December Meeting - Christmas!

Even though it was only the 1st of December, this was our Christmas meeting.
Instead of a speaker, we had the chance to chat with other members of the branch while we each worked on a little Autumn leaf brooch project.

Some of our embroidered brooches

This was a very social meeting, we had a specially baked cake, gingerbread biscuits and mince pies to make us feel really Christmassy, together with a raffle, bran tub, and the Christmas competition.
The theme this year was White Christmas, and it was Nikki who won the prize with her ingenious three dimensional and fully illuminated piece.

Nikki's prizewinning entry

In other things . . . 

There will be a one morning Young Embroiderers session on Thursday 3rd January. See the YE page for more details. There will be a two morning session over February half term.

The National Embroiderers' Guild Project for 2019 (following on from the '100 hearts' in 2018) will be on the theme HOME. Further details can be found by clicking here for a link to the Embroiderers' Guild website There's also a link to the right of this post under the heading 'Some of our favourite links' where you will also find a link to our branch Facebook page.

Our speaker in January will be Alison Larkin, talking about Opus Anglicanum

White Christmas competition entry

Happy Christmas. See you next year!

November Meeting - Sally Stone

Our speaker this month was Sally Stone, and her talk was about how she became involved in Yarnstorming in Rowntree Park.

She gave us a very interesting history of how Yarnstorming or yarnbombing has developed - decorating public places with knitting, and how she got interested in extreme knitting as a result.

Sally extreme knitting (image from her website)

Sally started small, with a yarn bomb of her local post box during the 2012 London Olympics, but wanted to take this further and approached Rowntree Park in York to see if they would stage further events.

With the help of the local community, and the sponsorship of several local stores, Sally and her friends have created amongst other things, displays for the Tour de Yorkshire in 2014

Followed by Fantasy Fish in 2016,

And Brilliant Birds in 2017.

Sally outlined how she approached these projects, creating a set of objectives which included how to get local support, and what purpose the finished yarnbomb would be put to. In these cases, the fish and birds were sold to raise money for charity. It was very interesting to hear how the projects have developed over the years, and the learning curve that has resulted - including how to mount giant poppies on tennis court fencing, and create giant flowers (as a hint - plastic mesh was involved!).

In other things . . .

The next meeting is the Christmas meeting. Start time 1:30pm
We will be making small leaf shaped brooches. Materials will be provided, but please bring a basic sewing kit (needles, scissors, sewing thread) and fabric marker or biro. Also bring stranded cotton in autumn shades and small beads for embellishment if you have them.

There will be a morning stitch club including the altered books, and the sales table as usual, but the library will not be open.

The theme for the competition is 'A White Christmas'. There will also be a bran tub and a raffle.

October Meeting - AGM and Dot Seddon

Our speaker this month was Dot Seddon. She fascinated us with her variety of mostly woven tapestry work, though she does some felting as well.

In other things . . .

At the AGM, Ingrid was elected as our new secretary, taking over from Heather. Maria has also been elected to the committee.

After much discussion, it was decided that members would pay £4 at the door every afternoon, which would also include the Stitch Club and morning fees.

The theme for the Christmas Competition (to be judged at the 1st December meeting) is A White Christmas.

The programme for 2019 has been announced and can be seen by clicking on the tab at the top of the page, or clicking here

September Meeting - Cluny Chapman

Our speaker this month was Cluny Chapman. Her talk was on the history of blackwork and whitework. Cluny is an exceptionally skilled embroiderer and her talk included examples of pieces of work that she has made. Cluny was taught embroidery by her mother, Ann Mary Johnstone, who herself amassed a collection of historical embroidery over many years, and was also an accomplished embroiderer.

Detail of whitework in Cluny's collection

Cluny's talk covered the history of blackwork, and the changes in style and fashions over the years from Tudor times. Whitework and blackwork are both techniques taught at the Royal School of Needlework, and we saw contemporary examples of both.

When the talk moved on to whitework, we were able to see actual examples from 17th century onwards, and discover the changes in fashion. There were even examples of 'recycling' where 17th century work had been inserted into 18th century work - a trend which was apparent in many samples.

Upcycling

The talk was very interesting covering not just techniques, but social history from Tudor times to modern day, and being able to see actual worked examples, and marvel at the fineness of the work was wonderful.

In other things . . .

The exhibition in June was very successful. There are some pictures on the Exhibition page.
The Visitors' Choice for the favourite post card was announced as Shirley's puffins.

Stitch club will be starting up in October, where the theme will be Altered Books. This is being led by Pauline.

Moira won the Ida Barber trophy for best original design with an embroidered book full of birds.

A reminder that October is the AGM and the meeting will start at 1:30. Volunteers are needed to stand for committee positions including Chair, Secretary and 'general' committee members.

June Meeting - Jessica Grady

Our speaker this month was Jessica Grady. She is a talented Embroidery artist and designer, but is known to many of us as a York branch member and leader of our Young Embroiderers' Group.

image taken from Jess's website

It was a delight to see her work and how she is carving out a career in textiles since graduating from Norwich University of the Arts in 2014.

Jess's work could be summed up in a single word as 'Colourful'. She creates wonderfully textured surfaces incorporating many recycled objects - elastic band, cotton buds, coffee pods (especially the pink ones). Plastic straws are welded together then stamped out to create sequins.

Stamped out straws

There appears to be very little that cannot feature in her work somewhere.

Bag ties

Her inspiration is the surface texture found in nature - bark, barnacles and coral have all provided her with a rich design source.

 Jess talked us through her years at university, showing sketchbooks she created then, and how this work is still being used today to create repeat patterns for printed fabrics. She talked about work placements where she created designs for sale, and mentioned some of the pitfalls along the way as well as her successes.

Image from Jess's website

One of her successes this year is being selected as the Under 30's Embroiderers' Guild Scholar, which means her work will be on show at all the Knitting and Stitching shows this Autumn. Separately she has been invited to exhibit at this year's Festival of Quilts as a guest exhibitor with the Art Textiles: Made in Britain group.
It was a really interesting talk about starting up a career in Embroidery and as a branch we all wish her every success.

In other things . . .

Our branch exhibition runs from Friday 22nd June to Sunday 24th June at the Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton, York. See the exhibition page for more details.

This is a reminder that the July meeting will be at Huntington Community Centre. It will be our 'Celebration of Stitch' day and will be open to the public. Bring something to work on. Note that the meeting will be from 10:00am to 1:00pm only.

Volunteers are still needed to stand for committee positions in October at the AGM.

May Meeting - Lynn Haith

The speaker at this month's meeting was Lynn Haith. Normally, at this point, I would add a link to the speaker's website or blog, but she doesn't have one yet. This also meant that we had no idea what to expect about the talk. The title 'The Antithesis of Serendipity' was impressive, but still not very specific.

It turns out we were in for a treat, as Lynn was talking about the box that she made for her City and Guilds Diploma in Design and Craft Stitched Textiles (Embroidery). This wasn't just any old box though. This was an embroidered bookcase more than a metre tall and incorporated the most ingenious techniques. These are just some of the elements which were included.

The roof was made up of stylised digitised peacock feathers.

Lynn Haith - The Antithesis of Serendipity - roof detail

The 'lid' was actually a double door, which was framed with embroidered pillars.

Lynn Haith. One of the doors featuring eminent Victorians

The interior of the box held exquisite hand made books containing all the research which had gone into making the box. It also held some very special treasures which you can see just the start of in the image below

Lynn Haith. Part of the interior of the box

I would hate to spoil the surprise, but it's unlikely that the blancmange curve will ever feature in any other Embroiderers' Guild talk that we have.

Further details can be found from Wikipedia here

The use of conducting fabric to create the final unexpected surprise was just the icing on the cake (or maybe that should be blancmange). This was an inspiring talk, and it was wonderful to be able to view close up such wonderfully inventive work executed to an incredibly high standard.


In other things . . .

Our July meeting will be at Huntington Community Centre from 10:00am to 1:00pm and will form part of the National Day of Stitch. (The June meeting is still at the Methodist Church)

More information about the exhibition has been added to the Exhibition Page.

This is just a taste of some of the works that will be in the exhibition

April meeting - Captain Rummage from the Cone Exchange

Our speaker this month was billed as Captain Rummage from the Cone Exchange. Many of us were unsure what the talk would be about. It turned out to be a highly entertaining and amusing talk, that showed how just a small request can grow into a major community project.

The original Angel
(image taken from Cone Exchange website)

 It started with a cone of thread in a teabag manufacturing part of Betty's and Taylor's factory in Harrogate. The cone turned in to an angel, which then grew into a host of angels. These angels were then sold and the proceeds used to provide equipment for an afterschool gardening club. And this idea of using industrial waste for crafting just grew. The Cone Exchange was created. Items which could be recycled such as spectacles or old mobile phones could be collected by community groups and then exchanged for vouchers to 'spend' on cones and other waste items - selvedges of ribbons, unwanted boxes, hessian sacks from coffee beans (this is Taylor's after all). Other businesses got involved and the products available for recycling grew. Lids from buckets of animal feed were converted into butterfly bunting. All that was needed was a little ingenuity to see how these items could be used.

The butterfly made from the lid of a bucket of animal feed
(image taken from the Cone Exchange website)

And so workshops were started, and the whole project just snowballed. There is now a scrap store where anyone can buy these items. Details of opening times and more can be found here.

The talk was very entertaining and thought provoking. A real treat.

In other news . . .

The Easter competition which was for the best piece made from a commercial design was won by Sharon for her exquisite embroidery of a little bird.

The design was taken from Trish Burr's book 'Colour Confidence in Embroidery'.

Regional Day will be on June 9th, with speakers Serena Partridge and Nicola Jarvis.

Young Embroiderers met over Easter and created a collection of flowers which will be displayed in York later in the year.

Exhibition entry forms are available now from Sheila.

Do remember to wear a name badge to the next meeting!

. . . Another programme update

Because of the bad weather, the March meeting on Saturday 3rd has been cancelled. Lynda Kinnard's talk and workshop will be rescheduled for a later date.
And don't forget, the April meeting with Chris Powell from the Cone Exchange will be in the Methodist Hall. It will also be the judging of the Easter Competition for the best commercial design. Maybe something to work on this weekend if you're snowed in?

Programme update

The March meeting will have Lynda Kinnard of Rebellious Rags as our speaker.
There is also an accompanying dayschool 'Circular Landscape Weaving' the following day -Sunday 4th March and spaces are still available.

If you would like to take part, you can sign up at the Saturday meeting or, if you would like to book your place before then, contact Judith by email at judithjay41@gmail.com for full details.

Our speaker for the May meeting will now be Lynn Haith with her talk 'The Antithesis of Serendipity'. It's a talk about a fantastic box that Lynn has made.

And a reminder that the April, May and now also June meetings will be at the New Earswick Methodist Church while the Folk Hall is being refurbished. Parking will still be available at the Folk Hall, and it is just a short walk towards the centre of the village (before the mini roundabout and the shops) to get to the church.

And if you could remember to wear a name badge, that would be appreciated.

February Half Term Young Embroiderers

Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th February was the half term YE workshop, themed on “Stitched Seascapes”. 

The project was to create a seascape wall hanging using ribbons, fabrics and embellishments. The children practiced lots of different stitches including couching, running stitch, button hole stitch and cross stitch. 

The workshop was one of the busiest YE has had so far with 15 children attending altogether, and 8 of those children are brand new members to YE who are all excited about coming along to the next workshop. 

The children all created unique and beautiful seascapes showcasing lots of creativity and talented embroidery work with members aged from 6 - 12 years. The children’s fantastic work is going to be put into the York branches summer exhibition over at the Tithe Barn, Poppleton later this summer. 

February meeting

Our February meeting was a members' day where we all brought our own work to do.

This was one member's contribution to our Regional Chair competition.

We also talked a lot about our forthcoming Exhibition, which will be held at the Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton from Friday June 22nd to Sunday June 24th this year.

There will be a Coastal theme to part of the exhibition. There will also be an exhibition by our Young Embroiderers Group who will be busy making Seascapes at their February half term meetings next week.

Image taken from our branch facebook page

This is some of the fabric that the Young Embroiderers will be stitching on - dyed at our morning session.

The exhibition will also have a series of stitched postcards, with a competition to guess each place in Yorkshire that is depicted - this could be realistic or cryptic, so thinking hats will be needed.

There will also be more general (but still as special and interesting) work on display including some of the work that was included in the 'Capability Brown' exhibition. The adjacent St Everilda's Church will be hosting a display of the Stamford Bridge Tapestry alongside our branch exhibition, so there will be plenty to see.

Keep checking the Exhibition tab at the top of the page for more information.

In other things . . .

We do encourage members to wear name badges to meetings. These don't have to be embroidered, but if they are, so much the better!

Lynda Kinnard will be speaking at the March meeting. There is also an accompanying day school on the Sunday.

There will be a demonstration of how to use the die cutter at the morning session of next month's meeting. The die cutter is then available for loan to members for a small fee.

Don't forget we also have a facebook page.

February meeting update

Sadly, our speaker for tomorrow has had to withdraw, we will be having a working day.

It will be a good opportunity to  work towards the exhibition, or the 3" squares we are producing towards the Region Banner, and / or the Guild's 100 Hearts (registration last day on Monday). Plenty to work on!

And don't forget, if you have any pieces for the summer exhibition which you have finished, please bring them along on Saturday if you can. We are looking to photograph finished pieces to use in our publicity for the exhibition.

January meeting - Pearl Loves Paisley

Our speaker this month was Justine Warner. Her first foray into textiles after moving to Sheriff Hutton involved stitching into men's ties, and then adding some pearl embellishments, hence the name she uses - Pearl Loves Paisley.

Celandines in Spring
 (image taken from Justine's website)

Justine initially used ties because they were to hand, when she wanted to make something to enter into her local village show. This piece was a cushion, and the talk illustrated her creative development from this early piece to the framed textile landscapes she creates today.

Incoming Storm Applecross Scotland
 (detail - image taken from Justine's website)

Justine talked about the elements she incorporates into her pieces, including felting, free machine embroidery and found items such as bark and feathers. We were treated to many handling samples which were enthusiastically passed round the audience. She then went on to detail her forthcoming classes and exhibitions. It was a very interesting and well received talk.

In other things . . .

First Aiders are needed for our branch exhibition in June. If you can help in this way, please let the committee know