Finished pieces of Work

 Goldwork Turtle - Wendy Barrington

Wendy has completed this fantastic goldwork turtle in muted shades of pink and green. The basic shape has been made by layering up felt.

Layered felt base.

The patches are faux leather and the infill is Goldwork wire that has been cut and applied like beads. The longer lengths have been couched down.

Purl and Check Purl Goldwork wire

The round coiled wire is called purl and the sparkly square coiled wire is check purl. Beads have been attached for the eyes.

Wendy has a wonderful eye for detail and impressive concentration that has resulted in this wonderful turtle.

Thank you Wendy.

Embroidered Wreath - Bev Mouncey

Bev has embroidered this very pretty pale blue wreath with a pop of pinky-red. She has decorated the wreath with delicate handmade roses made from ribbon.

She has turned it into a patch for a bag by embroidering a frame of chain and interlacing stitch picking out the colours of the wreath.

Thank you Bev.

Rya Bee - Sandra Kendall

Sandra has just finished her fluffy bee by using rya stitch and then trimming the loops. She has used chain stitch for the legs and made the wings with a sheer over wire, stitching on the machine.

The flower has been made by looping over a pencil and then passing a needle through the loops, attached to the background for the petals.

Thank you Sandra

Fluffy Rya Bee - Fran Walker July Meeting 2025

As part of the requirements list Fran asked us to look at Mary Corbett's demonstration of rya stitch [www,needlenthread.com] and if we had time to practice it.

[See below practice piece]

 One of our own members Fran was leading the workshop and she had brought some lovely books for us to look at. We could use the pictures and study details of bees and flowers for our bee to visit.

We were provided with a basic picture of a bee visiting a flower and we could adapt  and change anything we liked.

The first thing we did was draw a bee onto our supported material and place in a hoop. Members drew by hand, traced or used a light box.

Most members then started with the rya stitch on the body which needed to be worked closely together to make the bee fluffy when cut.

Some members waited until all the rya stitch had been finished others chose to cut the tops of the stitches as they finished each band. They would be neatened up at home.

Most members had nearly completed the body by the time they went home where they would work the legs, head and embroider the flower. There was something very satisfying about cutting the top of the stitch and revealing the tactile fluffy body.

We are looking forward to seeing the results at our next meeting and how members have worked the legs, eyes, flower etc..

Members enjoyed working rya stitch, which is a stitch we rarely use, and thinking of different uses for it in the future.

A big thank you goes to Fran for organising the workshop, providing us with the basics and introducing us to rya stitch to use in making a fluffy bee.

It was a good day.

Requirements for Rya Bee - Fran Walker July Meeting 2025

Swallows and Amazons - Raffle July Meeting 2025

 

Finished pieces of Work

 Janet has finished her jewel-like flower wreath using rich shades of purple and mauve. She has couched a boucle thread and increased the texture with French knots.

 The wreath has been finished with a bow of purple and green picking up the shades in the stitching.

Thank you Janet for a very pretty and colourful wreath

Sandra has finished her wreath and with the addition of a couple more embroidered circles has used it to decorate the lid of a box. The edges are decorated with handmade twisted braids.

She has embroidered a bullion knot rose as a centre piece on the lid and another one in the centre of the embroidered band.

Thank you Sandra

Flower Wreath - Kate Slaughter June Meeting 2025

 Kate had brought a wonderful array of brightly coloured and finely stitched flower wreaths to show us what we would be making. See below.

Kate advised us to use an 8ins. square of a neutral background fabric and place it in our ring. We then tacked around a doughnut shape so that we knew where to place our stitching.

 Kate demonstrated how to lay our boucle thread and couch in down in a meandering style going around the shape a few times until most "holes" were covered.

Members chose a wonderful array of colours to begin their couching.

Kate went from table to table demonstrating and  making suggestions to improve our outcomes. 

Once the couching had been finished we then filled up the "tiny holes" with French knots and bullion stitches. increasing the texture and depth of colour.

Tiny beads, buttons and ribbon roses were added to complete the texture  and beautiful jewel-like wreaths began to emerge.

Most of our members were either finished or had nearly finished their wreath which they took home to complete and we hope to see them soon. It was another fun workshop which our members enjoyed.

A big thank you goes to Kate for leading the workshop and supporting us through the making of the Flower Wreaths which was greatly enjoyed.