Monday 22 November 2010

The Vikings are coming!



             ..........or, at least, pictures of Vikings, sent by Lyn,after the Guild meeting last week. 


And Pat's report...............
The Vikings are coming!


Our meeting on Thursday, 18th November was certainly interesting. We were awaiting a guest speaker for the afternoon, so spent the morning swapping yet more fabric for bags, and discussing, demonstrating techniques, and admiring BAGS. Some of us carried on stitching, and a very relaxed morning passed quickly. After lunch, we trouped down to our normal meeting room, to be greeted by a fully kitted out Viking - Mr Ian Uzzell, a man totally immersed in the Viking period, and whose Norse name was Snorri. He looked magnificent (and huge) with his chain mail, helmet, sword and knives, etc, and he started proceedings by blowing a very long blast on a horn. It was almost ear-splitting, but gradually became strangely evocative of vast fiords and all we think we know about the Vikings. Ian then proceeded to divest himself of his layers, explaining carefully the various materials used, transforming himself from a wealthy warrior to an upper class gentleman. Snorri’s wife was represented by a tailor’s dummy and, again, we learnt about the various garments she wore, and her embellishments in the form of jewellery, etc, and the arrangements surrounding dowries around the time of marriage. We were shown weaving and embroidery which had been closely copied from well-researched items in museums, and the equipment upon which it had been made. We were lucky to be able to handle a lot of the items and, although I haven’t a chance of remembering everything we were told, I feel I now have a broader background of information, which has somehow brought alive that period. It was interesting to note that so little is known about the Vikings’ normal lives because they had no written record of their own, but all the bad press was written by the monasteries they sacked, so was bound to portray them as warlike thugs. We all thoroughly enjoyed the talk, and it made a real change from our normal workshops.


Wednesday 17 November 2010

New Exhibition at Farfield Mill

This poster has been passed to me by the organisers of the Exhibition, which looks exciting, and certainly worth a visit to Farfield Mill between now and January.


Also, Beverley Trembath of Fobbles has asked me to pass on the following information;

Classic Inspirations,  the Australian Craft magazine is changing the way it supplies its customers. Fobbles is one of the retailers who will continue to stock this magazine.


Saturday 13 November 2010

The October Newsletter from Pat,

 Posting the October Newsletter was delayed because of problems with internet connections Here it is, now.

Keg Newsletter

October 2010

The 2010 programme has got off to a good start; we have just had our workshop on design with Sue Lancaster and I think everybody enjoyed the event and found it useful. At the AGM in September, the Committee and officers remained the same, ie.,
Val Osborn   Chair                Sally Evans
Lena Slater    Treasurer         Marilyn Hughes
Pat Knifton  Secretary           Lesley Rutherford
Lyn Armstrong                      Melanie Vincent


Christmas lunch

The KEG Christmas lunch will take place at The Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld on Thursday December 9th. We will meet there at 12 noon, and there is plenty of car parking. Please bring a gift to swap in the (anonymous!) lucky dip. The cost is £14.25, payable by 18th November, please. Warning; Come with a good appetite!

Informals

There will be no informal meeting in December, but then we will try alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thus, the dates will be;
Tuesday 4th January
Thursday 3rd February
Tuesday 1st March.

We are considering holding another textile 'jumble' event, either on one of the informal days, or as an evening event sometime in the early months of 2011. So, when you are sorting out your cupboards, shelves, etc., think about holding on to your swaps, books,and so on, so that we can recycle/recirculate.


Our next Meeting

We will have a talk on Thursday 18th November, about Vikings, Weaving, etc. This will not start until around 12 noon, so the committee thought it might be a good idea to resurrect the BAG day. So.........can you please bring
  • Any made-up bags you'd like to show
  • Suitable fabrics to start something with, or swap
  • Patterns to lend/copy/share
  • Sewing machine (if you wish....... some available to borrow)
  • Usual sewing kit
  • Lunch (there might not be time to visit Booths)
Once the talk is over we may have time to return to our bags, be it talking about them, swapping ideas or cracking on with making something bag-like.

The FRIENDS' Squares

We are hoping to produce some 4" squares to be displayed on a textile background to be hung in  the room where we meet. Sally has distributed some calico, the designs and a 4" template, and colours have been allotted. The plan is to produce four squares in each of eleven coloure, but if you have missed out on this and would like to take part, please contact Sally, who might know if we need help with some of the colours. The deadline is Easter 2011.



NorthWest Region  have begun advertising their Residential Summer School for July 2011, at Alston Hall. near Preston The classes on offer look very interesting;
Frances Pickering-Books to Cherish (transfer dyes, pelmet vilene, papers, hand and machine stitching, etc. 
Clare Hanham-Clensy Modern 3-D Crewel work (a new look at traditional Crewelwork, incorporating fine fabrics, beads etc.
Liliane Taylor  Pictorial Collages  (using natural fabrics and threads you dye yourself, producing a collage of your own)
The leaflet will be available at the November meeting....contact Pat if you are interested.

The Embroiderer's Guild is displaying some of its collection at the Quilt Museum in York from 23rd October 2010 till end of January 2011. Perhaps we could arrange a car-load or two to York?


Pat



NB  One of the things that infuriates me about this blog, is the way that it does not up-date the blogs we are linked to, properly. It is always worth clicking on the links, as it often takes over a week to acknowledge that blogs have been changed. It's not just ours, I have noticed this on other Blogger sites, too.