On the Way to the Fish Hoek Embroidery Exhibition

I love the drive down the coast to Fish Hoek, so this week has been doubly enjoyable for me. The scenery is beautiful on the way and the embroideries on show at the exhibition are a beautiful breath of inspiration for anyone who enjoys working with a needle and thread.

The brightly coloured beach huts at St James somehow promise sunshine and fun on the beach, even on a dreary rainy morning like we had this morning.

Another scene I always enjoy seeing is the sweep of the white beach at Fish Hoek and the view over the clear blue-green water towards Simon's Town.

Here are a few more photos of the embroidery exhibition. The tables where members sat stitching drew lots of interest and they were able to answer questions about the work they were busy doing. Some of the projects were exquisite gold work, fine creative pulled work, a large almost complete hardanger table cloth and also my 'almost finished cloth book' done in needlepainting. I mounted the completed pages on a big board which ended up being a nice way to see it all.

At the exhibition visitors were invited to take part in the viewer's choice award by casting their vote for the piece they liked best. It created much discussion and many went around scratching their heads trying to choose just one favourite piece. The winning embroidery was a charming and beautiful needlepainting of birds splashing about in their bath.

Below is some of the embroidery started at the Ighali 2009 Stitch-away workshops and it includes needlepainting, French white work, samplers with a big variety of unusual stitches, Ukrainian white work, hardanger and gold work.

The exhibition ends tomorrow and I think we will all breathe a sigh of relief that it is another two years before the next one.

Embroidery Exhibition, Cape Town

If you are in and around Cape Town this week, do take a drive along the coast of the Peninsula to Fish Hoek and the embroidery exhibition that is open until Saturday at the Fish Hoek Civic Centre. I took a few quick photos this morning just before the exhibition opening to give you an idea of some of what you can see.

What to do with yellow fabric? - The Yellow Fabric Challenge

A prize-winning smocked ring pillow with garter, a wedding sampler and two wedding veils amidst other fine embroideries.

The sales table for sewing supplies and small gifts

Work in Progress - Embroiderers will sit stitching their projects at the WIP tables

A selection of work donated for sale by the family of the late Magda Sprenger, co-founder of the Cape Embroiderers' Guild.

The band sampler challenge - 12 samplers in progress and one completed - all using the same pattern yet each one so very different and fascinating to look at.

Cape Embroiderers' Guild Exhibition

25-29 October

9am-5pm daily, Saturday 9am-3pm

Fish Hoek Civic Centre

Recreation Road, Fish Hoek

Cape Town

These are just some of the breathtaking embroideries on show at the exhibition. I'll post more photos tomorrow.

Cape Embroiderers' Guild Exhibition

The Cape Embroiderers' Guild members hold an exhibition of their embroidery every two years. There is always plenty of beautiful work on show and this year there are some special added attractions. Not only will the work done by the members over the last two years be on show, but a number of challenge and competition pieces as well.

First there was the yellow linen competition. Last year CEG members were challenged to use a piece of yellow linen kindly donated to the Guild by SA Threads and Cottons as the base fabric for the annual embroidery competition. This resulted in some spectacular pieces ranging from cross stitch to hardanger and pulled work.

Then there was an embroidered flower competition sponsored by Trish Burr. The flowers had to be no more than 10cm x 10cm and could be embroidered using any technique. There were some brilliant entries and I was quite speechless when I was announced as the winner! I had entered a little Dresden Lace piece embroidered all in white and I thought a coloured entry would be more likely to be what was required. I'll post a photo of my entry soon.

The other embroideries that you can see if you are able to visit the exhibition are the Band Samplers. This is an ongoing challenge organised by Leslie-Anne Bickle. Each month an embroiderer designs a band that is then distributed to the rest of the challenge participants. There will be 12 bands in all. We have been watching the samplers grow over the year and there will be a number of beautiful pieces at the exhibition. Its so interesting to see them all together. They vary a lot as they have been embroidered in different colours on different fabrics and everyone is making little changes to the bands as they go along. These samplers will be well worth seeing.

Finally, there will be a retrospective exhibition of Founder Members' work and embroideries done by members in the early years of the Guild. With all that on show there will definitely be a feast for the eyes at the exhibition.

Cape Embroiderers' Exhibition

25 - 29 October 2011

9am to 5pm daily, except Saturday when the exhibition closes at 3pm

Fish Hoek Civic Centre

Recreation Road

Fish Hoek

Cape Town