Jottings and More

Across the region, everyone has been finding ways of staying in touch with each other. Zoom meetings were a great asset enabling it possible to obtain speakers from a distance without the problems of travel. The first 40 minutes hasenabled small groups who do not have the resources, to stay in touch. Ofcourse, zoom meetings are not for everyone, especially the hard of hearing.

Seahorse By Nikki Parmenter

Here are a few of the events that have taken place.

Farnborough (Stitch & More) stayed in touch with 40-minute Zoom meetings. These were full of fun. Some of them seemed to have taken their format from “Ready Steady Cook”! Members took turns preparing a kit, of instructions. together with a set For the humming bird foils evening, each person was provided with a pack containing

black velvet, stabiliser, bondaweb, sheer, mixture of coloured lilies. foils and a template of a humming bird and On zoom we were shown how to cut out shapes on bondaweb, iron to velvet, then apply foils. Then it was up to individuals how to decorate and enhance the picture afterwards. It was amazingly provided a successful and also lot of laughs. The underwater scene required cutting and stitching layers of materials and cut out shapes. Packs were supplied with a mixture of suitably templates of fishes etc. Again, very Successful. coloured materials, plus

Oxford (Textiles in Oxford) also kept in touch with Zoom meetings. Zoom workshops gave inspiration for the virtual exhibition later displayed on Facebook.

With a little bit of searching through the internet, it was possible to find interesting talks.

One of these was by the curator of Emery Walker's house in Chiswick. Emery Walker was a friend of William Morris and his daughter. The house is decorated in the Arts and Crafts style. The curator provided a virtual tour explaining that the bed cover was embroidered by May Morris and her mother mirroring a design in Kelmscott Manor. A shortened version of this can be seen on YouTube.

The Fashion and Textiles Museum - Events on Demand; all the events are recorded and last around 75 minutes. Once purchased, you will receive an order confirmation, followed by an email containing a unique link

to stream this recording via YouTube. The event is available for 3 months from the date of your purchase. There is a great selection of talks for £5.

Andover (Andover Stitchers) had a super demonstration, via Zoom, on how to make a felted Herdwick sheep. It was given by Jen Best. Before the talk, we had received kits that enabled some of us to actually manage to keep up with Jen. Fortunately, Jen also supplied some very informative notes for those of us that just wanted to watch. It was fascinating to watch an expert at work so that by the end of the session, most of us felt confident enough to have a go. The next meeting saw a large flock of sheep appearing, with members waving their work for all to see.

Jessica Grady joined many of us over the period on Zoom to talk about her embroideries and her career path. (She contributed to our last magazine, which is on our website) Her inspiration comes from surface textures, such as peeling paint, barnacles and rust. Starting with her sketchbook, she develops herideas anddesigns to create her own textiles. She creates her work using hand embroidery, dyeing, multi-media and embellishment. Jessica loves all things bright, clashing and neon, in fact, the brighter the better! She makes her own beads and sequins from discarded items and recycles them into wonderful and exciting shapes, which is a characteristic of her designs and embroidery pieces.

A series of online events featuring two artists in discussion with 'Stitchery Stories' podcast host Susan Weeks Exciting news! In the New Year, The Embroiderers' Guild will be bringing you a brand-new series of online events. This series brings together two artists in conversation with Susan Weeks, podcast host of 'Stitchery Stories'. More information coming soon.

We have seen many of our friends on Zoom giving workshops. It took a little time for some of them to get started. Once going, they found it could be nearly as much fun as face to face. We hope to be able to see more in the future.