Members enjoyed a day with repeat tutor Morag Gray, making a draught excluder for those chilly winter nights. Lots of different fabrics were used to create houses from imagination, including especially some lovely tweeds. The first picture is by Morag herself, the finished item.
The photos following are just a few, showing different stages. I hope to get some photos of people's finished work when they are completed at home.
Today's talk was a bit out of the ordinary, we saw things we hadn't seen before in an interesting slide show. Jeni started her career as a photographer, and visited many places photographing artists and designers work, including lovely knitwear. From there her interest branched out into cyanotypes, which we hadn't seen before, and is a process of applying a chemical to paper or fabric, after placing items on it to make a resist, or shadow, and then the material is placed under light and left to magically make an image as the chemical turns blue, leaving a negative image. She had brought along items made up from the cloth. Due to long term illness she has made many cloth and knitted items.
She had done some research into the transatlantic slave trade and how it affected people in Angus in the past, probably without their knowledge. Some people who lived in Angus owned over 5,000 slaves, who knew? Jeni had made up a load of postcards with photos of Angus scenery, and on the back is written a name from the slave returns to commemorate the individuals, and leaving the postcards all around the county so people can learn about this history.
Jeni is also passionate about the awful plastic waste that blights our landscapes and beaches, and has turned some of this detritus into rather lovely jewellery, made from things like bottle tops and toothpaste tubes.
More of Jeni's work can be seen by searching for her on Instagram.
After this indifferent summer it was lovely to see so many familiar faces, and some new ones (welcome to the new members!), and to catch up on all the news. Nancy brought us all up to date on plans for this year, and we had a surprise speaker, Beth, who has opened a lovely fabric shop in Keptie Street, Arbroath. Beth is a fabric designer with a passion for patchwork and quilting, and she had brought along a collection of quilts in gorgeous colours, and to talk about her shop where she will be offering classes, as well as selling kits, and having a 'craft cafe', which sounds wonderful.
Do visit her excellent website at www.lovefrombeth.com and see a feast of colour and pattern. Some photos below of what she she brought.
We then had a delicious tea of home bakes, and a gossip, and some inspiration for the coming year.
The new programme is now published in the headers at the top of the page. Check out the treats in store, and book the dates in your diaries.
Looking forward to seeing everyone in September.
Ten of our members spent the day at the 'Gathering', a recently formed organisation uniting clubs of stitchers from all over Scotland. There were demonstrations, stalls and workshops, and a display of member's work on the theme of the Stone of Destiny. There was also a raffle, and our members did very well, Kate won a Husqvarna sewing machine!!! Hopefully more of us will make it next year.
Today was our last meeting, which was well attended (for an AGM!), we elected some new committee officers. Minutes will go out to members shortly.
The subject of this year's challenge was 'Flowers', and as you can see a really varied number of embroideries were brought, it's lovely to see the different interpretations of the subject. The winner was Joan with the gorgeous Little Rock garden. What a brilliant idea, and the stitching was so delicate. And no weeding to do! Tea and lots of scrummy cakes followed.
Hope everybody has a lovely summer, and will see you all again on the first meeting on 18th September.
Such an intriguing title, we didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be a fascinating story, sprinkled with humour, of Sue's life journey starting with working in hospitality and ending up running her own soft furnishing and upholstery business. She moved around a bit, and in Marlow met her husband, who was in the Royal Drgaoons. This entailed more moving around, a placement in Düsseldorf, and then Deepcut, Dunfermline and Scone. During these meanderings she took a City and Guild course in soft furnishings, learning how to make curtains etc. along with that course she did upholstery, and it became her principle love. She made the Victorian footstool below for the course, the fabric being crazy patchwork.
She particularly delighted in the old ways of the craft, using horsehair and tacks rather than foam and staples. The squab cushion below demonstrates how a piece of material can become a solid item when stuffed with horsehair and lots of stitching. Sue had brought along some of the tools of the trade.
Below are some unique chairs, the green one has a lozenge in the top of the frame which Sue replicated on the seat with trapunto. The white chair is the subject of the title. It is a spinning chair made with scraps from bridal gowns, and the tacks are all covered with pearls. There are two rows of pearls, as a nod to her husband's promotions, as apparently a captain's wife can wear a single string of pearls, but a major's wife can wear a double string!
Sue continues to run her soft furnishing and upholstery business, and also teaches upholstery.
