A Year in Review: Birmingham Embroiderers' Guild in 2012
2012 was a great year for Birmingham Embroiderers' Guild. We started the year with the first session merging the afternoon and evening groups together into one, and had a fabulous programme of speakers and events. It's also the first year that we have had a full year of blog posts to look back on, so here are some highlights:
January 2012:
In January, several members met up to look round the Lost in Lace exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where we really enjoyed the wide range of lace-inspired work on display:
Also in January: Our first meeting of the year was spent planning pieces to enter in the Industrial heritage exhibition at the regional day, and we got a first look at our new posters.
February 2012:
In February, we heard from our own Janet Molloy, and Jacqui Thompson, from the Solihull branch, who told us about their journey through embroidery, and brought lots of work along to share, including this lovely Celtic embroidery by Janet:
March 2012:
In March, we enjoyed a great talk from Teresinha Roberts, who brought lots of gorgeous samples of animal fibres along with her, as well as the wools and felts that she had made from them:
Also in March: members went to see Four Tragic Tales and Made In The Middle at the Mac, looking at lots of innovative embroidery and crafts.
April 2012:
In April, Angela Thompson joined us to lead a Polish Rhapsody dayschool, where we created beautiful embroidery using simple stitches on a background of felt with couched wool:
Also in April: we had a great show and tell session - you can see that the Industrial Heritage pieces are really starting to take shape.
May 2012:
In May, we had a brilliant members workshop, the beginning of our monthly focus on hand stitching. Janet Wright led us in creating embroidery using web and wheel stitches:
Also in May; Another great show and tell session, with embroidery from the Polish Rhapsody dayschool and more Industrial Heritage work, and we welcomed Angie Hughes to talk about Inspiration on your Doorstep; Angie will be back to lead a dayschool this spring, which is sure to fill up quickly.
June 2012:
Our speaker in June was the amazing Annette Emms, who came to show us all her embroidery inspired by Gargoyles, ghosts and gravestones, and fairies, myths and legends:
Also in June, we had a bumper show and tell, full of webs and wheels, silk painting from the summer mini-workshops, more Polish Rhapsody, and lots more, and several members had a great day out at the WM Regional Day.
July 2012:
In July, we held our Summer Party, with strawberry cream teas, a raffle, book sale, exhibition, and people queueing out of the door to get in! Bailey Curtis came to speak about her Colourful Life in Textiles:
August 2012:
August is usually a quiet month for the branch, as we take our Summer break, so we simply blogged about a local embroiderers' exhibition. If you know of any local embroidery exhibitions, please get in touch.
September 2012:
In September, Annette Emms returned to the Branch to lead a sold out dayschool about Inspiring Image Transfers, where we all learnt lots of new techniques:
Also in September; we took a look at how people had been using fly and herringbone stitches in their embroidery, and held a great session entitled 'Then, Now and Yet-to-be', all about members past, current and future projects, which was a great insight into the fantastically talented embroiderers who are members of the Birmingham branch.
October 2012:
In October, I had a holiday, so instead of the usual embroidery related posts, we instead featured a series of posts about getting the most out of the blog, including staying up to date with new posts, finding interesting articles in the archives, and leaving comments. See
How to use this blog - Part 1 for the first of these posts.
Also in October, we joined Facebook, and I shared some photos of Goldwork I discovered in a church in Spain.
November 2012:
In November we welcomed Felicity Howartson to give a fascinating talk about her Great-Grandma's Workbox, and we got to look at so many beautiful treasures:
Also in November; Steph Redfern led a fab dayschool taking us through elements of composition and design, and we published our programme for 2013.
December 2012:
In December, we had our Christmas party, with mince pies, a raffle, and we learnt to make beautiful mini-cushions:
We also got a first look at our completed Christmas Bunting, expertly stitched together by Janet Wright:
So that's it, a fabulous year of embroidery and friendship. As we said in our New Year's message, thank you for all of your support in 2012, and we look forward to seeing you in 2013!
January 2012:
In January, several members met up to look round the Lost in Lace exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where we really enjoyed the wide range of lace-inspired work on display:
Also in January: Our first meeting of the year was spent planning pieces to enter in the Industrial heritage exhibition at the regional day, and we got a first look at our new posters.
February 2012:
In February, we heard from our own Janet Molloy, and Jacqui Thompson, from the Solihull branch, who told us about their journey through embroidery, and brought lots of work along to share, including this lovely Celtic embroidery by Janet:
March 2012:
In March, we enjoyed a great talk from Teresinha Roberts, who brought lots of gorgeous samples of animal fibres along with her, as well as the wools and felts that she had made from them:
Also in March: members went to see Four Tragic Tales and Made In The Middle at the Mac, looking at lots of innovative embroidery and crafts.
April 2012:
In April, Angela Thompson joined us to lead a Polish Rhapsody dayschool, where we created beautiful embroidery using simple stitches on a background of felt with couched wool:
Also in April: we had a great show and tell session - you can see that the Industrial Heritage pieces are really starting to take shape.
May 2012:
In May, we had a brilliant members workshop, the beginning of our monthly focus on hand stitching. Janet Wright led us in creating embroidery using web and wheel stitches:
Also in May; Another great show and tell session, with embroidery from the Polish Rhapsody dayschool and more Industrial Heritage work, and we welcomed Angie Hughes to talk about Inspiration on your Doorstep; Angie will be back to lead a dayschool this spring, which is sure to fill up quickly.
June 2012:
Our speaker in June was the amazing Annette Emms, who came to show us all her embroidery inspired by Gargoyles, ghosts and gravestones, and fairies, myths and legends:
Also in June, we had a bumper show and tell, full of webs and wheels, silk painting from the summer mini-workshops, more Polish Rhapsody, and lots more, and several members had a great day out at the WM Regional Day.
July 2012:
In July, we held our Summer Party, with strawberry cream teas, a raffle, book sale, exhibition, and people queueing out of the door to get in! Bailey Curtis came to speak about her Colourful Life in Textiles:
August 2012:
August is usually a quiet month for the branch, as we take our Summer break, so we simply blogged about a local embroiderers' exhibition. If you know of any local embroidery exhibitions, please get in touch.
September 2012:
In September, Annette Emms returned to the Branch to lead a sold out dayschool about Inspiring Image Transfers, where we all learnt lots of new techniques:
Also in September; we took a look at how people had been using fly and herringbone stitches in their embroidery, and held a great session entitled 'Then, Now and Yet-to-be', all about members past, current and future projects, which was a great insight into the fantastically talented embroiderers who are members of the Birmingham branch.
October 2012:
In October, I had a holiday, so instead of the usual embroidery related posts, we instead featured a series of posts about getting the most out of the blog, including staying up to date with new posts, finding interesting articles in the archives, and leaving comments. See
How to use this blog - Part 1 for the first of these posts.
Also in October, we joined Facebook, and I shared some photos of Goldwork I discovered in a church in Spain.
November 2012:
In November we welcomed Felicity Howartson to give a fascinating talk about her Great-Grandma's Workbox, and we got to look at so many beautiful treasures:
Also in November; Steph Redfern led a fab dayschool taking us through elements of composition and design, and we published our programme for 2013.
December 2012:
In December, we had our Christmas party, with mince pies, a raffle, and we learnt to make beautiful mini-cushions:
We also got a first look at our completed Christmas Bunting, expertly stitched together by Janet Wright:
So that's it, a fabulous year of embroidery and friendship. As we said in our New Year's message, thank you for all of your support in 2012, and we look forward to seeing you in 2013!
Comments