Creative Colourwheel - Convenor's Challenge 2011

Here are the details of the 2011 Challenge as published in the December YTFG Magazine SCRAP SALAD
Deadline – at Headquarters by close of business Friday 10th June, 2011.

1. Purchase an artists canvas block 4” x 6” (10 x 15 cm or postcard size) for each participating student from Club funds. These cost around $1.50 each from Hot Dollar / Top Bargains or Spotlight stores. Any club with insufficient funds should apply to the Committee for partial funding.
2. Each student will either paint or cover in fabric (including edges) in their appointed Club colour then creatively embellish coloured block using shades/tints of that colour.
3. A random draw was conducted and these are the colours appointed for Clubs to work with.

Red Wagga Wagga, Distance and Lones

Blue Lismore, Newcastle

Green Milton/Ulladulla, North District (Metropolitan)

Yellow Concord West, Dubbo

Purple Engadine, Grafton

Orange Parkes, Wollongong

4. Use anything you would normally use on a quilt or stitched piece. This could include patchwork, beads, buttons, charms, couching, knitting, felting, found objects, mixed media, SMALL 3D objects as well as traditional stitching. All objects have to be securely stitched to the block. If in doubt, check with YTFG Convenor please.
5. Please make sure your work can be displayed any way up as the display may need to be arranged differently depending on the location.
6. Blocks will become the property of the YTFG and be used for displays / exhibitions at various venues for at least 12 months.
7. Pieces will be numbered on the reverse when received at HQ and at the end of that time a lucky draw will be run and pieces sent out to winning students.
8. Students attending Clubs should hand their finished blocks to Leaders in time to send in a box together to Concord West by the due date. Late entries will need to be posted by the individual students at their cost.
9. Lone or unattached members and Distance Course members should post their entries to the Guild, PO box 109 Concord West 2138 marked “Attention YTFG Convenor” in a padded postbag or deliver in person to 76 Queen Street Concord West by the due date.

NB: I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO YOUR EMBELLISHMENT ON A PIECE OF FABRIC OR OTHER BACKGROUND AND THEN GLUE/STITCH IT TO THE BLOCKS AS IT IS QUITE DIFFICULT TO STITCH DIRECTLY ON THE BLOCKS DUE TO THE WIDE WOODEN FRAMES.

Here is my block finished, and the process I used to create it. Concord West has been allocated yellow, and I decided to use the "make your own fabric" project from the December magazine for the background. However I used net instead of calico, so first I painted my canvas block in yellow acrylic craft paint. You may choose to make yours another way, it's completely up to you what technique and method you use. You must make sure the work is securely attached to the block before you send it to us.


Here is the painted block sitting on the piece of net with 1 inch margins marked all around to allow for covering the sides. Decoration must stay within this area.


After fusing some Vleisofix to the net using a scrap of paper under and over the net, I laid chopped up fabrics, threads and ribbons on top and ironed them on carefully



Next I added decorations, sequins, stitching, charms etc on top of the base fabric, being careful to keep them within the marked area and mostly surrounding the centre on the top of the block


My finished block after the base fabric was folded and glued around the back of the block. I also added a few final sequins to the centre of the block by stitching through all the layers to hold the centre tight. Lastly I will add a label to cover the back of the block with my name, date and my club so that the winner of the block will know who made it !

Students enter work in Alstonville Show 2010

Judy Santarossa, Lismore Club Leader, sent in a photo of Charlotte and Olivia with their entries in the Alstonville Show. Their wallhangings featuring Mr Shuffles (the little elephant from Taronga Zoo Park Sydney) earned 1st and 2nd prizes in the section. Congratulations girls, well deserved prizes as the elephants are so colourful and well stitched. Looking forward to seeing more photos of work entered in agricultural Shows in 2011.

New Clubs opening in 2011

Some great news, 2 new Leaders have been appointed and new Clubs will start in Dubbo (country) and Engadine (southern Sydney suburb) in 2011. Sadly due to the resignation of 2 Leaders and no successors being available we will have to close Nepean (western Sydney) and possibly Grafton (northern country) clubs. Welcome to our new Members and their Leaders, we hope you'll enjoy leaning to stitch and improving your skills with the YTFG.

STOP PRESS: Heard by phone Wednesday 24th Nov. that the local Embroiderers' Guild group in Grafton is hoping to organise a Leader to continue to run a Club in Grafton, possibly meeting each school holidays. Such GREAT news, hope this works out.

October School Holidays workshop

On Thursday 7th october 10 students were guided by Marcelle Sandeman (a former Newcastle Club Leader) in a fabric Christmas Gift Tag project at Guild Headquarters. 4 of the children had only recently attended their first workshop but by the end of the day's session had successfully added French Knots and Stem stitch to their tags. Learning to stitch in a hoop wasn't easy, and there were some long periods when you could have heard a needle drop, but everyone managed really well on the day. All projects were completed and taken home at the end of the day. Well done and thankyou Marcelle for your patience. Thankyou also to our helpers Diana, Sue, and Christine.

Winter 2010 workshop, Stained Glass Window Crazy Patch bag

On Thursday 15th July at Guild Headquarters Carolyn Pearce led 14 eager students in making a medieval inspired Stained Glass Window Crazy Patch Bag. 5 adult helpers were on hand including our stalwart Fred and soon pieces of pre-fused coloured fabric were cut out and had been fused to the black bag pieces by the adults. Next the children had to select suitable stitches - some students were veterans of several workshops, most had a little knowledge but then 2 small girls had never threaded a needle before and one had only ever tried sewing on a button. Carolyn took all this in her stride and demonstrated the techniques to eager eyes.



A quick break for lunch followed although some students cut their lunch short to hurry back and get on with the decoration of their bags. With a sewing machine set up in the back room at the Guild for the purpose, most of the bags were stitched up and handles added by the end of the day. 3 bags were left for Mums or Nanna to stitch up as their family had a sewing machine.



2 boys completed the requirements for their Scout Sewing Badge on the day, many thanks to Fred for his patience. You'll certainly agree that the kids looked like they were having a great time !

Free Project Sheet - Stitched Birthday card Page 1

To print this page out full size, left click on the photo, then go to print preview and adjust margins to smallest possible before printing. Scroll down for page 2.

We hope you enjoy stitching your birthday card !

Updating the Group Banner

Back in 2007 the Clubs supplied a blue and orange stitched name patch and a rectangular patch of members' work to add to a Group banner. In this our 15th birthday year we decided to update the banner to display at our Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair Feature Display in June 2010.
Guildford, Muswellbrook, Southern Suburbs and Wollondilly Clubs have unfortunately closed while Concord West, Grafton, and Lismore District have begun. 2 of those clubs were able to send along names and patches of work and Grafton sent their name to be added to the banner. Christine unpicked the stitches on the closed clubs and moved them to the back of the banner, replacing them with the new patches in time for the set up day at Darling Harbour.
Below are Lismore's patches and the little explanation sent along, isn't the work fantastic? The Banner certainly looks even better than before, and was a big drawcard at the Show.

A great display at Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair!

Following our success at the "Horizons" exhibition at Crows Nest we were fairly confident the craft show visitors would love all the kids work, and we were right !!
Everyone was so complimentary about the quality of the display, and we could have sold the elephant hangings from Lismore 10 times over. The only down side was having to explain to every 2nd person stopping by that we weren't visiting from Young, NSW.
It seems no-one was looking past the Young Textile and Fibre Group name, and ignoring our prominent sign that said "Boys and Girls 5-18 years" on the back wall.
We gave out lots of information about both the Distance Course and face-to-face clubs. On Saturday and Sunday we also gave away small project kits for the Birthday Stitch Cards as we weren't able to run the Flash Mob Stitch-In due to our position on a major aisle. A minor inconvenience which we did not allow to spoil our otherwise fabulous 5 day show. More photos below.



Part of the Blue and Orange challenge and the "honour board of prize winners"



The Distance Course work on display and the information table



The Blue and Orange Challenge central section featuring those elephant wall hangings

Free Project Sheet - Stitched Birthday Card Page 2

To print this sheet at the right scale, left click on the picture then go to print preview and adjust your margins to smallest possible before printing.

Milestones

This March we passed several Milestones for the Young Textile and Fibre Group. 15 years ago on March 1st, 1995 the first meeting for a YTFG Club was held and by the end of that year the YTFG had over 150 members meeting at 10 clubs around New South Wales. Today we have nearly 300 members meeting at 10 clubs plus the Distance Club with the "Fun with Stitches" Course being mailed to students in 4 countries.
The face-to-face Clubs right now are at Concord West, Grafton, Lismore, Milton/Ulladulla, Nepean (Penrith), Newcastle, North District (metropolitan Sydney), Parkes, Wagga Wagga and Wollongong. Some meet monthly, others only during school holidays or several times each school term. Contact the Guild Office on (02) 9743 2501 for more information or click here.
The other milesone passed at the end of March was the 3 year anniversary of this Members' Blog. It's customary to celebrate your "blogiversary" with something special, so in the next post we'll be featuring the project sheet for the pricked stitch cards which we're doing at Darling Harbour Craft and Quilt Fair on Saturday at 12 noon. If you're coming to the Show, pop in and make a card for FREE. Instructions to print off this project sheet will be on the next post.

Orange and Blue Challenge

Members were asked to make a piece of work no larger than A4 size to be part of a display for the Guild's large exhibition called "Horizons" in early May 2010. Clubs sent along a wonderful array of work, including 3D clutch bags, covered books, wall hangings and multi-coloured tiles with orange and blue tones included.
Here are 2 photos of the work on display,







All this work will be taken straight to the display at the Craft and Quilt Fair Darling Harbour and added to selected other items.
One last Mr Shuffles elephant hanging arrived from Lismore and District Club last week, so he'll be joining his herd at Darling Harbour !!

More photos of exhibits at Horizons

It was impossible to photograph over 180 individual items, here are a few more examples of the fabulous work from around the Clubs which was displayed at the Crows Nest Centre in late May 2010.




Edwina's quilted hanging, Wagga Wagga Club



Chloe's printed hanging from Wagga Wagga Club




Another Mr Shuffles hanging from Lismore and District Club





Zipper necklaces made by Milton/Ulladulla Club

Workshops at "Horizons" exhibition at Crows Nest

Here's our tutor's sample of the Cool Bear toy made in the workshop at "Horizons" on the Saturday. Tutor Anne-Marie Bakewell prepared some bear bodies by stitching 2 layers of fleecy material in a bear shape. Students trimmed the seams, turned him inside out then stuffed with toy fill. After stitching up the hole they then added eyes, nose and mouth. Next came a felt vest which was stitched up then decorated with stitches and beads and sequins. Finally a bow around his neck then a photo of everyone with their bears was taken. All this happened in around 1 1/2 hours, so a few students took home extra beads to add later. The group photo will be posted soon.



On the Sunday we had 3 students making Fay Grant's "Cupcakes" to celebrate our 15th birthday. This project was also featured in Magazine no. 44, on page 14. Three boys worked very hard on their projects. A prepared circle of fabric was decorated with bugle beads, sequins and other bling, then cut out and gathered up. A circle of cardboard and some stuffing helped to make the cupcake and icing look quite real. Lastly the top was sewn onto the silicone base with neat stitches and a decorative braid glued and stitched around. They certainly looked good enough to eat !!





There are still a few kits available for these projects at Guild Headquarters for $10AUD each, containing all instructions and materials. Contact the Guild to enquire.

1st meeting of Concord West Club

The first meeting of the new Concord West Club "StitchKids" was held on Saturday May 8th and here is a great picture of the 5 girls who attended and their finished project for the day.
We made Ollie the Owl which was featured in YTFG Magazine no. 44 on page 16. The original design was by Heidi Iverson. Click on the photo to see the details on each wonderful owl.




Members Zoe and Evie asked their mum to photograph their owls in a tree when they got home, do you like them peeking out of the leaves?




Next meeting is on July 10th and we'll be making some fabric "party food" to celebrate the YTFG 15th birthday year.

YTFG in Craft Fair Friends Magazine

The Craft Fair people have just sent out their small Magazine which tells people about the great attractions at the upcoming Darling Harbour Craft and Quilt Fair in Sydney. Guess who's photo is featured on page 36? And also on the Fair website? The gorgeous smiling face of Terry as he proudly shows the funky bird puppet he made at the 2007 exhibition at Homebush is typical of the kind of enthusiasm the kids show. The other photos show the emus on one panel of the Australian Farm Challenge (Wagga Wagga student's work) and part of the Fishy Challenge which now lives in Tallowood school for disabled children. The response for 3D underwater creatures for the Fishy Challenge was so overwhelming that we were able to make up 4 large artists panels to present to 2 different special schools.
We plan to show lots of great work by the kids at the Darling Harbour Craft and Quilt fair from June 16th - 20th and we hope to speak to lots and lots of visitors to the show. We'll be at the rear of the halls, around stand J or K we think.

Prize winning work displayed at "Horizons"

At the 2010 Sydney Royal Easter Show one of the North District Club members Grace, aged 14, was the winning entrant in the 12 - 18 year category for hand embroidery. She won the Blue ribbon for first prize with her very delicate cross stitched still life picture, and was selected for display in the "Standard of Excellence" case. We are all very proud of her acheivement and were very pleased to display her prize winning work and ribbons at the "Horizons" exhibition in early May. The YTFG Committee sponsors 2 prizes in the Sydney Royal Easter Show for young embroiderers, so next year we hope even more students from the YTFG Clubs will consider entering their stitching for everyone to admire and appreciate the great work young people are doing.

Distance work on display at Horizons exhibition

The Distance Course "Fun with Stitches" was well represented at the recent "Horizons" Exhibition at Crows Nest. Nola Williams and Wendy Fuller made sure that the tutors' samples, the very clever banner and some examples of students' work were displayed on one wall of the YTFG room upstairs. The banner, in case you haven't seen it yet, is appliqued with the names of all of the places that the "Fun with Stitches" lessons have travelled to. Judith Langdon embroidered the names on strips of fabric then stitched them to the banner under a map of Australia, then had to include Singapore ! The banner is now so full that the ladies are considering making an additional banner to show even more places for the most recent students taking this excellent course including South Africa and the United States of America.

Fabulous stitching on exhibition at "Horizons" May 2010

This is only part of the wonderful young people's work on display recently at the Crows Nest Centre in Sydney for the Embroiderers' Guild's Exhibition "Horizons". Work streamed in from the Clubs and the YTFG Committee was completely overwhelmed with both the amount received, over 180 items, and the quality of the work being done at our Clubs. Below are some photos of some of the work on display, it was not possible to photograph every piece individually. We're making enquiries about using the photos of the elephant wall hangings from the Lismore District Club for a special project. The children were moved by the story of the little elephant born at the zoo which survived despite everyone thinking he had died inside his mother. Zoo staff nicknamed him "Mr Shuffles" because of his wobbly walk, but he is now doing very well and has captured everyone's heart. I'm sure you'll love the children's version of him when you see the photos, a couple of them are shown below.



A bird puppet from Wagga Wagga Club



The rear wall of the exhibition and the table holding larger pieces



One version of Mr Shuffles from Lismore District


Another sweet Mr Shuffles from Lismore District


One of the Milton Club students, Ryan, made a very colourful cushion


Necastle Club members have been sewing colourful aprons

More photos in the next post!

Wagga Wagga Club work on display at local gallery

In March 2010 the Annual Leaders' Meeting of the YTFG was moved to Wagga Wagga along with the adult groups' Convenors' Meeting. Our meeting was attended by about 16 people alltogether including observers from the Wagga Wagga adult group who have been supporting Fay Grant with the running of the Club there. The Club was invited to be part of the exhibition at the Regional Art Gallery by the Embroiderers' Guild Group and here are some photos of that wonderful display of young people's work. I'm sure you'll agree it was a wonderful opportunity for the kids' work to be seen and appreciated and we hope that Fay is swamped with young people wanting to join the Club and learn how to make such beautiful and creative projects.


Work displayed on the back wall of the Gallery



3D work displayed on plinth in front of wall

Winter 2009 workshop, Funky Bird Puppet

Here is a great photo taken at the end of another very successful YTFG school holiday workshop in July 2009. Fay Grant re-ran her bird puppet workshop which was so successful at our 2007 exhibition. Some students from that workshop also attended this one and made another puppet because they'd given that one away or loved it so much that they wanted to make another version ! Here are a few more photos, with captions for you to enjoy.



Ethan (age 6) concentrates on his stitching



Our helper Fred with some of the kids



Several North District members attended the workshop and brought Leaders as helpers too