Wool Felt Applique - Elaine Terry May Meeting 2026

 A while ago Elaine brought this beautiful, colourful and appliqued quilt to a meeting while it was still under  construction. It was much admired and as a result our wool applique workshop came about.

Elaine had worked out some ideas we might like to try or use as a starting point.

She had also brought two items below using the same technique to inspire us to take our applique further.

Elaine had prepared some designs or members could design their own which we were advised to draw onto freezer paper.

These were then ironed onto our chosen colour of felt and cut out.

The shapes were then placed on the background in a pattern or picture.

When pieces were in the right place members began to oversew the edges with wool thread.

The shapes were then embroidered to add detail and bring the design to life adding extra details such as legs and stalks.

It was a very colourful and enjoyable session and members took  their applique to finish at home.

A big thank you to Elaine for organizing the workshop and sharing her applique skills with us.

We are all looking forward to seeing the finished items.

Requirements List Felt Applique - Elaine Terry May 2026

 

The Longest Thread

There is an exhibition at Rheged [Penrith] entitled The Longest Thread. If you are in the area or you want to make a special trip it is well worth a visit but it ends on the 28th April.

It is set from the beginning of World War 11 until VE Day in 1945 and is made up of 80 knitted/crocheted dioramas covering a wide range of scenes. Below is a sample.
 

British Expeditionary Force sent to France

Dig for Victory

Battle for the Atlantic plotting room

Food Rationing

Volunteering for the Home Guard

Battle of Britain

Little ships gathering at Dover to rescue the men at Dunkirk

Sinking of the Royal Oak at Scapa Flow

Churchill's " we shall fight them on the beaches" speech

Churchill speaking to the men of HMS Exeter after victory over Graf Spee at the Battle of the River Plate.

The blitz on London

Firemen dealing with the aftermath of the blitz

The arrival of the Americans

A very interesting exhibition on many levels.

Finished Pieces of Work

 Wendy B. has finished her delightfully tactile white-tailed bumble bee. He is extra soft and fluffy from the closely packed rya stitch that makes you want to touch him.

The wings have been edged with buttonhole stitch over wire and sheer fabric with the veining stitched on the sheer.

Thanks Wendy he is wonderful.

Sandra has carried out a little experiment. The day we did the Forest Floor embroidery was frosty and snowy and Sandra decided she would turn one of the green embroideries frosty.

After completing the embroidery mainly in green she then passed a roller of white paint over the top after most of the white paint had been rollered off onto newspaper. The result is above with a few sprinkles of glitter and beads.

Thank you Sandra and I believe the experiment is worth trying again.

Stump Work Butterfly - Tanya Shaw April Meeting 2026

Tanya arrived with her bags full of beautiful stump work/3D embroideries to inspire us to embroider a 3D butterfly.

Tanya had devised three different ways of making the butterfly according to how many wings we wired and could be 3D.

We could wire all 4 wings, wire 2 wings and embroider the bottom 2 wings or wire 1 wing and attach it to the side [a closed up butterfly].

Tanya talked us through what we would be doing and provided us with comprehensive instructions and skeleton outlines of the butterflies.

Most members started by making the padded body with 3 layers of felt stitched to the background.

Once the body was stabbed stitched to the background members began to satin stitch over the top producing a raised body. Tanya informed us we could cover the body with other stitches or leather.

The lower 2 wings could be stitched onto the background fabric and stitched in long and short stitch or satin stitch.

The shape for the wired wings was  drawn onto the fabric,  the wire was couched around the shape and finally buttonhole stitched closely to cover the wire

The wired wings could be embroidered, left as a pretty fabric or the veins stitched. After the wing had been cut out the wire ends would then be poked through a hole  attaching them  to the body making them 3D.

3D work is very time consuming and fiddly so the butterflies would be finished at home but members would find that the result was worth all the fine stitching with one thread!

A big thank you to Tanya for inspiring us, organising the session. preparing the instructions and helping us through the steps. We are all looking forward to seeing the finished butterflies.