Saturday 17 July 2010

Fobbles Exhibition/ Lynette Anderson

Fobbles Needlecraft Workshops and Supplies will be staging their annual summer Exhibition on Friday23rd, and Saturday 24th July from 10am -4pm, at Gubbergill, near Holmrook. On display will be examples of Needlework, Patchwork and Bead work. Entrance is £2, and all proceeds are in aid of Hospice at Home.

Fobbles also invite you to an Evening Presentation by Lynette Anderson, of Patchwork, Quilting and Stitching. to be held in Calderbridge Village Hall, on Monday 16th August at 7.30 pm. Tickets for this are £5 each, to include refreshments. There will be a sales table, and raffle.
http://lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com/

For more information about either event, contact 019467 24764, or look at the Fobbles link on the right of this page. Both will be well worth a visit!

Sunday 4 July 2010

Keswick Embroiderers' Exhibition

Joan's Crewel work
(Updated 13th July ; see below.)
July 2nd was a lovely, sunny day, and Keswick was busy with lots of visitors. Many of them made their way up the steps of the Moot Hall to our exhibition. From early on, there was a steady stream . I wasn't involved in setting up the exhibits; those who were did an excellent job, and our work looked very impressive. It's easy to forget everything that we've done over the last two years, and this was a reminder of the variety of our workshops, and the quality of work produced by our members. Not forgetting, of course, the talented and generous tutors, (some of them members) who have given us the benefit of their talents.

Several people had risen to the Chairman's challenge, issued by Val last September. Each had interpreted it in a different way, all very clever, some ingenious!  Pictures of some of the exhibits are posted here; I'll add more to the gallery later.  Some are labelled; some not, some have names, some don't. Some are taken from an odd angle, and I apologise for that, and for the reflection from the flash.

Chairman's Challenge..Marilyn's book, Gloria's Trees, and Val's sampler.


                             
                      Sally's doll.......                               Beyond Canvaswork  (Sally)



Lace, and fabric beads............


Beyond Canvaswork.............Pat








 Patchwork Applique.............Gloria




Stumpwork ( Marilyn)and Canvaswork............


Needlelace flower.............










Sally, on the door, and stitching, as ever!


 Reverse Applique............





Beyond Canvaswork     Marilyn

Just some of the work we had on display.  It was a lovely exhibition, and we enjoyed the chat, the tea, and the cake, as well as welcoming old friends and new to the Moot Hall. If you can put the correct names to any of the featured work, I shall be only too glad to credit it.
A visitor left this message;

What a stunning collection of work, extremely hard to pick a favourite. Well done to all, thank you for sharing. How about an embroidered cover for a ‘visitor book’ so we can leave comments at your next exhibition? J. H. Cockermouth

Thank you very much! And what a good idea!

Saturday 3 July 2010

Awayday!

On 17th June, we had our annual KEG outing. It's always a good day, with some textile inspiration, and over the years we have travelled far and wide to find somewhere different. Sally sends this report on our visit to Halifax.


Trip to Bankfield Mansion - 17 June 2010
Our annual trip out this year was to take us to Halifax to visit Bankfield Mansion, a museum and exhibition centre. The mansion started as a modest 4 bedroomed house and was the principal home of Edward Akroyd, a woollens and worsteds manufacturer in the early 19th
century. He purchased the house in 1838 and, after his marriage and inheriting a substantial fortune, he set about enlarging and decorating the property in the Italianate style to become the Mansion that stands today.

We entered the house by an enclosed lobby and ascended some stairs to enter the ballroom, now a beautiful room with a painted ceiling and patterned wooden floor. It contains a small shop and a large exhibition of modern patchwork and embroidery.


The embroideries comprised many  mixed media, batik, appliqué, and machine, all very colourful, clever, and well thought out. One section of flower drawings in black machine stitch on white organza were quite lovely. Some modern sculptured dolls made one smile with their funny faces. All these embroideries had been done by members of a sewing
group 'TenPlusTextiles' (http://www.tenplustextiles.com/).There were patchwork hangings, small, but perfect in the use of colour, design and stitching, adding to their beauty. A triple hanging using blue/pink fabric was the highlight.

Leading off the ballroom were many rooms housing things from the past; books, jewellery, clothes and textiles, toys, and household/kitchen equipment. One room was dedicated to the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and followed its history up to the present day. Another room was The World of Textiles Gallery, with fabrics from India Africa and China.
Upstairs the exhibition cases had models wearing clothes from many nations as well as interesting old garments, shoes, boots, hats etc. from this country.


Another display was of Jewellery by Charles Horner, a new name to me. He had a thriving business through two world wars expressing his his great skill in Art and Craft style designs but went into voluntary liquidation in 1986.


We spent a very pleasant afternoon looking round the house and its displays and returned to Keswick feeling inspired by the modern work and fascinated by our trip into the past.