Out and about, Ordsall Hall

Its been a busy few days. It was my birthday on Saturday and my mum insisted that I celebrate. I finally agreed and so she organised a very posh afternoon tea for 18 of us. Too much to eat and bubbles galore. Better still my close friends and family around me.

 

So getting up quite early on Sunday was not at the top of my list. However it was cold but very bright, I even needed my sun specs as I drove to Salford. Sue had just arrived and so we set up two tables and soon after Sandra came along to help as well. As before we were going to demonstrate our stitching and also allow guests to stitch if they wished. I managed 6 French knots during the 12.00 till 4.00pm session. We were so busy. We used the photos that had been transferred onto fabric again and the public were keen to stitch. i lost count of how many people we spoke to. A really worthwhile experience. It was well after 5.00 when I returned home  and only just managed to unpack all my demo bits etc..

Out and about,Rochdale.

 Yesterday,I had been invited to Rochdale to demonstrate how I make wire and bead jewellery. More important, it was a chance to chat with members in a more informal manner. I was so pleased to be there as I felt that i was amongst friends. Rochdale branch was one of the very first to invite me when I was area rep.Two in my group were visitors but were planning to join this branch. I wish them happiness. Of course I invited them to Bolton.

I have just remembered that we were going to bring our metal embroideries from a recent workday to our Xmas meeting…dont forget.

November branch meeting

Newsletter – November 2015.News and Competitions

The Rose Bowl competition title is “Under the Sea”, for our Regional Day in April next year, hope you’re thinking about it! The Christmas competition is “Snowman”, for the December meeting on December 15th, when we’ll be having a Christmas activity and refreshments. The Capability Brown Festival is a celebration of landscape and gardens in stitch. Entries required later next year. See over for details.

Exhibitions and Events

Crafts in the Pen. Skipton Cattle Mart, BD23 1UD. Saturday 21^st and Sunday 22^nd November; 10.am -4pm; £5.00 free for under 16’S.

· Harrogate -The Knitting and Stitching Show. Thursday 26^th – Sunday 29^th November; tickets £12.50 concessionary and children from 5-18yrs £6.50. Group discounts available.

· Textile 21 have an exhibition called “Created in Colour”, which is well worth seeing at The Whitaker, Rawtenstall until 6^th December. Checkout the new coffee bar and restaurant.

Advance Notice

A beginners/slight experience embroidery and contemporary stitch class is starting on October 8^th at the Triangle Centre, Chorley Old Rd. It will be on Thursdays 10-12 noon. More information at www.facebook.com/pages/Enjoy-Learning-Bolton/141379002171999 or see Glennys Astley.

New in the library

Sheelagh has bought 2 new DVD’s for the library: “Creative Bondaweb”, with Kim Thittachai and “Creative Free Machine Embroidery”, with Gina Ferrari.Ann needs more handmade birthday cards for sending to members if you have any to spare please pass them on. Raffle prizes are always welcome. Please see Barbara Ryall if you have anything. If there are any library books you think would be suitable for us, please tell Sheelagh Madden. (An ISBN would be helpful) If you hear of any interesting exhibitions or events that you think may be of interest, please let Brenda Brown know and details can go on the newsletter; brownhovis33@yahoo.co.ukDon’t forget our blog address for Bolton EG is http://begstitchers.blogspot.com/ . Also just a reminder that the Guild web address is www.embroiderersguild.com The Northwest blog address is http:/www.info@nwregionembroiderers.org

.

Capability Brown Festival

A stitched piece in any technique that reflects the essence of CB i.e. a landscaped garden. Piece to be  portrait or landscape mounted   onto an artist canvas, A 2 3 or 4. in size. Our venue is Gawthorpe , ready in the summer of 2016. Val is liaison officer.

Chairman Challenge

Based on the travelling books idea, each branch is allocated 2 facing pages of an A3 pink pig book. One page to record inspirations, sketches notes postcards etc.Facing page a stitched piece/pieces. Theme for each branch to reflect their location. It could be done by one and or many members. Inspiration mounted on paper 1 cm smaller than the A3 page. Stitched , similar but mounted on fabric or paper. I will attach by double sided sellotape. The finished

books could be borrowed by any branch for exhibitions etc. Jackie will coordinate for us.

It was a varied meeting, beginning with the presentation of the Broderers cup to Judith.Her very colourful piece was chosen for the next Journal.Here it is

We then celebrated the forthcoming 90th birthday of Dorothy with a cake and a gift of an orchid.

There were several Show and Tell pieces but these were overshadowed by the number of pieces brought in by Marion.They were beautiful.

Our speaker was Lynn Setterington who spoke about Kantha work.She illustrated her talk with slides and a variety of pieces,historical and recent.

Reminder to bring paper and fabric scissors,neutral thread and crewel needle for Xmas activity and of course your Snowman competition piece.

Out and about Rossendale.

Joan from Padiham , sorry Pendle branch recommended this exhibition to me. Textile 21 were exhibiting at the Whitaker in Rossendale. The title was Created in colour and I was interested because the advert was full of colourful voiles. It was an awful day today but Barbara was happy to drive the 30 mins to the venue and we warmed up with cappuccinos in the newly appointed cafe.The exhibition is upstairs but there is a lift. I wont spoil the drama by explaining how many of the pieces were displayed but it was very effective. Many of the pieces were delicate and exquisitely stitched. We chatted about each and every one and then decided to have another tour around again and saw things that we had missed on first examination. Of course by now it was lunchtime so we both chose from a limited but lovely menu. Barbara was really shocked when I said that I fancied a piece of carrot cake. It oozed fruit and she said it was the best that she had tasted in years. On the way home Barbara said that she was so inspired that she wanted to get home and stitch straight away. So we would recommend it to you. Its on until 6th December but do go on line and check opening times.

Out and about, Padiham

What a busy few days, On Monday I missed Aqua to visit Padiham, my other branch. It had recently moved location and now opened at 12.00 for an informal chat, sew and lunch. I had a few things to sort and then sat down to hear Sue Bartlett. Poor Sue was feeling awful and her throat was really sore but she battled on. She had brought an amazing number of hand made books and gave us an insight as to how they were made. Better still. she started to pass them around and all we wanted to do was to study their formation and examine the lovely covers. I remembered that our Xmas competition is to be  a book cover so perhaps we found some inspiration.When you study these photos you will see the amazing range of work and Kathryn tells me that she makes quilts as well!!!!!

This is my last visit to Padiham, no we are not folding but are changing our name. We will now be known as Pendle EG but at this moment will keep the same blog name and address.

Out and about : North Wales

Its been a hectic few days. Regional AGM on Saturday then 2 days down at Walton on Thames I nearly wrote London , but as it takes a tube and train out of London to get to HQ , its a long way. Council is quite an intense affair and The NW Region was mentioned several times , maybe due to the questions that I had sent after our AGM. I was ready for a change and the happier part of being Chair.

Once North Wales had re-joined us, I made contact and was invited to their next exhibition. At the time I didn't realise that it would be at so busy a time and worse  that this , the day of the  World Rugby final.Friday night weather forecast suggested fog so I was delighted to see a fairly bright sky on Saturday.  I picked up Barbara and drove down. The roads were quite clear and with the by pass, the journey took just one and a half hours.

I was expected and they found Moya to greet and introduce me. It was a lovely welcome but we needed a cup of tea first!!! we were also offered cake but refused. We really wanted to move into the main room and see the exhibition.

The church is beautiful  and the arrangement of exhibition pieces was imaginative and well designed. I learned that the branch owned all the stands,tables and lights and they were held in storage when not used.

I chattered to many members of both the committee and members. They were extremely friendly. I had a difficult job though, trying to decide my favourite piece for the visitor vote. Barbara and I had differing ideas and Barbara wanted a second vote. We were quite sad to leave as we had both found it to be a more than pleasant activity. On the journey home , we discussed what we had seen, the decided that we should visit again soon. Better still, I arrived home in time for the final and saw Nez Zealand thrash Australia!!!!