Mary McIntosh
It was great to welcome back Mary McIntosh to deliver her “Putting on the Glitz” workshop. Using black velvet as a background, we used acrylic paints, organza and transfer foils to layer up our pictures. They are work in progress as we now need to add stitching to strengthen and embellish them.
Thank you to Layla for her video and Pat for the photos.
Margaret Talbot: Textured Surfaces
Thank you to Margaret Talbot for sharing her fabulous 3D creations with us and describing how she developed her amazing textured surfaces.
Elizabeth Ashdown  Passementerie Weaving Workshop
Thank you to Libby for joining us again to guide us through making two Passementerie samples. This was a very enjoyable and relaxing day. Libby provided an abundance of different yarns, ribbons, cords and textures for us to experiment with. We also had fun using her cord winding machines!
Sara Impey
We had the pleasure to welcome back Sara Impey to our monthly meeting with her “Machine Embroidery Texts” presentation. Sara talked about the themes that inspired her to design her stunning quilts and the processes that she uses to produce them.
Clara Warschauer
It was Clara’s first visit to our group and we look forward to working with her again soon. She entertained us with her embroidery story and brought along many samples of her exquisite gold work flowers and tiny creatures.
Kate Pankhurst Blackwork Biscornu
Our last workshop before the summer break! Thank you to Kate Pankhurst for your wonderful preparation and teaching to make a start on our blackwork biscornus. Also, to Diane for her valued support at this session. Everyone had a fantastic day and, from the post comments, have been bitten by this very therapeutic and relaxing style of embroidery. We are looking forward to seeing the completed projects in September.
Mary McIntosh “Material as Message”
It was a pleasure to welcome back Mary McIntosh to speak to our group on “Material as Message”. She shared with us her process for layering paper with cotton organza to enable stitching and dyeing so that the message was still clear. Her projects using Pojagi are stunning. Also, we saw a sample for the workshop that Mary will deliver to us in November, “Putting on the Glitz”. We are looking forward to working with Mary again.
Vinny Stapley “Sheer Magic”
It was a pleasure to welcome back Vinny Stapley for another workshop on ‘Sheer Magic’ to produce stunning translucent circular hangings inspired by coastal fauna. Here are a sample of close up photos of the work in process. We look forward to sharing our finished projects soon.
Bridget Bailey “Embossed Velvet Lilies”
We welcomed Bridget back to deliver a workshop on how to create these beautiful lilies. This was a very popular workshop so I’m sure that we will see her again.
Vinny Stapley “Zoomed In”
Vinny inspired our members to take a much closer look at fauna. Everyone enjoyed the day and their results are amazing. I love the variation of texture!
Holly Parr  3D Beaded Flowers
Holly Parr designs and creates exquisite beaded flowers and we had the pleasure to welcome her to our meeting where she guided us through making a sprig of bluebells.
Rosie James -“Stitch Draw”- figurative machine stitching,
Her engaging work focuses on individual characters in crowds who are then depicted in stitch before being collated into a new background. Thank you Rosie for sharing your journey with us. Keep an eye out for her book with the same title.
Elizabeth Ashdown “Passementerie: an endangered yet thoroughly contemporary craft”
A very enjoyable presentation by Elizabeth, providing a totally fascinating insight into this technique for producing braids, trims and tassels.