October Meeting 2012 AGM, Talk by Empress Mills

After our AGM we were treated to avery amusing and interesting talk on threads by Christine Driver of Empress Mills. She told us a little about the history of the family firm and how it had needed to adjust to changing times in order to survive.
An assortment of threads were passed around for us to handle.
The main message was "that you need the right thread to do the right job."


We then had a good time while we looked through all the exciting things Christine had brought and most of us found something we simply possibly had to have!
Christine Driver Of Empress Mills




It was a good way to complete our AGM day and thanks must go to Christine Driver and her two helpers. 


Sandra K. brought her Lutradur piece, started at the last meeting, to show everyone. It was based upon Furness Abbey and Sandra had printed some of her photographs onto Lutradur painted with gesso.
The stonework was then cut out with a soldering iron.


More Illuminated Letters

Margaret has made another illuminated letter and used it on the front of a card.


Anne has just finished hers because she was away for the workshop.
They both look beautiful but very different. Thank you Margaret and Anne.

September Meeting Exploring Lutradur with Anne Burrow

This month we welcomed Anne Burrow who is an old friend of our Branch. Anne talked about the properties of Lutradur and some of the things we could do with it such as;
 changing the colour by painting dyeing etc
 cutting with scissors/soldering iron
 distressing with heatgun. 

 the surface could also be changed with foiling and xpandaprint. Sheets could also be passed through the printer and worked on.


Some of Anne's samples
The samples were passed around for us to look at and gain inspiration!

Most of us were new to Lutradur and so we began exploring its properties and making samples. As usual Anne brought lots of things for us to borrow or use.





Most of the samples above had used the soldering iron and heat gun.
The arches on this piece had been printed on Lutradur from the computer and cut out with a soldering iron.



Some of these pieces had been printed and angelina fibres added.
At the end of the meeting we had a range of samples using a variety of techniques and we could see more possibilities for using Lutradur in the future.
All thanks go to Anne for inspiring us and letting us play!



Summer School 2012 The Mycenean Road

Sandra K. has just finished her piece of work started at Summer School with Janet Browne. It depicts a map of her walk into Mycenae in Greece along the the ancient Mycenean Road.




Sandra hand dyed her own material to get the special colours she remembered of Greece. The map starts at the coast in the harbour at Naplion and then meanders through the Greek countryside alive with flowers, olive and orange trees, passing the ancient citadel of Tyryns and into the mountains where Mycenae is situated.
Sandra said that Janet taught them lots of new techniques and her maps and birds were inspirational.

Everlasting Landscapes Stitch Aug/Sept 2012


 Congratulations to Anne Covell for getting a picture of her everlasting landscape published in Stitch this month.
 Anne entered the competition with her piece pictured below and it was considered good enough to be published in Stitch.
Well Done Anne!


North West Regional Summer School


On Thursday Sandra, Maureen and Jennifer made ther way down the M6 to Alston Hall for Summer School with Janet Browne. All three were going to make a stitched map of their own choice. Janet had brought with her an inspirational amount of work on maps but also her stitched birds which we all fell in love with and hope to have a go at sometime in the future! You can see her work in the pictures below.

On Thursday evening they were shown the technique of layering the fabric, stitching and then cutting back the layers.  they all made a house to understand the order of stitching and cutting back etc..
The following day Sandra began her map of walking to Mycenae in Greece, Maureen her sailing holidays in Scotland and Jennifer her local area around Walney.

On the Friday Anne C and Ann T arrived to embroider stumpwork and make felt respectively. The stumpwork tutor Nicola Hulme set up a very attractive display of traditional and modern stumpwork which you can see below.


Anne made a start on her stumpwork but she had to leave early on the Sunday and will complete her piece at home. These are a few pieces of work from the group.
Sheila Smith also brought samples of her felt work to inspire everyone.
Ann was quickly into the felt, making several samples and learning new ways of incorporating interesting textures into felt.
Below are some of Sheila's samples.
Below are some of the pieces from the group.


After three days of hard work until about 10:30 each night interspersed with food Sandra ,Maureen and Jennifer were well on with their pieces but still plenty to do at home.


On Sunday after lunch there was a chance to wander round and see what the other groups had done.
The end of another enjoyable Summer School.


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