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Guild News
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COROMANDEL
Another interesting year has come and gone. ANZEG Conference was a highlight for 14 of our members and excitement when Marie Keeves won the viewers' choice award with her 'Garden Companions.' Inspiration and motivation has been exceeded withoutside tutors Irene McDiarmid, Val Waterhouse, Lee Westfield, and workshops with Wessex, a hussif, corded white work, a box, and double drawn thread work which were well attended, plus the monthly petite projects which are so popular with members, and offer a chance to learn differrent stitches and also contribute to the many small items produced for our sales table. Our challenge this hyear was 'A Tree' - everywhere our members travelled all they noticed were trees (the photos they brought back proved this). They had never realised there were so many varieties, shapes, sizes, colours, and the end result was tremedous.  Letticia Williams was the winner of the hand embroidery section with a beautiful pohutukawa piece (at left) entitled 'Time,' artistically displayed on a tree branch.
We have been pleased to welcome several new members and as we head into our 20th birthday hear the Guild looks forward to a regional day on May 16 - to which you all are invited.
Pam Sowden. CENTRAL OTAGO
 Central Otago President Megan Francis (right) and Secretary Barbara Janman at Alexandra's 'Art in the Garden' event. There was a lot of interest in this particular display which included the challenge piece depicting Central Otago in Autumn. Photo: Gay Downing. Central Otago Guild finished last year on a high when the President's Challenge was unveiled at the Christmas Party. Members had been given 1/16th of a picture and without seeing the whole scene were to interpret it as they liked using the colours within the picture. The picture shows the result – one we are all very proud of. We also participated in Alexandra's 'Art in the Garden' which is an annual January event where artists of all descriptions showed their work and demonstrated their skill in eight gardens in the region. From that event we were asked to participate in the Lawrence Arts Festival a few weeks later. The feedback has been a wonderful boost to our morale and it was great to see embroidery accepted as an art form by the community. We are moving to Clyde – our rooms became unavailable and we have found new accommodation at the Clyde Bridge Club rooms which means a little more travelling for the folk from Alexandra and a little less for those from Cromwell. Hopefully we can make it our home for some time to come.
Megan Francis - Megan Francis DOUBTLESS BAY
Our programme for the past year reads like a world tour as we have sourced our techniques from Ireland, Norway, Japan, Hungary and Brazil with all points in between as we have sheathed our scissors, been a bit crewel to ourselves, bounced with beads, got ited up in ribbons and even made a miniature Christmas tree. Air fares and carbon footprints were no problem as our instructions came from our own members with special skills to share. A satisfying year and our Extensions group is now a going concern also. The main event was to have been our regional day but the date was hijacked by the politicians. However when we had acceptances from only 35 visitors instead of the usual 150-200 we have hosted in the past, we came to the conclusion that every polling booth in the region was to be staffed by embroiderers. Was that the case? Regional activities seem to be tending towards Auckland and Guilds are inclined to look on half an hour as the acceptable distance to venues. Many say they are too old to travel. We are not teenagers but look forward to seeing what other stitchers do and opening our minds to new ideas as well as the enjoyment of friendship and a shared hobby. We just do what we think regional days were meant to be, but now wonder how many others have the same idea? We had planned to use the regional day to celebrate our 25th anniversary, but instead had a special silver display at our end of year exhibition which was very well attended by locals and visitors to the area. Needles are threaded for another interesting year ahead.
Jo Jones. EAST AUCKLAND
Last year passed very quickly with new members, friendly busy meetings, tutored classes, visits to exhibitions, regional days and the ANZEG conference.
The highlight of the year was our September exhibition at the Uxbridge Centre in Howick. It was a new venue for us, very central and easily accessible (with a cafe which proved very popular). The large space enabled us to show the exhibits at their best. The official opening set the scene for a very successful week. We are now encouraging everyone to get busy for our next exhibition in 2010. To top off the year one of younger members had her first baby – another potential member!
Julie Hughes. HIBISCUS COAST
2008 was another lively year, many of us enjoyed the wide range of classes including tiny beaded boxes, a fun tassel making class, a fantastical Christmas tree, a stunning gold work kowhai and colourful canvas book covers. It has been a real pleasure to see the products of all the classes, I am continually amazed at the fabulous variations on a theme that are produced from classes which show how truly individual we all are.
Elaine Powers ‘Inspired by Insects’ did us proud at the national conference winning 3rd in the ‘Glorious Things’ exhibition. We celebrated our 10th anniversary at our regional day in August. Highlights were the fabulous wearable art show, generously loaned by fabric artist Val Joyce, the talk and show by Roby Burgess of her journeys to Japan and parallel journey with sashiko quilting and the inspiration of the displays of many Guilds’ work, both colourful and exquisite stitching. The 200 humbugs we gave away at the door, made with love by our members, made a great splash of colour and were well received by everyone. We rounded off the year with the usual Christmas meetings at which each member received a Guild badge from Santa. 2009 has started off on a high note with four members exhibiting fabulous pieces in the local ‘Verse & Visions’ exhibition, each inspired by poetry and displayed along with other local artists work including quilting, painting and sculpture. Our next event is our members exhibition in March which we are all looking forward to.
Susan Clark HOROWHENUA
The year started with a picnic at Alison Cull’s home in lovely sunshine, a great February day. On our first meeting night we visited the Horowhenua Library where many members had their embroideries digitally photographed and put on the Kete website for all to see. Some members had had no contact with computers before this so it was a first for them. Our monthly meetings continue to be well supported and we have had a wide variety of speakers as well as basic stitch evenings. In March the very successful ‘Town, Tide and Talent’ display of embroideries was held at Waitarere Beach in support of Save the Children. April saw us learning Mountmellick with Betty Crawford and some wonderful cushions resulted. Chris Rutherford entertained with her boxes for Fiji, and consultant medical herbalist Sara Hamer told us about the properties of some herbs. In August, we hosted a very successful Intastitch. Lois McIntyre of Levin Lacemakers joined us for our evening meeting that month for a demonstration of this craft. Bridget Taumoepeau came with her wonderful display of heritage linen and we had a bus trip to Wanganui for the Festival of Glass Exhibition and visited the glass artist David Traub’s studio followed by a visit to the Sergeant Gallery. e finished the year with Jeanette Anderson and her fascinating art of cracker making and filling.
Enid Low KAIKOURA
The Kaikoura Embroiderers’ Guild raised $850 for the Kaikoura Cancer Support Group last year by making and raffling a candlewick quilt. Guild members made the squares and Margaret Pugh assembled the squares, made up the quilt and did the quilting of the single bed quilt. KERIKERI
Something for everyone was the mantra for 2008 at Kerikeri. Workshops, some taken by visiting tutors but most led by our own Guild members, included Mountmellick, Kogan, Hardanger, shisha, crewelwork and creative canvaswork. Many tackled unfamiliar types of stitching and rose to the challenge, producing some very attractive work. More workshops were enjoyed at the Great Escape in March and again at Conference in July. Conference attendees returned with new enthusiasm.
Several members submitted work to the Waimate North A & P show in November and came away with a good collection of awards. We feel that it is important to maintain the volume of entries in this traditional crafts side of the show as well as taking the opportunity to display embroidery to a wider audience. The year ended ‘tastefully’ with Christmas lunch at the Cruising Club. 2009 is our 25th anniversary year so in addition to arranging an interesting year's programme, plans are afoot for a midyear celebration of this silver event. At least most of us have the right colour hair!
Elizabeth Litchfield
MANAWATU
Our Guild has a very full year ahead with our Ruby Celebrations in June. Plans are well under way with some exciting meetings to remember where we have been and those that will take us into the future. Our challenge for the year is ‘1969’ which will give the members a wide birth if stitching ideas, from what they were doing 40 years ago, to what was happening in the world of music, politics, weather, or social economics ...the moon landing, Beatles, Pop Art, to The Year of the Rooster. Lynne has changed our ‘play days’ to extensions which will align those doing certificates and ‘extend’ the play day theme. We are very excited with this and can’t wait for our first meeting to extend our play and further our stitching ideas and techniques. Manawatu has 5 members invited to hang work at the biennail ANZEG Exhibition 'Fabric of Time'. We wish them well in their planning and stitching as it is a grand honour to be asked. “Boundless exploration in printmaking” was an exhibition held at Taylor-Jensen Gallery in Palmerston North 13-31 January 09, in which Laura Hudson and Gillian Allsop from our Guild had work hung. Sandra Hall has an exhibition in TeTahi Gallery on Waiheke 9-30 October. Our members are doing very well in showcasing their work which is awe-inspiring. The first meetings for the year have guest speakers Gunhild Litwin talking about her button jewellery, and then Elizabeth Ponter taking us through Cambodia’s textile world. We would like to invite anyone who has been a past member of the Manawatu Embroiderer’s Guild to come to our 40th Ruby Celebration Luncheon at Wharerata, Massey University, Palmerston North on 7th June 2009. Please contact Sandra Hall on 06 3545749 or email sandra@sandrahall.co.nz for further information.
Sandra Hall MARLBOROUGH
2008 was a busy year with many diverse types of embroidery being tackled. We started the year with Naversom embroidery tutored by Margaret Denton, then stumpwork with Lynette Hale. On St Patrick’s Day we stitched a Celtic cross and we have also made fabric bowls, dyed threads, made name tags, beaded tassels and beaded scissor keeps plus crazy patchwork and a ‘No Sag Bag’. Our annual stitch day in May, with the Nelson Guild at Rai Valley, was once again well attended. It is so good to be able to meet up with neighbouring Guilds. In November and December we again met with Nelson and Kaikoura Guilds for Christmas festivities – always a good time to catch up on fellowship and showing finished work. We never fail to be inspired by the output of Guild members. A great way to end a busy and rewarding year.
Janet Briggs. NELSON
Nelson Guild has begun with a programme to fill the year and more. We have made a good start with a revived Extensions group, called NEXT that will be meeting monthly with a project for each two month period. Quite a challenge for those of us whose discipline has slipped somewhat while we play around with all the ‘new’ materials that tempt us these days. Our first Guild project is back to basics with a dozen members working on shadow work cloths. Two of these will become Guild property and used at events for covering our lunch, and morning and afternoon tea tables. In February we had a day at a guide camp facility called Paratia in a lovely rural setting and such a well lit room with everything we need for a stitching day working on our cloths and making Dorset buttons. We meet at Rai Valley School with Marlborough Guild in May and have a kit in the making to keep us all busy. Somewhere in the winter (maybe June) we hope to have Kerry Seeley join us to take a workshop of traditional embroidery techniques using a bequest from one of our loved members Hilda Bottomley. Our own club challenge is ‘key’ to be completed for our December meeting. This should bring out some interesting and varied versions of embroidery. No rules apply and the title can be stretched as far as you like.
Donna Kennedy NORTH OTAGO
In her annual report, president Val Hill outlined the very busy and productive year we had with members attempting new challenges including ribbon work, Snutki, Fibonacci Scale and how to use it, crewel work and canvas embellishing. Visits were made to Waimate, Otago’s May Day in Dunedin, Temuka’s regional day as well as some members attending the Wanaka School. Locally members were involved in working displays at the Harvest Home Day at Totara Estate and the Heritage Week Victorian Fete in the Historic Precinct. Ongoing throughout the year has been the president’s challenge - a Christmas-themed ATC card which was exchanged with members of the Tauranga Guild. The exchange cards were received at the AGM. The stitching and craftsmanship were outstanding and each card came in its own handmade envelope. Thanks were extended to members who had been involved in organising and tutoring at the Children’s and Adult classes held during the year. 2009 will be a very busy time with our Guild hosting the Otago Southland Regional Exhibition in Oamaru in May. Planning is well under way with all members of the Guild being involved. Kits are being prepared for the Friendship Day which is being held in conjunction with the exhibition.Our president has challenged all local members to complete an embroidered envelope for display at the exhibition.
Elsie Owen
OPOTIKI
Silver Threads will be the theme for our 2009 challenge project. This year is the Guild’s 25th anniversary so members are asked to participate in creating an item to reflect this milestone. As this is also our display year, we are creating another quilt in crazy patchwork to raffle and squares have already been completed. This was our homework over the summer holidays. Dates for the workshops for 2009 have been confirmed and suggestions for the ensuing year for mini projects are being discussed, so we are geared up for another busy year. At our AGM membership was 23 full members and 19 associate members. Extensions membership is four. The Guild has visited neighbouring exhibitions and traveled to Gisborne twice during the year and their Guild has been invited to visit us on the months when we have five Thursdays in the month. Goldwork, ribbon work and decoupage workshops during the latter half of the year resulted in some spectacular work being completed and challenges and projects included an item in pearls and lace, hexagon patchwork bags, lavender and needle cases (which were donated for sale at the museum) – something for everyone.
Avery Tilley
OTAGO
We had another successful year in 2008 with our membership holding at 148. Evening meetings regularly have approximately 60 stitchers in attendance and because of the cold weather in the winter we held the June and July meetings on Saturdays. This proved to be popular with hot soup at lunchtime an added bonus. The weekend classes we hold at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery continue to be well attended. Jane van Keulen taught one her wonderful tile pieces and Jeanette Gibson taught a needlecase in queen stitch, Patricia Davis tutored her beaded evening bag and Kath Cole and Liz Fleming working together to teach a lovely contemporary piece called ‘Good Enough to Eat’. During the April and July school holidays Lyn Simpson led a group of members to teach children’s classes at the Settlers Museum. There have been waiting lists for these classes and it is a very encouraging sign that so many parents stay with their children. Maybe we have some prospective members for the future. May Day continues to bring members from out of the region and it is always an enjoyable session even if the tutors get a bit frazzled at times. This year we have 10 classes all ready to go. Wanaka Embroidery School celebrated its 25th anniversary in March. Gay Eaton has done a remarkable job in keeping the school going. (The celebrations will be reported on in October’s Threads). Sadly four of our loyal members passed away this year: Edna Hoskins, Nada McCrea, Jean Hart and Huia McDonald. They had not been able to attend meetings for some time but they had been long-term members of the Guild. Huia had been the organiser of the Thursday workshop and she will be greatly missed by the members who participate in that group.
Margaret Kennedy QUEENSTOWN
Queenstown Embroiderers’ Guild continues to go from strength to strength in the world of the art of embroidery with many of our members helping the newer members to fit into an enthusiastic and encouraging group. Last year we had a great variety of classes with many of our own talented needleworkers as tutors, including canvaswork (Bonnie Kennedy-Grant – Auckland), needlefelting (Wynne Christie), Elizabethan (Shirley Paulin), Swedish woven hemstitch (Fay Brooke – Wanaka), ‘Stained Glass Window of Tiffany’ (Gay Downing ), ‘The Green Man’ (Dianne van Brandenburg), canvas fridge magnets ( Barbara Eckford ), fabric dyeing (Wendy Ward and Jan Crawford). We all continue to enjoy Wanaka Embroidery School in March each year, with 22 members attending in 2008 and Dianne and myself as tutors. The annual Garston Friendship Day is always one we look forward to in April. Fiordland and Queenstown Guilds alternately host this day and about 60 ladies attend with the delightful little Garston School as the venue. It is in a beautiful setting built to the sun with a truly unique country feel and lots of interesting students’ art and craft on the walls. We finished our year with a lovely lunch at Bannockburn Winery (near Cromwell) in December. 2009 has lots of interesting workshops and ideas to look forward to. Queenstown Guild is in the very capable hands of new president Wendy Ward.
Gay Downing. SOUTHLAND
In the months before Christmas our Guild worked on Christmas decorations, and along with Te Anau and Eastern Southland raised several hundred dollars for the Southland Hospice. It was our pleasure to host Margaret Erskine, our national president, at our Christmas function, a pot luck tea and fun filled evening. Margaret judged the annual McGowan Trophy Award, for canvaswork won by Heather Hamilton. This year's challenge is ‘A Touch of Gold’. Weekend classes for the past year included a class tutored by Sheila Larsen ‘Exploring Canvas’, a Fay Brookes’ class of drawn thread and thread wrapping, and in November we made silk scarves with Colleen Kelly. Scarves were completed and ready to wear by the end of our weekend class, much to the delight of our members, some of whom had not done machine embroidery before. Some lovely work from these classes will be exhibited in a ‘Fifty Years of Embroidery’ exhibition at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery to celebrate the Guild’s fiftieth jubilee. Our collection of antique embroidery will also be on display at the museum. The two month exhibition opens on May 1, followed by a celebratory luncheon on May 2 with Rosemary Mcleod as guest speaker. (For more information please contact Elaine phone (03)215 9701). It will be a memorable weekend for embroiderers and an opportunity for the public to appreciate the skill and talent of our local Guild members.
Nancy Piercy. TEMUKA
One of the special things about embroidery is sharing ideas. When embroiderers come together for a special day, such as a regional day, the atmosphere can be wonderful and the noise amazing as it was in September last year when about 140 embroiderers descended on Temuka for our regional day. Many traveled long distances to attend. Our two speakers entertained us with anecdotes of their travels and how these had provided inspiration for their beautiful quilts. Later in the day we were entertained by a group of Probus ladies singing songs from the 1920s and many of the audience were heard singing along.  This was also the year of our challenge ’Flower Power’ and we displayed the results at the regional day. There were so many interpretations of the theme when all the work was finally unveiled. Sometimes the same designs had been used by more than one person but worked and presented in very different ways and colours.
This year we will hold our triennial display (October 31 and November 1 ) and members are working towards finishing projects. We are also looking forward to some exciting classes this year. However, for all the work that is done there is always time for plenty of chat and fellowship.
Beverley Tyrie.
UPPER HUTT
The Upper Hutt Guild celebrated its Silver Anniversary on Tuesday September 2 at the Hapai Club, Upper Hutt. Invitations had been sent to as many foundation and former members as could be contacted, also to the presidents of the other Guilds in the region as well as to special friends Diana Parkes and Judy Lund, formerly regional representative and more recently national president.  It was a good number who were welcomed by co-presidents Bev Christopherson and Agnes Percy. Bev read messages of good wishes from ANZEG President Margaret Erskine and also from a Guild life member, Beryl Graham, who regretted that she could not be present.
 There was a display of numbered ‘silver pieces’ embroidered by members as a special challenge and those present were invited to vote for the number of their choice.
Marianne Craig spoke about the formation of the Guild, which had grown out of attendance at classes run by Diana Parkes when several taking part looked for a way to continue their stitching together. She acknowledged the help received from the Wellington Guild, which included the gift of the first book for the Guild’s library. Then Jean Parnell spoke about her experiences as editor of ‘Threads’ and also about her work with the children’s school holiday classes. It was an evening of delight in meeting up with former members and sharing memories of the early days of the Guild. It ended with the cutting of a big chocolate birthday cake and a cup of tea or coffee.
WAIKATO
In another busy year Waikato were fortunate to have a wonderful selection of tutors including Jane Lester, Lee Westfield, Peta McMillan sharing their skills and we also had classes from some of our own very talented members – Toni Eames, Anne Jolly, Bev Kimber, Carolyn Littin and Marjorie Irwin. We learned a variety of techniques including Lefkara, Elizabethan, Jacobean and Snutki. This year we have already had a wonderful class from Jill Maas and are eagerly looking forward to Alison Cole’s arrival from Australia in April, when she will be taking four goldwork classes. A highlight of 2008 was, of course, the Conference in Hastings and a large contingent from Waikato attended. Everyone was full of praise for the wonderful organisation and facilities and offer our heartiest congratulations to the Hawkes Bay Guild on their success. Now we at Waikato are deeply into arrangements for Conference in July 2010 and very aware of the high standard we have to live up to. Arrangements are already well in place and registration and class information will be in the October edition of ‘Threads’. As well as our regular monthly meetings, Wednesday morning weekly ‘stitch-ins’ and occasional evening get-togethers, Guild members also attended the Great Escape in Kerikeri and the Wanaka School, and our annual regional retreat at Tui Ridge. We are also very spoilt in Hamilton to have the annual Craft & Quilt Show here in September, This gets bigger and better every year, and there is plenty to tempt the embroiderer. During the four days of the fair we are able to advertise both ANZEG and the work done by individual Guilds. Last year we thoroughly enjoyed helping some very enthusiastic children to ‘have a go’ at embroidery, and many small canvas works of art were proudly taken away. 2008 however ended on a sad note for the Waikato Guild, with the death of Shirley Martin. Shirley was president on two occasions, and was a long-standing member of the Guild. She was always welcoming to new members, enthusiastic and kind, and was thrilled to have recently completed her Certificate in Embroidery. Her work was exquisite. She was a great friend who will be sadly missed by us all.
Sonia Wells. WANAKA
 Members of the Wanaka Guild at their Christmas Party. For our final meeting of the year we travelled to Makarora, 65 km around Lake Wanaka’s shore. One member regularly comes from there for our meetings and although the road is now reasonable, a big flood is always possible in this high rainfall area and she could well meet adventure! It was good to meet our friend’s husband and two daughters, home for university holidays, to help in their cafe. A delectable meal was prepared and we also learned a little about this region steeped in history. Though settlement began in about 1863, transport was by water or on very rough tracks. It was only during the 1960s when the road between Haast and Otago was completed that the area was opened up to traffic. Guild members have shown at two art exhibitions. Three attended the Hastings conference and a good variety of work has been achieved during the year. In August we enjoyed meeting with Central Otago members and the Wanaka School was greeted with its usual fervour. Our night meetings are small but the members who attend always come and the activity is appreciated. A fine new bookcase is a welcome addition to our equipment. The books are more readily seen and are therefore more used.
Phyllis Aspinall
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