12th August- Trip to The Quilt Show at The NEC in Birmingham
21 intrepid members had a trip to the annual Quilt Show in Birmingham. Even if quilts were not your style you can not help being inspired by the vast array on display, from contemporary, modern, traditional with artists from a wide international base. Of course there were plenty of stalls for just one or two purchases too for all those things we don't have. It is impossible to show all the quilts but here is our favorite selection.

19th July 2017- Dave Gee- Illustrator
What a fascinating evening to finish the programme & Dave was probably wondering what he was doing talking to a room of stitchers . However the room was captivated & easy to see how the 'doodles' could be translated to stitch. We haven't got any photos from the evening but see www.davedraws90.bigcartel.com

21st June 2017 - Julia Triston ' EYE'
A super talk about how she creates her faces & eyes & a full house at the workshop the next day creating our own set. A lot more difficult that it looks.

Whats On- Take a look

Macclesfield Silk Museum 17th June - 8^th September

Exploring Macclesfield and India

In house artist Nikki Parmentier

Several meet the artist days and workshops

Chatsworth House March – October

House Style

5 centuries of fashion and adornment

Central Art Gallery Ashton under Lyne 22^nd April – 1^st July

Calm During the Storm

A touring exhibition of wartime stitch work from the Embroiderers’ Guild

Tatton Park “Capability Brown Exhibition” on until the of July

Chelford members work included

Don't forget we are hoping to organise a coach trip to The Quilt Show at the NEC in Birmingham on 12th August. £35 . Please speak to Angela or Sibylla

17th May 2017: Bronwen Simpson: Milliner

Bronwen makes hats in Stockport's Market Place Studios in addition to her "day job" working as a curator for Stockport Museums at the Hatworks museum.  Originally from Ireland Bronwen graduated in 2004 with a 1st class honours degree in Contemporary Craft from Manchester Metropolitan University specialising in textiles and concrete. Having worked with milliners on projects like" Making Headway" Bronwen wanted to fully understand the objects she displayed, this lead her to learn traditional millinery skills.  Bronwen describe the joy of making hats as the wealth of materials available such as silk and wool felt and the process of transforming the materials by tension and steam press into a finished object.  Following the talk Bronwen demonstrated the process of blocking hats and allowed members to try on a selection of hand made hats.

                                  

                                       

WHAT'S ON- Keep up to date with our Facebook & Twitter pages

Here are some current events you may not be aware of but we try & list on our Facebook page. Please don't forget our work at Tatton Park

19th April 2017: 'Birds Eye View' by Mary Bryning

 Mary took up art at evening class once her family had grown up and went on to do C&G Creative Textiles.  Her love of geography and maps inspired her to translate maps into textile pictures.  She uses a variety of techniques; reverse applique, digital printing, eco printing, dyeing her own fabrics and recycling www.bryningart.co.uk. The world is our oyster !

Frances Pickering

For those who could not make the workshop here are some of Frances's exquisite books and link to her website www.francespickering.com

7th & 8th April Frances Pickering Workshop

Despite a last minute change of venue a busy weekend ( and typically one of the sunniest of the year so far !) was had at the Frances Pickering workshop on making books with print & stitch ideally using a black & white theme. Examples of our weekend work.

15th March 2017: A History of Tatton by Janet Bradshaw

The speaker was Janet Bradshaw who had worked as a “history interpreter” at Tatton for 27 years.  Janet gave an entertaining talk accompanied by “in character” costume to support each period she  described.

Starting with Saxon times, then the experiences of drop spindles and weaving; the 1500’s when the Brereton family was well connected to King Henry’s court; to Victorian times and the chores needed to prepare for a visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales.  The final part of the talk covered WW II kitchen chores and farmyard activities.

Landscapes & Gardens of Tatton Park
Our joint exhibition is up & running & we have submitted some lovely work , so please take the opportunity to see it & enjoy the pleasures of Tatton Park too.

15th February 2017: Julie Bunter

Julie spoke about how she developed her interest in stitch and textiles, taking a City and Guilds course which eventually lead to her taking a degree in textile art.She developed an interest in the concept of quilting as "layers joined by stitch" taking as an inspiration an old quilt created by a member of her family, she was invited to exhibit at the NEC Festival of Quilts. Her interest in pins also lead to some interesting creations & how these were connected by thread, with her preferred hand stitching.(www.juliebunter.co.uk)

We are a bit busy creating flowers & leaves for the upcoming Capability Brown Exhibition. Do come along to the Saturday workshops and help grow our collection and learn a few extra techniques. Some photos to tempt you.

  

19th January 2017- Laura Edgar Workshop
A busy workshop as Laura guided us from inspiration images to layering the fabrics to canvas. It was interesting to see how the images developed from ideas to the usual semi finished pieces. 

18th January 2017: Laura Edgar- Textile Artist

Laura talked about her textile journey, how she was encouraged from an early age to draw, paint, knit and crochet.  Inspired by nature and the beach landscapes of her local area Whitley Bay, she started painting and then transitioned to “painting with textiles”. She uses a variety of techniques, painting, stitching and embellishing; either straight on to canvas or fabric.  Using thread to “sketch” she outlines elements of her pictures.  A “gatherer” she hunts out unusual / vintage fabrics to incorporate in her work.