Scilly Stitchers

Scilly Stitchers

On holiday last week, I was in St Mary's, in the Isles of Scilly, somewhere I've wanted to visit for a long time. It's not exactly easy to get to from the West of Cumbria!  Lovely, lovely place. I was especially delighted to find that, as part of an Art  Exhibition around the island, Scilly Stitchers were holding their annual exhibition. 

There was beautiful work on show here, very varied, from traditional patchwork and quilting, through ribbon embroidery, and gorgeous hand-made felt. If you click on the pictures below, you will get a better idea of some of the work.

Click on the link below to find out more about this talented group from their local paper.
                                                         
                                                         Scilly Stitchers


Thank you , ladies, for the tea and cake, and the unexpected treat of seeing this lovely work!

Dumfries.......Solway Quilters

Here are more of the pictures from the Trio of Textiles exhibition in Dumfries.There were so many beautiful pieces of work; I've just picked out a few.

Celtic Connections ....... Maybelle Coltart's own design

The Lofoten Archipelago... Tanya Burlison

Lovely Landscape quilt

Baltimore Quilt and Cushion.....Eileen Thomson, and Lone Star...Barbara Watts

Chicken Run...made by members at a workshop day, these chooks are having fun on slides, roundabouts and swings. What fun! these are only a sample!

Bag....Doreen Gibson, Cushion, 'Spring', Anne Clark, and Cat cushion, Sheena Gar. (This one is chenille work)

 Below are more pieces from the Embroidery section that caught my eye. I had a catalogue for the Quilting section, which is why I'm able to give names. 

Chenille work, again!

There are more pictures on Lyn Armstrong's blog, Stitch and Bake

A Trio of Textiles

We enjoyed amazingly sunny weather for our annual day out on 3rd May, when we travelled to Dumfries for the Trio of Textiles Exhibition . Held every three years at Gracefield Arts Centre, it is a celebration of work by three guilds, The Solway Quilters, Dumfries and District Embroiderers Guild and The Dumfries and Galloway Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers.
We travelled in members' cars, along with ladies from Cumbria Patchworkers, and met for coffee at the centre, before launching into the exhibitions. 
There was something for everyone, here, from beautiful quilts  to skilled weaving, luscious dyed fibres, to embroidery spanning techniques and ideas from traditional to contemporary, work on a large, and impressively small scale, and quirky exhibits like the 'Chicken Run' to make us smile.
Half way through, we indulged in a lovely lunch, (some of us unable to resist the meringues) before making sure we hadn't missed anything.  On the way home, we regrouped at Houghton Hall Garden centre for tea..............
The exhibition continues until12th May, and is well worth a visit.




Here are some of the images I brought back of the day......... 

Crewel work

Contemporary machine embroidery

Traditional canvas-work with a modern twist

Evocative images of Mull, created using an embellisher, silk and wool fibres, and embroidered.

Art Nouveau panel, chocolates good enough to eat, and panel embroidered on  treated papers.

More images soon.....................

April Meeting

The Friends Meeting House, Keswick

Unfortunately, our speaker for this meeting had to cancel , so instead  of the planned 'Knotting',  members brought along their own work to do. As it turned out, our business meeting took much longer than it would, normally, and we found lots of things to discuss before we got down to any work!

We made final plans for our day out, which this year will be to The Gracefield Centre in Dumfries.  Dumfries Embroiderers Guild   have an exhibition, shared with Spinners, Dyers and Weavers, and  SolwayQuilters.  It takes place every three years, and we were all so impressed by what we saw last time that we are very keen to go back. again. We are travelling in members' cars, and meeting at Gracefield at 10 o'clock.

People were working on................

Zena's Teddy

 Gloria's goldwork, started on a recent workshop at Appleby branch

Sally's Crewel work

FES 2012 Final instalment!

It's over a week now, since the Fashion Embroidery and stitch Show 2012, and I have the final lot of pictures here...................

One of the things I like about this show, is that the workshops are free.  This means, of course, that you only get the chance to join one of the very popular sessions if you are there really early on that particular day. I was fortunate enough to get my name down for a place on Kim Thittichai's workshop, using old newspapers, bondaweb, and assorted glitters to make jewellery.It was great to be able to sit down and transform these unlikely materials into what will eventually be brooches/cards/whatever.

Kim is an excellent tutor, and given the short time we had, everyone came away with a  good little bag of bits that just need to be finished off, a brooch back added, etc. Here are my 'bits', ready for the final stages....

They were cut using a Sissix 'Bigshot' machine.

I always like to look at the W.I. stand, at their textile ideas, and was, as ever, impressed with the quilts made from their easy instructions..............

 

And, the work on show from The University of Cumbria 's talented students.........................

Finally, a glimpse at my 'loot'.....some planned, some not, some freebies, mostly not, some already given away as gifts, (well, one item), lots ready for future projects.....

Click on pictures to see in more detail.

More from 'Fashion Embroidery and Stitch '12'........

I must be one of very few people who didn't watch 'Downton Abbey', but the collection of costumes at The Fashion Embroidery and Stitch show was very impressive............lovely hats!

and , for those of us who have recent experience of making postcards, what about this collection made by West Country  Embroiderers?
(click to see them better, close-up)

I loved this one!!!!!

Mabon Arts, featured in 'Stitch magazine recently..........positively encouraging photographs of exciting embroidery, inspired by tribal textiles.....

Entries in the'Glimpses of Blighty' competition...

 

                                                                 (The lopsided look is the fault of the photographer, not the artist!)

Fashion Embroidery and Stitch 2012

It's that time of year again, and I spent two days at the NEC this week, trying to get round all the exhibitions and stalls. I think I saw most of what I wanted to , but it is so big that when I look at other peoples' blogs, there'll  surely be some things I missed. I have a new camera; I practised with it before I went, so, lots of photos, hopefully, to be posted over the next few days.

This year, I was fascinated by the Lace displays...........................

                                     ...and loved the 'Night at the Opera' creations.........

              To see the pictures in more detail. click on them individually. More, later..................