Longdraw January

Our first meeting of 2008 was almost full to the brim as you can see. It's just as well that we have now hired the largest of the two halls at Croft Village Hall otherwise we would have been spinning on each other's laps!

The theme for this meeting was Longdraw spinning and we had our resident expert Val Bryant on hand to run our workshop and give her advice on how best to master this important method of spinning.


By the end of the day there were certainly a few converts. Thank you Val for a very enjoyable day.

Programme 2008

Our programme of meetings for 2008:

January 26th:
Spinning long draw with Val Bryant

February 23rd:
Yorkshire Buttons

March 22nd:
Kool Aid and Procion dyeing with Debbie Tomkies

April 12/13th:
Workshop: Earthue Dyes with Debbie Tomkies (bookable)

April 26th:
Members day

May 24th:
Members’ day, silk paper with Judy Jones

June 28th:
Members day (Woolfest Weekend)

July 26th:
Water, Ice and Snow talk with Val Hughes

September 27th:
Members’ Day, Weaving with colour, Janet Philips

October 25/ 26th:
Bookable workshop with Jane Feltham (South American textiles)

November 23rd:
AGM/ Competition/ Christmas party

Spinning and Weaving Demonstrations 2008

The North Cheshire Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers will be demonstrating spinning and weaving at the following events in 2008:

March 9th Antique Textile Fair Manchester

May 17th & May 18th Arley Horse Trials

May 31st & June 1st Tabley Country Fair

June TBA Knutsford Heritage Centre

June 17th & June 18th Cheshire Show

August 17th Peover Country Fair

September 28th Home Farm Tatton
(Guild weekend)

Christmas in November and our AGM

This year has literally flown hence the AGM and Christmas part on November seemed to arrived almost by surprise!

The day started with the AGM. Our Chair, Janet resigned at the end of her three year stint and there were three new appointments to the committee plus some changes in positions between existing committee members. Janice was appointed the new Chairperson at the end of the meeting by the committee.

As many members had submitted items for our exhibition there were fewer entries to the competition than usual but that certainly didn't mean a lowering of any standards.

The winners in each category were as follows:

Spinning - Joan

Dyeing - Kate

Weaving - Averil

Congratulations to all of the winners and to everyone who took part.

We then enjoyed a wonderful spread for lunch before a "show and tell" of projects and our final farewells for the year! Let's hope our next year will be as successful and 2007 and more.

Baskets in October

(Sorry for the delay in posting but so much has been happening with our Guild I'm still playing catch up with our recent events!)

October's meeting was our busiest yet with the hall literally bursting at the seams. Our membership is now up to a record breaking level of forty members. We also had some visitors for Averil's workshop on soft basketry.

The day started with a quick exercise in making a traditional Maori friendship flower. Here you see us "swords at the ready" before starting to weave a flower and some final results. The flowers dry into a lovely golden colour.

In the afternoon Averil demonstrated the art of creating a small basket from Daffodil leaves. Skills were quickly developed and by the end of the day most participants took away their basket and some material to finish their basket at home.

A special thanks goes to Averil for her hard work in preparing such and exciting workshop.