Great Western Embroiderers- meeting

We changed the format of our meetings for the next couple of months to a whole day of stitching together. We are so keen to get our exhibition work for Steam Museum created in time for the showing in February 2009, that we decided to have stitching days....this is how far I have got... still loads to do, but its exciting.

Scrumptious Saturday with GWE

Spent this glorious day working with Annette Emms of Fairy shoes fame. We were working on Concertina books and slip cases. A really good day and lots to do.

Here is some of the the work created by Annette which we used as our inspiration.

We used lots of different arty materials to create the slip cases and then moved onto making the little sketchbook to go inside. We experimented with a number of ways to get a digital image onto cloth and Annette was very generous with her tips and advice.

We did not quite finish the sketchbooks, but a few more hours working on them at home should do the trick. They are lovely aren't they?

The weather was glorious and I could not resist joining a photography class in shooting some photos. Look at that blue sky!



When I got home I could not resist playing with the photo in the software.... anyone like blue berries?

Knitting and Stitching Show 2008 Ally Pally

It was a wonderful day, weather wise and so was the K & S show. My first stop on arriving at Ally Pally was to leave my crochet coral with the Crafts Council for the hyperbolic coral reef. It was displayed in the entrance Hall, so that was straight forward. It was also good to see some teenagers learning the craft.
There was lots to see and buy and do.... but best of all was meeting up with lots of Internet chums. So here are the sexy six!





Thank you to Annette ( a helpful passer -by) who took the photo for us.

There was such a lot to see at the show, Maggie Grey had her new book on her stand, I wonder how many of us now have catalogues in our gardens? Think the online work, related to this book is going to be great fun. Have a look at the blog of my internet chum Mags, the catalogue she found is wonderful
Maggie had also just collected Julia Carparas' book from the printers in the morning. It is a wonderful inspirational book on colour. Wish I had had it last Tuesday when I was teaching the teachers. Would have been an inspirational visual aid for them to see.
Talking about colour, Ruth Issetts stand was a delight.. so bright and full of primary colours, just what we expect. It was lovely to see Jean Drapers new work too.... lovely distressed and burnt books.
Our Internet chum Anita Bruce was showing her work in the graduate showcase.... and wow soooooo fantastic! A definite "must see" for the future.
Gill was helping on the WI stand, whereas Paulene like me, was free of supervising any stands and so we had the opportunity to wander around together. Great company, thanks Paulene. We also had to visit our Internet chum Dale and we both succumbed to buying some of her wonderful slushies for our embellisher work. Fortunately Dales suitcase had finally arrived from Perth and so she had some clean clothes to wear, so we were told by another chum!!
It seemed that all too quickly it was 5pm and we had to leave. I had travelled to the show from home with Kath so we met up to travel home together. After a lovely meal at Victoria station we went to catch the coach. It was delayed by 30 minutes, however our one and a half hour journey actually took four and a half hours. We arrived home just before midnight... due to 3 accidents on the motorway. Thank goodness we had eaten!

Colour- teaching the teachers

Today, what a wonderful day. I had the pleasure of teaching a group of receptive and hard working teachers. They had been teaching all day and then came ot a two hour inset with me to work on "colour and wet media- how to teach to children". There were 25 in number and were the most well behaved and creative class of adults I have had the pleasure to teach in a long time. All primary school teachers and assistants. I look forward to seeing the results of the teaching and inset with their students. I feel sure it will be fantastic work.

A very special Day

It has been a very long time since we have all been together. What a fabulous family. I am so lucky.

In a 2 and 8

Its an old saying that my Dad often used... it always meant I was in a muddle, and it has certainly been a week of muddles.

Thank you to Rosalind and Gill for the advice about the sticky residue on the plastic ruler from the last post. It has worked a treat and I can now use the ruler without it sticking to the cloth.

I finally managed to get my work sent to the exhibition at Ilminster. The Private view is tomorrow between 12 and 2pm... so if you are nearby and at a loss for something to do, you may like to go and have a look. I still am hoping to make it to the private view, but hubby's leg is still very poorly and he does like to come with me and take photos, it is a long way from home though. So we will make the decision in the morning.


(click to enlarge for details)

The weather is pretty foul here, and cold. The eldest son is having the last race of the season today, in this appalling wet and windy weather. Hope he enjoyed himself. I was quite happy to stay at home!