Member work

Member work

Sunday 3 October 2021

... Mapping your Journey

Shay has kindly shared photos of her piece created at Anne Kelly's summer school workshop, which commemorates a special holiday on the Outer Hebrides. Personal pieces like this are not quick to make, since they need to be carefully planned and arranged to present treasured memories at their best.




Shay says, "We really enjoyed our holiday and hope to go again next year."

Thursday 2 September 2021

Just flown in ...

  ... this gorgeous moth, made by Jenny.


There's so much on it to take in.  The wings were painted before being embroidered, and the fluffy part of the body was made using space-dyed silk yarn, which must have taken a lot of patience to work with.  A beautiful, original creation. 

Friday 20 August 2021

A couple missed the post ...

Apologies to those two members whose photos slipped off the last post.  Unfortunately, a little gremlin got in the works.  So, here are a couple more Travelling Books pages to drool over:

Aboriginal Art (Dorothy)

Spring Flowers (Tess)



Thursday 19 August 2021

A Year of Travelling Books

The travelling book group has recently completed the cycle of book swaps.

Travelling Book Bag
The first travelling book group was started in February 2014 by the then chairperson, Mary Holden. Gill became the coordinator in 2016. Five books later the only original members are Sue, Jenny, Beth and Gill.

The coordinator for Book 6 will be Dorothy and an invitation for people interested in joining will be circulated once we are back in a hall.

Originally the swap lunch for Book 5 was arranged for April 2020 but was cancelled due to the pandemic. We met in Leamington's Jephson Gardens in July this year

Travelling Book Group meet
Everyone was able to make it except Diane but, thanks to Zoom, we were able to share our books with her the following week.


This year's themes were: stained glass; nursery rhymes; the colour wheel; coast; a stitch you have not tried before; communication; walls; a new technique; skeleton; round ‘n’ round; spring flowers; aboriginal art.

It can be very daunting for members to join established groups, but taking part for the very first time were Caroline, Diane, and Tess. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience, so we hope new members consider joining the next book group which works like a round robin, adding an entry every month and then getting your own book back at the end - full of a super collection of small artworks.

The completed books will be displayed at the first member's day when we are back in a hall, but here are examples of each of this year's themes ...


A New Stitch (Margherita)


Walls (Sue)


Communication (Anna)

Coast (Diane)

Nursery Rhymes (Caroline)


Skeleton (Beth)

Round and Round (Fiona)

Stained Glass (Jenny)

A New Technique (Gill)

Colour Wheel (Wendy)
 




Tuesday 17 August 2021

'Mapping your Journey'

The recent summer school with Anne Kelly was very successful and popular.  

Jenny's map of her visit to Brazil is the first to be posted, and we're hoping to see lots more maps of precious memories inspired by the summer school.

Jenny says: "This represents memories of our first visit to Brazil when our son and now daughter-in-law were married in Ouro Preto. Little did they know when they sent us the postcard in 2009 that they would be married there three years later. 

"The majority of the stitching is in yellow blue and green - colours of the Brazilian flag. Although the butterflies on the collage are not native species, Brazil does have enormous butterflies in a gorgeous turquoise, among other colours, and brilliant mesmerizing blue."


Wednesday 11 August 2021

A couple of collagraphs

Members are naturally still completing their collagraphs as and when they get them back from Sue Brown, so it's great to see a couple more stitched pieces.

The stitching and textured threads on Caroline's beehive scene really bring it to life, with the bees streaming into (or out of?) the hive.



Janet R coloured the water lily leaves and surrounding water area on her lily pond with a fabric crayon, used stem stitch to outline the leaves and veins and also the writing. The surrounding area represents the rockery stones around her pond. They are stitched with French knots and free machine embroidery.




What talented members we have!  It's never too late to send photos of work you have stitched, so please do keep them coming.


Tuesday 3 August 2021

A few more 'Same Sea, Different Boats' collagraphs

Here are a few more images shared by members of their now stitched collagraphs.

Firstly, a few words from Sue Brown:

"I really enjoyed being part of your group's creative weekend and I am looking forward to you all being part of Same Sea, Different Boat - pushing it into panel 7 as I only have 12 spaces left on panel 6 ... I am committed to in-person workshops, nothing quite like them and perhaps when this madness has eased I can come and give your group an in-person workshop with my portable presses (yes more than one!!)

"Thank you all for being such warm welcoming hosts and pushing me into extending my zoom skills. I look forward to stitching squares on your behalf.

"Very best wishes, Sue"

Gill has finished her two pieces. The Zoom one is completely stitched, with no printing:


On the clock face the tangled threads in the middle denote the world in a mess, although Gill says, "for me personally I have relished having the extra time to sew and draw and have taken the opportunity to take part in so many free courses online available from generous tutors. I always enjoy Sue Brown's short Sunday prompts which she puts on Instagram."


Jenny completed this striking piece:



Collagraph


and Wendy's has lots of textured stitching:


It's wonderful to see such different takes on the same theme, and we are looking forward to seeing them on Sue's finished work.

.


Monday 19 July 2021

Diane's dots

We do love to be able to share workshop pieces, and this is Diane's take on Kate Wells' challenge to us to make dots in as many variations as possible.

This piece has so much to see: free motion stitching, picot stitch, fly stitch, weaving, French knots, couching, beads, sequins, pencil sharpening, lace, chocolate wrappers, spider's web, trapunto, washers ... and lots of playing (says Diane).



A few 'Same Sea, Different Boat' collagraphs

We are delighted to be able to post the first stitched collagraph made by one of our members from the plate she sent to Sue Brown after her recent talk.

Sue was inspired by the tents on the beach near where her son lives in the Basque Country:


Caroline's beehive - showing first the collagraph, then the print taken from it:



We have spotted a few more Warwickshire Stitchers' collagraphs posted by Sue Brown, and can't wait to see the stitched pieces.  Please do all share your photos!








Saturday 3 July 2021

Same Sea, Different Boat + Take Two stitching

We had a super stimulating talk by Sue Brown about her 'Same Sea, Different Boat: 2020' project, which documents people's responses to lockdown. She encouraged as many members as possible to take part by creating their own collagraph plates to send to her for printing and inclusion in the large-scale quilts nearing completion.  We're really looking forward to seeing those that members have made - please do send a photo.*



Meanwhile, it's great to see some earlier challenges being completed.  Janet R is sharing the second cushion cover she started for the April ‘Take Two’ members’ day challenge. Janet says:

"The top cushion is the one just finished and the one underneath which inspired it was from the Folk Art workshop with Anne Kelly in 2019. I used the same 1960s furnishing fabric for the main appliqué motifs, added some old embroidery transfers and hand embroidered them, as well as adding hand stitching to the commercial fabric shapes. Oddments of lace, a dyed lace doyley and the addition of machine stitched outlines echoing the main shapes completed the front."


*Please send your stitching photos to: it@warwickshirestitchers.org.uk


Monday 28 June 2021

Talk on Friday 2nd July: Sue Brown, 'Same Sea, Different Boat'

We are delighted to welcome artist Sue Brown to give our talk in July.

Friday 2nd July, 6.45 for 7.00pm 

'Same Sea, Different Boat'

Sue Brown is an artist who uses printmaking and mixed media to tell stories. Inspired by process as much as by nature, her work springs from the pages of sketchbooks, and she develops carefully researched themes, exploring and developing them on paper and textiles.

Sue has been an artist for over 20 years and is inspired by all things ornithological, being particularly fascinated by the antics of corvids and our relationship with the feathered visitors to her urban garden.

Entomological museum collections also feature in her work and Sue has become intrigued by printmaking onto fabrics and vintage textiles.

Driven by the need to learn new processes and collect techniques to keep her practice fresh, Sue continues to explore our natural world.

Sue is passionate about encouraging creativity in others through printmaking and mixed media sketchbook techniques. At the yard: ARTspace, Cheltenham, Sue runs a range of courses and workshops focusing on intaglio printmaking and sketchbook techniques on paper and fabric.

The project - 'Same Sea, different boat' 

Sue will talk about the international quilt project, ‘Same Sea different Boat’, which she started in lockdown. We have all experienced this pandemic, but not all in the same way; hence we have all been in the same sea, but not in the same boat. Following the talk, Sue will explain how you can take part.

Sue will demonstrate how to make a simple collagraph plate which she is offering to print for us (£3 donation). 

Please note - all the details of where to send your collagraph plate with your £3 donation to cover costs, will be sent out on an instruction sheet after the talk. For an extra £2 donation you can have two copies, so you will have one to keep (£5 donation in total).

When the fabric square has been printed by Sue and has been returned to you, you will then, after stitching into the print, send it back to Sue for inclusion in the project. Thus, it will become part of this giant social documentation textile.

No previous printmaking knowledge is required, you just need a story to share.


Show & Tell:  Saturday 3rd July, 2.45 for 3.00pm

Share your collagraph plate with us.

If you have already taken part in the project, where possible please show an image of it, and just make a different collagraph plate.

Alternatively, if you want to go straight to stitch, express your lockdown experience on a 10 x 10 cm square, which you may decide to send in for the community project or keep for your own enjoyment.

If you would rather not say anything during the Show & Tell session, it's absolutely fine, you can let us know at the start of the session.

If you are already registered for these Zoom sessions, the link will be sent to you a couple of days before the talk. The requirements list has been emailed previously.  

If you have not registered and wish to take part, please email: dayschool@warwickshirestitchers.org.uk for details of how to pay and receive the link.

Important: The contents of these notes should not appear on Instagram or any other social media, and members are asked to respect tutors' livelihoods and not circulate them by email or by any other means.


Friday 18 June 2021

Summer School with Anne Kelly

2-day Summer School Workshop 

'Mapping your Journey' with Anne Kelly 

Friday 30th & Saturday 31st July /

Monday 2nd & Tuesday 3rd August

We are able to offer two dates for this popular Zoom workshop with Anne, which means more places are available.

Both sessions will start at 9.45am for 10.00am each day, and finish at 1.00pm 

Price: £30.00

If you would like to book a place, please email: dayschool@warwickshirestitchers.org.uk for payment instructions, requirements list and login details.

Mapping your Journey

Finding ways to honour precious memories is the theme of Anne's workshop, taking inspiration from her book Textile Travels

You will be using meaningful images, ephemera and a map or portion of a map to create a record of a physical or emotional journey.

We will be working from a collection of photos or postcards, old receipts and brochures, to create either a folding book about 10 x 45 cm or a collaged piece no larger than 30 x 30 cm using these elements. 

The resulting piece will be a personal response to a special place or event. Stitch, drawing and collage will be used. 

For members to get the best experience we recommend they continue working on their pieces on the Friday afternoon, and although they may not finish by Saturday lunchtime, they will know how to complete them by the end of the workshop.

A brief biography

Anne was born and educated in Canada and at Goldsmiths College in London. She collects recycled fabric, paper and ephemera using collage, stitch and print techniques. Her inspirations are travel, memory and vintage imagery from a variety of sources. Anne's layered mixed media work started life as mainly botanical in subject matter before developing into larger more narrative works. Often it can be a small scrap or remnant of fabric that inspires a whole piece.

Anne teaches and exhibits widely in the UK and abroad, including at the World of Threads festival in Canada, the Prague Patchwork Meeting and the Jersey Textile Showcase. Recently she was an invited artist at textile shows in Beaujolais, the Luberon and the Autumn and Spring Knitting and Stitching Shows. Anne writes for magazine and websites and blogs. She co-authored her first book Connected Cloth (2013) and is the author of Textile Nature and Textile Folk Art, all Batsford Books. She has work in national and international collections and is on the Crafts Council Makers Directory.



 


A few more ...

Jenny developed her spots from a sample inspired by Hanny Newton's workshop last year (the last face-to-face one before lockdown!) picking up on the idea of making 'sequins' from coloured acetate:


This sample is on paper, using chocolate wrappers:


Mary had a lot of fun machine stitching her dots and spots in a variety of threads and adding interesting embellishments (stars and planets?):


Mary also shared a piece finished following Vinny Stapley's workshop challenge, which shows how she has developed the original theme:


It's wonderful to be able to keep sharing members' fabulous work.
Please send photos to: it@warwickshirestitchers.org.uk




Saturday 12 June 2021

Lots of Spots ...

As anticipated, here are some members' fabulous spots and dots created in response to Kate Wells' challenge last week.

Judi said she enjoyed having a 'play' with mainly machine embroidery, and this collage shows the six samples she made.


For those who like to know what techniques were used, they are as follows, going clockwise from the large gold circle:

Small snippets of gold mesh fabric trapped between two pieces of silk organza and stitched in free motion circles. The centre was left unstitched and the organza cut away on top to reveal the snippets. 

The multi coloured metallic 'spots' were also trapped between organza and circles free machined using gold thread. Again, the top layer of organza was cut away, revealing the colours. 

Gold net was placed over cream calico, and small circles free machined using a black and white thread. Sequins and beads were added later. 

Some metallic cord was couched down by machine, using gold thread, on calico. The circle was then cut out and hand stitched onto black cotton fabric. Gold 'kid' leather spots were applied by hand, secured with a seed bead. 

A very fine black mesh fabric was placed over silk organza and a gold spot of plastic fabric was placed in the centre. Free motion circles were added, using the black and white thread again. Gold sequin flowers and beads  were added by hand. 

A piece of gold, sequinned ribbon was attached to white organza and free motion embroidery secured it in place. A circle of stitch was added to the centre, creating a spot, and more stitching around the outside. 

All six samples were then cut into 4" squares, backed with 'stitch & tear' and edge stitched in gold thread. Judi then put them in a previously made concertina book. 



Margherita used the following techniques:
Top sample below: hand-stitched star; French knots; sequins; machine stitch around the fabric.


Bottom sample: free-machined spirals; sequins; French knot spots.  


Sue C's piece on calico uses running stitch in various weights of thread, from sewing cotton to waxed repair thread. The gold spots are cut out of a tomato paste tube. 



The black piece below is all machine embroidered. Sue cut out holes and backed them with gold lace on black velvet, then applied spots in black and white, and stitched them with grey, white and metallic thread. 

She says, "I loved this workshop, the only problem was restricting myself to one spot of gold, which I haven't managed to do."


Gill is also someone who felt "very inspired by the incredibly talented Kate Wells and the talk she gave (so much so I could not get to sleep!). For the experimental stitch task we were set, I decided to use my sewing machine and play with my machine stitches and bobbin colours. I chose not to hand stitch, as I stitch so slowly.

"I was absolutely amazed at how much the other hand stitchers had got done and really admired all the beautiful and incredibly varied work which was shown by everyone.

I started off by experimenting on a small piece and then realised, as it was so quick to do, that I had plenty of time to make a little circular book, which can be hung up for display. It’s made from ten 2" paper circles, connected with a slight gap, backed on to a reused piece of tape. The three blank spaces are to have hand stitched spots hopefully quite soon, and then I will be able to cover the back of the circles and make a fastening to finish it off."




There must be lots more pieces in progress out there - so please do share your photos to inspire us. ( it@warwickshirestitchers.org.uk )