International Day for Older People

I apologise for this being out of order with other posts but time got the better of me and I have had to just fit these in when I can.

The International Day for Older People was organised by Seonaid, one of our members and we were asked to submit and exhibit some of our work on October 1st at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, in the Horseshoe Bar.

We had a really good day and got to meet a lot of interesting people. We received a great many very compliments about or work and 1 new member to our branch on the strength of it!

             
           
            
                   
         
          
       
We had a great selection of work demonstrating a very varied range of embroidery techniques and we did ourselves proud.
When the exhibition finished the work was taken down and put up on display in the Art Society Studio for our Annual Studio Exhibition. Many thanks to all of those involved in setting and taking down for both exhibitions.

Special Guest

At our October meeting we had a very special guest speaker - Patti Medaris Culea, reknowned Cloth Doll Maker for America.  Patti was staying with Kathryn and had just been at Ally Pally at the Knitting and Stitching Show and was on her way to Fobbles, near to the village of Ravenglass, to teach a workshop.

Patti very kindly talked to us about her passion for Doll Making and more recently cloth book making  and all things to do with dyeing and stitching fabrics and threads.

She was most generous with her time and very kindly allowed us to inspect the dolls. She happily handed them to us after she had talked about them and we passed them round for everyone to enjoy.

We had a good audience with a number of members from neighbouring branches, our own members and friends.
It was a most enjoyable evening. A very big thank you to Patti.
We all felt very privileged  to have had Patti as a speaker and to be able to see the beautiful dolls and books that she has created. Patti is a very bubbly, energetic and friendly lady. She was like a ray of sunshine!

Several members of our audience were going to the workshop at Fobbles and I know that they had a great time.

                                

          

           

        

             

September Speaker

Our September speaker was Moncia Selway who talked about how she became inspired to work with spider stitch and how she started to incorporate folded origami techniques into her pieces of work.

           

     an amazing piece of work all done in spider stitch!
                  just look at the close-up for detail
Monica has used many different kinds of threads to gain this amazing effect.

                          

                      

        

        

          Monica is a member of Parbold Branch

More Bags

Two more bags made by Marie at,  and post, the Monkey Buttons workshop.

        

Our members were really inspired by this workshop and have produced some lovely bags. Thanks Marie.

Starwberry Tea and Rainbow Squares

Last night we had our Strawberry Tea. We also stitched all of our Rainbow Squares together. The ladies all work furiously at stitching before they were rewarded with lovely strawberries, shortbread fingers, scones with jam and clotted cream and teas and coffee.
We had a really good evening. A big thank you from me to all of those involved in setting everything up and for everyone who sat furiously stitching squares together.They look really good. It is much appreciated.
I made the scones and was asked for the recipe.

So here it is . I do hope you will try it and let me know what you think. These scones are not like traditional scones - they do keep well for several days. The recipe came from a handwritten recipe book that belonged to my Mother-in law, sadly, no longer with us. I was dleighted when I first tried the recipe as my husband said they tasted just as re remembered them from when his mother used to bake them. Praise indeed.

So here it is
Grandma’s Bun Scones

Ingredients:
4oz self raising flour
4 oz of caster sugar (I use much less as I don’t like things really sweet)
2 oz of butter (or margarine) I use about 1 ½ as it seems to rub better
1 beaten egg (you can add a little milk if you like – I use a large egg)

Method:
Put flour and sugar in a bowl, rub in the fat and then mix in the beaten egg.
Do not use the whole egg, just half of it to start off with and then add a little more if the mixture isn’t binding together into a soft ball.
You don’t want the mixture to be sticky but neither do you want it to be too dry.
Knead the ball slightly with your hand and if it is a bit sticky sprinkle some flour over it.

I make about 10 balls from the mixture using my hands and place them on a baking tray that has parchment paper on it.
Use the remaining egg to spread over the top of each scone.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 15 mins – test for browness and doneness! I always think you have to judge finished baking by your own oven – if not quite done give them another 5 minutes so – it isn’t crucial!
When baked they will have spread and look more like biscuits.

I have also baked them in one of those flippy floppy baking trays – placed on a metal tray. Then they come out more traditional scone shaped.

These are not like traditional scones – but they are delicious and unlike normal scones they will keep for several days!! (Bonus)!

Enjoy