Have a very good Christmas and all good wishes for 2012.
Chris B

Friday 8 July 2011

Action Aid Stall - August

Hello everyone
Just a quick but very important reminder to ask for items to sell on our stall at this event in the Guildhall. 
 We need a wide variety of small items which will attract people to stop and spend - probably needlework based.
Greetings cards which have been successful at our meetings would be welcome as would small items such as pincushions, needlecases  brooches etc.
All proceeds will be going towards our Guild funds to be used for the benefit of members.
Many many thanks in anticipation

Items can be taken to the Guildhall on the day/s or if it helps items can be brought to my house please phone me (Chris Beavers) on 01904 792644  for any help I can give.

Friday 10 June 2011

July Meeting

Shirley Speaking!

Just to remind you all that it is the Chairman's Competition at the July meeting. I hope you have all been busy making beautiful hand made and decorated boxes. I'm looking forward to seeing them all.

Another quick reminder, about the small objects we have been asking you to make for our stall at the Guildhall in August. It would be good to receive those in July too, although we are happy to accept items for sale up to the very last minute, ie 16th/17th August!!

A new issue of 'In Contact' has just been published, and will be available on the Guild website.

Happy stitching.

Monday 6 June 2011

Additions to the Blog!

Hello all - I bet you are surprised to see me on the Blog so early in the month - well I am here very quickly to add some new links, I was asked at the meeting if I would add the website  of one of the members in the links and I really don't see why not so I have and then had a thought that I should extend this same courtesy to all other members.
So I have added Carol Coleman's Fibredance website and also Diverse Threads and I am aware that Diana Barrett and Cluny Chapman also have websites which I will add shortly - Please let me know if you do not either of these adding otherwise I will add them soon.
It there are any other members with textile related sites please let me know.

We had a really good meeting on Saturday which I will tell you about later not today!!!

Friday 3 June 2011

May's Meeting

Right girls here we are the night before the meeting tomorrow and I am just writing the report! But hey ho!

I have got to tell you that since I am no longer Programme Secretary one of the joys of coming the Embroiderers' Guild meetings is that I have no idea about the speaker or what she is going to say, and I have got to tell you that I am so rarely disappointed, and last month was no exception.

The speaker was a delightful lady called Janet Browne and I knew nothing of her until I signed up for her class and was directed to her website and when I saw that I knew I was in for a treat and she delivered big time!

The main feeling I came away with was the absolute delight she had in herself at being able at the age of 48 to allow herself to draw and paint exactly as she wants and her work has a wonderful naive quality which reflects this.

Her work is based on maps and she started by drawing small maps of her walks and these just got longer and longer! She draws very quickly and she draws things that are important bigger (rather like children do). She adds symbols from OS maps for texture and rather like children if she draws a hill it goes up and has to come down again and features are added as though they are laid down. This explanation is not reflecting the quality of her work at all - it is one of those things you have to see.

As well as mapping her walks, she also draws and maps her garden and allotments and journeys on holidays particularly the South West and has recently started to draw and work with birds.

Her textile technique, which she was so generous in sharing with us, is really a variation of reverse applique, but to say that is too simplistic - the work is staggering.

As was the workshop that several of us participated in the next day.

I am sorry I have no photos to show you - if I round some up from members I will post them, but I would recommend you to her website (http://www.janetbrownetextiles.com/).

Notices for tomorrow (I know I'm a bit late!) - in the morning I will be available to show you a possible solution for mounting the Olympic Guinea postcards. Sad to say I am still struggling to find images and information about Guinea, but will keep plodding away!

See you tomorrow - please be warned I will be a bit excitable tomorrow - I may be getting a new dog!

Finally!!!!!!!!

Hello girls - I bet you all thought I had dropped off the face of the earth as I have been so remiss and hopeless in my duty as Blogmaster.  Well this is not the case - I just totally missed the deadline for the April meeting and have very nearly missed the deadline for this one too!!!!

So this being the case I am going to give a brief report on April's talk, which was actually a repeat of one that was given by Linda in December 2009, but owing to weather very few people attended and as her work is very interesting we invited her back to repeat the talk.

I was one of the people who heard the talk the first time round and enjoyed it very much and equally enjoyed it this time. I think this is because the first time I heard Linda speak and saw her work I was overwhelmed by the creativity and the breadth of her work.

Her talk is called 'Exploring Identity through Creativity in Texitiles & Beads', which seems a bit of  a mouthful but actually you get what it says on the tin. Linda is an American, married to an Englishman and living in this country and she explores the differences between America and this country as she sees them. One of the main ones being scale. For example, I don't think I live near the coast. Linda, who lives in Leeds, does think she lives near the coast and this is because she was born and brought up in central North America, where the coast is thousands of miles away and therefore the 80 miles to Scarborough is nothing to her - it's all just a matter of scale!

Her work is varied and ecclectic and she is very willing to share her prodigious output with us all, bringing lots and lots of examples of her textile work, her beadwork and her work incorporating glass. She outlined her inspiration and her methods and was generous with both explanations and time. I thoroughly enjoyed this talk, possibly even more the second time.

She kindly allowed me to photograph her work and I am going to post some of the photos of her work here for you to see and I think you will agree that it speaks for itself.

Beadwork:





Feltwork:






Sunday 17 April 2011

Young Embroiderers

Shirley speaking again.

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time on Thursday. As I hadn't been at the April meeting, I didn't known the dates that the Young Embroiderers were meeting, so I was a little surprised to meet up with Anne B-Z in the car park at the Burtonstone Centre, when I was on my way to an Ebor meeting.

As soon as I had the chance, I went along to their room to see what was happening. I found eleven children, two mothers, a grandmother and four of our members, busily engaged on some stunning work. The theme was 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', which is the title of this year's competition for the Regional Day. This was their second morning, and the pieces had made tremendous progress in the time available. The subjects ranged from 'square sweets that look round' to 'chocolate fountains', golden tickets, umpa lumpas and of course the man himself, Mr Willy Wonka.

I was very impressed with the work and the imagination which had been used. The children are not forced to submit their work for the competition, and I guess that many of them will have wanted to take their masterpieces home with them, But I do really hope that we will have some of the work to take with us to the region meeting, because as far as I was concerned, they all deserved prizes, as did all the adult helpers.

So, a big thank you to all concerned with the YE for the sterling work they do, and for giving so generously of their time and talents, which are considerable. This is the future of embroidery, and it is one of the most important jobs we can do as members of the guild, to pass on our skills and enthusiasm for our craft.

The final thing I have to say is that a room full of eleven children and seven adults, totally focused on their task, was far, far quieter than the one with ten adults that I was in!! Keep up the good work!

Monday 4 April 2011

AGM

Hello everyone. Shirley speaking.

Well here I am, back from sunny, Bonnie Dundee, home of jute, jam and journalism, the 'silvery Tay', 'Scott's Discovery', and of course the the location of this year's Guild AGM.

The hotel venue was wonderful. I wasn't fortunate enough to be staying there, but Sandra M, Sheila W and Isobel G will be able to tell you what a life of luxury they lived there for a few days. What I can tell you about it is that the food was wonderful, and the staff extremely helpful. The whole weekend had been meticulously organised by a combination of HQ, the Scottish Regional Committee and the members of Dundee Branch. The North West Region will have a hard act to follow next year at Southport, but I'm sure they will rise to the challenge!

The only criticism I have is that for the whole of Saturday morning, the sound system was out of action, and I had a job to hear what was going on during the AGM meeting. I would have given you a brief resume of the business, but couldn't hear well enough to be able to take notes. Fortunately, Sue G must have better hearing than I, so she will give you all a report at our next meeting. Suffice it to say, that we now have a new Chairman, Pauline Hannon, who was Chairman of the North West Region at the same time that I was in Yorkshire, so I know her well enough to be able to say that she will do her very best for the future of our Guild.

I didn't take my camera, because it would have been too cumbersome, but once again Sue G came to the rescue, and when she sends me her photos, I'll post some for you to see. The only one I did take, is on my phone, and when I get it off I'll show you. Just to temp you, it is of Sandra M wearing the fruits of her Friday workshop to the Gala Dinner on Saturday evening! No doubt there will also be pictures in the next edition of 'Contact' and 'In Contact'.

I understand that you all had a very good meeting on Saturday last, and that I wasn't missed one bit, which is just as it should be!!

Friday 1 April 2011

March meeting - part 2

I have managed to make it back to complete the blog - the wandering notebook has returned and Him indoors has survived with a bit of a flea in his ear!

Whilst I was waiting for him to return I modified the blog a little. I have removed the icicle pictures which were quite frankly starting to get on my nerves - I will replace them with something more suitable. Any ideas?

If you look down the sidebar you will see that I have added favourite links - let me explain - click on these and you should be able to go directly to that web site though I have to say that at this stage I have not tested them.  I have put up links for 5 sites currently and will add more as either  I think more or I get suggestions from the membership.

The EG and Tracy Franklin are self explanatory; Stitchbusiness is a web site belonging to Tracy and her business partner offering City and Guilds courses and Royal School of Needlework courses; needlenthread is an American site owned by Mary Corbett which is based on traditional embroidery and is very instructive and full of good ideas and sound technique; Pintangle is a huge site based in Australia and owned by Sharon Boggan - again good for ideas and technique.

Will look for more contemporary based websites next month.



Finally back to the meeting:-

The meeting started with a young gentleman called Liam Evans who had asked to speak to us about the upcoming Mystery Plays - he was appealing for help in any capacity stitching,acting etc etc   Applications forms were available.

Fiona Wilson was our speaker for today and I was delighted to listen to this young lady on several levels - the first being that she is the daughter of one of our members and there is always a good feeling about local branch linked talent, secondly she was a Guild Scholar for a year which to me justifies the national element of our organisation and thirdly  as it turned out she gave a most informative and enjoyable talk about her work.
She told us about having done  no art at school and how she had in fact studied for a business degree - however this was not for her and her career then took a more creative course which she outlined briefly.
I thought she had a novel approach to inspiration! i.e. how am I going to get started? - I will go for walk and take photographs - which she then translates into drawings and subsequently into fabric and stitch.
Fiona had used competitions to very good effect to stretch herself  and extend her work and she had several varied examples of her work with her which complemented her PowerPoint presentation well.
In conclusion she told us about being a Guild Scholar what it involved and how it had enabled her to secure  a workspace in which she can do her own work but also pass on her skill to her pupils.
She is now doing a MA at Manchester and has absolutely no regrets about the creative turn her life took.

Judging by the crowd of people around her whilst I was having my cup of coffee I was not the only person who enjoyed listening to her.

Next meeting

The next meeting will be on Saturday 2nd April 2011 (tomorrow!!)

There will be a Competition for a piece of work done from a commercial pattern/kit or a piece done at a workshop.

Viv will be collecting names and monies for The Regional Day at Riccall to be held on Saturday June 11th 2011 - the cost will be £22

Breaking News - I have been asked by the Chairperson to announce that we have taken a space at a Craft Fair to held in the Guild Hall on Tuesday 16th and  Wednesday 17th August 2011 and that contributions would be welcomed - Pincushions and needlework accessories may be a theme.


Finally I have been asked by the Secretary to ask you to put your thinking caps on to think of a title for our forthcoming exhibition  on June 22nd,23rd and 24th June  2012. 
2012  is going to be a busy year one way and another - the Olympics, the Queens Jubilee, 800 year anniversary of the Lord Mayor of York and any one or more of these could be the inspiration for a title. We are also looking for ideas for a Challenge, a Competition and a Special Display - all of these thing are what makes our Exhibition varied and interesting!

Thats it - I will have more Baltimore Quilt panels next time - apologies to those who are not up yet - they will be!

What a coffee break!!!

Goodness me that was a coffee break and a half!
Apologies to all but this is the first opportunity I have had  to get back to the blog - I have had my coffee first this time and so hopefully should be able to put in a decent amount.

The meeting - Saturday 5th March

I am going to do the meeting report first as it is the loading of pictures that seems to take me the longest time so please put up with the ramblings first and then I will reward you with pictures if I have time.


Would you believeit!!!!!!!!!!!  I had found the previously lost notes in a notebook, set up the computer already to go - fingers itching to type and went to get the notebook from the kitchen table only to find that it had gone walkabout again  Him indoors has taken it round to a neighbours to make notes and drawing of a wall!!!!! - I have a vague memory of him saying where he was going and what he was taking but as usual I was not giving him my total attention and off he has gone with my note book so there has to be a small change of plan!

Young Embroiderers
The young embroiderers' met during the half term holiday and their theme was cup cakes - the ingenuity of the young never ceases to amaze me and the examples that were brought along were a delight to behold    

Two examples of cakes and photographs taken on the day.

Well really  - you have to agree that these would not have looked out of place at Betty's

Scrumptious!

Blow your own trumpet

You may remember on one of my very first blogs I reported that we had a talk from a young woman called Serina Partridge, that I had enjoyed very much, well she followed this up with a workshop making delightful paper shoes.   I actually completed mine but forgot to bring them in
to the blow your own trumpet table but three of our number did remember!

We could make  shoes in different sizes as Dulcie shows us here.

These are Moira's blue shoes - two thoughts popped into my head, first the workmanship is excellent and second and very irreverently what sort of a doll could I make with two such mismatched feet in terms of size!

Pauline has shown us an excellent way to display our shoes
I have a memory that Sheila Ridgeon made a plea for people to put their names on their work when they put it out for display and to this end she has made some excellent labels which will be available for you to fill in and then we will know who to praise or question about a technique.
This month all three did label their work and well done to them but I would like to underline Sheila's request as then I can properly attribute work on the blog.

Lunchtime is looming and the missing notebook and Him indoors has not yet returned so I shall post this section and await his return - I will let you know if he survives!

Monday 28 March 2011

Last week before the next meeting - again!!!!

I really am not suited to blogging - - I have not the neccessary self discipline!  Despite several gentle reminders from the Chairperson here I am in the last week again deparately trying to remember what happened at the last meeting ( have lost the notes!).

What I can remember totally is that those of us who have been making Baltimore Quilt panels had to bring them all in and they looked fantastic -  the designs, the colours the workmanship were beyond all expectations.  Jean Graves who has been co-ordinating the project consulted on colours and ideas for sashing and borders and has now gone away with said panels to assemble the quilt.   We are making the quilt to raffle at our forthcoming exhibition in 2012 and already lots of people are envisaging how the completed quilt would look in their home (me included!)

Anyway enough waffle here are the pictures  - I have numbered the panels (in no particular order) as I want to match makers to panels - some I am sure of some I am more uncertain and do not wish to attribute wrongly.  If you have done a panel and I have not put your name beside it please e-mail me with the number and the technology Gods willing I will amend.

Number 1  Helen Webster

Number 2    Shirley Smith

Number  3       Diane Mawby

Number  4   Pam Drury
I have four pictures loaded and require coffee so am going to publish these as a measure of good faith ( really just to let the Chairperson know that I am working on it)  and I will be back with you later in the day.


Thursday 3 March 2011

Excuses excuses!!!

Hello one and all

The title says it all!!  - between holidays (mine) and a short month I have not had time to report on last month's meeting but it was a good one.

This post is just by way of a reminder about Saturday's meeting:-

Those members who are involved with the Baltimore Quilt please remember that Jean requested that the squares be returned completed this month  - which explains why I am stitching as if there is no tomorrow!!!

Following the success of the hand made cards at an earlier meeting it is going to be repeated this month - Easter cards may be good although any will be very acceptable.

If I think of anything else I will post further.

Monday 21 February 2011

Hello everyone. This is Shirley speaking. I have at last been invited to access the blog by the Blogmeister! I have two messages for you. Firstly there is to be second meeting with the interim Guild CEO, Terry Murphy, in March. This time it is for Branch Chairmen. There is to be a question and answer session, but questions need to be submitted before March 4th, ie before our next meeting. If anyone has a question they would like an answer to, about the future of the Guild, please could you let me have it before that date.

Secondly, a reminder to vote in the Guild Chairman election. You all have the voting paper in the latest issue of 'Contact'. If you would like to bring it to the March meeting, we will have a large envelope ready to send them all together, thus saving you the postage.

Thanks for listening
Shirley

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Exhibition

Hello all

This is a notification of an up coming exhibition of one of our Bursery students - we feel it is a good thing to continue support.
 

You are cordially invited to the preview of
DIPOLE -   a new installation by Flora Parrott 
 Friday 18th February 7-9pm
Ryedale Folk Museum
 
DIPOLE is Flora Parrott's response to the landscape of the North York Moors as Artist in Residence at Ryedale Folk Museum between October 2010 and January 2011
 
This all for now folks - will do the blog proper later!!

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Missive from HQ!

Hello all
Just a quickie to bring you up to date with what is happening in London.

Hello IT reps
Just to keep you updated, the Guild's move is taking place throughout this week, and so their response to emails and orders may be delayed during this time. They apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Guild's new address is:-


1 Kings Road, Walton on Thames, Surrey KT12 2RA

From Monday 7th February the phone number will be 01932 260738. We're asked to use this number instead of the old one as soon as it's live. The old number will have call forwarding on it but the Guild will be charged each time a call is redirected.

Please forward this information to members by email where possible; and if you could publicise the new contact details at your next meeting, that would be much appreciated.

The new address is being updated on the web site today and the phone number on the site will be changed at the weekend.

This is going out to all branch and regional IT reps

More of this on Saturday no doubt!

Thursday 27 January 2011

At Last

I have been threatening to post pictures and look at progress on the Baltimore Quilt - well here it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to confess to a certain amount of frustration as this point but am determined to get something up on this blog about the Baltimore quilt and it's progress - the frustration is entirely with myself and my technical limitations - no matter how I try I cannot add to the Baltimore Quilt page so progress is going to be shown here on the main page - better here than on my hard drive.

NOVEMBER
I started to collect photo's in November and here are some of them:-




This is the work of Jean Graves (leader of this project) - it shows a lovely ruffled flower. She was using it as a teaching aid so I am uncertain as to whether this is going on the final quilt.



This is the first completed block - completed by me because I totally misunderstood the instructions - I did not hear/understand that it was a ongoing process each month - I just went home and did it and returned it the following month because that's what I thought everyone was doing!! Needless to say I was encouraged to take another block and do it in stages - more of the second block later!


This is a block being made by someone who listened and brought it on Saturday morning to Stitch club to work on. I should know whose this is but only photographed and failed abysmally to take down details but I do like the combination of greens in this block.


This is a block in it's very early stages - and it is good to see how they begin as at this stage it looks rather empty and does not give a idea of it's full potential but just watch it's development.

That's all for now - will put up more photo's in day or two once I've calmed and gotten over my hissy fit with the Blog!

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Meeting with Terry Murphy

In my first posting about January's meeting I said that the CEO of the Embroiderers' Guild was coming to talk to our members - as it happened the meeting was the following Saturday (a fact I omitted - sorry) and as I understand it the meeting was well attended by members from all over the region including members from our branch.  The following brief  report was sent to the blog from Sue Giles who attended the meeting and covers the salient points - I am sure that more information will be available at the February meeting from members who also attended.



We had a meeting with Terry Murphy in response to a letter sent by our regional chairman.  He explained to us about his role in the Guild. He is a Management Consultant who has come in to help the organisation change, not to change the organisation and had been recommended.
We were told Jane Sweet has resigned and hopes to travel and do other things.

Terry has written an independent and regenerating programme for the Guild, there are no systems within the Guild that worked, and the Guild was in danger of collapse or serious harm if action was not taken, but said the staff have been brilliant under the circumstances and they and the Treasurer worked very hard, for the Guild.

The Guild is moving to a house in Walton on Thames and Terry has negotiated special rates with the B B and restaurants nearby for the members and it is also near the  station.  This move could be temporary or permanent so is open ended, but the Guild had to move.
The building has 2 floors and at the moment on the ground floor there will be a permanent room for the collection, a library, bookshop and workroom - all spacious.

The main thing is the collection and the top 1000 pieces will go with the move and be available to travel round the country. The rest will go into secure permanent security.  Lynne Sygenza has offered to help with the move of the collection much to the delight of the members at the meeting.

Terry told us the systems in the Guild were very out of date i.e. the computers and will need starting from scratch to be more efficient and up to date, and said the staff had to be relied on very much for their knowledge and information.  All the staff now have contract including the Treasurer, none of them had before, there are also new contracts with the phones etc.

The YE has not been run efficiently and has been losing money, but this will be altered as they are our future, there are only 670 YE in 67 branches.

Terry will be having a meeting with the staff, trustees, and all the regional chairman’s.
To finish can I say Terry said it was difficult to meet the Guild’s expectations with its charitable obligations and the members who had their own expectations, but we did feel we could go away and rely on him to help bring things forward.


May I just remind members that the next meeting is on Saturday February 5th    See you then




Sunday 16 January 2011

Branch Meeting Part Two

Cake

We did have cake and very good it was too!

Liz made it -one part fruit cake one part sponge
On behalf of all members and Committee a huge thank you to Liz Lumb - it really was appreciated.

Competition

We did have a Competition based on Icicles - we had 7 entries as varied as always. The entries are placed anonymously , numbered and then members vote for which entry they like the best by placing a coin in the accompanying envelope.  The entry with most coins (not the greatest value) win

The entries:-







As I said we had 7 entries - apologies to number 4 and 6 as the quality of my photography is not good.  The winner was number 1 and the maker was Pam Drury.  At this time I am not going to publish the remaining entrants as I do not have all that information - I know the makers of no's 2, 3 and 6 and will happily update the blog when I know the makers of the other entries - please let me know.

 Greeting cards

We asked for members to donate hand-made Christmas cards for sale at the Christmas meeting but when that meeting was cancelled we extended the remit to include any cards so long as they were hand-made. As usual the membership rose to the challenge and there was an extremely good selection of cards on sale -



We had a wide variety of cards donated.


People are so inventive!


Is this a good Christmas card or what?



 



















Saturday 15 January 2011

Branch Meeting Saturday - 8th January 2011

Hello everyone

I throughly enjoyed Saturday - I hadn't realised how much I had missed seeing people at the beginning of the festive season - we had to cancel the December meeting owing to bad weather conditions and somehow the celebratory nature of that meeting almost acts as a harbinger (is that the right word?) of Christmas and we had to wait an extra week for this meeting as New Years Day fell on our normal meeting day.

However we all gathered and another year begins with a very busy meeting - I loved it - plenty to see and plenty of people to talk to and plenty of good creative stitching going on.

In the morning we had the Baltimore Quilt Stitch Club (more of that on the dedicated page) and the normal social stitching and talking group.
 
After lunch the room was prepared and the main event began:- there was a relatively quick business meeting - the main notices were as follows.

                 Workshop        Minature Paper Shoes with Serena Partridge
                                           Saturday 12th February at Hartrigg Oaks

                 Workshop        Tracy Day  with Tracy Franklin
                                            Saturday 26th March at (I'll get back to you on that one!)

Members were asked for volunteers to demonstrate at The Quilt Museum on Saturday 29th January morning and afternoon.  Sessions are 10.30 - 1.00 and 1.00 -3.30  It is Viv who is trying to organise this and I think she has a space at the morning session - if you can help could you please e-mail/phone Viv Stamford - those people who have volunteered she needs to know what you are going to demonstrate for the Quilt Museums' publicity.

Bead group will meet as usual - second Wednesday of every month 1.30-6.00ish and that will be this Wednesday.  Numbers are getting a little low and the group may have to fold so if you would enjoy beading with like minded people then come along - non members would be welcome also.

Jean Graves asked that members who had taken Baltimore squares to return them completed for the March meeting ( that annoucement stirred me into activity!!!!) - she would like the quilt to be completed by Summer 2011.

Terry Murphy, the acting CEO of The Embroiderers' Guild is going to have meeting for our Region in Scarcroft Village Hall  (on the A58 between Wetherby and Leeds) on Saturday   from 2pm -4pm.   ALL WELCOME

The Guild HQ is moving from Hampton Court to Walton -on-Thames  - more information on their website.

At the November meeting we brought the scarves we had been knitting for Cancer Research - Judith Johnson, who was the lady who encouraged us to support this very worthy cause, reported that she had taken 51 scarves from our guild and she updated us with the information that the scarves were selling very well and they had raised over £4000 to date.
So thank you one and all who either knitted or bought or both - it's always good to start the year with good news.

Our speaker on Saturday was Michelle Horton who works in the Harrogate branch of Duttons for Buttons.  Now I imagine that everybody who was in that room has been to Duttons on many occasions and will have had the same experience as myself and that is that you are rarely disapointed and unable to find a button or habedashery suitable to the task in hand - Duttons for Buttons is one of the most useful shops in the area.
But this talk was an historical look at the humble button and it turned out to be not humble at all but a mark of staus through the ages.  The talk covered buttons (no pun intended) up until the 18th century - they started as decorative items and evolved into functional items and over the centuries have been made from a whole host of materials.   I am always pleased when I learn something new from a talk and I am pleased to report that I learned lots of interesting facts from this one and I hope that the second part of the talk - 19th century to the present day - will turn up on our programme in the future.



Anne looks a little surprised here - I think she should look very proud of her work

The rear view!   we had to guess how many buttons are on the whole outfit.

Anne moved a bit too quick for my camera here but I like the movement
In honour of the subject matter of this meeting one of our members Anne B-Z who originated in London and is very proud of her London heritage brought along her Pearly Queen outfit which is a work in progress.    We ran a small competition to guess the number of buttons on the outfit for fun.

The winner of the competition was Diana Barrett who guessed 1987 and the actual number is 1940.
As you can see there is space for more buttons and Anne has said it is a work in progress so perhaps by the time of the Buttons talk Part 2 she may have added more and we can have another look at it.

Friday 7 January 2011

A New Year - 2011

Hello everyone - please accept my apologies for being so tardy with the blog over the festive season but I along with everyone else have been rather busy.
However that is sufficient grovelling and may I on behalf of the Committee and myself wish you all a happy and healthy 2011 and may you all reach your stitching ambitions!

The meeting is a week late this year owing to New Years Day being on Saturday 1st January and looking back on previous posts I forgot to remind you of this fact  - I don't think I am the right person for this job as I am developing a memory like a sieve and the Friday before the meeting is a little late  but whatever - it will be my resolution to be more consistent  this year with the blog.

On to tomorrow - owing to the December meeting being cancelled it has been decided that the Raffle will be carried forward to the Easter Meeting.
We will be having Cake (kindly provided by Liz).
We will be having the Competition - Icicles if you remember.
We will be having the Greetings card sales tables - please bring along any cards you have made - they can be of any technique and to celebrate any occasion. (I am bringing a Christmas card, a Thank You card and a couple of  all purpose cards with no message - just to give you an idea).

The talk tomorrow is about buttons and Anne B-Z is bringing items to reflect buttons and her London roots which may involve a small extra competittion - more details tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Please remember to wear your name badges as I will be on the lookout for one to feature on the blog.

There will be stitch club and more work on the Baltimore Quilt squares in the morning.

Hope this covers everything - please let me know if I have forgotten anything.