Evening group-14th December 2009

What a feast at the December meeting of the evening group. all provided by members. We had such fun too with a Quiz prepared by Kath, and we also stitched on our own projects. The Secret Santa Quiz was wonderful and everyone took part. I am sure all members present would agree, it was a good start to the social festivities of Christmastime.

Day Group- 8th December 2009

We had a lots of fun making the bugs for the Lydiard Exhibition in April 2010 - see sidebar for more information. Many thanks to Kath Danswan for leading the session. We have also set up the Exhibition at Frameworks here in Swindon.. it closes on Jan 4th. Some fantastic work by members.

10th November 2009

Thanks to Ros, who led a very successful session on looping the loop, we worked with blanket stitch and buttonhole stitch. Ros showed us a lots of wonderful examples to whet our appetites and encourage us to experiment with fabric and thread.

National Needlework Archive

Thought you may be interested in this new centre near Newbury, called the National Needlework Archive.

This photo is the Country wife mural, created for the Festival of Britain 1951 by Constance Howard. Until recently it was housed at Denman College ( the home of the WI), and that is where I was most fortunate to see it.It has now been given to the National Needlework Archive to be cleaned and conserved. It is a massive mural 4.5 metre by 5 metres.

I went along the the NNA this afternoon to the open day at their new premises in Newbury. They need a lot of volunteers to help them move into the new premises.... so if you live nearby and have some time to spare.... have a look at the website here.. and offer to help..... it is a bit far for me..... but I would like to help. They are planning lots of exciting activities in the new year too, as well as having an on-site cafe.

Breaking News - Evening group.

We are delighted to welcome a new GWE evening group that will also be affiliated to the West Country Embroiderers. This group will be meeting on the third Monday of each month from 7.30 - 9.30 pm at Churchfields School, Salcombe Grove, Swindon, SN3 1HQ. click here for map

First meeting is on 16th November starting at 7.30pm, please bring your own stitching or the ingredients to make a postcard with the theme "sparkle". We would love to see you at the inaugural meeting of the new evening group.
The cost will be £3.00 for the evening.
You may also like to bring a few threads or pieces of fabric to add to the raffle which will also be to the theme "sparkle".

October Meeting

We worked on our designs and inspirations at this meeting based on our visit to Lydiard House and Park. Many of us had taken photos and created small sketches.






Ruth and Margaret R had a number of exciting design ideas to work on and develop at our meeting.






We had a wonderful time and went away with lots of ideas on paper.

We also wish Jane Lemon, president of West Country Embroiderers a happy 80th Birthday this month.

West Country Embroiderers AGM -Exeter

It was a glorious day to travel to Exeter, and also luckily managed to get a space in the Car Park at The County Hall in Exeter, the venue for the meeting. Arrived there in plenty of time to peruse and indulge in some retail therapy. The opening speech of the AGM was given by Jane Lemon, who enthusiastically recalled WCE events of the past year.


A great deal of business was discussed and the new WCE website applauded as a vast improvement over the previous one. Go and have a look at the new website here. The Treasurer reported that funds were very healthy and that the membership fee would be reduced for 2010 from £5.00 per annum to £4.00 per annum per member , payable in January 2010. Wonderful news indeed.

In the afternoon we were entertained by the talk by Jane Price a local artist, click here to find out more. She certainly knows a lot about butterflies and moths. Her sketchbooks contained some very interesting drawings using graphite powder.

September Meeting

All members in attendance in September were delighted with the new venue and commented on the hall lighting, which is excellent for the work we do, and the facilities provided.

Maggie described various examples of fabric manipulation. Everyone was given a piece of Lutrador which we coloured by using transfer-painted paper and heat from an iron - prior to gathering on the smocking machine and creating a great effect. Tucks, gathers and pleats were also possibilities for fabric manipulation. There was something for everyone to see - as well as learning something new.

Gill from Gillsew gave excellent retail therapy and also demonstrated to us, using Angelina fibres and printing blocks.
We are looking forward to working on our ideas for the Lydiard Exhibition in April.

All are invited to Radley College to the private view of the Losing the Thread exhibiion ( Maggie Harris) on Friday 9th October 6 to 8pm.
(click on iimage to see full poster)

July Meeting at Lydiard Park

The visit to Lydiard was an excellent opportunity to draw and photograph the amazing artifacts and objects on display. Sketching is such a wonderful activity that has been practised for many a year. We were given a very comprehensive talk by Sophie the curator, and in between torrential rain showers and warm sunshine, we also had the opportunity of wandering around the walled garden and park.

Great news ..just heard.... we have been invited to exhibit at Lydiard House in April 2010. Better get the ideas flowing and the sketchbook full of design ideas .

We do not meet in August, but many of us are catching the Barnes Coach on Sunday 23rd August to the Festival of Quilts. Click here for more information. If you would like to join us than please book via Barnes.

June Meeting and taster for July

Margaret R really had us all “in knots” at this meeting. The stitches she demonstrated were Sorbello, French, Bullion, and others plus variations for each one. We also enjoyed trying out silk paints on Bondaweb which, when dry, was ironed onto fabric to provide a coloured background design for stitching.

We would also like to welcome Vicky Fleming as a new member and were also pleased to have Rebecca Connolly and Ian Donaldson as visitors this month.

It is with sadness we had to say good bye to our venue at Blackthorne Centre at this meeting, as it is being converted into business premises. In September 2009 ( there is no meeting in August) we are meeting at new for us premises in Cricklade. The United Reform Church Hall in Calcutt Street will be our new venue. As usual it will be the 2nd Tuesday of the month from 10am to 3pm.

For our July meeting at Lydiard Park, Anne Carter has kindly arranged for us to have the use of The Stable Room at Lydiard (next to the Church) and will also be organising refreshments for us at £1.00 each to cover the cost of tea/coffee and biscuits.Please bring your camera, sketchbook, drawing materials, etc. If possible, bring along some stitching that you have been doing at meetings to share ideas. Also, don’t forget a packed lunch. Click on the link in the sidebar for further information on Lydiard House. The raffle colour for July will be lilac.

Steam Museum Exhibition

We called our exhibition at Steam Museum " Off the Rails".

The Mayor opened the exhibition for us and we were very grateful for his enthusiastic opening speech. The Swindon Advertiser were also in attendance they published a full page review with 3 photos, we were very pleased. You can read the online version here. The Exhibition was running for a month and was well attended by embroiderers and visitors to the Museum.

Here are a sample of the photos taken at the exhibtion.

We had our meeting today at the Blackthorn Centre and concentrated on Lazy daisy stitch. It was incredibly relaxing and fun to work with a simple stitch.

Our April Meeting (14th April 2009) will take place at Lydiard Park, we are meeting at the Church car park at 10am and then will return to the Blackthorn Centre after lunch, to work together on our ideas. Click here to see Lydiard Park . Remember to bring your camera, sketchbook and lunch. Hope to see you there.

We started a new idea today, a raffle and very successsful it was too...... we all had to bring something from our stash that was yellow.. and the winner walked off with the pieces. Next month the colour is green.

We are also featured in the next edition of Workbox Magazine ( click here) also visit us on ukvillages.co.uk ( click here) under Cricklade.