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.