Out and about

Posted on April 24, 2022 by EGV Geelong Admin

Samite Sampler – Fragments by Alison Snepp

We have a couple of activities coming up that you might like to join in.

For the National Trust Heritage Festival we will have a Display of some of our work, Traditional and Modern at Belmont Library, High Street Belmont. Wednesday 27th April from 10am to 4pm

We will be there doing some stitching and would love to have people to talk to.

Dijanne Cevaal will be our guest speaker at our next Sit and Sew on Monday May 9th. She is well known internationally for her Travellers Blankets and her series of female Sentinelles. She has worked on printmaking on fabric to embroider. She is going to bring some of her prints and fabrics for us to buy so don’t miss out. Visitors are welcome so bring your friends.

Our meeting starts at 10am and goes until 2pm. Bring your lunch and join us at St David’s Church Hall, Aphrasia Street, Newtown.

Another new year – Here’s to a good one!

Posted on January 16, 2022 by EGV Geelong Admin

Colourful stitching by our President Pauline Mackenzie

We are making a new start with the hope that we will be able to get together more often. We do enjoy our friendships and shared love of stitching.

Our first Sit and Sew meeting this year will be on Monday 14th February 10am – 2pm at St David’s Church Hall Aphrasia Street Newtown. We’d love to see everyone there and look forward to meeting some of our new members again, or for the first time!

It’s also our AGM when our new committee will be voted in. If you’d like to help running our branch or think a friend would be great in this role please contact us before 21st January.

Classes and Workshops will be up and running soon. First up some cute Rabbits.

Our smaller groups will also be getting under way – the Canvas work group are first up with a Round Box Top mini workshop, 20th January. Patchwork Group meets on Tuesday 25th January

Counted Thread enthusiasts will have a meeting on Monday February 7 10.30am- 1pm at South Barwon Community Centre, Mount Pleasant Rd Belmont. We will see if there are enough people to form a new group. If you love Assisi, Hardanger, Blackwork, Cross stitch, Pulled or Drawn Thread, Shwalm or any other counting stitches please think about joining in. The group will share knowledge and perhaps have a program of learning new stitches.

Artisan Books and Geetag (Textile Arts Group) – Saturday 12th Feb and Slow Stitch Thursday 10th Feb (good for beginners) are also keen to get going again.

Wyndham Vale group will also be meeting to decide on their future meetings so keep an eye out for info.

Our famous Garage Sale will be held on Saturday 26th March so start going through your stash to find donations – bring these to Sit and Sew or contact us for a pick up.

Our newsletter Geelong Threads will keep members in touch with the latest on activities classes and groups

The New and the Old(er)

Posted on July 14, 2021 by EGV Geelong Admin

Our Birthday celebrations were held at our June meeting. Sadly the President from The Guild in Melbourne was unable to travel to join us (due to yet another lockdown) but our very own Valda King who is the Branches Liaison Officer was able to present our long standing members with their certificates to commemorate their support over many years.

L-R Berry Millard, Marj Kavanagh, Rosa Cullen, Jean Shinners, Valda King (Branches Liaison Officer) and Pauline Mackenzie (EGV Geelong President) [Irene Roach, not present]

We all enjoyed our morning tea and congratulate these very special members.

We’ve expanded our Special Interest Groups to include 2 new ones and a proposed one.

Just started are the Artist’s Books Group and the Slow Stitch Group.

We also want to try restarting the Counted Thread group so if you are interested please let us know

A New Beginning

Posted on January 23, 2021 by EGV Geelong Admin

A Message from our new President for 2021 – Pauline Mackenzie

Just staying in touch…..

Hi everyone, a lot of us have been chatting on our Facebook Group and it has been amazing and also wonderful to see everyones’ beautiful pieces of work.It has been a very arduous 2020, and we don’t want a repeat performance.

Some of our members have been meeting in small groups and that is great in order to maintain our contacts with various people. I have always felt that our Branch is a wonderful friendship group, where we share our achievements and maintain our various friendships. We don’t want to lose members, because it is our members who we all learn from and who have life time sewing skills that they are all eager to share.

For our first meeting for 2021 there will be strict Covid rules which are there to keep everyone safe. We even have our very own COVID coordinator, but she promises not to carry a whip or long darning needles…!

So to you all, stay safe and look forward to seeing you all Monday, February 8 at St. David’s Church Hall, Aphrasia Street Newtown at 10am. Bring lunch and your own mug for tea or coffee.

Hands were kept busy while we were at home…

Stitching Alone!

Posted on March 17, 2020 by EGV Geelong Admin

The Covid-19 virus is affecting all sorts of activities. We will be closing our meetings and classes until at least the end of April when we will be seeing what is appropriate then.

Here is a letter from our President

Dear Members

I am very sad to have to let you know that as a result of the current COVID-19 (corona) virus situation the Committee has decided that all scheduled classes, the April Sit and Sew meeting, the Sit and Sew session scheduled at the Library for Heritage Week in April and all meetings of our Guidance Groups will be cancelled (or postponed in the case of classes) from 17 March until the end of April.

If you know a member who doesn’t have access to email, would you kindly pass this information on to them. I will also try to contact these members.

Embroidery House is closing for the next few months, and other branches are taking similar actions to ours in order to protect the health of our members. The Committee will meet again at the end of April to assess the situation and we will let you know what the next steps will be for our Branch.

I suppose that the only positive thing to come out of this is that some of our unfinished projects may get completed!

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions about this decision. It wasn’t taken lightly, but we all felt that the safety of our members was the priority.

Kind regards – and keep stitching. – Leonie Lister

Seniors Festival Special Invitation

Posted on September 23, 2019 by EGV Geelong Admin

By Laurene Wilkes

You are invited to our celebration for the Geelong Seniors Festival on Monday October 14th 2019 from 12 noon – 2pm

Join us for stitching, a chat, a light lunch and see what we are embroidering.

Our Sit and Sew meeting at St David’s will be open to the public between 12 noon and 2 pm. A light luncheon will be available for everyone. If you have something you are working on please bring it along, or we will provide a small item to stitch if you wish.

The Geelong Seniors Festival is the largest community celebration for Seniors in Regional Victoria and a major partner of the state wide Victorian Seniors Festival.

As well as being a great opportunity to get out and about for little or no cost, the Festival provides a rare insight into what is on in Geelong for the rest of the year, as most of the events are staged by local clubs and interest groups.

Classy Fun

Posted on March 8, 2019 by EGV Geelong Admin

***Djianne Cevaal’s Machine Embroiderers***

Our next Sit and Sew meeting is on Monday 11th March from 11am to 2pm at St David’s Church Hall Aphrasia Street Newtown At these meetings we work on our existing sewing or join in the Try-Out table to try a technique that may be new to you. We bring our lunches, chat and exchange ideas and sewing tips.

We also have access to the comprehensive library collection and are able to see what classes are coming up in the future. This year has already seen some wonderful work from class members and there are two International tutors lined up for later in the year

Education is an important part of our Guild actitivities, passing on the traditional and new styles of embroidery. Classes are held throughout the year and prove very popular including our recent Summer School ones. Lists of upcoming classes are available at the meetings and in the newsletter that goes out to our members. Coming up soon, Alison Cole will be teaching a Goldwork project in March – get in quickly for this one.

A Taste of Candlewicking workshop will be held on Friday April 5th

Alison Snepp, from NSW will be back for her final teaching session here and you must not miss her class, which will impart much of what she has learned in her long career as an embroiderer.

Hazel Bloemkamp, Crewel embroidery expertfrom South Africa, will be visitiing us in September so lots to look forward to.

New classes and workshops are added all the time, so come to meetings or join the Guild to get our newsletter for more information.

The Year moves on

Posted on November 21, 2018 by EGV Geelong Admin

We are about to have our Annual General Meeting at which we ratify the appointment of those members who have been nominated to positions on the committee for next year. Thanks to those who have thrown their names into the ring this time.

The meeting is on Monday 10th December from 10am at St David’s Hall, Aphrasia Street Newtown. We welcome new members to join our many activities.

Rackham Fragments

Summer School is an exciting time for us and there are so many things to try. See the Classes page for full details.

Blackwork, Scrumbling, Brenda’s Rackham Fragments and Needle lace are all on the list. Drawing for design is an important skill that we all need and we have a tutor from South Australia – Lorelle Leham to set us on the right path.

Kathryn Harmer Fox is to visit later in the year, very exciting.

We are also planning a retreat at Melrose Cottage in Ballan 15th – 17th April, Contact us now if you are interested

Off and running

Posted on February 13, 2018 by EGV Geelong Admin

Breaking Ts crop Our first Sit and Sew meeting for the year was held at St Davids on Monday 12th February. A great turn out to hear the speakers from the Lions Club of Quilters, Victoria They are endeavouring to collect, record, preserve and display quilts that reflect what local quilters produce in communities across the state.

We have already had a very successful introduction to the year with the first Summer school teaching Wool Hexagons, Tassells, and Bejewelled Treasure Chests.

We also featured at the Craft Alive show in Werribbee and had the first meeting for the year of our Wyndham Vale Group – now meeting at the Manor Lakes Community Centre on the first Thursday of the month. Canvaswork group meets on the third Thursday of the Month and have had one session designing amulet bags and are about to learn creative ways to colour canvas

Don’t forget to save the date for Breaking Traditions our GEEtag Textile Arts Group Exhibition on March 16th- 18th. Entry is free from 10am – 3pm at The Shearers Arms Gallery, 202 Aberdeen Street Geelon West

Tickets are now available ($10) for the Opening night with Glenys Mann, drinks and nibblies and of course the stunning exhibition.

Birthday treats

Posted on August 2, 2017 by EGV Geelong Admin

We celebrated our 49th birthday as a branch of the Guild with Victorian President Linda Hagar presenting 25 year membership awards to Dorothy Day and to Jacqui Volpe (in absentia).

She also presented the Intermediate Certificate to Leonie Lister and Carmel Schulze. Their work for the three subjects completed was on display and was marvelled at by all.