April Meeting.

Almost thirty years ago, one of the first day schools that I attended was about needle lace[do you remember, Jackie?} Diane Derbyshire came to our meeting last Tuesday to talk about Rachel Kay Shuttleworth and her amazing collection. Sadly Diane could not bring along the actual work, but was able to photograph each of the pieces. Perhaps more poignant were the cards that had been handwritten and coded by Rachel herself. In addition to this slide show, Diane brought along a display of her won needle lace. She has won international awards and made my small samples look quite insignificant. The talk was very nostalgia for me as I recognised several pieces of lace that we had used in the Lace collection challenge a couple of years ago. I spotted my lace and the finished piece is now on the wall in my cat servatoty.

 

NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2014

NEWS

The Northwest Regional Day is being held in Rochdale on Sunday April 27^th. We have 6 members going who will be representing our branch. If you would like to order a journal (available at this event for £2.00) please see Brenda Brown.

EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS

• Rubina Porter has sent a list of dates for The Streepur Village Exhibitions until November. The first of these dates is at St Barnabus Church, Penny Lane, L18 from 24^th -29^th march.

From 18^th- 20^th August it can be seen at Liverpool Town Hall.

• Fashion Revolution Day 24^th April –it’s 12 months since the Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh so wear your clothes inside out today! (see notice board).
• Gawthorpe textile events and workshops happening throughout the summer until September. See notice board for details. To book an event contact tel- 01282 773963 or email events@gawthorpetextiles.org.uk
• Ten Plus Textiles – “Now and Then”, showing at Didsbury Parsonage M202RQ from Sat 31 May-Sun 15 June. See notice board for contact details. Contact – www.tenplustextiles.com
• One Step on textile group are running a 2 day course in Carnforth with Sandra Meech 1-3 August. See notice board for details.
• Craft Open Exhibition at The Platform Gallery, Clitheroe. Exhibition dates 3^rd May – 12^th July. Email- PlatformGallery@ribblevelley.gov.uk
• Joana Vasconcelos a textile artist has a world premier of her exhibition “Time Machine,” which is exclusive to Manchester and includes an especially commissioned piece for the Atrium. It also devours the other galleries at Manchester City Gallery, Mosely Street, Manchester. From February – June 1^st.

ADVANCE NOTICE

Charges for workshops will in future be £15.00 for members and £20.00 for non- members.

A Play Day is scheduled for 26^th April at Banktop Church. Please bring a packed lunch. Tea & coffee will be provided

REMINDERS

Ann is in need of handmade Get Well or open greeting cards for sending to members if you have any to spare. Jackie Martin’s store has been depleted so if you have any items for the Sales Table please see her a.s.a.p. Jackie also needs clear envelopes (like the ones cards come packed in) if you have any please keep them and 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; email- brownhovis33@yahoo.co.uk

The new Northwest blog address is http://www.info@nwregionembroiderers.org/

Don’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

Out and about, Gawthorpe and more….

Our secretary , Brenda sent some photos and an explanation of a recent visit. It does look stunning.rather than paraphrasing Brenda's notes to me I have just copied them. Hope this is Ok Brenda.

Just to let you know that I really enjoyed meeting and seeing the work of Bella May Leonard at the Gawthorpe opening event on the 29th March. A young recently qualified textile artist Bella spoke about her work and answered questions at this event. Her work is very innovative and explored the structure of stitches used in the Gawthorpe collection of baby bonnets, which she then developed in a very unique way incorporating many different threads and household cables etc. into a very precise design laser cut into acrylic sheet. Quite amazing. Then yesterday I went to the craft centre in Manchester where she has some more of her work displayed upstairs. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of her work, so try to see it for yourself.

One of the questions I asked Bella was, which contemporary artists had inspired her and she told me about Joana Vasconcelos a portugese internationally regarded textile artists whose exhibition "Time Machine" is showing at Manchester Art Gallery until . Well  we just had to go and see it didn't we! So yesterday Lynn and I found ourselves in Manchester Art Gallery absolutely gob smacked by the installations all around the gallery. It is phenominal the scale and vibrancy of her work just grabs you! It really is a must.

I've included some of Lyn's photos of her work to give you a flavour but you need to see it to appreciate the enormity of the project. I have also bought the catalogue of the exhibition for Bolton branch library so that those who can't get to see it for themselves can get an impression of the work.

Gawthorpe exhibition on until 1st June. I will certainly try to make visits, Thanks Brenda.

Out and about Padiham

After a hectic weekend, today is my Padiham meeting. I'm afraid that I missed the Aqua class this morning and set off in driving rain ,wondering if I really needed to go.

Well I am still recovering. Our speaker was Heather Wilson,”Maker  of mad and beautiful things”,I say speaker but she never  stood still, she danced around almost singing the joys of life. She started with a piece based on her mothers sewing box, through her visits to India , weavings and the most bizarre hats in the World.Interspersed with all this she read poetry and had an uncanny knack of mimicking accents. I have tried to capture the essence in photographs but you had to be there to really appreciate her joy de vivre.Heather can be contacted at

hmadcow@hotmail.com

and you will need to hear her talk to explain  her e mail address!!!!

National AGM April 2014

Barbara and I drove down to Wyboston Lakes to attend the national AGM on Thursday. It was a pleasant journey and we arrived quite refreshed.  Checked in and had a cup of coffee before we hit the shops for the first time.

I really enjoy the AGM weekend as there is so much to do and so many friends to meet. My only problem was in choosing which workshops and mini talks to attend. Thursday is without plans.We had booked the full package so a lovely evening meal was included.

In between activities, there was also lots to see.A room  full of  work from the Collection

and others like a YE exhibitionand the Distance learning course

Two boards held the chosen few from the Tree Rhythm competition and the best  were shown on a loop screen throughout the weekend. I believe that next years competition is called All the glistens so get your ideas together.There were 129 entries this year.On Friday i had chosen to attend a workshop lead by Lindsay Taylor below,modelling one of her creations.We were to make a for mores simple brooch, group results below.

After lunch Gill and Richard Riordan showed and helped us to make a pendant.No finished photos but i will be wearing mine soon.

I then went to a talk by Annette mms who coincidentally I had sat with at dinner the night before.She managed to handle a huge number of Welsh place names as she described her inspiration for work.Loved it!!!!

Saturday morning was the formal AGM. some members attend only his but we were all greeted with our AGM bags and packages by Jan Jardine.We all know her from HQ but might not be able to put a face to the name. Now you can….As always it was a packed agenda with many people contributing. I have made some notes and need to rationalise them but will make a short report at our meeting. I look forward to reading the more accurate Minutes.

I went to another workshop in the afternoon and even though I feel that I am a patient person, I was really challenged!!!!Sally McCollin  demonstrated how easy it e=was to make a Celtic knot brooch….NOT …. sorry for the pun. I unpicked mine twice before I cam away with a very sad attempt. It will be worn and I will have another go  but what a challenge.Those above are not  my attempts. A double espresso later I was ready for my last talk. Again I have no photos as Helen McCook spoke about embroidery and embellishment in fashion. She was not able to bring along the exquisite work by Dior et al. But we were able to drool over her slides.

Time to tidy up , smarten up and attend the reception and Gala dinner. Another delightful evening an entertaining talk  and we were ready for bed,

A trip was organised for Sunday but Barbara and I knew we faced a long journey home so declined. A leisurely breakfast and then lingering goodbyes and promises to meet again next year.

Out and about, Glossop

Several weeks ago Judi the Chair at Glossop asked me to keep this date free. Today I went along to a lovely celebratory lunch. I can hardly believe that They are celebrating their tenth anniversary. We had a delightful lunch and it was good to meet old friends and make new ones.The event had been very well planned. A banner made by members was unveiledand even the rainbow squares had grown and made a welcome appearance.An amazing cake had been made…and I was almost upset when I was invited to cut it,but it did taste good!!! Well done and thank you Glossop for wanting me to share in your celebrations.