Our next monthly gatherings are:
Riverside Group: Monday 14th September @ 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM (please email the Launceston Group for location address, and please note that the Riverside Group is full. BYO lunch; $5 donation covers studio amenities, tea, coffee & snacks)
St Marys Group: Monday, 14th September @ 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM (please contact us for location address)
Penguin Group: Wednesday 23rd September @ 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM (please contact Stephanie for location address)
Groups’ News:
Northern group (Riverside) report
Over the last two months our Group met in different locations, the July one seeing members join together at Woolmers Historic site surrounded by our Studio 7 exhibition. This was a great stimulus for the Group and enabled visitors to the venue to see how our activities related to the Exhibition. A reminder that “Studio 7: contemporary textiles at Woolmers” completes its residency on August 31. The last Artist talk and demonstration was Wednesday 24th August featuring the topic “Left Overs”. Huge thanks to everyone who has visited and supported us!
So this week, we were back in the Riverside studio. A couple of birthdays ensured cake and nibbles fueled our stitching. Lynne has introduced a “stitch of the month” to improve our capabilities and or revisit stitch techniques. This month variations on blanket or buttonhole stitch. Members are also working on their next projects succeeding the Woolmers designs.
’Pick Up Stitch – an introduction to contemporary stitching’ was a workshop run by four Launceston Group S&B members in August. Due to our continued patronage in exhibiting the annual S&B Challenge art works in the Library space, we were invited by Launceston Library to offer a public workshop as part of their Warm Winter Read program. Thanks also go to Friends of the Library, Launceston for funding this initiative. We had a very busy two hours guiding and assisting 12 eager participants to utilise basic running stitch, French knots and couching creatively, upon layers of chosen fabric scraps.
We (Jan Charlton, Lynne Hargreaves, Jan Wakefield and Jane Roberts) thoroughly enjoyed sharing some of the infinite possibilities of stitch, design, colour and pattern with the workshop group who were abuzz with excitement.
This inspiration has sparked many to continue on creatively together and form a regular stitch group of their own. We will endeavour to assist them where we can and hope that, ultimately, Stitching & Beyond may gain a few more new members!
Northeast group (St Marys) report
St Marys hosted the touring 2025 Challenge, ‘Hidden Stories‘, in August.
Our August activity was gel printing following some exercises that Rita had prepared. Erika and Rita managed to create some interesting pieces, and Sherrie continued with some of her beautiful embroidery.
We also enjoyed some homemade pikelets for morning tea, and homemade soup and freshly baked bread for lunch. After the others had to leave, Rita continued to make prints, adding several layers with stamps, stencils, found objects, botanicals and handmade templates. At future meetings, we plan to take turns sharing different techniques to inspire one another.
Northwest group (Penguin) report
The NW group had an excursion to Wynyard to view an exhibition of felt work by local artists. The Thursday Felters display of their fabulous work was both inspiring and beautiful. One of our group had her work on display and talked us through the processes and thinking behind many of the pieces by her colleagues. Unfortunately by the time you read this article the exhibition will be over. All exhibitors work through Hive in Ulverstone where more items can be viewed.
Our small group will continue to meet in Penguin on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Potential attendees can contact Stephanie for more details.