March Meeting

In the morning we have a relaxed stitching session with Jean, creating small cylindrical covers for empty thread bobbins.

After covering the bobbin with wadding, members were soon able to start work stitching the cover. It was also possible to create a small pincushion top by using a stuffed Suffolk puff and trapping the edges under the removeable end of the bobbin.

Here is some of the work-in-progress.

Those members not taking part in the workshop were making progress on their own stitching, some completing work started in previous workshops and others on continuing with kits or other projects.

Our afternoon speaker was Lynne Stein, with a talk on Rags to Riches: a Contemporary approach to Rag Rug'.

Lynne combines her hooking and prodding with a variety of other techniques such as needle-felting and stitch. Her larger works are made using a tufting gun as we saw on a brief film clip. This craft has amazing textural qualities especially when using re-cycled and non-traditional materials, and lends itself well to the range of workshops that Lynne has taught for community, school and inter-faith groups. A well-illustrated talk with handling samples, a display of work and brief demonstrations made for an interesting and inspiring afternoon.

Lynne has written a book 'hook, prod, punch, tuft' which is excellent - it's a well-balanced combination of history, techniques, projects and good photos of 'rugs', old and modern.

Thank you, Lynn, for a great talk.