May Meeting - Cotton reel and needle holder

 At our May meeting Judy led  a workshop on how to make a very useful travel holder for a cotton reel and needles.

We all had a go at making one out of felt and embroidering our own motifs to make them personal.  Not all of us finished on the day, but here is a picture of those who did.

It was a very enjoyable meeting and we have all come away with something we can use to take some needles and thread in when travelling.

We also unveiled the last two of our consequence dolls.  Here is a sneak peak of those.  To see them all come to our open studio at the Jenner Hall, Cricklade 11:00am to 4:00pm on 19th and 20th September as part of Swindon Open Studios | Swindon | Community Art Event

April Meeting - Delightful Deco Basket

 At our April meeting Mags showed us how to make a very useful basket.  

Everyone joined in to make one and had a very enjoyable time.  If you look closely you will see that one is already being used to put a pair of glasses in.

Also at the April meeting we unveiled most of the consequence dolls that we had been working on over the last few months.  They all turned out brilliantly.  Here is one.  To see the rest come along to the Swindon Open Studios weekend on the 19th and 20th September between 11:00 and 4:00 at the Jenner Hall, Cricklade.

February Meeting

 At our February meeting Jayne showed us how to make 'Easter Eggs'.  We started with a polystyrene egg and lots of squares of fabric.  Using pins we pinned the fabric to the egg.  They all looked so different depending on the choice of fabric.

It took quite a while to pin all the bits of fabric to the egg.  Some lovely examples were made.

We are half way through making our Consequence Dolls.  Here is the progress so far.  The next bit to add will be the body and arms.

January Meeting - "Scapes"

 We held our AGM at the beginning of the January meeting.  Maggie, our chairperson, got through the business efficiently as usual and the committee were re-elected for another year.

After the AGM Morag talked to us about design for our "scape" work.  We looked at images of the work of various artists to see how they had treated the subject and Morag showed us how we could plan our work.

We brought along some coloured paper and photographs and set about playing with design ideas to have a go ourselves.

Sue also spoke to us about her process and brought along some of her lovely work to show us how she uses fabric and thread in her designs.

November Meeting - Dolls

 We had a fun time at our November meeting cutting out and starting to make fabric dolls.  Cathy has a lot of experience of making dolls and brought along some of the ones she had made to show us.

Some of us are going to have a go at making consequence dolls over the next few months.  Val explained how that would work.  It is similar to the game you may have played where someone draws a hat, then the paper is turned over and the next person draws the face and so on until you end up with a mixed up picture of a person.  We are starting with the feet and working upwards.  It will be interesting to see how they turn out.  The results will be on the blog in a few months time.

October Meeting - Christmas Angels

 For our October meeting Jane, one of our members, brought along some examples and lots of threads, material and buttons so that we could make Christmas Angels.

We all had a go and had a great time - look what a lot of variety there are.  They all had their individual dresses, wings and faces.  We went away wanting to make more for our Christmas trees.

Also at the meeting we had a good chat about how well the Swindon Open Studios exhibition went and talked about our challenges for next year.  More on that another time...

Swindon Open Studios 2025

 We really enjoyed our open weekend as part of Swindon Open Studios. It was lovely to see and chat to so many people.  Thank you if you came to visit.

The main theme of our exhibition was the Arts and Crafts movement.  There were many varied exhibits including cushions, quilts, wall hangings, pictures and bags.  It was fantastic to see the variety.

Also on display were the pieces produced for our challenge this year, which was to use only blue, incorporate the number 5 and use a piece of fabric that we were given by Maggie, our chair, which was included peacock feathers and was very difficult to handle - it really was a challenge this year!

Some members were making during the weekend and enjoyed chatting to everyone who stopped by to take a look.

It was a great weekend and we look forward to doing it again next year.