Keswick Embroiderers' Exhibition 2012

Our Exhibition of work is taking place on Friday, 6th July at The Moot Hall, in Keswick. It is ten years since the group started, and some of the original members are still keenly producing lively embroidery, along with others who have joined since.

Click on the pic for details!

We would love to see you there, between 10.30am and 4pm.

Woolfest 2012

Well! What a weekend to hold this year's Woolfest! It was the wettest and windiest couple of days we've had in ages, causing all sorts of mayhem, closing railway routes, turning car parks into quagmires, and raising the spectre of the dreadful floods a few years back. Days for staying at home in the warm and dry!  


So many events were cancelled, but Woolfest did go on. As always, a great variety of wool and textile crafts on show, spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting, felting, something for everyone, I think.

All kinds of organisations........... 

......of colours.............

.........of crafts.........

........of real-life cuties.......

.......and the quirky 'flock' project.............

......hundreds of pompom sheep ............

......made from wool and card........

.....by groups and schools and clubs, to celebrate and promote British wool.

I invested in scrumptious felt and buttons and lovely threads, as always, and had a great day. (Two days, actually, because I can never resist going back on the Saturday!)

St Bees Priory Embroidery

Just a few more pictures of the work of the Embroidery group at the Priory Church in St Bees. The new embroidery was shown as  part of the Flower and Art festival held in the Priory to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

New cushions, dedicated for the  Jubilee, for a bench in the church.....

Detail of the embroidery.......

Three years' work............

Background to the work of the group..........

Sampling colours and stitches.... an insight into the work that goes on even before stitching starts!

Working on the detail of the Superfrontal dedicated last year.

Click on the pictures to see in more detail.

 These are the most recent pieces of embroidery that have been made by the embroidery group over more than ten years. I only joined this group about four years ago, and am always in awe of the talents of the lady who does the designing, and the preparation for us mere stitchers , puts right our mistakes, and finishes the projects so beautifully!

Jubilee in St Bees

Before the Jubilee celebrations fade into memory, I thought I'd post some images from the Jubilee flower festival and exhibition at The Priory Church of St Mary and St Bega, in St Bees, Cumbria. I've posted pictures before of work there, made by the Priory Embroidery Group.


There were displays from many organisations connected with the church and the village and lovely flower arrangements; I'm just posting the 'stitchy bits'.


First, the display by the St Bees Craft Circle, an informal group who meet in the village to share ideas and skills, and enjoy each others' company.

An assortment of projects 

Cutwork pincushions

Anything but subtle, but, then it was the Jubilee!

The star of our show........ Leonie's knitted Queen, accompanied by her patriotic red, white and blue dogs!

Pictures of work done by the Embroidery group deserve a post of their own! They will get one, next time.


And soon, I hope to be posting pictures of work by Keswick EG members, who, as I speak, are busy getting work ready for our exhibition in July. (You are, aren't you?)

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.....................