Beautiful flowers.......

Flowers seem to be a popular theme among stitchers of all types of work.  This week several of our group members showed us projects varying from intricate machine embroidered flowers, to hand embroidered motifs and appliqued motifs.
Tricia showed us a delicate embroidered rose which has been made using organza and water soluble film. The design is stitched out "in-the-hoop" on her sewing machine then she carefully cuts around all the individual petal parts, before gently rinsing in water to remove the soluble film.  Leaving a tiny residual amount of the film in the fabric means that when it's dry the petals can be molded into shape giving a very realistic shaped flower.  Tricia also showed us a spectacle case with embroidered detail, this too was stitched "in-the-hoop".  Tricia's sewing machine has an embroidery attachment and is linked to a computer where designs are stored and can be modified if desired and then "sent" to the machine for stitching out onto hooped fabric.

Marilyn spent the session working on two more of the embroidered flower panels for a quilt she is making.

Elle is working on two quilts at the same time, both include stylized flower motifs.  Elle is working the quilt below from a book by Sharon Pederson - The Rose of Sharon Block Book, and is hand appliqueing all the blocks using the needle-turn technique.

The second quilt Elle is working on is a design by Lecien  and is called Vintage Tiles Revisited.  Elle is using lovely batik fabrics for both projects, but using different background fabrics for the two quilts.

When Kath saw a couple of Elle's appliqued blocks a few weeks ago, she decided she would like to make the same project too.  Kath is tackling hers differently, in that she is working the applique motifs by machine, using the fused raw-edge method and working machine blanket stitch around the motifs to anchor them to the background. 

On a more traditional theme, Jenny is parceling up the large quilt which a former neighbour of hers, commissioned Jenny to finish, and sending it off to Holland where Gerda now lives.  Jenny has made an embroidered label for the back of the work, detailing where and who made the quilt.

Pam is stitching her way through "works-in-progress", and this week showed us her scrappy quilt finished along with two table runners.

The back of Pam's quilt using up leftover fabric from the quilt top

Pam has sparked interest in these table runners and now Ann and Christine are making one too.  

On her visits to Spain and group meetings over the last couple of years, Charlotte has been meticulously hand stitching miniature log cabin blocks.  These were for the border around a central set of log cabin blocks she put together by machine at home on the Isle of Man.  Charlotte brought the quilt with her his week to show us the completed project.  Charlotte has used many of the fabric leftovers from making the quilt top, for the backing.

Tricia is at the quilting stage on her Japanese-themed wall hanging above, and spent the session layering up the top with wadding and backing and then laboriously tacking stabilizing lines of tacking over the work before she begins free-motion quilting the piece.

The spectacle case made by Tricia "in-the-hoop" on her sewing machine

Above Carol is admiring Chris' Row-by-Row project which is now at the quilting stage, and was intrigued with how the "seminole" row was made.  and below, Cath is adding the binding to her Row-by-Row quilt, both quilts which I hope will feature here in a week or two.  No pressure ladies!!!  Cath has been adding lots of hand embroidered detail to her quilt, and says it's been a fun project to work on.  I understand teacher Christine has another project up her sleeve for the autumn, but the design and technique is a secret at the moment!  I look forward to seeing what it will be, as I am sure are her "students".

Above, Sheila has started another baby jacket which she is knitting for charity,  and Gladys works on her quilt blocks, while below, Margaret begins another square for her father's blanket

Ann has finished the drawstring bag she started recently, and she is giving it to her daughter's friend  She says it just needs two tassels adding before it is sent off.

Millie popped in again for a knit and natter with Margaret and Charlotte, while Eloise below, is trying to remember the details of how she intended to construct a quilt she designed and began some time ago!

 And our "International Members" Simone and Esje, both Belgian ladies who have lived in Spain for many years, also knit and natter.

It seems there is a trend to work with huge balls of yarn lately.  Elsje is working with Pure wool from Morocco and is adapting a pattern to use this yarn

That's all the news this week.  Be sure to check out the Group Website to see the latest member gallery updates.

Before I close, on behalf of the Group, I must take this opportunity to thank Cath  who has been tirelessly working behind the scenes sending off information and photos to various magazines and newspapers both here and in the UK to advertise our forthcoming exhibition in October.  We hope these will generate lots of interest and bring visitors to La Viñuela in the Autumn.  Do please spread the word amongst friends and neighbours, the dates are 11 and 12 October 2014, and a banner will appear on the website with this information after the coming weekend's Sew&Sews update.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about what our busy members have been up to, hope to see you again next week.  Rachel

Lovely eye candy......

Things are back to normal  after having to cancel the previous week at very short notice, as the tables had been removed from the hall for use in a fiesta in the village. .
This is a long post so grab a coffee and join us, as there was lots of eye candy on display this week, with one of our newer members, Marilyn,  bringing some of her work to be photographed for her gallery page in our Group website.  Marilyn's work will begin to appear in her gallery over the next  weeks so be sure to return to it regularly to see these and other members' gallery updates.
Marilyn has been stitching in one form or another for many years, and particularly enjoys bobbin lace and patchwork and quilting.

Some of the bobbin lace made by Marilyn

 Marilyn likes to incorporate embroidery into her patchwork quilts, in this large bed quilt each block has a different quilting design embroidered in the centre.

An embroidered doormouse hides in in the centre of this little patchwork wall hanging

A framed country scene in wool embroidery above, with detail below

An embroidered blanket with amazingly detailed animals and a sampler in intricate stitches below, are just a few of the pieces of work Marilyn has created.

Yvonne has finished her Japanese themed wall hanging, a detail is shown below

A small portion of this crochet blanket was part of a large box of yarns and equipment which former member Sue Stead's family donated to the Group after her sad death last year.  Eleanor decided she would like to complete the blanket and found more yarn to complement the colours used in Sue's original work. 

Linda has completed her Row-by-Row quilt above, and Chris is well on the way to finishing hers too, below.  I know I have said it before, but I think these quilts will make a lovely display at our exhibition in the autumn, it's always good to see how the same design looks, interpreted by different people.  Christine Speller, the class teacher must feel very pleased with all her students' work!

Chris Bradley's project 

CarolW says these little knitted teddies could be used as tombola prizes in our exhibition, and Ann hasn't decided whether her seasonal wall hangings below, will be kept for herself, or given as gifts.

Gwen, who only has a few anchoring stitches to add to this pretty seasonal decoration, has been having a dyeing session at home recently and brought along her fabric to show us.

Yvonne seems to be powering through projects this year!  Above, is her May journal quilt for an online workshop in which she is participating.   This month's theme is "texture" which Yvonne has used plenty of to depict her seascape.  Below, Yvonne works on a project started a long time ago.  She came across it in a cupboard while looking for something else, and thought it would be ideal to bring to meetings as it involves hand stitching and the pieces are small and easily portable.

Jenny has only to remove the tacking threads and add a couple more quilting motifs then this quilt (above) that a neighbour handed over to her partially made asking Jenny to finish it for her, will be on it's way to  it's owner who I am sure will be thrilled to see all the work Jenny has put into it for her.  Next week Jenny will bring it again to show us  the completed quilt.  

Sue chats with Carole above, while Simone also works on her embroidery project.

Sheila, Margaret and Julie knit while Gladys below works on her machine embellishing blocks with embroidery for her latest quilt project

Margaret,  with Carol center, and her friend Julie visiting from South Africa 

Kath above, spent another session  hemming more sashing on the raffle quilt, which if you haven't seen yet on the web site, now has all the butterfly blocks joined together.  We decided at the meeting to add a border using the background fabric and to bind the quilt using the sashing fabric to add the finishing touches.  When Rozanne returns from her trip to the UK, it should all be ready for her to work on the hand quilting.  Several members have already expressed their intention to buy the winning ticket at the raffle!!!

Helen is working on a seasonal project which appears to involve dozens of strips of fabric.  Next time I intend looking more closely at what's involved and will hopefully have a more detailed photo.

Christine enjoys foundation piecing and is working on a new project above, while Ann is making a drawstring bag below

Pam who, because she has been entertaining visitors recently, hasn't had a chance or the space to try out her new embroidery machine yet.  Pam was hoping to go home after the meeting, to a new specially designed and finished studio where she can work uninterrupted, but had a visit from her husband Ray during the meeting just to let her know in advance so she wouldn't be too cross, that he hadn't quite finished the room!! Hope it's finished now Pam, please take photos of you working in it so we can feature it soon in the "stitching corner" on the Group Website which features Kath at the moment.

Pam with Ray delivering his "bad news"!

I think that's us caught up for another week.  Thanks for reading and I hope you too have enjoyed seeing all the lovely work produced by our group members.  See you next time, Rachel