March Speaker

The March Speaker will be Roxanna from Hannah's Room of Ibstock.  Her talk is entitled "The Beauty of Batiks".  

In June we have a workshop with Gail Lawther.  Information about the workshop is below, if you wish to attend contact details are on the workshop page or talk to Pat at the next meeting.

TWILIGHT SILHOUETTES PUBLICITY BLURB
Workshop with Gail Lawther

As the light of the sun fades, the silhouettes of different birds appear against the twilight landscapes. All the dark motifs are fused onto backgrounds pieced from strips of fabric; your background can be quite detailed (eg using Jelly Roll strips), or created from three or four much deeper pieces. You can even use a single piece of dramatically-shaded fabric. (On the day, I’ll bring a few different pieces of shaded fabric with me that would make good backgrounds, either for the design you’re doing that day or others you might want to do in the future!)

You can copy one of the five designs I’ve created, or design your own version on the day by mixing and matching the bird and plant motifs I’ll supply. And during the workshop we’ll explore lots of different methods of simple machine-quilting.

TWILIGHT SILHOUETTES
Workshop with Gail Lawther

As the light of the sun fades, the silhouettes of different birds appear against the twilight landscapes.

All the dark motifs are fused onto backgrounds pieced from strips of fabric. These backgrounds can be quite detailed if you wish – for instance, behind the swallows and the nightingales I used eighteen Jelly Roll (2½in) strips graded from dark to light. In contrast, the backgrounds for the geese and heron just use three or four larger pieces. You may even have a single shaded piece of fabric that would work beautifully – in which case you don’t even have to piece the background. When I do this workshop I often have a few random-striped batiks with me, cut to the size of the background, which you’re welcome to buy either for use on the day or if you want to do more designs in the future.

The projects are wonderfully versatile; if you don’t want such a large wallhanging, simply reduce the length of the pieced background, then use fewer bird and branch motifs, and shorter plants. You can copy one of the five designs I’ve created, or design your own version by mixing and matching the birds and plants. You can choose to quilt the final design very simply, or as intricately as you like; during the workshop we’ll explore lots of different methods of simple machine-quilting.

These designs work best in cotton fabrics for the pieced backgrounds; for the silhouettes, choose a tightly-woven cotton, or polyester/cotton sheeting, then the edges of the motifs will stay really crisp as you cut them. If you cut your fabrics to size before the day of the workshop it means you’ll be ready to get straight on with the creative bit (remember to alter the dimensions if you’re making your background a different shape or size from mine).

As well as the things below, you’ll need your usual sewing kit of small and large scissors, pins etc. Simple machining is used to hold the fused patches onto the background (and quilt the shapes at the same time), so you will need a sewing machine; if you’re new to your machine, or not quite sure of all the things it can do, bring the manual too. And don’t forget to bring everything that goes with your machine – foot pedal, flex, knee lift if you have one, and all the feet and other bits that go with it – then we can choose the best feet etc to use on the day!

Finished size: each of my panels is 42 x 21in (roughly 108 x 54cm)

AGM

Our AGM went off smoothly on Wednesday 7th February.  Minutes of last years meeting were read and accepted and Gina gave a report of the 2017 activities and our financial position.  Anyone interested in joining a very friendly and happy group on the committee?

This was followed by a presentation by Gill Greany on her "textile rich" visits to India.  Led by Gill's obvious enthusiasm for the crafts people and the stunning textiles they produce, we were introduced to different areas, buildings, customs and sewing skills.  Many richly decorated samples were handed round for close inspection.  We marvelled at all that hand stitching.

February Meeting

The February meeting will be the AGM followed by a talk from Gill Greany entitled "India a Textile Journey".  Gill Lives in Countesthorpe and is a textile designer with an interest in Indian textiles.  She exhibits and does workshops at the Big Textile Show.

Gill is on the left in the picture.

Information about the speakers and workshops for 2018 have been updated on the appropriate pages.

November Speaker - Linda Chevell

Our speaker for November is Linda Chevell with her talk "From Rag Dolls to Slipper Stiches"

Linda has been quilting since 1991, when she joined Market Bosworth Quilters to learn what to do with a panel of hand-sewn patchwork.  She was very quickly addicted.  She learned mostly through making specific patterns at workshops and retreats, but might have progressed quicker with a more structured course.

Her background is Art and Design but she taught English until she retired in 2007.  Since she retired she has taught classes at Bramble Patch and Quilteez at Ratby.  Her classes are designed to help beginners and more experienced quilters to gain skills in a structured way and she enjoys helping new quilters to 'get hooked' and watching their pride and confidence grow.

October Meeting

Numerous examples of exciting techniques were handed round by Angie Hughes to illustrate her talk at our October meeting.

Angie is a textile artist who works with mixed media incorporating creative embroidery.  She explained the use of coloured foils and layered organza.  The colours achieved were beautiful.  Many samples, including innovative uses of bonding materials, were new to most of us an opened up many possibilities.

Those who attended her workshop the following day were impressed with her friendly and supportive help.

Kathy Francis

Viv's workshop

It’s a whole set of layering techniques (some hopefully you wont have tried before) with yummy fabrics, yarns, machine & hand stitch…and not a book cover in sight…. (yet)!

Speaker for October

Our speaker for October is Angie Hughes with her talk entitled "Materials and Technics"

Angie is a textile artist and tutor, who lives and works in Ledbury, Herefordshire. She has been interested in textiles since she left school although only discovered creative embroidery in 1994 when she began studying City & Guilds at Malvern Hills College. While a student she won the prestigious Charles Henry Foyle Trust Award for Stitched Textiles with her piece 'Unfolding Word' and had 'Shroud' accepted for Art of the Stitch. She carried on her studies at Gloscat with Liz Harding after which she discovered a talent for teaching. 

Her artwork is inspired by many themes but particularly poetry or text and the natural world, particularly plant forms. 

Angie has recently enjoyed developing work that focuses on gardens that were once tamed but struggle and often succeed in becoming wild. She enjoys the juxtaposition of randomly ‘placed’ plants alongside the order the gardener tries to contain. Imagining these gardens in shadowy moonlit illumination, her colours have become almost monochromatic, silvers and blacks and those hard to name colours when light has faded. From drawings and photography Angie has developed her visual ideas through embroidery inventing simplified botanical forms. This recent work has seen her explore discharged and painted velvets, use heat transferred foils and layered organza which becomes intensely machine embroidered.

Examples of her work

We would like to thank Jackie Durber for stepping in as our speaker last month as Lucy Harding was unable to attend.