Bird Portraits - Helen Walsh May Meeting 2024

Helen arrived with a wonderful array of embroidered birds, [ see above]  that she had embroidered and brought to inspire us. She loves birds and spends a lot of time watching them and you could see from her embroideries that each one has a character of its own from her close observations.

Most of our members had already chosen the bird they wanted to embroider and had brought a picture. For those who wanted to change their mind or choose a different picture Helen has a wide choice of birds as templates.

After choosing our background material Helen demonstrated how to transfer the bird outline and a few salient lines onto the material. We could draw by hand, use the lightbox or trace through the material.

We then coloured in by using crayons for fabric. This would provide colour under our stitches and provide colour where we wanted to do light stitching.

Once the bird had been coloured we were ready to add stitch and Helen suggested a few stitches but said it was up to us but she would offer suggestions if needed.  So we chose our coloured threads and began to embroider.  Feather stitch, straight stitch and blanket stitch were some of the favourites.

Helen suggested we built up layers of stitch to provide depth, colour and texture on our birds. As stitching progressed beautifully coloured birds began to appear.

We took our birds home to finish and we are looking forward to seeing them when complete.

Photograph courtesy of Helen Walsh

It was a good fun-filled day and we had great enjoyment as our birds started to appear. Our thanks go to Helen for inspiring us, sharing her knowledge and encouraging us to have fun with our stitching.

Thank You Helen for a good day.

Finished pieces of work

 Chris has finished her mini quilt and framed it with a black frame which picks out the dark colour of the swifts. It is delicately stitched to produce a very atmospheric piece of a Summer's day.

Chris said it was a gift for a friend and I am sure he enjoyed looking at it and it will look beautiful hung on his wall.

Thank you Chris for your beautiful embroidery.

Requirements List for members making a Bird Portrait with Helen Walsh - May Meeting

 

Insects and Butterflies - Raffle May Meeting

 

Threads through Creation - Exhibition Blackburn Cathedral

 

Mary has just visited this exhibition at Blackburn cathedral and she said it was wonderful.

If you want to find out a bit more about it and where it is going next please look at this site;

www.jacqui-textile.com

Finished Pieces of Work

Sandra has finished her bright and cheerful mini  quilt where she has used the colours of Spring. We are always pleased to see the cherry blossom and the Spring flowers especially after a long grey Winter.

She has mixed mathematical shapes in spring green to add an extra focus.

The quilt has been attached to a frame and decorated in drawn plants and fruit. Thank you Sandra for your piece.

Shelagh chose to embroider her mini memory quilt with items relating to her love of walking. I particularly love the hiking boots, with the footprints and the muddy puddles. Very appropriately she has called it "Spring in my Step".

The shrubs, daffodils and signpost help to produce a lovely atmospheric piece where we can all remember stamping through muddy puddles.

Thank you Shelagh for a lovely piece.

I have received this beautifully doodle-stitched embroidery by Wendy Barrington inspired by a rock pool on Rousay, Orkney. The pool contained different kinds of seaweeds and the rocks were diamond shaped.

Thank you Wendy for a beautiful piece of embroidery and the rock pool must have been very colourful contrasting with the interesting shapes and colours of the rocks.

Christina has finished her "Lynntangle" where she has embroidered into geometrical shapes producing delightful patterns reminiscent of Medieval patterns. It is lovely to look at and the little pops of gold make some areas stand out.

 Thank you Christina, it is delightful.

Anne has been extra busy and produced two beautiful  "Lynntangles"

that look like stained glass windows. Some of the stitched patterns have been coloured in and they come to the front of the embroidery almost making it look 3D.

I love the two perky birds. Thank you Ann for your beautiful pieces.

Sandra based her "Lynntangle" on her own doodles which she draws when thinking. The blue flower in the centre gives a nice pop of colour and draws the eye.

Thank you Sandra.

Mini Memory Quilt - Rachael Margeson April Meeting 2024

 This month we welcomed Rachael Margeson who had just had an exhibition of her mini quilts at Grizebeck community Hall, Kirkby in Furness that had been visited and enjoyed by some of our members. She brought some of her mini quilts with her for us to see. [see Below]

Rachel advised us to choose two colours of material and place using the rule of thirds to produce a square of approx. 4 ins. The subject matter was up to us but she suggested something personal to us that made us happy. Members set about their squares brimming with ideas and enthusiasm. From the start it could be seen that each member had their own ideas and each quilt would be very individualised.

As soon as the backgrounds were complete members started adding applique shapes and small pictures began to emerge.

Embroidery was added and small amounts of printing with paint to enrich the mini quilt and by the end of the afternoon many of the quilts were finished!

Members went home happily with their finished or nearly finished mini quilt. Hopefully we will see them soon all finished and mounted.

A few members were also pleased to make a triptych and we will be especially pleased to see those.

A big thank you goes to Rachael for inspiring us and providing back up pieces of material, paint and ideas. It was a really good day.