Colourwise

The meeting on 13th January will be a hands on event. Jean Kilford will be explaining colour matching with the aid of an interactive colour wheel.

                              

 Make your own colour wheel at the meeting.

You will need to bring:

12 x pieces of WHITE thin card each 4" x 2"

Hole punch

Glue stick or glue pen

Pen for writing on the card

Meeting to be held at Alsager Library on 13th January at 2pm.
 Members £2.50.   Visitors welcome £3.50.

The World in my Wardrobe

For the December meeting Judith Coyne gave us a very interesting tour of the world with items of clothing she had purchased in various countries. Her love of colour became apparent as she displayed each item, and the fantastic materials, some for everyday wear and some for best, some hand embroidered and others machined or woven, created a wonderful display.

 

 After the talk we were able to examine the pieces in detail, including a "for best" headdress of the Pa-Oh tribe from Burma made from a velour towel.

 Judith then gave members an opportunity to try on the outfits and several of us took advantage, to much general amusement.

 

The Christmas cake added to the usual refreshments was declared delicious.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Canary Island Trees

If anyone has any photos or information they would like to share with other Guild members you can email them to me on alsageranddistrictembroiderers@gmail.com.

I know it has nothing to do with The Embroiderers' Guild but I saw these trees on holiday in the Canary Islands.

Abracadabra with Val Hughes

Members attending the November meeting had a magical time as Val Hughes exhibited here collection based on fairies. The outfits were made by deconstructing (cutting up, much to her mother's horror) previous costumes which had already been exhibited and that she had grown tired of. The reassembled pieces were stunning and photos don't really do them justice, though I have tried.

ABRACADABRA a talk by Valerie Hughes

The next meeting is on 11th November and is a talk by textile artist Valerie Hughes. Her Abracadabra collection consists of nine costumes or wearable art. It is inspired by the idea of transformation, constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing and is partly inspired by fairies. It utilises felt making techniques, silk papers, free machine embroidery, heat fused fabrics, and other mixed media.
   

 

I am sure this will be a fascinating meeting so please bring all your friends along. We meet in the Library at 1.45 for a 2pm start. Admission for members is £2.50 and for visitors £3.50.                        

New Programme 2014/2015

The new programme is out now. Thanks to Jean Thornton for an interesting and varied selection of meetings for the coming year.

Please support our meetings and workshops, and bring all your friends.

Thornton Trophy

The annual competition for the Thornton Trophy was judged at the October meeting. There was a wide range of very skilful entries, much admired by all.

The winning book cover was by Frances Waring and the trophy was awarded by guest judge Dorothy Pickering.

Frances's winning entry

 

Dorothy Pickering awarding the Trophy and prize to Frances

Chinese Whispers

This intriguing title was explained by Rosemary Watson as she described an idea she had to start a picture, pass it on to someone who would embroider their own picture inspired by it, then pass on only their inspiration to the next embroiderer who would use it to give her ideas for a picture of her own, etc. The pictures were then made into books. In total we had six embroiderers at the meeting, each explaining the starting point for their project and showing us how the pictures evolved. Some finishing pictures had strayed far from the original but some had amazingly stayed on topic. The finished books were incredibly skilled and had the audience enthusing over them.

Ro Watson, Mandy Hague, Christine Durston, Mary Bridge

Bernice Blakemore, Brenda Floyd

2014 A.G.M.

The AGM was held on Tuesday 14th October following the monthly meeting.
We sadly had to say goodbye and thank you to some longstanding members of the committee and elect new members to serve.
Jean Kilford is to remain as Chairman.
Jean Thornton was thanked for her many years as a magnificent Programme Secretary, a position now taken by Sheila Sealey.
Brenda Floyd has been a mainstay of the branch as its Treasurer for many years producing professional accounts and keeping us in the black, but feels unable to continue. The new Treasurer will be Hazel Rugman.
Veronica Wells has stepped down from being IT Rep and Publicity Officer.
Anne Pask will no longer be Secretary.
All were thanked for their hard work and dedication to the Branch over the years and were given a token of appreciation.
Luckily all are remaining members of the group so we will still see them at our meetings. It is now up to us all to bring in new members to make this Guild viable for the future.

"Chinese Whispers"

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 14th October and is intriguingly entitled "Chinese Whispers".
The meeting will also be the AGM with many of the posts on the committee up for re-election. Please come and vote.
Don't forget to bring your entry for the annual competition to this meeting. It is not too late to start your book cover or e-reader cover! 

Take Five More

The next meeting is in the library meeting room on Tuesday 9th September at 1.45 for a prompt 2pm start. Five of our very talented members will be demonstrating some of their techniques so take your basic sewing kit with you so you can have a try.

 

 

 

 The next workshop is on 30th September with Rosemary Watson and is based on one stitch - the "french knot".

Don't forget the AGM on 14th October. Your entry to the annual competition should be nearing completion by now so don't forget to bring it along. For those of you yet to start just a reminder that the item should be a book cover or an e-book reader cover using any form of embroidery you choose.
There will also be a book sale at this meeting.

Embroidery Bangladesh 12th August

The talk by Rubina Porter MBE on the Sreepur Refuge and Orphanage was very well attended for an August meeting. We were treated to  a slide show of the Womens' Refuge in action, and told about the destitute women and orphans who are brought to the centre and taught a trade. Her enthusiasm and dedication to this charity showed through, and we all wanted to buy some of the items that had been made there.


embroidery


paper making
 

cards


dyeing


spinning

Embroidery Bangladesh

 

The next meeting is on Tuesday 12th August when we will hear from Rubina Porter MBE, and the title of her talk is "Embroidery Bangladesh". We hope to find out about Sreepur Orphans Village and Womens' Refuge where embroidery is used as therapy.

 

 

Sue Baguley at the Nantwich and South Cheshire Show

Once again one of our members has triumphed at the Nantwich Show. Sue Baguley came 1st in 4 competitions, 2nd in one and 3rd in three. This meant that she won "Best in Show" for her overall points total. Well done Sue!

 

 

 

National Celebration of Stitch Day

National Celebration of Stitch Day is on Saturday 2nd August and we will be inviting everyone to "put a stitch in our garden" in the Reference section of Alsager Library from 9.30 until 13.00. please come along and join in.