Unveiling of Panto project pieces - Wolverhampton 

Three of our members attended the unveiling of the Grand Theatre project today. We had made patches for Cinderella’s dress

The Grand theatre gallery exhibition celebrated 130 years of the grand theatre . Each 'picture' represents a pantomime and includes the years when they were performed. The groups that contributed included schools, Girl Guides, Compton Care, Bangladeshi groups, refugee groups, lgbt group and lots more. It was really impressive how many different communities came together to produce it. The whole project is supported through charitable contributions.  

 November 16th Kaffe Fassett inspired bowl - Claire Muir

We spent a lovely day yesterday with Claire Muir making a bowl inspired by Kaffe Fassett. 

Claire led us step by step through all the processes

Layering up fibres

Adding fabric and sparkly ‘bits’ 

Machining 

And then our final pieces after dissolving away the stabiliser and forming them over a bowl

Claire also showed some other bowls that had been made in a similar way

Thank you Claire for a lovely day 

Claire’s work can be seen on Instagram and Facebook

Panto project 9th November

Panto project - 9th November

A group of us under the guidance of Pauline from Heath House studio spent a morning making patches for Cinderella’ s dress . This will be part of the display at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre during the pantomime in a few week’s time . The Grand are celebrating 130 years of Panto at the theatre and the display will include characters from many of the previous productions .

This is what we produced

Claire Leggett Colour : Connecting paint, print and stitch - November 2nd

Claire took us through a fascinating journey from her time at Birmingham Polytechnic where she studied Fine Art and textiles where she graduated in 1991, on through teaching for 20 years and then in 2008/9 her  creative journey started. 

She started by painting and one of her paintings was accepted at the RBSA.

In 2010 she left teaching and reconnected with the pattern design  and printing that she had enjoyed at university. This included a design development and how this went through to the cover for baby wipes.

She explained that she uses stencils, lino cut printing and even potato printing

                                       

Claire went on to show development from a painting to a paper collage and final embroidery

Her collage work includes this lovely lampshade

She then explained that through the use of sketchbooks in her travels to Amsterdam and to Malaysia that she selects images and then creates finished pieces from these patterns 

                              

She finished her lecture by showing us the work that she had undertaken during her residency at Winterbourne House, Birmingham which unfortunately finished when we went into lockdown and the work was never displayed!! She produced some lovely work based on the gardens there

          

                                                        

Thank you Claire for a very interesting lecture

 Moth on a Cloth - Melly Made Designs - 19th October

Using craft vylene, used tea bags, print, stitch and paint we made some fabulous moths . Two of our members went ' off piste' and used mandala and leaf designs.

This is what we produced in the day

A big thank you to Melanie for such a lovely day

Kimonos - Marion Plumb

 Marian told us a lot about the Kimono, its history to modern day. They are beautiful objects in themselves and are made from single Tans - single length of silk 11yards long.

It can take an hour to put on the traditional Kimono, but with modern fastening, they can be put on much faster today, and there are over 200 rules as to how to wear them.

Kimonos have a tradition going back over 2000 years and can cost from £2000 for a hand made one.

They tend to be worn today for special events and occasions, such as weddings.

Thank you Marian for both a fascinating talk and allowing us to look at and touch your beautiful collection of Kimonos.

Trip to Ally Pally - Stitch Show

 We had a great day at 'Ally Pally' on Sunday. On entry we saw some of the exquisite quilts on display and other exhibition pieces and there were many, many stalls. We all came home with additions to our stash (things we didn't intend to buy of course 😁). See below for some pictures of the work on display - there are a lot of very talented people stitching in a one way or another.

A tiring, but great day.

Thank you Mandy for organising the trip and both Ruth Duffy and Margaret for their 'behind the scenes' actions.