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."
... this gorgeous moth, made by Jenny.
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:
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| Aboriginal Art (Dorothy) |
The travelling book group has recently completed the cycle of book swaps.
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| Travelling Book Bag |
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
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| Travelling Book Group meet |
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 ...
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| A New Stitch (Margherita) |
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| Walls (Sue) |
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| Communication (Anna) |
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| Coast (Diane) |
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| Nursery Rhymes (Caroline) |
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| Skeleton (Beth) |
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| Round and Round (Fiona) |
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| Stained Glass (Jenny) |
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| A New Technique (Gill) |
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| Colour Wheel (Wendy) |
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.
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.
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:
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| Collagraph |
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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).
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!
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.*
