An Exhibition....

 The local embroiderers guild, are having an exhibition at the art gallery here in town, I thought it might be nice to go along and have a look. Debbie is becoming very interested in embroidery recently, and has completed a couple of Sue Spargos felt projects, so she was very keen when I suggested a visit.

The Aigantighe Art Gallery  (pronounced..Eggandtie) is housed in an historical building here in town, sadly much of it is closed at the moment as it is 'earthquake prone'. But the modern part of the gallery is still open for small exhibitions.  It is a light and airy space which means that some of the time, I was struggling to get photos without reflections of either myself, or the windows, so please forgive the quality of some of these images. I did my best.

There were many stunning pieces on display and I did not take photos of all of them.

Poppies is mainly cross stitch with some French knots and is a Pollyanna design.

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The Home Sweet Home Hussif.

Is a Carolyn Pearce Design. It comes complete with a lovely collection of matching accessories. 

As you can see there were many different stitches, lots of beads and charms too. 

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This stunning bee adorned the top..

Of a lovely box, which has 4 drawers. The fabric used for the body of the box is perfect.

The bee was inspired by a Trish Burr pattern.

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The Lupin and the Hare is an original design, inspired by a visit to Tekapo. (Presumably when the lupins were flowering). Isn't he adorable?

It was just one of many stumpwork creations on display.

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There were several pieces of cross stitch on display and this one in particular caught my eye.

This Lily design was stitched from a kit by Fox Collections.

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This lovely village was entitled Homespun.

It's blurb says it is a Sue Spargo BOM.

With surface embroidery over wool.

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This fern was what greeted us as we walked through the door. It is a collaboration by several members of the guild, who each took a small piece/leaf to work on, then they were put together to produce this beauty.

The magnifying glass was a tribute to the theme of last years conference.

Vision 2020.

Each needle worker stitched her own choice of colour and technique. 

I wish I had taken more photos, each leaf deserves to be seen and studied.

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This lovely beaded dream catcher caught my eye.

It was inspired by Stenboden design.

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I'm sure you have all seen Biscornu trees. I have the pattern for this design sitting in my stash.

This one all worked in black, with tiny black beads was beautiful.

It is designed by Irene McDairmid. 

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The bird cage.

Oh my Gosh! I have no words for this....

Stumpwork, designed by Fiona Crowther-Aker designs.

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More stumpwork. The three dimensional effect of these pieces is just amazing.

See that little B signature? Jane Bell had lots of these tiny but amazing works of art in the exhibition.

This beautiful dragonfly was just one of them 

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Black berry surprise is another of her pieces.

Some of the pieces were her own designs, others were combinations of her own and other designers work. Obviously an incredibly talented lady.

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After looking at the embroidery, Debbie and I wandered into the ceramics room.

There were some interesting pieces, but this one in particular caught my eye.

What a cute wee White West Highland Terrier.

I used to have one of these, 20+ years ago. What a character.

Penny was a bit of an escape artist, but I always knew where to find her.

She loved to run around to the back of the house and on to the harbour/riverside. There she would seek out the places where the geese had roosted overnight, then she would roll around in what they had left behind!

And would come home looking just like this!

Not so white.

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Speaking of white pets, I thought I might sit and prepare some more Lucy blocks last night.

But Belle had other ideas.

No matter what I said, she wasn't shifting off that box.

So as you can see, I worked on joining some more hexies instead.

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Well, my days off are over, I've had two very successful days, with lots of sewing and stitching. I have completed my Christmas ornament for September, made 15 snail trail blocks for Seaswept, done a few rounds of crochet and added two flowers to Edytas garden and filled in a neutral space as well. 

This morning, before meeting Debbie, I squeezed in two more snail blocks and now I plan to sit and crochet until it is time to go to work today.

I hope you are feeling as accomplished as I am.