~ ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND EMBROIDERERS GUILD ~



COROMANDEL 2007 passed by very quickly for our Guild as we enjoyed classes in painted backgrounds, Mary Stewart hussif, Punto Antico, ribbon embroidery, drawn thread, Dorset stitchery and hardanger, as well as our delightful, monthly, petite projects. One of the highlights of our year was a weekend retreat held in July at Whitianga with tutors Ann Brocas with a Wessex drawstring bag and Annette Rich with a Beaded Bag. It was a great venue, wonderful food (no cooking or dishes!) and tremendous fellowship. Exhibitions and regional days were also on the list of great occasions during the year. Another highlight was member Marie Keeves winning the Dorothy Clarke Memorial Award at the Northland Regional Exhibition in Whangarei and the invitation to Marie and Jo McNeil to exhibit in the ANZEG `Regalia' Exhibition. Our challenge this past year `Christmas' had two categories - hand embroidery and machine embroidery - to cater for all our members. The results were stunning. Pam Sowden COUNTIES Guild has been ticking along over the last year. Members have supported regional days held throughout the region, travelling to Coromandel just prior to Christmas 2006 and then to Warkworth in April. A good number visited our neighbours, East Auckland, when they hosted a regional day in July and members are now busy working towards hosting the next regional day in October. Guild workshops have been held with members having the opportunity to learn Schwalm techniques with Ina Orr> Or Nue with Jenny Miller and recently Felicity Willis had members creating a wonderful variety of camels. The last workshop for the year was one on Blackwork with Jacqui Carbines. We have rediscovered the pleasure of bus trips and members have travelled to Tauranga to visit the Tauranga Guild's exhibition and Open Day and are off to Cambridge at the beginning of December to see the Christmas in Cambridge displays. DOUBTLESS BAY We started our year with a day of hints and tips on anything to do with embroidery. This produced very interesting ideas and even the old hands picked up a few gems. We had several sessions on canvaswork - not only stitching but painting, moulding and decorating it when it was newly shaped. Cornpad, shadow work, needlelace and stumpwork all had their turn and our final class of the year was Japanese stab bookbinding. So we have kept up our tradition of variety and we never get bored! Yillie Mycroft gave us a most enjoyable weekend doing Kogin embroidery. A member with connections to the area where Kogin comes from in Japan was able to get us genuine material, cottons and patterns. A feature of our exhibition was a series of friendship samplers. The Guild was split into groups of six and each contributed to the samplers of the other five. The result was most colourful and everyone has a sampler of memories. Two members took weekly classes at the local primary school and the children who took part have some smart pencil tins. The class was such a success, this year they are tackling surface stitch on book covers. Jo Jones EAST AUCKLAND We are now three years old and have two wonderful groups of ladies, one day and one night group. The Guild has had workshops at our meetings throughout the year and our members have freely given their time and talents to help others. We have had a large exhibition of old and new work in Papatoetoe which was supported by all Guilds in our area. In July we hosted our first regional day and created a Guild banner and badge and members made six-sided bags. Weekend workshops have been taken during the year by Lorraine Abernethy with a cloth doll, Elizabeth Darrah taught us `Bunches of Berries' and Jill Haddow ribbon embroidery, Bonnie Kennedy-Grant did canvaswork and to finish the year Julie Hughes showed us how to bond fabric into art. Barbara Clark HOROWHENUA We welcomed new members to the Guild during the year and decided our focus would be on a back to basics stitching programme. We started what was to be a busy year with a picnic at Alison Cull's home. Our monthly meetings were well attended and we had a variety of interesting speakers including Sandra Hall who spoke about smocking as a business; Yvonne Symonds and Francis Johns enthralled us with what was involved in running a quilting symposium; Janet Thornton and her husband gave us an entertaining evening looking at Victorian memorabilia; Angela Buswell on shoemaking; Alison Cull on her recent trip to Tanzania, Ham Maxwell came in September and made a glass bead and spoke about the history of beads, and we finished in November with Wendy Hodder who is a children's book illustrator. Felicity Willis tutored a camel workshop in May. It was a well attended and some very handsome camels emerged. Our exhibition at Thompson House in April was well attended by the public. August again saw a successful Intastitch day that was well supported by visiting Guilds. This year we tried something new, a children's class at the library during the school holidays. Twelve girls made cushions and had their first experience of embroidery. T he girls were very happy with what they had achieved, as we were too. Enid Low NORTH OTAGO The Guild wrapped up for the year in November with the AGM, and a pot luck luncheon. Five new members were gained during 2007 and members participated and displayed their work in several local events, including the Totara Harvest Festival and Heritage Week. Guest speaker was Helen Stead, a local historian and ex-pupil of Miss Ivy Pollard, who was a founding member of the Guild. Helen spoke to us about her family history and her interest in the heritage of the local region. 2008 arrived without warning and the year began with a round table: "What did you do over the holidays?" Most enjoyed the lovely weather, but had not completed a great deal of stitching. Workdays began in March and this year will include ribbonwork, stumpwork, and crewel embroidery. Elsie Owen NORTH SHORE For the second year our Guild held an exchange with our sister Guild, the Cedar Valley Chapter of EGA, in Iowa, USA. This exchange was pincushions and proved hugely successful with 24 members participating and stitching their cushions throughout the year. Many discovered the delights and challenges of stitching `biscornu' pincushions for the first time. The exchange pincushions from Cedar Valley arrived in time for their contributions to be displayed and distributed at our AGM and many members have since corresponded with their new exchange friends. The President's Challenge this year has been taken from the article: "One design - eight ways to use it" in April 2007 Threads. The incoming president obtained the resource kit, which contained the design, from ANZEG and our finished pieces will be displayed at the 2008 AGM. It will be interesting to see how many more ways in which the design is interpreted. Heather Kelly OPOTIKI Without doubt the highlight of last year was the Opotiki Guild's embroidery display in October. Members somehow got an added burst of energy and completed many UFOs to create the splendid display. Jean Caves was our guest exhibitor and her diverse display of items and talent covering 20 years of embroidery drew many interested viewers to her booth. The display was held in the town's new building, Opotiki Museum. All agreed the display was an unqualified success and attendance was high. The next display will be held in two years' time and will be extended as many were disappointed at the short time the display was on. Attendances at Guild meetings have been steady with overall membership increasing to even include a 20-year old! We consider ourselves a friendly group and are allowed to proceed at whatever pace suits us whether that be on a one-at-a-time project, or, like those who have a conveyor belt mentality and romp along with three or four projects going at the same time. Workshops over the latter half of last year included Fisherton de la Mere, Elizabethan and Penny Rugs (Carole Bates) crazy quilting cushions and bantams (Judelle Pengelly) angels and beaded amulet bags, Christmas ornaments in various materials, Hardanger and our Extensions group travelled from near and far to workshops and produced even more varied works of art. We look forward to this year's stitching programme with enthusiasm (kicking off with an elephant workshop in March) and with the increased membership are assured of a varied and prodigious display of talent to offer at our next display of work in 2009. Avery Tilley OTAGO The year started with great excitement when we learned of the honour given to Gay Eaton, who is now a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and the recognition this award gives to embroidery. We have had a very busy year which started with the Sampler Exhibition, Stitched in Time, at the Settlers Museum. There were more than 29,700 visitors during the four months it was open to the public. Our Guild was also involved with associated workshops and lectures. Wanaka Embroidery School was again well attended. An interesting talk by Alison Snepp about medieval Egyptian embroideries hinted at the roots of blackwork. Extra classes at the Dunedin Art Gallery filled quickly; Christine Bishop's talk on Lefkara lacework was enjoyed by many. Classes for children have become very popular. They have been held in the school holidays at the Settlers' Museum. Two workshops, each lasting for two days, were so well attended that we had to limit numbers. With a choice of 13 different classes on Mayday all attending were kept busy, and were spoilt for choice. Unfortunately the first of our Saturday meetings in June had to be cancelled because snow made the roads too dangerous, but we were able to run many of the cancelled workshops in July. An auction run by Marilyn Weare was great fun, with some of us going home with unexpected treasures. A talk, And The Ladies Wore Silk, given by Pricilla Lowry in September also included a fashion parade. Our ladies have hidden talents as models. The Art Station, upstairs in the railway station, was an excellent venue for our annual exhibition in October. Shirley Jaquiery's display as invited exhibitor brought admiring comments from many visitors, especially those who appreciated the quality and range of her work. The calico people, our president's challenge this year, brought a smile to the faces of visitors. They really were delightful. Jeanette Trotman WANGANUI 2007 saw us having to find a new place to set up home. After 27 years at the CES Rooms and having made ourselves very comfortable there, we got the news that they would no longer be available for our use. We then had to scramble around to find a new venue that had excellent lighting, space for our two library cupboards, two storage cupboards and other accumulated bits and bobs, ideally at a similarly low rent. The Wanganui Arts Society came to our rescue and a suitable arrangement has been made. We have had to drop one session but continue with our Monday night meeting and a Friday morning meeting. We also unfortunately had to cull the library and rationalise things. Because of this disruption Guild activities were reduced, however, some of our members went to the regional retreat in Eltham and to other workdays in our region, and we hosted our own workday in June. The challenge of trying to increase our membership is ongoing. Working with fabric, needle and thread is a wonderfully satisfying and rewarding activity even addictive (there are worse vices!), but persuading people to have a go is not always easy. Those who do, get to know a really nice group of people who become good friends and as a bonus keep up to date with the latest 'jokes' doing the rounds in the city. Wanganui Embroiderers' Guild will celebrate its 35th birthday this year; a milestone worth having a celebratory drink or good cuppa for! Heather Williamson WARKWORTH Much of the first part of the year was concentrated on the Regional Day which the Warkworth and Wellsford Guilds hosted with approximately 200 Guild members attending. Each Guild was invited to create a table setting for an occasion, which certainly was the highlight of the day because of the time and effort each group put into their display. The visitors voted for Wellsford Guild as the winning table setters. In-house projects included bullion flowers and insects, silk ribbon work, Redwork, postcards, making gifts for the next Great Escape dinner and the continuing Friendship sampler based on canvas work. For this the Guild was divided into groups of six. Each person had to supply the canvas with a range of coloured threads that could be used by each person in their group so that they could complete a line of canvas embroidery. The results were amazing and gave much pleasure not only to the people involved in the projects but the recipient. The samplers were framed and in some cases made into book covers. A weekend was spent with Anne Bell making concertina books and another two days with Hillary Hakaraia where the most elaborate boxes were made. Members were delighted with the patient tutors and the results. Val Joyce, a successful a WOW designer, allowed Guild members to wear 13 of her Nelson designs for a combined meeting of the Warkworth, Hibiscus Coast and Wellsford Guilds in October. The pot luck dinner and parade was televised and gave promotion for the Guilds. This year the Guild has had three study days where members may use the Guild rooms to continue to do some form of embroidery and design work either individually or in groups. This has been successful and will be continued this year. The Warkworth Guild continues to have an active and challenging programme which caters for beginners to the more experienced members. Mona Townson

COROMANDEL

2007 passed by very quickly for our Guild as we enjoyed classes in painted backgrounds, Mary Stewart hussif, Punto Antico, ribbon embroidery, drawn thread, Dorset stitchery and hardanger, as well as our delightful, monthly, petite projects.

One of the highlights of our year was a weekend retreat held in July at Whitianga with tutors Ann Brocas with a Wessex drawstring bag and Annette Rich with a Beaded Bag. It was a great venue, wonderful food (no cooking or dishes!) and tremendous fellowship.

Exhibitions and regional days were also on the list of great occasions during the year. Another highlight was member Marie Keeves winning the Dorothy Clarke Memorial Award at the Northland Regional Exhibition in Whangarei and the invitation to Marie and Jo McNeil to exhibit in the ANZEG `Regalia' Exhibition.

Our challenge this past year `Christmas' had two categories - hand embroidery and machine embroidery - to cater for all our members. The results were stunning.
Pam Sowden

COUNTIES

Guild has been ticking along over the last year. Members have supported regional days held throughout the region, travelling to Coromandel just prior to Christmas 2006 and then to Warkworth in April. A good number visited our neighbours, East Auckland, when they hosted a regional day in July and members are now busy working towards hosting the next regional day in October.

Guild workshops have been held with members having the opportunity to learn Schwalm techniques with Ina Orr> Or Nue with Jenny Miller and recently Felicity Willis had members creating a wonderful variety of camels. The last workshop for the year was one on Blackwork with Jacqui Carbines.

We have rediscovered the pleasure of bus trips and members have travelled to Tauranga to visit the Tauranga Guild's exhibition and Open Day and are off to Cambridge at the beginning of December to see the Christmas in Cambridge displays.

DOUBTLESS BAY

We started our year with a day of hints and tips on anything to do with embroidery. This produced very interesting ideas and even the old hands picked up a few gems.

We had several sessions on canvaswork - not only stitching but painting, moulding and decorating it when it was newly shaped.

Cornpad, shadow work, needlelace and stumpwork all had their turn and our final class of the year was Japanese stab bookbinding. So we have kept up our tradition of variety and we never get bored!

Yillie Mycroft gave us a most enjoyable weekend doing Kogin embroidery. A member with connections to the area where Kogin comes from in Japan was able to get us genuine material, cottons and patterns.

A feature of our exhibition was a series of friendship samplers. The Guild was split into groups of six and each contributed to the samplers of the other five. The result was most colourful and everyone has a sampler of memories. Two members took weekly classes at the local primary school and the children who took part have some smart pencil tins. The class was such a success, this year they are tackling surface stitch on book covers.
Jo Jones

EAST AUCKLAND

We are now three years old and have two wonderful groups of ladies, one day and one night group. The Guild has had workshops at our meetings throughout the year and our members have freely given their time and talents to help others.

We have had a large exhibition of old and new work in Papatoetoe which was supported by all Guilds in our area. In July we hosted our first regional day and created a Guild banner and badge and members made six-sided bags. Weekend workshops have been taken during the year by Lorraine Abernethy with a cloth doll, Elizabeth Darrah taught us `Bunches of Berries' and Jill Haddow ribbon embroidery, Bonnie Kennedy-Grant did canvaswork and to finish the year Julie Hughes showed us how to bond fabric into art.
Barbara Clark

HOROWHENUA

We welcomed new members to the Guild during the year and decided our focus would be on a back to basics stitching programme. We started what was to be a busy year with a picnic at Alison Cull's home.

Our monthly meetings were well attended and we had a variety of interesting speakers including Sandra Hall who spoke about smocking as a business; Yvonne Symonds and Francis Johns enthralled us with what was involved in running a quilting symposium; Janet Thornton and her husband gave us an entertaining evening looking at Victorian memorabilia; Angela Buswell on shoemaking; Alison Cull on her recent trip to Tanzania, Ham Maxwell came in September and made a glass bead and spoke about the history of beads, and we finished in November with Wendy Hodder who is a children's book illustrator.

Felicity Willis tutored a camel workshop in May. It was a well attended and some very handsome camels emerged. Our exhibition at Thompson House in April was well attended by the public. August again saw a successful Intastitch day that was well supported by visiting Guilds. This year we tried something new, a children's class at the library during the school holidays. Twelve girls made cushions and had their first experience of embroidery. T he girls were very happy with what they had achieved, as we were too.
Enid Low

NORTH OTAGO

The Guild wrapped up for the year in November with the AGM, and a pot luck luncheon. Five new members were gained during 2007 and members participated and displayed their work in several local events, including the Totara Harvest Festival and Heritage Week. Guest speaker was Helen Stead, a local historian and ex-pupil of Miss Ivy Pollard, who was a founding member of the Guild. Helen spoke to us about her family history and her interest in the heritage of the local region.

2008 arrived without warning and the year began with a round table: "What did you do over the holidays?" Most enjoyed the lovely weather, but had not completed a great deal of stitching. Workdays began in March and this year will include ribbonwork, stumpwork, and crewel embroidery.
Elsie Owen

NORTH SHORE

For the second year our Guild held an exchange with our sister Guild, the Cedar Valley Chapter of EGA, in Iowa, USA. This exchange was pincushions and proved hugely successful with 24 members participating and stitching their cushions throughout the year. Many discovered the delights and challenges of stitching `biscornu' pincushions for the first time. The exchange pincushions from Cedar Valley arrived in time for their contributions to be displayed and distributed at our AGM and many members have since corresponded with their new exchange friends.

The President's Challenge this year has been taken from the article: "One design - eight ways to use it" in April 2007 Threads. The incoming president obtained the resource kit, which contained the design, from ANZEG and our finished pieces will be displayed at the 2008 AGM. It will be interesting to see how many more ways in which the design is interpreted.

Heather Kelly

OPOTIKI

Without doubt the highlight of last year was the Opotiki Guild's embroidery display in October. Members somehow got an added burst of energy and completed many UFOs to create the splendid display.

Jean Caves was our guest exhibitor and her diverse display of items and talent covering 20 years of embroidery drew many interested viewers to her booth.

The display was held in the town's new building, Opotiki Museum. All agreed the display was an unqualified success and attendance was high. The next display will be held in two years' time and will be extended as many were disappointed at the short time the display was on.

Attendances at Guild meetings have been steady with overall membership increasing to even include a 20-year old! We consider ourselves a friendly group and are allowed to proceed at whatever pace suits us whether that be on a one-at-a-time project, or, like those who have a conveyor belt mentality and romp along with three or four projects going at the same time.

Workshops over the latter half of last year included Fisherton de la Mere, Elizabethan and Penny Rugs (Carole Bates) crazy quilting cushions and bantams (Judelle Pengelly) angels and beaded amulet bags, Christmas ornaments in various materials, Hardanger and our Extensions group travelled from near and far to workshops and produced even more varied works of art.

We look forward to this year's stitching programme with enthusiasm (kicking off with an elephant workshop in March) and with the increased membership are assured of a varied and prodigious display of talent to offer at our next display of work in 2009. Avery Tilley

OTAGO

The year started with great excitement when we learned of the honour given to Gay Eaton, who is now a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and the recognition this award gives to embroidery.

We have had a very busy year which started with the Sampler Exhibition, Stitched in Time, at the Settlers Museum. There were more than 29,700 visitors during the four months it was open to the public. Our Guild was also involved with associated workshops and lectures. Wanaka Embroidery School was again well attended. An interesting talk by Alison Snepp about medieval Egyptian embroideries hinted at the roots of blackwork. Extra classes at the Dunedin Art Gallery filled quickly; Christine Bishop's talk on Lefkara lacework was enjoyed by many.

Classes for children have become very popular. They have been held in the school holidays at the Settlers' Museum. Two workshops, each lasting for two days, were so well attended that we had to limit numbers.

With a choice of 13 different classes on Mayday all attending were kept busy, and were spoilt for choice. Unfortunately the first of our Saturday meetings in June had to be cancelled because snow made the roads too dangerous, but we were able to run many of the cancelled workshops in July. An auction run by Marilyn Weare was great fun, with some of us going home with unexpected treasures.

A talk, And The Ladies Wore Silk, given by Pricilla Lowry in September also included a fashion parade. Our ladies have hidden talents as models.

The Art Station, upstairs in the railway station, was an excellent venue for our annual exhibition in October. Shirley Jaquiery's display as invited exhibitor brought admiring comments from many visitors, especially those who appreciated the quality and range of her work. The calico people, our president's challenge this year, brought a smile to the faces of visitors. They really were delightful.

Jeanette Trotman

WANGANUI

2007 saw us having to find a new place to set up home. After 27 years at the CES Rooms and having made ourselves very comfortable there, we got the news that they would no longer be available for our use. We then had to scramble around to find a new venue that had excellent lighting, space for our two library cupboards, two storage cupboards and other accumulated bits and bobs, ideally at a similarly low rent.

The Wanganui Arts Society came to our rescue and a suitable arrangement has been made. We have had to drop one session but continue with our Monday night meeting and a Friday morning meeting. We also unfortunately had to cull the library and rationalise things. Because of this disruption Guild activities were reduced, however, some of our members went to the regional retreat in Eltham and to other workdays in our region, and we hosted our own workday in June.

The challenge of trying to increase our membership is ongoing. Working with fabric, needle and thread is a wonderfully satisfying and rewarding activity even addictive (there are worse vices!), but persuading people to have a go is not always easy. Those who do, get to know a really nice group of people who become good friends and as a bonus keep up to date with the latest 'jokes' doing the rounds in the city.

Wanganui Embroiderers' Guild will celebrate its 35th birthday this year; a milestone worth having a celebratory drink or good cuppa for!

Heather Williamson

WARKWORTH

Much of the first part of the year was concentrated on the Regional Day which the Warkworth and Wellsford Guilds hosted with approximately 200 Guild members attending. Each Guild was invited to create a table setting for an occasion, which certainly was the highlight of the day because of the time and effort each group put into their display. The visitors voted for Wellsford Guild as the winning table setters.

In-house projects included bullion flowers and insects, silk ribbon work, Redwork, postcards, making gifts for the next Great Escape dinner and the continuing Friendship sampler based on canvas work. For this the Guild was divided into groups of six. Each person had to supply the canvas with a range of coloured threads that could be used by each person in their group so that they could complete a line of canvas embroidery. The results were amazing and gave much pleasure not only to the people involved in the projects but the recipient. The samplers were framed and in some cases made into book covers.

A weekend was spent with Anne Bell making concertina books and another two days with Hillary Hakaraia where the most elaborate boxes were made. Members were delighted with the patient tutors and the results.

Val Joyce, a successful a WOW designer, allowed Guild members to wear 13 of her Nelson designs for a combined meeting of the Warkworth, Hibiscus Coast and Wellsford Guilds in October. The pot luck dinner and parade was televised and gave promotion for the Guilds.

This year the Guild has had three study days where members may use the Guild rooms to continue to do some form of embroidery and design work either individually or in groups. This has been successful and will be continued this year. The Warkworth Guild continues to have an active and challenging programme which caters for beginners to the more experienced members.

Mona Townson