Croesew

More from the 2011 Exhibition

2011-11-29T23:37:00.001-08:00

More from the EG Exhibition of 2011

2011-11-17T11:11:00.001-08:00

Forgive me if you have seen some of these, it’s easy to forget which ones have been posted previously.

More to come.

More work from the exhibition

2011-11-10T08:41:00.001-08:00

Isn’t she a beaut?

I noticed there was a very good selection of weaving this year, so I’ll try and get them all in this post.

And also some lovely examples of beading which I’ve posted a little larger so you can see them better. Clicking on all these images from the exhibition will give you a closer view .

Felting

2011-11-07T11:41:00.001-08:00

There seemed to be more of an interest in stitched felt at the exhibition than ever before. Wet felting plus needle felting by hand and machine. Here are some images of some of the interesting work there with more to follow.

Traditional Embroidery

2011-11-05T09:35:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are some more of the traditional entries to the Joyce Stubbs annual prize. I’d intended going back to take photos of the left side of this exhibit stand. But here are some of those I did photograph. It was impossible to remember who made each one, so please forgive me if I don’t know. Some have their name plates in the photos.

Some of you may recognise one of the ladies above as Sue from SerenTex. I’m very easily distracted so I shall blame her for not getting the whole of these wonderful pieces of work because I stopped to chat. There are a lot more traditional embroideries dotted over the hall and I will post those soon.

Winners

2011-11-03T12:12:00.001-07:00

Di Fenn was the winner of The Wild and Wacky competition in memory of Dawn Roberts this year. It must have been very difficult to choose a from all the exciting work created. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of Alison Mercer who opened the exhibition and also judged the competitions.

Here are most of the entries for this competition.

The winner of the Joyce Stubbs Award for Traditional Embroidery this year was Judy Roberts with this beautiful piece of work. You will see more of the traditional work when I have finished sorting the 250 photos taken at the exhibition. Please be patient, they are worth waiting for.

New Chairman

2011-10-30T05:10:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Marilyn (Smith) as the new Chairman of the North Wales Embroiderers’ Guild.

And on behalf of all the Guild members our sincere thanks to Moya (McCarthy) our retiring chairman for all her hard work over the last 6 years. Moya will still be very much involved with the Guild and here she is demonstrating at the exhibition yesterday.

It was good to see Lynis John, the Wales Regional Chairman at the exhibition yesterday.

The North Wales Embroiderers’ Guild Biannual Exhibition

2011-10-22T05:57:00.001-07:00

The Jill Flower Workshop

2011-10-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Members enjoying a great time atthe September workshop with Jill Flower from Surrey. We all made at least onebrooch, yes, a flower brooch! Fascinating to know that they were made frompaper - magazines! Jill is pictured alongside her wonderfulart pieces made up as Ruffs and depicting the seven ages of man.
Wendy is busy busy at the sewing machine.
Last pictures show the fruits of our labours and a good time was had by all.

Photos and report by Marilyn Smith.

Prestatyn Ladies Sheilah Salter

2011-07-20T06:57:00.001-07:00

Does the name Sheilah Salter ring a bell with any of you?

Recently I had a lovely email from a lady in Australia who moved there with her parents around 1952. She often feels homesick for Wales and has been reading Digital Gran and Croesew for some time now, but she was too shy to email us. Eventually she decided to take the ‘bull by the horns’ as it were and wrote to me. I’m a very tame bull and was thrilled to get her email.

She writes that she was brought up in Prestatyn and when she read about our lovely Dawn’s death on my blog, she wondered if it was the same Dawn she used to be friendly with at school.

Here is the relevant part of her email to me -

>>I was born in Prestatyn and left when I was eighteen years old to come with my parents to Australia

in 1952 so I’m in my seventies!

I was at school at St Mary's convent for a few years and attended Glyndwr secondary school, both now defunct.

I wondered if any of your ladies were at school with me? You mentioned a Dawn who passed away a few years ago. I knew a lass called Cynthia Dawn Weston who also came from Prestatyn was she the same person?

Love your work and do similar craft myself If any one would like to be in touch with me please would you give them my e/mail gladwyns@bigpond.com.

I get very homesick for Wales and spend lots of time on Google Earth .

Regards

Sheilah Hunter nee Salter<<

The Mini Regional Day

2011-06-27T15:48:00.001-07:00

You may wonder what is meant by ‘Mini Regional Day’. If I remember correctly, this came about because we belong to the Wales Region and have a Regional Day held in the North and South every other year and it was decided that we would have a ‘Mini Regional Day’ every other year. Today was very successful and very well attended.

Here are some of the members having just finishes their refreshments.

Peter (?) is a Textile Art tutor and chose the winner of the Liberian Postcard competition.

We were then given a talk and shown a feast of quilts made by the Dyffryn Clwyd Quilters. The ladies who represented the group made it all very interesting with a lot of humour.

The quilt above was part of a project they made to celebrate the 700th Anniversary of St Peter’s Church in Ruthin using the colours of the church which has a turquoise ceiling with Tudor designs. I took many photos, but unfortunately I was sitting to the side and they are not very good. Guild members might be interested in this website where there is a photo of the ceiling reputed to have been gifted by Henry VII. It is near enough for a visit!

Sue Gallagher who is the Deputy Chairman of the Wales Region gave us a summary of the Regional Chairman, Lynis John on the developments at HQ as she was unable to be present at the meeting. And flowers were presented to Ann Jones for her services over the years to the Young Embroiderers. Margaret Roberts for being the IT representative for the last few years and Moya McCarthy our Chairman for all her hard work.

Miriam Forder was the Artist in Residence and had a display of a variety of her wonderful work. We were had an opportunity to spend money with Stitch It, Silken Strands, Something Special and Vera Morgan.

North Wales Branch EG Residential Weekend

2011-04-11T13:04:00.001-07:00

It seems such a short time ago when I wrote about our last Residential Weekend and here it is again, but now we are all looking forward to the next one in 2012 and the one in 2013 is already being discussed by the Committee.

We all enjoy the informal atmosphere, the food, the wonderful scenery and most of all learning new techniques with wonderful tutors in the company of good like-minded friends. This time was no different with Stevie Walker, Ruth Issett and Brenda Day.

Here are a few photos taken at the display which we always have at the end of the workshops. As you can imagine, it’s very difficult taking photos of the work while everyone else is milling around keen to see what the others have been doing. So this selection does not mean I have chosen to show you the best work, but the photos that happened to turn out a little better than the rest.

Here goes then -

Stevie Walker’s happy class. If anyone took better photos from their workshop and would like to see them on our blog, please send them to me at mags@digitalgran.com and I will gladly put them up for you.

Ruth having a special little demo from Stevie and Vera bringing a smile to Miriam’s face.

Patterns of the Earth

Surfaces to Dye For

Blackwork without Boundaries

Christmas Luncheon

2011-01-09T15:34:00.001-08:00

This year the lunch was held at the Nant Hall Hotel at Prestatyn and was attended by 36 members. Our guest speaker was Linda Hume, an American lady, now residing in the UK and based in Leeds. Linda originally trained as a nurse, but after meeting her husband when he was working in America and coming to live in England she took a Degree in Textiles at Bradford, where she was a student of Dianne Bates. She talked of her love of beading as she was growing up and how her work is a fusion of American and English influences combined with beading. She gave a very good Power Point Presentation and talk on her work and brought along some of her fabulous felted pieces.

We asked Linda to judge a Contemporary Embroidery Competition set up in memory of Anne Cross who sadly passed away in March 2010. There were 16 entries. The piece had to be no larger than a metre, contain wool and could be stitched by hand, machine or a combination of both. Susanne Owen won with her felted ‘Autumnal Scene’ and is the proud custodian of the ‘Daisy Pot’ trophy for a year and the recipient of a pair of embroidery scissors and scissors keeper. Well done Susanne.

Linda Baker

2011-01-09T15:13:00.001-08:00

Day Course 13 &14^th November 2010

I first met Linda when she was exhibiting her work at the Fashion and Embroidery Show in Harrogate in 2008 and loved her ethereal 3D pieces. We invited Linda to give us a workshop on her techniques and were thrilled when she agreed to come to North Wales in November.

Linda takes her inspiration from natural forms and uses a combination of stitch, lace and stones to create 3D, delicate sculptural forms.

Check out her website . www.lindabaker.info

Such was the demand for places, we had to put on an extra day, and both were fully booked with 15 students . Linda was very generous with her time, techniques, expertise and materials. Course members produced some interesting samples worked on dissolvable fabric before going on to a larger piece.

Linda, Audrey and Pat.

Moya’s cone with detail of the work.

We are looking forward to seeing some finished pieces in our 2011 Exhibition in October.

Moya (Chairman)

Isobel Hall

2010-10-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

Another very successful weekend for the North Wales Embroiderers’ Guild was a workshop learning various ways of using Molding Paste in Mixed Media work with Isobel Hall.

A small discussion group with Isobel.

I have shown a selection of the best photos, not the necessarily the best work above and here is the show and tell at the end.

Phillip Hughes Ruthin Craft Centre

2010-09-29T15:04:00.001-07:00

At our Monday evening meeting at Parkway Community Centre, the North Wales Embroiderers’ Guild were fortunate enough to be given a talk by Phillip Hughes who is the Director of the Ruthin Craft Centre.

His very interesting talk gave us an insight to the work he does at the Craft Centre and the choices of art work in the Gallery.

Two of the members were presented with their 25 year medals

Norma Tanswell Jan Sandham

Embroiderers’ Guild Medals

2010-09-22T13:08:00.001-07:00

LONG SERVICE BADGES
At the Regional Day in Llanidloes in early June 2010, 4 twenty five years badges and one 50 year badge were awarded.

25 Year Badges

Congratulations to all who have been Guild Members for 25 years.

Dorothy Booth-Williams

Beryl Jean Jones

Jan Sandham

Norma Tanswell.

50 Year Badge

Mair Morris

Although our Branch has only been in existence 38 years, one of our members, Mair Morris has belonged to the Guild 50 years. Congratulations to her. Moya (Chairman) and Di ( Secretary) visited Mair at home to present her badge and were treated to afternoon tea

They heard all about her embroidery experiences over the years, the various Branches she'd belonged to and had a lovely afternoon 'catching up' as due to ill health, she is unable to attend meetings.

We wish Mair well and congratulations on achieving her 50 year badge.

September at the Guild

2010-09-08T11:35:00.001-07:00

“I think I'd just like to say how much we are looking forward to the start of our new year and to the exciting programme for the next year, details of which will be available after the AGM on 2nd October.” Moya McCarthy (Chairman)

We are all pleased that Moya will continue as our chairman for the coming year.

After a Summer break we re-start on Thursday of this week, September 9th with a Members Day at Parkway Community Centre.There will be a workshop with Carol McFee, co-author of the exciting book ‘Stitching the Textured Surface’ . I’m sure this workshop will be very popular.

And on Saturday, September 11th a course with Margaret Roberts – ‘Fun with the Embellisher’. This is for members who are already booked on the course.

Monday evening September 27th at Parkway Community Centre, Rhos-on-Sea, Phillip Hughes, Director of Ruthin Craft Centre will give a talk.

Gossamer felt

2010-06-13T05:57:00.001-07:00

The felt making workshop with Helen Melvin was enjoyed by all. We were taught a very quick and easy way of felting, which was a very relaxing method of working as we smoothly and gently created a beautifully fine felted fabric with our hands.

Ooh, what an exciting pack! We were all allowed to choose a pack of naturally dyed merino wool, Teeswater curls, silks and linen thread.

Helen was having a few problems dragging us all from the lovely dyed wool fibres she’d brought with her to start the workshop.

What a temptation.

You can see how gentle Helen is with her felting.

They didn’t want to miss a thing and there was a lot of note taking as you can see.

Another felted piece in progress as Helen demonstrated.

We couldn’t wait to get started.

Everyone’s waiting for the show and tell at the end and below you will see a few of my favourites. It was difficult to pick favourites, but if I’d shown all the lovely work produced it would be a very long post.

Clicking on each image will give you larger version as usual.

The workshop was so popular there is another one for a new group of students today. If anyone has taken photos from this class, if you send them to me margaret.rbts@virgin,net I will be pleased to blog them for you on Coesew.

Wales Regional Day June 2010

2010-06-06T12:00:00.001-07:00

This is our hard working committee, with Linys John the Chairman standing in the centre.

The meeting was held at Llanidloes which is midway between North and South Wales. It’s not easy travelling between the North and South, but there was a good presence and a really special atmosphere as we all got to know each other once again.

We were addressed by Jane Sweet as Anthea Godfrey the Guild’s Chairman was unable to be present. She gave us the latest report on the way things are progressing at HQ and the ideas that are being put into place to modernise and revitalise the Guild. Jane is just recovering from a recent skiing accident and we wish her a complete recovery.

The Madeira Lecture guest speaker this year was the well known artist Eleri Mills, it was rather dark to take a photo of her as she was lecturing, but here she is discussing work in progress and explaining the way she works to some of the members. We were fortunate enough to be able to see some wonderful samples of her work. If you visit this website you will be able to see her work Glyn y Weddw.

Eleri was given the very difficult job of choosing the best three pieces of work from the 21 entries to the competition. The theme this year was Black and White with one other colour and the the winner was Robi Thomas with her wonderful Book, shown open above.

Second was Sue Thomas with her lovely stitched and padded Portrait.

The third prize went to our own Alison Reynolds for this lovely piece of work.

Below are a few of the other entries which all deserved a prize.

Stained Glass Windows

2010-05-24T15:42:00.001-07:00

At this evening’s meeting of the Embroiderers’ Guild we were given a very interesting talk and demonstration by Karen Newby who is an artist making stained glass windows.

Karen herself explains what she does in this BBC video.

It was a beautiful evening and it was a well attended meeting as usual. The meeting was taken by Diane Fenn in Moya McCarthy’s absence, which I understand was the first she has missed in her 5 years as Chairman. I hope Moya has a wonderful well deserved holiday.

Janine’s Workshop 2nd day

2010-05-16T13:11:00.001-07:00

This has been a very successful course, where we were taught what we would normally have learnt in a whole term in a weekend. we would all go back for a follow-up course next weekend if we could. I will show you some photos without naming anyone or giving any explanations I’m afraid, but I’m sure you will enjoy some of this eye candy.

Janine.

Busy hands.

I couldn’t resist a photo of these lovely colours together like this.

A show and tell of some of the work.

Design into Stitch

2010-05-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

The workshop is being taken by our very own Janine Jones and we have all enjoyed and learnt so much the first day. Janine is one of our own Guild members and has taught Patchwork and Quilting, City and Guilds at Coleg Menai for 7 1/2 years.

Here are some photos of what went on today.

Some more photos tomorrow.

Conservation and Restoration

2010-04-26T14:58:00.001-07:00

At tonight’s Embroiderers’ Guild meeting we were given a talk by Jacqueline Hyman ACR who has a Textile Restoration Studio at Altrincham, Cheshire.

First of all Jacqueline explained that there is a difference between Conservation and Restoration and she does both. We saw a variety of textiles that she works on and we all found it most interesting.

We saw all kinds of before and after images of some of the work she has undertaken, all intricate and delicately brought back to an almost new condition. These included work from the 17th Century to Cricket Caps from the 20th Century. Lace collars and blouses, wedding dresses, tapestries and altar frontals, beadwork, banners, a beaded prayer chair. I could go on, but here is one that intrigued us all – an Indian Headdress that had been accidentally burnt and had to be brought back to as new condition, shown below worn by Jacqueline’s husband.

Residential Weekend at Plas Tan y Bwlch

2010-04-14T09:58:00.001-07:00

Our tutors this year were Nicky Dillerstone, Avril Gilchrist and Janice Gunner and it was a very successful and enjoyable weekend for us all. Here are some photos of work done over the weekend, but I know Moya our chairman will have a few words for the next post.

The weather was beautiful for those of us who managed to leave their creativity to take a walk.

I’m afraid we lost Gaynor during the weekend. Can you spot her?

Miriam on the left organized the weekend for us with Janice Gunner.

Above is some of the work done on the Shibori, Dyeing and Quilting with Janice.

Above some of the work done with Avril in the Calico Gardens Embroidery workshop.

Little Boxes of Delight with Nicky.

Anne Cross

2010-03-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

It is with great sadness I have to tell you of the death of Anne Cross on 13.03.10. She had been unwell since last summer and not long after surgery we were thrilled when she joined us at the Christmas Lunch at the Faenol Fawr.

Anne was a member of our Branch for more than 25 years and worked tirelessly for the Guild. She was the first Chairlady of the newly formed Wales Region from 2004 until June 2009.
A dedicated Committee Member for many years Anne was Branch Chairman from 1991-1994. She also served as Programme Secretary and Plas Tan y Bwlch Organiser from 2003 – 2009, during which time we were treated to some amazing courses and fun residential weekends in Snowdonia.
Anne and Mair Griffiths, used their artistic skills to great effect as joint Exhibition Artistic Directors, displaying member’s work at our Biennial and at many other events. Anne was involved in the all projects undertaken by the Branch over the last few years and was a superb needlewoman.
Anne had been a member of Trefnant WI for many years and had served on their committee. She also belonged to two ‘break away’ embroidery groups, Serentex and Crazy Cats.
Anne will be greatly missed; she was a very special lady and a close friend.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Joe, Sarah, Rachel and the family.

Moya McCarthy
Chairman

Poem for Anne
Audrey Tweed a branch member has written a beautiful poem for Anne.
Thank you Audrey

A Bright Star

Bright stars never fade

A new star now twinkles in the velvet firmament

With needlepoint brightness it's aura

Enriches all who see and reflect

No, bright stars never fade

They illuminate our consciousness

A memory keeper of

Happy hours, sweet conversations

wicked little laughs

A believer in righting wrongs and playing fair

An artist with exquisite flair and consummate craftsmanship

Bright stars never fade

They shine forever.

Audrey Tweed

14.03.10

Evening Meeting 22/02/10

2010-02-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had an interesting talk by Monica Selway. Her topic was 'A Detective Story'. I was very curious. I will not share the story with you as you might one day be hearing it at your own Embroiderers' Guild. What I will share is the name of the lady being investigated, it was an embroiderer called Alice Moore.

As you can see it was very well attended, this is only half those present and our membership seems to be growing day by day.

I thought you would enjoy seeing this little needle holder.

Monica's own work in the style of Alice Moor.

For me, this was the favourite. A piece of work by Monica's mother and below you can see her signature.

Our first gentleman member was welcomed this evening, both he and his wife embroider.

Tea and a chat at the end of a happy meeting.

2010-01-29T14:35:00.000-08:00

Our Exhibition is over for another 2 years, but I have photos of the work to show you in small batches which I'm sure you will enjoy. This has been rather difficult for me as I was not present at the Guild Exhibition this year, but Moya and Sue kindly gave me photos and Moya even went to the trouble of changing the file name under each one so I would know whose work it was.

Alison Mercer, who was invited to open the exhibition and had the very difficult task of choosing the winners with Moya McCarthy our hard working Chairman.

Autumn Leaves by Anne Cross.

Art Nouveau Box by Judy Roberts.

A Bridge Too Far by Chris Smith.

Four People by Jan Sandham.

The Guild's Christmas Lunch

2009-12-06T03:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the North Wales Embroiderers' Guild Christmas Lunch here at
Faenol Fawr Country House Hotel
Do take a look at the website.

Emma above was in charge of the arrangements and we were fortunate enough that Olga our Speakers Secretary managed to find us an excellent replacement speaker in Norma Walmsley when our former Guest Speaker, Desiree ? had to cancel due to illness. We were very disappointed Desiree and wish you a speedy recovery. I'm sure there will be another opportunity to hear your talk.

This is part of Norma's leaflet.
She gives an hour's talk with large coloured pictures projected on to a screen, full of humour, interest and a very human view of life in a small Asian kingdom: In the home of the richest man in the world. She taught the children of the Omani royal family. And in 1990 moved to Brunei where she was invited by the Sultan to take the post of Governess to his children, where she stayed for 10 years.

As Norma is now retired, she has a light workload and can often provide a talk at the last minute.

The fees she earns from her talks go to a family charity. A small Filipino village on the island of Mindanao.

This is the happy chatty table I shared. I just wanted you all to hear the sound of a crowd of women enjoying themselves.

Joyce our hard working Course Secretary unfortunately had an accident and broke her ankle, but nothing would stop her from joining the Christmas lunch wheeled in by a friend in a wheelchair. We all wish you a speedy recovery Joyce.
We were all so pleased to see Anne (Cross)at the lunch and looking so well after her recent illness.

The Voirrey Exhibition 1

2009-12-04T10:53:00.000-08:00

The Guild exhibition at the Voirrey Embroidery Centre
is well worth a visit and if you have never visited the centre you are in for a treat. There are shops full of beautiful works of art for sale, wonderful for Christmas gifts at this time of the year and you can have a lovely meal or some coffee and cakes too. Our exhibition is on until January 8th.

This is Voirrey on the right of this photo and she invited us to exhibit at her gallery and we are all very grateful to her.

This photo was not supposed to be posted, but they both look so happy I couldn't resist it. They are Susanne our Programme Secretary on the left and Moya our Chairman on the right.

Here is Chris taking photos of the exhibition. Both she and her husband are always ready to share their expertise and to help put up our exhibitions.

Above and below are some of the best images I managed to take at the exhibition, unfortunately, even on the same settings some of the photos have an orangey cast to them that no amount of adjusting could change.

Sue Gallacher

Alison Reynolds

Janine Jones
Miriam Forder

Moya McCarthy

There are a few more photos to follow, but here is a short message to members of the North Wales Embroiderers' Guild.
I haven't had everyone's permission to show their work on this blog. If anyone objects, will you please email me at margaret.rbts@virgin.net as soon as possible please so that I can remove the photo? I do know some people are not happy to have their work on the Internet and I don't wish to offend anyone.

Fabric Paper Book covers

2009-11-14T12:26:00.000-08:00

The course today was taught by Miriam Forder, who is a member of our Guild. Everyone who's been on one of her courses knows they are in for a treat and there was a long list waiting for someone to drop out. We were not disappointed and we had a day of new techniques and ideas that can be used for so many types of projects, not just book covers and Miriam throws in so many tips to use along the way.

The day passed far too quickly and here are a few photos of those present.

A lovely collage of some of the work created. We have a Members Day on Thursday where we will be making ATC's and we hope that people will bring some finished work from the course with them. So come and visit Croesew towards the end of the week if you would like to see some of our ATC's and work made on the course.

As I was away during the Biennial Exhibition I cannot blog it until I receive photos people have promised to send me of the event, but I understand it was certainly a very successful couple of days and I'm very annoyed to have missed it all due to holiday plans going wrong!

North Wales Biennial Exhibition

2009-10-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a reminder that An Extravaganza of Embroidered Textiles is almost with us and is opening on Friday morning and again on Saturday. I can promise you a feast for the eyes and well worth a visit. Check out the Google map in the sidebar of you haven't visited the exhibition before.

I can guarantee you will be made to feel very welcome.

1000th visitor

2009-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

We've just had our 1000th visitor on our new blog Croesew. I wish I knew who it was, but I'm afraid I can't find that out. We were given a wonderful talk at the Guild on Monday evening by Voirrey Braithwaite of the Voirrey Craft Centre.

Inherited Textiles

2009-09-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful evening we had at the Embroiderers' Guild tonight. This was a talk given for the first time by Voirrey Braithwaite of the Voirrey Embroidery Centre

We were shown the most exciting display of embroideries that Voirrey herself had collected, including a most fantastic piece of work by Cindy Hickok. If you went to the Knitting and stitching at Alexandra Palace you would have seen dozens of samples of her work, but I think I was probably one of the few there who had some of her work right there in my hands to admire. We were all allowed to pass Voirrey's treasured possessions around the room so we all had a proper look at it. She said she'd rather do this with her things than let them go to some Museum where they would not be seen by all that many people.

There may be a photo of a wonderful cloak she brought with her and had someone model it before long. But as I forgot to take my camera that evening I don't have photos to share.

Notan

2009-09-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

We had another very well attended Members Day at Parkway Community Centre, Rhos on Sea where we had a very interesting and educational workshop with Joyce Honeysett on of our Guild members. She introduced us to NOTAN, a Japanese collage craft which involves looking at positive and negative space, including the principles of design, balance, symmetry and asymmetry which we all really enjoyed. You can see some samples of the work done above.

You can see how engrossed they all are.

This is why they are all listening so intently. Joyce was discussing the work with us and getting all of us to think about the arrangements of each other's work, deciding which ones were successful and why. Which ones were not quite right and what we could do to make them work.

Now, what is going on here?

Moya has made these lovely sets of jewellery using fine wire and she showed us how simple they were to make. I'm sure we'll find out they are not so simple when we try to get the same results.

Susanne has been making these lovely felted beads and explained how she made them. All in all a most enjoyable day.

Reminder: The 37th Annual General Meeting of the North Wales Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild will be held on Saturday, October 3rd 2009 at St David's Church Hall, Penrhyn Bay. The AGM will start at 1.30pm followed by a talk by David Pelgar entitled Ecclesiastical Embroidery, after which refreshments will be served.

An Extravaganza of Embroidered Textiles

2009-09-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

I have used a 'Google Gadget' for the advert in the sidebar and as it's an American product, it sometimes tells you it's (11:30am local). Sometimes the advert works, other times it doesn't.

I thought it was very useful as it has the Google Map for people new to the area. If you can't see the advert, 'right click' anywhere inside the blog area and you will get a menu, click 'Refresh' and it might work. It has done this for me once or twice. I am so disappointed as it would have been so very useful. Sorry about that, but it might settle down eventually (smile).

The Summer Course with Sheila Smith

2009-09-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

This course called 'Explore Experiment Embellish' was looked forward to with great excitement and it really lived up to the expectations. We had a wonderful time experimenting under Sheila's expertise and the work turned out is fantastic. I wanted to share them all with you, but had to stop somewhere and pick a few out for you.

We had a 'Show and Tell' at the end and you can see how varied and wonderful all the work was.

This was one of my favourites made by Jan who was sitting next to me I took this photo when it was in progress and the colourful tuft sitting on the top was never included in the finished piece. Her colours were so beautiful.

This one was made by Sue and she'd told me she would like to make an African peice and that's what she did. Isn't it fantastic?

I will not attempt to tell you whose work the rest is and let you just enjoy them.

This is Chris Jones who was mentioned here Digital Gran: Festival of Quilts Part 2. She was invited to show her work at the Festival of Quilts because of her great success with her City and Guilds course. I was told I knew her, but I just couldn't put a face to her then. When I met her yesterday, I found I knew her very well and was thrilled at her success. I hadn't realised she was so talented. Chris can turn her hand to anything. She has a knitting machine, a long arm quilting machine, a spinning wheel and I don't know what else (smile), but she gave me some of the yarn she'd spun herself and it's fantastic. Congratulations Chris! I know she often reads my blogs.

Naming our new blog

2009-08-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

We had a competition to choose a name for our new branch blog. We didn't have many entries, but there were two we liked more than the others, - EmbroidEryri was a fantastic title, but we thought people outside Wales would not realise that Eryri is the Welsh name for Snowdonia, the mountain range. The one chosen was CROESEW which is a play on the word CROESO, which is Welcome in Welsh and as the branch is bilingual with Welsh and English members, the latter was chosen. This name was suggested by Audrey Tweed. Well done Audrey. The prize is a new book 'Stitching the Textured Surface' co-authored by Lynda Monk & Carol McFee. Carol is a member of the North Wales Embroiderers' Guild.

The North Wales Embroiderers' Guild

2009-08-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

This wonderful shoe is the work of Helen Wilkie who was the winner of the Wild and Wacky competition at the last exhibition in 2007 and it's been used on this year's poster.

This is an introduction to the North Wales Embroiderers' Guild.

The North Wales Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild was founded 36 years ago, drawing its membership from across North Wales.

The aims of the Embroiderers' Guild are to promote and encourage the art of embroidery and related crafts, to educate the public in the art and history of embroidery and to preserve and exhibit examples of work. The current annual subscription is £26.00 this includes Branch, Wales Region and National Guild membership. Visitors are welcome to attend 3 meetings as paying guests (£3 per meeting) before deciding to join. The Branch has an interesting and varied programme of meetings and workshops throughout the year, in spring, an annual Residential Weekend at Plas Tan y Bwlch in Snowdonia, a Christmas Luncheon, a Biennial Exhibition at Rhos On Sea and an Annual General Meeting in October.

(click on image for a better view)
Here is the poster for this year's exhibiton in both English and Welsh, designed by Sue Clarke.

BRANCH BIENNIAL EXHIBITION Friday and Saturday 30th and 31st of October, 2009.
These are the details.
The North Wales branch of the Embroiderers' Guild are holding an 'Extravaganza of Embroidered Textiles' exhibition at Rhos Methodist Church Hall, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, LL28 4HF, on Friday and Saturday 30th and 31st of October, 2009. The exhibition will be open from 10.30am to 5pm each day. There is an award for Traditional Embroidery and a 'Wild and Wacky' competition using recycled material. Demonstrations, sale of embroidered items and refreshments are available throughout both days.

Entry £2, payable at the door.

For more information contact Sue Gallacher 01492 514650 or email Sue on- andrewgallacher642@btinternet.com