Owls and bees and other things

Our November Workshop was a great success , and many of our members brought along the lovely stumpwork owls created at a previous session.  Ann guided everyone through the process of creating beautiful scissor cases and there was even time to add little buzzing bees to the backs.

These lovely cases were shown off at our second November meeting.

It was a busy night, and we started to look at inspirations for our  project about Capability Brown.  We explored various background techniques and different ways of using imagery. Lots of inspiration and ideas to try and we look forward to working on this project in preparation for an exhibition at Samlesbury Hall next year.

Rainbow colours

Julia Allison brought a rainbow of colour to our first November meeting.  Much of Julia's work has been working in collaboration with church schools to produce a variety of banners and cloths for use in school assemblies. Working with paintings produced by the children, workshops with lots of cutting and stitching produce the end result and as children tend to chose a palette of rainbow colours, these are prevalent in her work.

Julia has also exhibited her own work in several local galleries and also has a life long interest in quilts. Her current project is to make a quilt showcasing many of her favourite fabrics and using lots of vintage embroidered items.

Sunburst motifs often feature in Julia's work

Merging old and new to create a quilt with lots of hand embroidery

Floral collage using scrap fabrics and felt

Thank You

Our Tactile Textiles have now been distributed to various NHS groups and we have received a letter of thanks

Apologies for the poor image

It is so good to know that these are now being used and have been so well received

Thank you and well done to all our members who contributed to this project

A little Owl

Ann is leading us through the world of Stumpwork this season, and we began last night trying to make tiny owls to go onto the needlecases which we will make at the November Workshop.

Perfect instructions and lovely little kits in hand away we went on our stitching jhourney

Some finished owls on the night, others of  us took them off home for completion or a re-think.

We are looking forward to seeing all the little owls come together and party at the November  Workshop

Please note the change of date for this workshop it is now on the 14th November and not the 21st as in your programme

A list of requirements will be sent out prior to the workshop to those attending

Dates for your diary:

21st and 22nd November - Crafts in the Pen ar Skipton Auction Market

(Lovely farm shop and cafe nearby too)

Sunday 22nd November  Craft and Gift Fair at the North Euston Hotel, Fleetwood

This follows the successful fair held there in July

Saturday 28th November

Craft Fair at Blackpool 6th Form College 10-

Work made by pupils and staff

Sunday 6th December

FY Creatives Craft and Makers Fair - Winter Gardens, Blackpool

2016:

Saturday 16th April  Rag Market in Hebden Bridge Town Hall

Organised by th WI and well worth a visit

Saturday 23rd April North West Regional Day

Hosted by Bolton Branch at Haigh Hall

Saturday 7th May National AGM in Manchester

(More details of these events to follow later)

Memory Tablecloth and a Banquet

The Memory Tablecloths are now complete and we were all very proud to see them hanging in the Winter Gardens this weekend for the Banquet and Food Festival organised by Left Coast.

Read more about the background to this event  on their blog post here:
http://www.leftcoast.org.uk/all/communities-and-artists-cook-up-a-banquet-at-the-winter-gardens


I understand that the performance on Friday night was fantastic, and the set up for the "Dishing the Dirt" event was certainly very impressive.


So many groups have been involved in this project from different backgrounds and with varied interests and it has been well coordinated by Left Coast to bring all the elements together in such a creative and interesting way.

There was a bustling atmosphere as lots of visitors checked out the produce on the various stalls, and it was interesting to see so many different threads brought together. 
From salt making to growing your own veg there was something for everyone.

Advice was on hand for people coping with dementia from Empowerment and Dementia Friends and lots of diet and food advice.


Here is a more detailed look at our project "Stitches in Time"
http://banquetblog.leftcoast.org.uk/

Harriet Riddell  busy stitching at the event on Saturday

Our tablecloths drew lots of positive comments and provoked several conversations. Many of our visitors were from different parts of the country and it was great to be able to talk about our involvement in this project to a new audience

The original intention had been to display one cloth, but thanks to all our members and their enthusiasm we had enough work to display two cloths on the day.

Left Coast have kindly allowed us to have temporary custody of the cloths and we are now hoping to get them out and on display around Blackpool.  
Empowerment will be taking them along to their groups so their clients can see the finished work.

This has been such an interesting project to work on and we have all been impressed by the people we have met along their way and it has been a privilege to be able to share some of their stories.,

Harriet has been an inspiration to us all and those of us who have been lucky enough to have our portraits done will treasure them as a memento of the project.

More detail and images of Harriet's work here: http://institchyou.co.uk/

Mixed Media Stitching

Emily Notman came along to our first meeting in October to speak about her work and talk us through her creative process.

Beautiful delicate wall hangings and other delights all made from layer upon layer of sheer and lace fabrics painted and "Bondawebbed"  (if there is such a word) enhanced by lots of delightful hand stitching. 

Lots more photographs are available on Emily's website:

www.emilynotman.co.uk

Mixed media and tablecloths!

October is upon us and we are embarking on our new programme which promises to be every bit as exciting and varied as the last one.  
Emily Notman is our speaker on Monday, her work is described on her website as follows:

"I create bespoke textile instillations mixing media and building up tactile delicate surfaces. I work and rework my pieces with paint, dyes, bleach and ink, burning and layering until finishing it with hand stitch. I find beauty in flaky walls, overgrown buildings and encrusted surfaces; this is something I recreate in my work.

My pieces evolve and grow with time, incorporate history with layering and sometimes the tiniest mark made or stitch changes a piece dramatically it’s this detail that excites me.

Initially I was inspired by a visit to a Fishermans village in Portugal it was the old flaky paint on boats and encrusted textures of the lobster pots that I recreated using fabrics and stitch. I developed my work to look as though it had been abandoned and that it developed its own surface over time. I work in response to old beautiful walls covered up by years of wall paper or overgrown doorways and walls in gardens. Some pieces of my work look as though they have been brought up from the bottom of the ocean with tiny glimmers of pearls and layers of coral stitch.

I studied at Leeds College of Art and Design between 2006 and 2008, which resulted in a passion for Photography, Textiles and Fashion. I then attended the University of Cumbria, graduating in 2011, with a 1st Class BA Honours Degree in Contemporary Applied Arts - specialising in Ceramics, Embroidery and Printed Textiles"

This promises to be a very exciting and informative evening and we look forward to our usual "full house" to welcome our speaker.

All images are from www.emilynotman.co.uk and must not be reproduced or copied without consent

Following on from the meeting there will be an opportunity to catch up on the Memory Tablecloth Project.  Harriet is arriving in Blackpool on Monday to undertake the completion of the project over 3 days during the week.

We have invited her to come along to our meeting, so there will be an opportunity to discuss ideas and plans for the completed piece.

Gawthorpe Survey

Just a quick post today to request feedback in a survey to Gawthorpe Hall.

From Vanessa:

We have developed a public survey to support the development of new ideas and programmes here at Gawthorpe Textiles Collection...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Gawthorpe

We'd be very grateful if you could you...

a) complete it yourself

b) forward this onto friends, family, wider connections...

We really need people far and wide, textiles specialists and non-textiles specialists, all ages... the more people who complete this the greater the pool of information will be.

Your input would be much appreciated

September is here!

September is here already!        Where did the Summer go?
Still it was great to get together for our first meeting of the Autumn, and good to see so many people interested to hear our speaker Lynn Setterington.

Lynn is an internationally recognised artist working in the textiles arena, her hand stitched quilts and cloths are held in many major public museums, from the V&A, Crafts Council and Whitworth Art Gallery. 

A celebration of the ordinary and overlooked are key themes in her work. She became  known for her use of Kantha embroidery in the early 1990’s and has since gone onto devise and instigate  a large number of social engagement projects and textile collaborations with diverse groups.

Lynn spoke about her practice and her work with collaborative groups and brought along many examples of her signature quilts, which I am sure helped to inspire many of us with the projects we are currently working on.

The photographs used here are from Lynn's website so please do not share or copy other than for personal use.

Examples of signature quilts

The following images are from the collaborative project "Stitching up Oxford Road" 

More information and pictures of  Lynn's work can be found on her website:

www.lynnsetterington.co.uk

Pop up News

It was great to see our pop up museum at the recent Museum in the Making Event at the Winter Gardens.
There were lots of activities going on and lots of information about the proposed museum.
It was very busy and our pop up attracted a fair number of visitors when I was there on Friday.
The final touches added include information Postcards and a Did you Know? quiz sheet.

Better Photographs!

Following the launch of our pop-up museum, here are the professionally taken photographs, which give clearer images than my amateur efforts!
Look out for the pop up appearing at various venues in and around Blackpool in the coming months.

Photograph Claire Griffiths

Photograph Claire Griffiths

Photograph Matthew Wright

Photograph Matthew Wright

Photograph Matthew Wright

Photograph Claire Griffiths

Photograph Matthew Wright

Photograph Matthew Wright

Photograph Matthew Wright

This is the description of our pop up taken from Treasure Trove blog::  

‘Only in Blackpool’ by Blackpool Embroiderers’ Guild and Costumologists

Only in Blackpool explores the Blackpool Tower and it’s entertainment heritage from 1950 onwards. The museum’s main structure is the Tower itself, surrounded by a variety of visuals symbolising it’s history. This includes the roof top garden, the circus and the more controversial history including an escapologist who married his partner suspended 400 ft off the Tower in 1985. The pop up museum captures embroidery and textiles with it’s beautiful sewn panels depicting the circus created by Costumologists and it’s beautifully embroidered flags, made by the members of the Embroiderers’ Guild. The pop up museum interprets the entertainment heritage unique to Blackpool Tower and unique to Blackpool, aptly titled ‘Only in Blackpool’.

To read the full report and photo gallery please click the link:.

www.blackpoolstreasuretrove.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/launch-and-celebration-event-image-gallery

This project is supported and funded by: