Group Outing - Gawthorpe Hall, with retail therapy en-(circuitous)route...

26 of our members and guests set out on Saturday morning for our now annual "Sheila Butterworth Memorial Outing". Due to illness during the week, Wyn thought it wise to drive herself, taking Irene for company, which made for a much more peaceful coach journey than expected...(I'm only joking! We missed you!)
Our first stop, after some imaginative route planning by Brian's sat-nav, which tried to take us on the unmade road past the wind-farm at Wainstalls, was at Empress Mills at Colne. We had a very happy hour browsing the many nooks and crannies at this family-run enterprise, which are stocked from floor to ceiling with fabrics, threads, dyes, wadding, ribbons, and every other haberdashery item you can think of. With talks from Christine on lovely new products as well as detailed descriptions of some of the threads that they make or supply, it was a difficult job rounding members up to stick to our schedule!

The Empress Mills team pictured at Ally Pally earlier this week

Our next stop was nearby at Patchwork Chicks at Barrowford. As we only had time for a brief "shop", some members said that they would return for a further visit to this shop full of lovely quilting fabrics and notions. 

Patchwork Chicks

After grabbing a sandwich in Barrowford (some of us weren't as organised as others!) we returned to the coach for the 15 minute journey to Gawthorpe Hall at Padiham. Here we were met by Textile Curator Rachel Terry who gave us an informative talk about the items on display from the Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth Collection which is held at the hall, which was her family home. "Miss Rachel" collected textiles throughout her life, as well as being an accomplished needlewoman, lacemaker and tutor herself, and the collection is VERY extensive and holds some fine pieces. Each piece in the collection has hand-written notes and is graded on its merits. We split into two groups, giving the other half a chance to look around the rest of the Hall, or call at the Courtyard cafe for some delicious cake. 

Soldier's quilt made from over 9000 tiny pieces of uniform!

Contemporary pieces by former artist in residence, Bella May Leonard

Our group just before leaving with Gawthorpe Hall in the background

Amazingly the weather was fine and mild, and even more amazingly, we managed to find a direct route home and arrived back slightly ahead of schedule! 

 

October Meeting - Jade Marczynski

We were lucky enough to welcome another three new members this month, one of whom spent the meeting stitching some exquisite work of her own design. Isobel's work is fantastic; tiny stitches and witty, colourful pieces. 
Here are a couple of examples of her work : 

Rona has spent the month stitching a lovely colourful "garden" in French Knots and said that she really enjoyed concentrating on one stitch and found it quite therapeutic. 

Our October speaker was Jade Marczynski, a textile artist in her 20s from Saltaire, who has studied at Huddersfield University, and was chosen by Selvedge to display her work in the window of their offices in London following her degree showcase. 

Whilst currently working as a teaching assistant, Jade is managing to continue with her stitching and brings her textile art into her work with children. She also exhibits at the Saltaire Arts Festival in her own house. Her main body of work is based on interviews she has carried out with local people about their wartime experiences. Many of her pieces, which are hand-stitched on vintage textiles appropriate to the interviewee, carry a poignant message and are very moving; others are funny, and all are insightful. 

It's hard to tell because they are stitched so neatly, but the filler stitches on these two pieces are tiny, incredibly neat cross stitches. 

You can contact Jade on her website at http://www.jademarczynski.co.uk

or via her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jade-Marczynski-Embroidery/144904178923138