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15 July 2010

Joan Fisher and Pam Bayfield

Pam is a self published author who was approached by Joan to help Joan write her story. Two hundred and fifty people attended their book launch at Narrabeen. Two hundred copies of the book were sold.
Joan's parents met in England but her father was originally from Australia. He took his new family back to Australia in 1912. Joan had two older siblings and, unfortunately, Joan's mother died when Joan was quite young. One of her older sisters who had been working as a nanny to a rich and influential family in the Blue Mountains, had to give up her job and return to the family after the death of her mother to look after the younger children.
Joan's father took his children on a trip to New Zealand during the 1930's when Joan was about 15 years old. This gave her a taste of sea travel that Joan would experience later during the war.
When war was declared in 1939 Joan was studying to become a dressmaker and tailor. She interrupted her studies to become a VA. She was a nurse with the Red Cross and helped prepare the opening of Kenmore Hospital. She was chosen from among the nurses working with the Strathfield branch of the Red Cross at the time to serve on the Dutch ship Oranje which was offered to the Australian and New Zealand governments as a hospital ship. Once on board, Joan volunteered to help the occupational therapist on the ship who taught weaving to the patients to help them recover their co-ordination. This was the beginning of Joan's interest in weaving.

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Call for Guild Journal Submissions

carol_hoh@hotmail.comIf you have an interesting story or something to tell, why not have it printed in this year's Guild Journal?
Please submit a draft or idea submission to Carol Hoh by mid August. If selected for publication, your finished article will be due by early September.
The theme this year is New Directions. Some ideas to start you off with are:
• Finished work you are proud of.
• Spinning - reviews on the "new" fibres available to spinners now, the more unusual the better. We may not spin it but it'll be nice to know how to if we want to.
• Felting - is very popular and felt artists are moving beyond nuno/cobweb scarves, etc. What are the latest techniques popular among felters?

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Sydney Design 2010

The Sewing Room will run workshops at Sydney Design 2010. The design festival runs for 16 days from Saturday, July 31 to Sunday, August 15. The program, with more than 70 events, is produced by the Powerhouse Museum (PHM) in partnership with more than 50 cultural institutions, organisations and individuals across Sydney.
The theme will reveal the many captivating stories behind design ideas, objects and processes. It will invite participants to have meaningful conversations with others about design, and let you to connect with design on a more personal level.
The PHM will hold a major exhibition called Creating the look which draws on the highly successful partnership between photographer Bruno Benini and stylist Hazel Benini from 1950 to 2000. It explores the creative processes involved in styling, crafting and designing powerful, eye-catching, fashion photographs.

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Tapestry Student Award

Ymmyarns, producer of hand dyed wool and silk yarns for tapestry and other textiles, is pleased to announce a yearly award for the top first year student from the SWTAFE, (Warrnambool, Vic) Diploma of Tapestry course. This award will be for the student who achieves the top marks over the prescribed set of first year subjects.
This year it will be presented in July and mmyarns will announce the winner and hope to feature a photo of the winner and a work on the ymmyarns blog in August.
Yvonne Eade, Marie Clews and Mary Wederall
email: ymmyarns@yahoo.com.au
Blog: http://ymmyarns.blogspot.com

Japan Quilting Expo

The annual Japan Quilting Expo will be held in Yokohama, Tokyo in November 2010. This Expo attracts quilters from all over the world including Australia. It is a 3-day event that shows the latest trends and styles in Japanese quilting with workshops and social events at the Expo.
Travel Associates are organising a tour to the Expo. After spending three days at the Expo, participants will travel to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan and, as well as general sightseeing, will have a guided tour of local fabric shops and attend a half day quilting workshop with a well known Kyoto quilter.
Three days of sightseeing in Tokyo follow including a visit to Nippori Fabric City. Accommodation is 3-4 star and travel on the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto is a highlight. The 10 day/9 night tour, fully escorted from Australia by Japan Holidays staff costs from $5,249.

13 July 2010

Grampian's Texture

Join other textile/art enthusiasts for the annual Grampians Texture: part festival - part forum. Fifteen fantastic tutors are offering a range of 2 and 4 day workshops in felting, soft sculpture, jewellery, printing, stitching by hand and machine, knitting, book making, fabric and fibre.
Halls Gap has a large range of accommodation to choose from. Book the style and level of accommodation you desire. You have the option to cater for yourself or join other students and tutors for evening meals and activities.
Activities include an exhibition, special dinners, student and tutor twilight market. Traders selling specialist textile and art supplies will be at Halls Gap Centennial Hall, open to attendees and the general public from 9 am - 5 pm daily.
Where: Halls Gap, western Victoria
When: Feb 26 - March 3, 2011
Info: 1800 065 599, www.grampianstexture.com.au

24th Wool and Natural Fibre Muster Rugged Up

The Bathurst Hand Weavers and Spinners Guild were extremely happy with the response to their Natural Fibre Muster held on May 8 this year.
In the true spirit of the Muster, the day was filled with demonstrations, displays and workshops covering a myriad of fibre crafts, and the supply of natural and prepared fibres and fabrics.
Traders were invited to provide a wide array of products and the free demonstrations included beginner spinning, drop spindle spinning, needle felting, fabric appliqué, weaving, wool embroidery, various quilting techniques, tricot crochet and multidirectional knitting. Workshops, for the cost of materials only, were ongoing and included wet felting, silk painting, making silk paper and knitted scrumbling.
Tracy Callinan, Executive Officer of Arts Out West very kindly officially opened the Muster and the day flowed on with the president of the Bathurst Guild officiating.
Congratulations to all in the Bathurst Guild who supported Margaret, both in the preparation of the event and on the day, and to all the husbands and men friends who helped as well.

7 June 2010

Fibre Identification and Burn Tests

If the yarn is solely of one category (cellulosic, synthetic or protein), then a burn test, if correctly done, can easily reveal which category it is in. This means that silk, polyester and rayon, though all can be lustrous and can have long fibres, burn in a completely different manner.

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Somewhere in My World

The 2010 International Freeform Fiberarts Guild show, Somewhere in My World, includes 61 freeform fibre artists from all around the globe including Guild librarian Brigitte Sieber.
The artists were given the choice of creating one freeform piece interpreting the theme any way they chose using any materials and any techniques. They were not restricted to scrumbles and many of the pieces are wearable art and sculptural as well. None of the artists saw each other's pieces until the online show was published.

Fibre Alchemists

The Fibre Alchemists group recently became a Network Group of our Guild. They got together in 2007 and currently have 10 members. Most of them met through ATASDA but belonged to various guilds with different textile backgrounds (hand & machine stitching, beading, printing, felting, knitting, knotting, spinning, calligraphy, collage.) As individuals they were looking for a group that would stretch them a bit. And although they came from diverse backgrounds and seemed an unlikely combination, the combination has worked.

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