Requirements for A Little Strip of Leaves - Amanda Clayton October Meeting

 

Finished Pieces of Work

Shelagh has just finished her thread catcher and has put it to good use already. She was making little felt flowers to brighten up a tree decoration in her porch and collected the little cut offs in the thread catcher.

Your choice of fabric is very colourful and will make the thread catcher easy to find when needed.

Thank you Shelagh it is lovely and useful.

Congratulations to Ann Ellis for winning the cup for Best overall Exhibit in the Handicrafts Section and the plate for The Best in Show at Cartmel Show. Her amazing entry of an embroidered wall hanging is below.

Ann has embroidered her hanging in a limited palette and that makes it especially attractive to the eye. Each " little picture" is a delight and each time you look you see more detail.

Just one look at the beautifully embroidered hanging above and you can see why it won so many accolades. Thank you Ann for sharing it with us.

 Janet has finished her pretty rya bee by embroidering the legs and wings as the bee visits the heather made with detached chain stitch alternating the stem.

Thank you Janet ,it is very pretty and delightfully stitched.

Tanya has finished a beautiful orange rya bee by embroidering legs and gold wings with tiny gold beads. The bee is hovering over a neatly embroidered satin stitched shaded flower.

Thank you Tanya for your beautiful embroidery.

A.G.M. followed by A Thread Catcher - Bev Mouncey September Meeting 2025

 Our AGM was well attended and after a short coffee break members were ready to start some stitching. They were eager to make their thread catcher which they had started at home.

Bev, one of our own members,
had sent out instructions prior to the meeting and she had  brought samples of her thread catcher so everyone could see what the stages looked like and the finished item. See Below

Members had been asked to sew the rectangle into a tube at home on the machine. Everything else would be sewn by hand.

A delightful array of coloured and patterned fabrics appeared from bags and members set off with enthusiasm.

Cardboard circles were needed for the base and covered in fabric.

Using the inner hoop of an embroidery hoop the fabric tube was sewn over the hoop covering it.

The covered circles were then popped inside the tube and stitched securely in place.

By the end of the meeting most thread catchers were finished and it was lovely to see that with a little twist they could be flattened and stored easily.

Members produced a wonderful array of brightly coloured thread catchers which not only looked good but were useful. Any not quite finished would be completed at home.

A big thank you to Bev for organising the session and offering help when needed.

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.