Embroiderers Guild Exhibition 2010

Here are some pictures of the items that were entered into our exhibition.
What I have done is selected a variety of different techniques to give you an idea as to the talented members that we have.
I have made them into three different posts to make it easier to read.
The first item is wool felted waratah pin cushions which were amazing. there were 6 or 7 of these in the exhibition all clustered together and they all sold within the first half an hour.







Next is my little felted pot.
When I was in Melbourne last year Dot showed me one that she had made and embellished and she sent me the instructions on how to make them.
They are knitted by hand and then felted in the washing machine.
I then embellished them with felt flowers and buttons and hand stitching.
I was lucky enough to have someone like it enough to by it.

Here is my hand felted picture that I showed you before and it was also sold--along with both the "Black and white and a little bit of red" pictures as well.

I admire people who can do Hardanger but it is not on my to do list--not creative enough for me.

I hope the Hardanger ladies from the guild don't read this.

Goldwork is another one that I love to look at but I will never do either.

This piece of Machine embroidery is by another one of our talented artists --enlarge it so that you can see all the detail--her work is always in demand.

How gorgeous is this -and don't you just love the way that it is displayed--

Look at the Tatting around this handkerchief-so delicate.

Finally some beading--we have several brilliand beaders in the Guild and this ladies work commands big prices.

That's it-no more.

I do hope that you have enjoyed seeing what these ladies and a gentleman can do.

Exhibition 2010

This piece of Stumpwork was the Viewers choice for the best exhibit in the exhibition.
The butterfly is absolutetly spectacular--life sized-exact colours (the lady had a specimen to work from which was given to her by a friend who had found it dead in her sunroom).
I had trouble getting a good photo because of the glare from the glass-but you will get an idea of its beauty.

An embroidery set worked in cross stitch.

A beautifully worked Bag with 3 D work-Machine embroidery and machine made cords.

The colours were so vibrant.

A machine embroidered bag----the base is worked on an embellisher machine and then the other embellishments are worked by hand and machine-- brilliant.

More Machine embroidery------

The flowers at the exhibition were done by members of the guild who obviously know what they are doing.

Each year these ladies work magic with their arrangements which all helps to set up what is a wonderful weekend event.

This piece was stunning--the pieces of branches were permanently fixed into the container and the flowers were arranged in tiny vials of water.

This one really caught my eye-The flowers were arranged in the centre and around the outer edge there is beautiful veriagated yarns wrapped aroung a wire base.

I should have taken the photo when the flowers were fresh but I forgot to---but you get the idea.

More to follow

Guild Exhibition 2010

Our members are very diversified in the type of embroidery that they do as you can see.
We have a gentleman who attends the evening group and by all accounts he does beautiful work.
After much encouragement he submitted these two beautiful Filet Crochet doileys.
Aren't they magnificent.

This beautiful bag has machine made cords appliqued down the front of it.

I loved this traditional embroidered cloth-so tactile and colourful.

Here is a chatelaine that has Australian Wildflowers and birds worked in Stumpwork.

I watched for months the lady who embroidered these two peacocks working away doing the cross stitches and I was in awe of all the work involved.

This is a mixed media piece-and you will need to click on it to see all the texture she has created.

This piece is worked by the same lady who worked the blue bag in the previous post.

Lastly this incredible piece of Stumpwork--so much work and oh so beautiful.

Serviette Swap

Recently Carole from Madness and Mess held a paper serviette swap with members of the Journal class that she is running.
We had to send her 10 serviettes of the same design and in return she would send us back 10 serviettes that were all different.
What a great idea!
I recieved my bundle a few weeks ago and I have finally taken a photo of them to show you.
I have in my collection over 200 different designs and I was surprised to discover that I did not have one of any of the 10 that I received.
Thanks Carole for arranging the swap a novel idea indeed.

Today is set up day for the Embroiderers Guild annual Exhibition and tonight is the official opening---then I will be working non stop until late Sunday afternoon.

I'm exhausted already just thinkink about it.

See you next week----

Vintage dreams

I have finally finished this little art quilt.
I started it last year but I just couldn't get really into it.
You know how it is sometimes no matter what you do you are not happy with it.
I had put it away and I finally got it out about a month ago to give it another go.
I worked on it adding the laces etc but it still didn't talk to me but finally the other day I decided to add the little buttons and at last it is done.
It was very hard to take a photo because of the soft colourings but I think you can get an idea as to what it looks like.
I does look lovely in real life.

September pages for Fibre Fever

This month my page in the Fibre Fever swap came from Pegg R in the US.
As you know my theme is "Your country where you live" and Peggy has made a background flag design and has included a Cardinal bird which is the state bird for Ohio and also a Carnation flower which is the state flower. How clever is that--I love it Peggy






The page I made was for Cobi and her theme is Autumn.
I made a crazy patchwork block in these colours as they are the colours of Autumn in Canberra where I live.

I'll make you smile class

I have finally started on the " I'll make you smile" workshop with Carole.
This class is about making a card that is very special--not one that the recipient will toss in the bin a week after receiving it.
The cover is made from an old book cover and is made in a similar fashion to the journal that I made in
Carole's previous class.
The first photo is of the front and back outer cover-----






And this is the inside of the cover.
I will add more to these at a later stage (I hope)

I think you will need to click on the images to get a better view.

Now I have to start on the centre pages which will hold all the messages (I think) as we are waiting for further instructions.

If you are interested in joining this class just click on the link on the side bar and go vist Carole.

TAST 2

I bet you all thought that I had dropped out of the TAST 2 challenge--well you were wrong.
I just seemed to have had so much going on in my life that it got slotted into the too hard basket for a while.
So without further ado here are weeks 26 to 29 all together.
The top row is Chained Cross Stitch and I found this a lovely stitch to work but I think that I should have chosen a brighter coloured thread.
You should be able to click and enlarge it for a better view.
The next row is Woven Trellis Stitch with a few French Knots thrown in for good measure to fill in the row because I didn't want to do any more WTS's.
I struggle with this type of stitch because of my hands.

And the bottom row on the left hand side is week 28 which is Raised Chain stitch version 1 and on the right hand side is Version 2 of the same stitch which is for week 29 (next week)

Both these stitches are a bit messy because I was rushing them and I hope that I will try them again at a later stage.

But wait there's more

Stephen gave me a couple of necklaces amongst other things--well I chose them and he paid for them--isn't that how it is done.
I wanted the pearl one to wear when we went out for dinner--it looked lovely with my new top-and the black one was an after thought because it was half price and a girl can't resist a bargain.

This is the quiltie that Val made for me--she lives in Devon and the quilt represents a Devonshire tea--scones-jam and cream on a gingham tablecloth.

How clever is that.

Thanks again Val.

The size of it is 15cm x 15cm.

That's all for now.

More stuff

I would like you to meet Blush who is the newest member of my Teddy Bear family.
This is my birthday present from Ebony and her father.
Ebony chose Blush for me because she knows how much I love my teddies and this one is special don't you think.







I also received a parcel from Val in England that included some lovely laces which will come in very handy when making my journals-------

Val also made me an ATC that has a decomposed leaf from her garden on it and I just love it------

And how about this card---the flower and leaves are made from rusted nappy liners (I think)

and there is also rusted fabrics as well.

Oh and I have just remembered that she also made me a quiltie page for my fabric book but I forgot to scan it so I will show you that tomorrow.

Thank you Val for your wonderful gifts.

Pressies

Firstly let me say a big thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes that you sent to me I am truly blessed to have such wonderful blog friends.
I received some wonderful presents for my birthday and over the next few days I will show you some of them.
The ones here are from my daughter Susan who like me loves anything vintage.
The first photo is of two Fashion plates that she purchased from an Antique Needlework shop in Canberra.
Well to be truthful she purchased one of them for me and when she went to pick it up the the lady who owns the store who just happens to be a friend of ours gave me the second one for my birthday as well.
To say I was over joyed would be an understatement.
I have admired these plates for ages but I just couldn't afford to buy one -and now I own two of them.
I will take them and have them framed after the exhibition.
If you are unsure as to what a fashion plate is I googled it and there is a a bit of blurb about it here.

The next gift which was also purchased at the same place is a Vintage Buckle.
If you click on the link below it will take you to the web page and you can read a description about it.
It is truly a beautiful buckle and I am not sure what I will do with it yet but it definitely won't be put in a box never to be seen again.
Oh and I have to tell you that this gift was from my grand-dog yes that is correct-my Grand-dog.
Now isn't he one smart dog.

http://www.needlewitch.com.au/buckles_29.html

Back with more later.

Today is a big day

Today is a special day for me--it is my 70th birthday.
I can't believe it-where have the years gone--all wonderful years let me tell you.
I can remember my 21st birthday and my 70 year old grandmother sitting there looking very old and grumpy and me thinking "when I get to 70 I hope I'm not like that"
I think I have succeeded.
Well I am off to enjoy my day.

Rain Rain go away------

We have had so much rain over this last week and I have had enough of it.
The ground is so wet that the trees are struggling to stay upright and yesterday we had huge windstorms which uprooted a lot of them because the roots were unable to stay anchored.
Nature is such a weird thing--in the summer the trees die from lack of water and now they struggle because of too much water.
This photo is of a small creek that runs near our place and is normally only a couple of metres across but as you can see there is lots of water running down the creek now.
And we are expecting more rain again in the next couple of days.

Thanks again to everyone for all their good wishes and I am happy to report that I am 100% fit again.

Feeling Better and a New Workshop

Finally after a week I am feeling a whole lot better and thank you for all the good wishes for my improvement.
Today is the first day that I have felt like doing anything at all so I hope to catch up with everything that has lapsed.
I have had Ebony with me since the beginning of the week as she has come down with a flu virus and to make matters worse I think Stephen has caught it--so life won't be dull because we all know how difficult men get when they are sick.
Today is the beginning of Carole B's new workshop "I'll Make You Smile" and if it is as good as the last one on making a shabby chic journal then I am in for a good time.
If you would like to have a look at what I will be doing then click on the badge in the side bar because you may decide to join me.