24th February - Redwork - untutored workshop

The meeting opened with "business" - discussion of preparations for our Creative Stitch Day and the future of the Library.

After this our acquired projector had its first outing and we viewed part of a Jan Beanie DVD, which was extremely interesting, showing how to link dominant motifs and thus create a unity in an abstract design.

Those booked in to the workshop then moved on to preparation and stitching of the pieces, that will later form the basis of a project workshop later in the year.

We had a wonderful display of
pieces, already created by Sheila, Janet and Mo, to give us inspiration and show how effective and varied the technique can be.

As can be seen, REDwork isn't necessarily red!!

COME AND JOIN US on 24th March 2018

JANUARY 21st 2018 Mixed Media

This meeting and workshop was, sadly, rather poorly attended.

Courtesy of Sue Quilliam, there was a sales table for Colourcraft items along with many other goodies, which were eagerly snapped up by the members, who were present.

The workshop was led by Maureen K and Stella, who showed how Tyvek, Lutrador and Angelina could be transformed by heat manipulation and used as a basis for machine- or hand- embroidery. The very select band of participants benefited from close help and attention from Maureen and Stella particularly in machine embroidery, once they had "played" with the heat manipulation!

December 2017

Unusually, we had to cancel our Christmas "party" because of snowfall, which was particularly bad in Douglas and Onchan. The Police advised people not to travel.

18th November 2017 Stitching life and Layered backgrounds

Our November meeting began with a very wide-ranging talk from Theresa Saxon about her stitching life, which she called “Kids, Kits and Magazines”!  Theresa brought a plethora of finished works, which she had created over the years; from beautiful children’s dresses and dungarees decorated with appliqué, to complicated kits and designs from magazines.  She talked about how she started by making clothes, then moved through phases of crocheting and  using kits for embroidery. She gave an amusing account of her initial, thwarted, intention to branch into quilting. However, she succeeded in the end and brought with her a variety of beautiful quilts made for her family. Her talk described how her stitching projects linked into her family and work life and we were all amazed that, with a husband, four children and a career, she had managed to create so much, and that so many items had survived numerous house-moves between continents!!

 Despite Theresa's saying in her talk about the importance of kits and magazine project instructions for her, she is  also very clearly a creative embroiderer designing her own projects and this came out in the workshop which followed, where Theresa explained to the group  how to create a variety of backgrounds by layering chiffon, tulle netting and scraps of fabric and thread on to a cotton base.  Theresa provided a wide variety of bonding agents for the group to experiment with and an information sheet, which will prove extremely useful. 

 The attached images illustrate just how much members got out of Theresa’s workshop and how much was produced in a short time!!

Doesn't it make your fingers itch?!

21st October 2017 PATTERNS FROM NATURE - DRAWING AND DESIGN WITH ANNE PITTS

We had a very productive Saturday workshop with Anne Pitts, a retired art teacher, who shared her knowledge and skills and encouraged us to use sketchbooks and to work freely. We experimented with drawing very quickly using wax crayons and then adding water colour, also using water colour

pencils and oil pastels.

We then had a go at simple, formal pattern making, by cutting out shapes and using the cut-out shape to form the next part of the pattern. Some ladies even started creating their own work from the

ideas they had brought! It was a very enjoyable workshop and hopefully everyone has taken away ideas to use in their own designs.

The workshop followed a very interesting talk by Pat Kelly on the Friday evening, entitled " The history of colour and natural dyes". Pat focussed on the primary colours and we learnt a lot about how these colours and dyes have been used over the centuries and by different groups of people to emphasise their status and to control others. Pat always researches thoroughly and it was a very informative talk and it is a shame not more members attended.

CHARITY DAY 2017

Our annual event, remembering Janet's sister, Jean O'Neill, was held in aid of Bowel Cancer on 29th July this year.

Janet has made a photo collage of the day and sent a message to go with it.

Thank you so much for your support. The total raised to date is £610 which

is incredible! Thanks also to Haldane Fisher for buying the bags for us! You are all amazing! Thank you. Janet x