Ivy clinging to house wall and shutters in France

While Mary was on holiday at her daughter's house in France she took this unusual photograph of ivy clinging to the wall and shutters. She says that it has inspired her with an idea for an embroidery but she would like to know if it has inspired anyone else.

If you have come up with ideas for producing any textile work from her picture you can leave her a message, in the comments box at the bottom of this post, for her to read.

Venetian Flowers

Sandra has now finished her wall hanging that she started at Summer School. The gold and red reminded her of Venetian glass and so she added a Venetian style carnival mask to complete the hanging.

Silk Bowls and Tassels

The other two courses were silk bowls and tassel making and here you can see some of the finished work.

It was a very enjoyable Summer School and the members learned some new techniques and had an enjoyable social time and are looking forward to next year!.

Nearly completed projects

The members then chose some of their dyed cloth to work with and considering they all started with white cotton everyone of the projects was very different.

They took them home as samples or to finish.

Dyed Cloth

The members did an awful lot of rinsing and ironing but the colours and patterns were amazing!

Cotton material before and after dyeing

The members took with them six metres of cotton material which they cut up into pieces and dyed with Dyrect Dyes in bags in a microwave!

They had a wonderful time watching all the different colours and shades emerge as you can see on the washing line.

Quilts by Annette Morgan

This year four of our members, Elizabeth,Anne, Jennifer and Sandra, went to Summer School. All four decided to do the dyeing and stitching with Annette Morgan.Annette brought samples including some of her quilts and you can see them in the above photographs.

Nearly completed Coptic Stitched Books

A selection of our Coptic Stitched books that are just waiting for thair final stitching and then they will be ready to use . A few of the members are going to put a small stitched piece as decoration on the front cover.

A big Thank You to Elizabeth who is a member of our group.

July Meeting Coptic Stitched Books with Elizabeth Shorrock

Elizabeth's book making classes are always very popular with members and this class was first sheduled for January but had to be postponed. Everyone was therefore looking forward to this day and it did not disappoint with some members working overtime to finish their book before they went home!
The photographs show the members deeply involved in their work and helping each other out under Elizabeth's careful instruction.

Stump work Pansies

Hilly has just completed and framed her stump work pansies started at the April meeting. The stitching is beautifully neat and even with the pansies looking like the real thing.

Completed embroideries involving wrapping

Both Margaret and Glennis have finished their embroideries started at the June Meeting.

Margaret has used a stained glass window from a little chapel near Sedbergh as her inspiration and framed it with wrapped dowelling. Glennis has chosen peach for her abstract piece decorated with wrapped straws and washers.

They both look very beautiful but very different.

Barrow Library Display

Brenda and Sandra set up the display in Barrow Library this morning. They had to rethink what to display because the cases would only take items less than 14 ins. cubed and light things on the board.
After setting things in the cases they decided it was nice to view the work from different angles and the curvature of the board seemed to link things together.

Reticule Challenge

The Reticule Challenge display was a pleasure to visit. The textile pieces were displayed as you walked up the stairs, then on the landing, the corridor linking the two display rooms together and back down the other staircase. The photographs show just a few of the exhibits.

Over one hundred pieces using every textile skill possible and the colours were breath taking. The amount of talent in the area is tremendous.

There were refreshment of tea, coffee and delicious home made cakes that you could eat while buying a raffle ticket and playing the tombola in a very friendly and cheerful atmosphere.

Christine of Reticule must be congratulated for her idea of raising money for a Cancer Charity in such an unusual way and bringing it to fruition by her hard work, not forgetting all her helpers. Well Done!

Ancient Thrace

Sandra has at last finished her embroidery inspired by her trip to Bulgaria last September! She particularly enjoys ancient history and there are many new and interesting sites opening up that were behind the old Iron Curtain!

There have been some wonderful finds in the ancient burial sites of Thracian rulers [modern Bulgaria] that show they were wonderful craftsmen working in metal particularly gold and silver.