June Speaker

The Speaker for May is Alison Hulme and her talk is entitled "My Life in Print".

Alison finished her Foundation Degree in 2013 and had great success selling her Bags and Pinnies at the Exhibition, she has since featured them in a number of venues  including the Knitting Stitching show at Alexandra Palace, The Designer Guild Shop at Pall Mall Galleries and the ICHF show at NEC Birmingham.

Exhibiting means she has had the chance to meet a great number of new people. She really enjoys sharing her enthusiasm through her talks and workshops.  

She is constantly getting new ideas for designs and this keeps her busy printing new fabrics. She has great fun trying out the new prints. 

She has been a member of Zero Nine Textile Artists since the group began. They were all at college together doing their City and Guilds. Since then they have exhibited together as well as doing their own exhibitions and work. 

Examples of her work

May Practical Evening

Firstly some errors need to be corrected on your Programmes for this year.  The dates for the meetings are all correct but unfortunately you will need to alter the dates for the workshops.  The date for the Monkey Buttons Workshop is 5th September not the 4th and the date for Pat Ashton Smith is Tuesday 1st October not the 3rd October.

On the practical evening we have three projects for you to try.  The first is a felted egg (picture to follow).  The second is making bookmarks or cards that involves the prick and stitch method for embroidering cards, using metalic thread.  See example

The third project is paper craft, making either a simple box or a box with roses on the top.  There will be a charge of £1 for each project. The money will be going to charity.

If you wish you can bring your own project to do and enjoy chatting with your friends.

April Meeting

We had an enjoyable evening with Edwina Mackinnon whilst she told us about her life so far.  Her quilts showed that she had tried lots of different techniques whilst she has been quilting.  Some examples are shown below.

The Speaker for April

Our speaker for April is Edwina Mackinnon.  Her talk is entitled "The Story so Far".

She loves anything and everything to do with textiles but especially stitch, by hand and machine, dyeing fabrics with indigo and Procion dyes and printing with whatever she fancies! She has just started to explore eco printing and is loving the results.

She has taught textile related subjects for almost 30 years, including City & Guilds courses. She now teaches her own courses and one-off workshops wherever she is asked to go.

An example of her recent work

She enjoys being out and about, taking photographs and collecting new ideas. At home she loves to cook and has a rather large collection of cookbooks. She is always trying out new recipes! She also enjoys pottering about in her garden and relaxing with a good book and there’s always a knitting project to work on.

She also enjoys spending time with her family and has four grandchildren who all live nearby.

March Meeting

On Wednesday 6th March we welcomed back Philippa Naylor for her talk "A Backbone, A Wishbone,  Funnybone".

It was truly an entertaining evening as Philippa worked her way, with accompanying slides, through her current phase of life and work.  Does she ever rest?  Topics included her family, her home and her work as well as frequent references to her beloved Yorkshire, all described with humour and seemingly at breakneck speed.

She is talented in so many craft areas as well as textiles and has time for home improvements, her allotment, cooking and teaching as well as producing exquisite garments and quilts.

The following day's workshop was so thoroughly prepared and presented in such detail.  We were worked hard but it was so worthwhile.

Kathy Francis

Examples of Philippa's miniature quilts

March Speaker

The speaker for March is Philippa Naylor and her talk is entitled "A Backbone, A Wishbone, A Funny Bone".

Philippa has won many awards for her quilts in the UK and America and has written several books. www.philippanaylor.com

We look forward to seeing you in on the 6th March. 

Philippa With her family

Please note that the workshop on the 4th July has changed.  The title of the workshop is now Stitching Showcase.

The projects in September by Monkey Buttons are African Basket and Harebell.  The website is www.monkeybuttons.com.

February Meeting

Business at the AGM on Wednesday 6th February was speedily and efficiently covered and we welcome a new member, Anne Cope, to our committee.

Our Speaker, David Lee, was able to give us so much information on his topic "Patterns of Life in Amish Quilts".

Judging by the unusually high number of questions he was asked at the end of the talk it was a subject that captured the interest of the audience who wanted to know more.  Lots of Amish quilts, both modern and early 20th century were shown and the relevance of their patterns and colours explained.

As well as this we were given an insight into the Amish philosophy and way of life which was fascinating.

Quilts formed, and are still forming, an important part of Amish women's lives from the utilitarian, social and now sometimes economic aspects of their society.  Examples of this work are highly prized and exhibited.

 

Examples of Amish Clothing made of very fine wool

The Amish generally do not have decoration in their houses.  The pieces shown on the chair would be used on their bent wood rocking chairs one of the few things that would have been decorated.