Our September 2023 newsletter is in the multi-page PDF below. You can read it here on this page by clicking within the frame below and then scrolling, or you can download it by clicking the ‘Download’ button below the cover image.
WORKSHOPS
Note especially the upcoming workshops. Details are in the newsletter.
Beginners’ workshops run in alternate months on a Saturday. The October workshop will cover another five basic stitches.
Traditional Japanese Sashiko workshop on 3rd and 17th October.
Smocking workshop in November. The focus will be on making decorative smocked balls. Details will be sent out in due course.
Our August/September 2023 newsletter is in the multi-page PDF below. You can read it here on this page by clicking within the frame below and then scrolling, or you can download it by clicking the ‘Download’ button below the cover image.
WORKSHOPS
Note especially the upcoming workshops. Details are in the newsletter.
Beginners’ workshops run in alternate months on a Saturday.
Goldwork workshop. We have managed to source some goldwork materials, so will be putting together a kit for those who attend (in contrast to the announcement in a previous newsletter).
Smocking workshop in November. Details will be sent out in due course.
Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim members. We hope you all had a happy and peaceful Eid al Adha.
Mid-winter has certainly hit us with a bang. The images of snow on the Drakensberg, and all over the Cape, as well as the excessive rainfall and associated flooding have been incredible. Its clear that extraordinary climatic events are becoming more and more common. The Winter solstice has passed and now the days are getting longer, even if we can expect many cold days in the next six weeks. Winter solstice at my son’s school was always celebrated as the festival of St John: a festival of rebirth with a bonfire and singing. The children made lanterns and we all brought soup. A precious memory.
Happy Birthday to our members who have birthdays in July and many, many more.
WORKSHOPS
EXTERNAL
Alice Per continues to run external workshops on a Saturday. If you know someone interested in embroidery, please contact us.
witsembroidery@gmail.com
INTERNAL
The next internal workshop will be on the 8th and 24th of July when Jenny Langord will be teaching felt applique.
This is one of the designs she has prepared, and she also has a house and a bunch of flowers.
After the successes of the Dorset Buttons and Ribbon Embroidery, these are sure to be wonderful.
Please let Jenni know if you want to attend and she will send you the details and include you on the Workshop WhatsApp group.
GOLDWORK and SMOCKING
These will be held during September, and November.
Goldwork: 10 and 24 September (bring your own kit and equipment)
Smocking: November date still to be finalised with Helen O’H who will be teaching it.
Those attending the Goldwork workshop, please be on the lookout for gold thread and other similar materials, as we are not making up a kit. Jenni has contacted Spinnering and Diana van der Walt has a few Gold Work items in stock. Jenni can forward details if anyone would like to know more.
https://www.needlenthread.com/patterns This is a site run by the wonderful Mary Corbett who has a number of You Tube channels and is an excellent teacher.
Anyone who is on Instagram will know that there are a myriad of accounts with amazing embroidery. The Royal School of Needlework is a good place to start @royalneedlework
Vervaco, a Belgian needlework company, has a regular ‘Secret Stich- along’. If you are interested, here is a link:
Please let us know if you encounter any difficulties registering, and we will try to help you. (Spoiler alert: this one is cross stitch)
SALES
Linda Putter ran the sales table in June, and we raised a decent amount of money for the Guild. We welcome anyone who would like to sell at the Sales: you run your own table, enjoy Linda’s company, and give us 10% of your turnover, on an honesty basis. Thank you Linda for your ongoing help with this least glamourous of roles.
FROM THE COMMITTEE
SHOW AND TELL
Our inaugural “Show and Tell” displays were held on the 24th and 27th of June. To say they were a success is an understatement.
Members voted for their favourites and on Saturday these were Tricia Leishman’s Bee eater and Aneeba Imran’s Memory Book.
On Tuesday the winners were Janet Holloway’s beautiful table runner and Sarie Sawers’ Rhino.
Some of the other items on display:
We will be holding these displays regularly. If anyone has a suggestion for a theme, feel free to drop it into the suggestion box. These events are meant to be a bit of fun, and to other work.
In terms of the Constitution, they are also to allow members to share other kinds of crafts which they do, with each other. They do not have to be embroidery related as it is a chance for people to see what else is out there.
NEW CUPBOARDS
We have bought two new (second-hand) cupboards to store the workshop equipment and other stuff in. These will all be in the Strelitzia store and once we’ve moved everything, our workshop stash and other resources will be moved to its own cupboard. Hopefully this will make things much easier for Alice and Jenni.
PLAQUES
We have bought two plaques for the donated embroideries at the SAVF centre and the Trinity Methodist Church:
SPRING MARKET
Work on the next Market is proceeding. These are the initial details:
2nd September 2023 at the Linden Methodist Church
One Table and one chair, bring your own table cloth
R100.00
R10.00 entrance fee
Please contact Helen O’H to book a table. As with last year, the YOCO machine will be available. We will not be taking a percentage, just the cost of the table.
OTHER SALES
Toni will continue to sell her threads and other delights on the first Tuesday and the first Saturday. As mentioned before, she also now has stock of Chameleon and House of Embroidery threads. Please do support Toni.
COMMITTEE
The committee at the moment is
Danny, Helen, Jenni, Diane, Agness
Linda Putter for Sales (we are still trying to get her agree to be co-opted)
Ciairan (Tea) (alternate)
Anyone willing to assist as an alternate or has a particular interest in an aspect of the committee’s work, please let me know. You will be very, very welcome.
MEMBERS’ NEWS
Dear Agness had to return to surgery for an additional clean out of her wound. She is making an excellent recovery and is as always, so cheerful, loving, and kind. She is an inspiration. Hilary Walker very kindly visited Agness and anyone else who would like to do so, please contact Danny for details if you need them.
Both Alice Per and Danny Wimpey suffered a trauma in June as their husband’s fell, in separate incidents, and each suffered a cracked rib. So painful, and very difficult for the person taking care of the injured. Please send us your strength. 😊
Our name badges are here. Please collect them from Helen and bring R35 if you have not already paid.
Please send me any members’ news you would like to (and may) include here.
IGHALI Raffle
Raffle tickets in aid of Ighali are R5.00 each, and they will be on sale until the end of July. The draw will be conducted by Ina to ensure impartiality. Contact Helen or any other committee member.
LIBRARY
The committee has decided to buy this beautiful book by Trish Burr. We have ordered it and will let you know when it arrives which will probably be in mid-July.
Please remember to put your name on the tea roster. The way we find works best is to join with someone. The Tuesday roster is on the inside of the tea cupboard. Please ask Jenni or Di for the Saturday roster. Thank you everyone who has already brought tea this year. It is always appreciated.
Stay warm in July, not long to go.
To contact the Committee or Guild members, please email us: witsembroidery@gmail.com
Our newsletter is now a multi-page PDF which includes a crossword and lots of information about the range of activities that make up the Guild. You can read it here on this page by clicking within the frame below and then scrolling, or you can download it by clicking the ‘Download’ button below the cover image.
This is a long newsletter with some important things in it. I am going to use headings, which I think will make it easier for you to keep track of what is happening.
Market Day
What an amazing day it was on Saturday! Our first official Embroidery meeting since lockdown. The tables looked lovely, we were welcomed by a very helpful Trinity Methodist Church and it was good to see everyone again. I took a number of photographs, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to include them in this letter. They use a lot of data, and some of your domestic computers will not be able to handle the load, and you’ll miss out. I shall however put some of them on the WhatsApp group after this letter has been sent. Even though this was the first official meeting, we should express appreciation to Paputzis who hosted us at their restaurant last summer, and also St Martin’s in-the-Veld who let us use their parish room free of charge, and even provided tea and coffee for us, even though we didn’t ask them to.
I think the Piece de Resistance of the market was the frieze. Jenni Langford did a wonderful job of putting it all together, and it would not have happened had she not taken it under her wing and got on with it. However we are also grateful to Hilary Walker whose idea this was – she suggested we do something to keep us focused during what proved to be a long lockdown. Lynn Puttick, with her professional art training was a valued advisor on materials, and Robyn de Klerk, Louise von Glehn and Helen O’Hanrahan also helped in the initial stages. Thanks are also due to “Buttons and Bows” and “Ribbonfields”, both embroidery shops, who agreed to be delivery points while we weren’t able to meet. I think a valuable piece of history has been documented here. Thank you to all of you who contributed. This will truly be something to show your grandchildren.
Meeting at the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre
Now we are back to normal – if that’s possible. I am re-printing the relevant part of Danny’s letter which I sent out to you earlier this month. Mark the date – we are longing to see you all again.
I am very happy to be able to write to you with so much good news. I know some of you will have heard already, via the WhatsApp group, but for those that are not on the group here goes:
The first and most important thing is that we have arranged with Ina to reopen meetings at the Recreation Centre, from January 2023. The first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday the 10th January, 2023, from 9am to 12 midday. The first Saturday meeting will be on the 14th January 2023, from 1pm to 4pm. The Guild Committee will do the tea for the first meeting and we will be encouraging people to sign up to provide the eats for tea, as before.
Please start planning what you will be sewing, and come back to us!
We have had long, difficult discussions about costs, teas and subscriptions etc. The outcome of these discussions is the following:
We will no longer collect separately for tea and subs. These will be amalgamated into a membership fee of R300 per year, payable by the end of February 2023.
We have obtained a Yoco machine which will allow us to take payments using debit cards. We are still trying to establish if credit cards can be used and will let you know once we hear back from Yoco.
We would very much like to limit the collection of cash at meetings, but of course, if this is your preferred way, we will take your money! However, I feel sure that most members would prefer the convenience of paying by card.
There will not be any different charges for various age groups etc. other than for those over 90, who will be exempt from paying anything.
Payments for Workshops and any other transactions, will need to be made separately. In that vein, we have some exciting plans for future workshops, but more about that later.
Annual General Meeting
As Danny says, there are many exciting things in the pipeline. But most importantly, PUT THE DATE OF OUR AGM IN YOUR DIARIES NOW.
It will be held on: Saturday, the 25th March 2023 at 12h00
The committee has spent a lot of time over the last few months listening to you, thinking over the changes this Virus has brought, and what place in society our art takes. We are going to have to make some changes in our approach so as to encourage new people to come, to teach embroidery to those who have never done it, to investigate advanced forms of it, and to look seriously at promoting it amongst children and teenagers so at least they know what it is and how special it is, even if they don’t actually get as far as picking up a needle themselves. SO … We need as many of you there as possible. Some changes to the constitution will probably have to be considered (and our lawyer-chairperson Danny is well up on how to do that!) and we also need your contribution to the future of our Guild. Please make it a priority.
Guild History
We have a store room of some beautiful banners and in the minds of many of our members are memories of wonderful stories of the Guild. I have taken on the job of putting together some sort of history of the Guild – all sorts of things. What is the story behind this or that banner and who was involved? Who were some of the characters of the past? What things have been learnt? Anything special that gives you warm happy memories of your time at the Guild. Also, if you know of people who no longer can or do come to the Guild and they have good stories to tell, please put them in touch with me, and let me put it all together. You are receiving this from me, so use my email address above if you have any bright thoughts about this.
An offer we can’t refuse!
Now here is something I haven’t heard of before. A lady by the name of Suzette Plekker makes shoes and bags out of TAPESTRIES THAT HAVE BEEN WORKED! So if you have cupboards of tapestries that are beautifully done, but are too expensive to frame, you have run out of wall space and relatives to give them to, perhaps this might be an option. Apparently she will take unworked tapestries too, so if you have that kit which you bought as a bargain, or that present which really doesn’t inspire you, send that too. I’ve never seen tapestry shoes, but tapestry bags are very smart. Here are her details if you are interested:
We will be meeting again in January, the same arrangement as before – every Tuesday morning, and every 2ndand 4th Saturday afternoon. Beginning on the 10th and 14th January 2023.
And an update on the market on this coming Saturday, 29th October
I am very happy to be able to write to you with so much good news. I know some of you will have heard already, via the WhatsApp group, but for those that are not on the group here goes:
The first and most important thing is that we have arranged with Ina to reopen meetings at the Recreation Centre, from January 2023. The first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday the 10th January, 2023, from 9am to 12 midday. The first Saturday meeting will be on the 14th January 2023, from 1pm to 4pm. The Guild Committee will do the tea for the first meeting and we will be encouraging people to sign up to provide the eats for tea, as before.
Please start planning what you will be sewing, and come back to us!
We have had long, difficult discussions about costs, teas and subscriptions etc. The outcome of these discussions is the following:
We will no longer collect separately for tea and subs. These will be amalgamated into a membership fee of R300 per year, payable by the end of February 2023.
We have obtained a Yoco machine which will allow us to take payments using debit cards. We are still trying to establish if credit cards can be used and will let you know once we hear back from Yoco.
We would very much like to limit the collection of cash at meetings, but of course, if this is your preferred way, we will take your money! However, I feel sure that most members would prefer the convenience of paying by card.
There will not be any different charges for various age groups etc. other than for those over 90, who will be exempt from paying anything.
Payments for Workshops and any other transactions, will need to be made separately. In that vein, we have some exciting plans for future workshops, but more about that later.
Market
Secondly, and I hope all of you know, we are having our inaugural Market this Saturday at the Trinity Methodist Church, 5thAvenue, Linden. This market is a chance for all of us to reconnect, so please wear your badges.
Some members are manning stash-busting stalls and there are several other stalls including jewellery, soap and bath goodies, baking kits, bric a brac, Christmas goodies, smocking and cross stitch. Helen Bird is selling her books of poetry and we have pancakes, hot dogs, tea and biscuits as well as cooldrinks on sale. There will be a display of the Covid Frieze, which Jenni Langford has put together magnificently, as well as other displays of work. Please take a Covid Frieze selfie as a reminder of your contribution/s.
Helen O’Hanrahan has been working tirelessly on the market, despite having an injury to her back, and I am sure it will be a great success. It will be fun no matter what and we have already learnt so much that we can be put to use in the future.
If you are happy to lend us some work for the display, we are at the church on Friday afternoon from 4pm and Saturday morning from 7am, for drop-offs. Please do bring things, we have people on duty to guard them and it will be wonderful to show off the skills in the Guild. I am running a White Elephant to raise funds for the Guild funds, so if you have anything to donate, please feel free to bring it along on Saturday (or Friday afternoon). Anything not sold will be donated to charity.
There is a R10 entrance fee. We will add this to the Guild coffers as well.
We hope to see you all there.
Warm regards,
Danny Wimpey Chair: WITWATERSRAND EMBROIDERERS’ GUILD
Just a short letter this time, but still an important one.
Firstly, about when we can meet again. As yet, nothing firm, but things are looking promising. The Roosevelt Park Recreation centre seems to be grinding along to finishing their renovations, but no definite date yet. The committee are investigating another venue, but there are still a few things to be managed. We’ll let you know as soon as we have definite confirmation. It will be wonderful to meet as a Guild again.
The other BIG NEWS is that our market is going ahead. On the 29th October our Craft Market will be held, at the Trinity Methodist Church in Linden, corner 5th Street and 5th Avenue (bordering on Montroux – about half a Kilometre away from Arthur Bales, and round the corner from the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre). It will run between 09h00 and 15h00, and you are invited to come and spend, spend, spend, and if you don’t want to add to your stash (but we bet you won’t be able to resist it,) there will be all sorts of things to eat. I have attached the flyer (see image below, or download here). Please send it on email to EVERYONE, copy it on to your social media, and print out copies and give to your book club, your bridge club members, and you relatives. Make more copies and put some in each of your favourite shops.
One of the BIG ATTRACTONS will be the first ever display of our Covid “Through the Eye of the Needle” frieze. Jenni Langford has put it together beautifully, and we thank Robyn de Klerk (as she was then), Louise von Glehn, Lynn Puttick and Hilary Walker for their input. It is looking totally stunning!!!!!!!! Thank you to those of you who contributed to the making of it. I have added a mini-flyer for that as well, which you can also print, send, copy etc, and perhaps staple it to the main flyer (see image below, or download here). Drag your family along to look at that if nothing else, and if they don’t want to come, I suggest you go on kitchen strike for a month! That’s all for this month. See you before the next newsletter.
Share this flyer with your friends — download it, share on social media, email it, anything and everything.
