October meeting - AGM and Lizzie Wall 'My Quilts and other Animals'

Our October meeting started with our AGM. Looks like we're having a good time?

It was prizegiving time ... Mary Holden was presented with the Trudy Goodenough trophy for her 'Tulips'














... Pat Hewitt won the Agnes Wilson prize for Surface Stitch ...














...and Sue Shepherd won the Agnes Wilson prize for Counted Thread.














Christine Chadwick won the 'Chairman's Challenge' for making a name badge.




















Then on to the highlight of the day - Lizzie Wall's talk 'My Quilts and other Animals'

A pity I can't show all the photographs taken but here are some ...

... a stunning banner for South Ribble NUT. Lucky teachers!














... a close-up of a quilt featuring 'nature' ...



















What a delight!



















A quilt that we'd seen at the Quilt Show. Lovely shimmering fish!



















This was a 'practice' / 'sample' / 'design' piece for a larger one. So much work to try out a design!

We were all very impressed by the processes which Lizzie had worked through - in depth research and meticulous design ...














... like the legends of the hares and the larkspurs on this 'Harvest' chasuble made for a Church in Aintree ...

... and this one featuring Our Lady Of Walsingham. Note the text which runs all around the edge of the garment.














The work was closely observed and admired.














This is a Christmas chasuble made in memory of a parishioner.



















... beautiful figures of Madonna and Child ...

... and magnificent angels ...














... with glowing faces ...

... and, indeed, the lion shall lie down with the lamb.

Thanks to Lizzie for a wonderful and inspiring talk.

June and July meetings

For our June meeting we had a practical morning working on our 'Spain' postcards - to be shown at a later date. In the afternoon we had our Regional Vice-Chair, Monica Selway, to talk to us about her work.

Monica was a prizewinner in 'Riches of Stitches' with this lovely piece.

This is a sample book showing various different techniques.

A cushion made from 'manipulated velvet ...

... and this eye-catching, beautifully executed piece based on a photograph of azaleas. It is in a stitch used by people on the canal barges.

More velvet manipulation ...

Many of Monica's pieces involve folding ...

... based on origami ...

... beautifully dyed and embellished. A feast for the eyes!

A feast of a different kind was the focus of our July meeting.

We spent the morning working on our own projects but this is a photograph of our Chairman, Sue reminding us that our Horrockses dresses were coming along nicely.

Then it was time for our 'Jacob's Join' lunch ...

... with the highlight being our Strawberry Cream 'tea'.

A lovely way to end our year!

May meeting - Eileen Johnson - Machine Embroidery 'Nature's Wonders'

Our May meeting was an 'in-house' special with our own Eileen Johnson giving us a worlshop on 'Nature's Wonders'.

Eileen brought along many examples of her exquisite machine embroidery. Flowers, leaves and foliage were all demonstrated in their various forms.

Eileen demonstrated many other techniques ...

... and soon everyone was hard at work producing their own 'Small Wonders'.

And, of course, the girls in the back room were equally busy.

In the afternoon Caroline Alexander, from the Harris Museum, came to talk to us about Horrockses dresses which were made in Preston.

April Meeting - Silk Playday with Valerie Anderson

April brought a return visit from the delightful Valerie Anderson who had greatly entertained us with her talk on her last visit

Valerie (sorry about the photo) demonstrated so many different techniques and materials ...

... and made it all seem so easy.

We were all soon at work ...

... producing multi-layered pieces.

As you can see the silk looks beautiful when held up to the light.

Everybody's was different. Bernadette was hard at work ...

... as was Beryl ...

... and our visitor, Dorothy.

Everyone was having great fun and Valerie was so generous with her time and materials.

Yvonne's 'shoes' were stunning ...

... and by this time we were really 'getting in to it'!

Here's Pat with her delicate flowers.

And the girls in the back room were hard at work as usual.