Secret Santa - December Meeting

 Please bring a wrapped present [value £5] for Secret Santa, Thank you.

Make a Book -December Meeting

 

Finished pieces of Work

Sandra has now completed her box and she took a slightly different approach using hand painted collage papers and turned it into a Pandora's Box. The collage on the six faces is based on Minoan wall frescos, Minoan A script and the earthy colours used to decorate the Minoan Palaces.

The collage has been machine and hand stitched, trimmed with gold stitching and beads.

The inside has all the ills of the world which escaped when the box was opened and has been updated to include COVID.

After all the ills had escaped there was just one thing left at the bottom - "HOPE".

Sandra said she enjoyed making the box and thinking through all the design options.

Thank you Sandra.

 Shelagh has finished her box started with Anne Brooke. It looks super and I love the contrast between the dark earth colours and the bright blue. Additional texture has been added by the paper collage,  machine and hand embroidery.

Well done! Shelagh.

Another fantastic finished box, this time by Anita. I love the warm colours of red, yellow and orange collaged and embroidered against the pale background. There are some very interesting stitches providing additional texture and interest.

Thanks Anita for a fantastic box.

Christina has finished her wonderful box full of pops of colour from collage, stitch and "buttons". There is also a lovely hand made twisted cord with a neat tassel on the end to secure the opening.

Thanks for your wonderful box Christina.

Christmas Kawandi - Joanna Henson November Meeting 2023

This month's workshop was led by Joanna one of our own members. She arrived with ideas, fabrics and enthusiasm ready to lead our members through making a Christmas Kawandi. [See above.]
 

A close-up photo of the stitching above shows that it can be either hand or machine.

Joanna demonstrated the technique of arranging the small pieces of fabric from the outer borders, gradually basting them, and covering the background fabric.

She showed different samples of her work, following the style of the Siddi women.

Members began working on their pieces and all the bright, cheerful colours of Christmas began to emerge.

Once the background fabric was covered members began to hand stitch with a neutral perle thread, working running stitch to hold the fabric pieces in place.

The stitching was running stitch, similar to kantha, but with Kawandi the running stitches work from the outer edges into the middle.

It was a very enjoyable workshop and members took home their Kawandi quilts to complete the stitching at home and then bring them to the Christmas meeting in December for the Competition.

A big thank you goes to Joanna for introducing us to Kawandi quilting, telling us a little of its history and making it topical by using Christmas fabrics.

We all look forward to seeing the completed mats in December.

A thank you to Janet for the photographs.