Mug Rug 3rd January Hands-on

 The January meeting will be a hands-on event and we will be making a Mug Rug.

You will need:

8 inch square of patterned fabric 

6 inch square of plain/textured/faint patterned fabric

6 inch square of wadding/curtain interlining

fine perle thread or embroidery cotton

Usual sewing kit - needle, scissors, etc.

Don’t worry if you haven’t got everything as there will be plenty of offcuts.

Visitors welcome. The meeting is held in the upstairs room of Alsager library and starts at 2pm. There is a large free car park.

Folk Embroideries from Punjab Zoom Talk

 

Jennifer Collier Workshop

 The list has now opened for the Jennifer Collier workshop “Story Book Gloves” on Saturday 11th February. The workshop will take place from 10am - 4pm at the United Reformed Church Hall, Brookhouse Rd, Alsager. The workshop can be booked at the January meeting. 

www.jennifercollier.co.uk

Christmas Robins

 

Christmas Review

 After a brief discussion about finances and agreement that we needed more members to attend meetings to boost door money we decided to make more effort with the sales table.

The show and tell produced some amazing pieces of work a few of which are shown here. After admiring each others superb sewing we turned to the refreshments. A really good spread as usual.

Christmas Review

 The next meeting will be on Tuesday 6th December. Please bring a small plate of food to share. You can also bring a handmade Christmas card to put in the lucky dip - if you bring one you can take one made by another member. We will be celebrating all the wonderful things that we have made during the year so please bring your work to show us. There will be a tree where you can hang your finished robin decorations from last month’s meeting.

Meetings are held upstairs at the library.Doors open at 1.45 for a 2.00 start. Visitors welcome.

Loving Earth Project Trail Exhibition

 The Manchester City centre trail is on now until Saturday 26th  November. The panels are exhibited at various venues in the city and details can be found at www.manchesterquakers.org.uk/news-events/loving-earth-venues.

Making robins

 We had a lovely time today making patchwork robins for our Christmas trees. We will have to finish them at home so we can display them next month.

Tree size, work in progress and door stop size.

November meeting

 The meeting on 1st November will be a hands-on event and we will be making a wonderful patchwork robin Christmas decoration. Sally has kindly provided kits so you will just need to bring your usual basic sewing kit.

Programme for 2023

 The programme for 2023 is now available. Please support our meetings and sign up for the workshops so we can continue to offer such a good variety of speakers in 2024.

Anne Menary

 Today’s meeting was a very interesting talk by Anne Menary entitled Fabric of the Universe. Anne not only brought many examples of her work and a slide show of many more, but she also explained the thought behind the designs and how she planned them with paper collages. She produced a set of postcards that were made one a week over a whole year. She allowed us to handle her work and feel the effect of different techniques. I can now say I have touched the Milky Way.

4th October

The October meeting on Tuesday 4th will be a talk on “Fabric of the Universe” by Anne Menary (www.anne entry.com). The meeting  room is in Alsager Library and we arrive at 1.45 for a prompt 2.00 start.

Lis Binns “Tips, Tricks and Tools”

 A fascinating talk by Lis today. We all learned something and I now know how to get rid of scorch marks and how to get my iron clean too.

Lis also brought some of her intricate quilts with her and told us how they were worked and what threads she used.

A really enjoyable meeting. Thanks Lis

 

September meeting

 The meeting today is Lis Binns giving a talk on “Tips, Tricks and Tools”

1.45 for a 2.00 start

Textile Art Exhibition

 From September 9th to October 16th there will be a Textile Art Exhibition at Astley Hall, Chorley.

Next Meeting

 The next meeting will be on 6th September, 1.45pm for a 2.00pm start.

The speaker will be Lis Binns with her talk on “Tips, Tricks and Tools”. She is bringing her projector so there should be plenty of interesting work to admire.

 The Red Dress from the Royal School of Needlework exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum.

Royal School of Needlework

 If anyone is visiting London before 5th September you might like to look in on the exhibition at the Museum of Fashion and Textiles, entitled “150 Years of The Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk” . Should be fascinating.

Book marks

 

Judith has shared the book marks she made at the July meeting.

If anyone else wants to share send me your pictures and I’ll add them to the blog.

No August meeting

 Just a reminder that there is no meeting in August.

Members hands on

 The next meeting on 5th July will be a members hands on.  Gail will provide the felt and instructions for making a corner bookmark. Please bring some threads and your normal sewing equipment. Thanks 

Lacemaking Pilgrim

 The Revd Jayne Shepherd, a bobbin lacemaker, gave us a very entertaining talk about a sabbatical year she took to find out about the history of lacemaking.

Stopping with friends, in basic hotels and retreats she traced collections of old handmade lace, visited museums, admired altar cloths trimmed with lace, bought samples and tried her hand at different patterns and braids.

After the presentation Jayne demonstrated how to use a lace pillow and bobbins to make a bookmark and some of our members had a go.

Lace Pilgrimage

 The next meeting on Tuesday 7th June will be a talk by Jayne Shepherd entitled Lace Pilgrimage. Jayne will be bringing slides and there will be a chance to try bobbin lace on a lace pillow. 

Do come along at 1.45 for a prompt 2pm start for what I know is going to be a fascinating talk.

Nantwich Museum Exhibition

Nantwich Museum

Outlineart Exhibition 

Hi it’s Anne Mychalkiw. 

I would like to tell you about an Outlineart exhibition I’m taking part in at the Museum in Nantwich. 

I will be exhibiting new work . Bridget Bowie will also be displaying textile work. As well as textile work there will be a variety of work to view. The group will be showing paintings, print making, photography and textiles. 

Do come along and enjoy the exhibition. Nantwich is a lovely town to visit and still has lovely shops and restaurants. 

 

 Tuesday 3rd May

Gail gave us a quick update on the finances of the group. Safe to say we are still solvent. Several members paid their subscription today and we have enough in the bank to pay the library for the hire of the room for the coming year.

Gail had also pieced together the green log cabin squares we had sewn during lockdown to make a very attractive quilt.

   

We all learned something of the history of blackwork courtesy of Judith Coyne, and Lyn Rochester had produced kits of a butterfly, heart or geometric pattern so we all had a go.

Thanks Judith and Lyn.

Tuesday 3rd May Blackwork

This hands-on session will be based on Blackwork. First we will hear some of the fascinating history of this needlework and then we will all have a chance to try it out. All you will need to bring with you is a round-ended needle (tapestry), a small pair of scissors and some black six stranded thread if you have it.

If you have not already paid your subscription for the coming year (£25) this is the meeting where we will be collecting it - cash, cheque, or BACS all welcome. I will give you the account details at the meeting if you need it.

Looking forward to seeing you all 

 The next meeting will be on Tuesday 5th April and the speaker will be Joanne Frankel on “Design 2 Stitch-a personal journey “ .

Joanne Frankel is a contemporary textile artist who grew up surrounded by ancient woodlands, rolling hills, rivers and a variety of wildlife. Inspired by the natural world around her she combines her passion for painting and drawing with contemporary textile techniques.

The doors open at 1.45 for a prompt 2 pm start.

 A really interesting talk today by Lyn Rochester entitled “ I came out of prison today”.

Lyn explained how she worked as a volunteer at a woman’s prison in Lincolnshire enabling the women to earn an income. She taught them the basics of embroidery so they would have a skill when they left prison. She also distributed packs so they could make items to sell through Fine Cell Work, the charity that organised the scheme.

You can see in the photo two of the cushions and a pincushion worked by prisoners.