The time is going so quickly, we're almost into another month again - and what an interesting month it has been, politics and weather, as well as all the things we have been doing!

Firstly, my grateful thanks to the two Kay(e)s who did our lovely workshops for us at the June meeting - Kaye Mundy, who brought her beautiful quilts, and showed us a clever way of doing applique; and Kay Carne, who taught us the intricacies of silk shading. Everyone seemed absorbed in what was happening, and there was a lovely, warm atmosphere, together with stitches and stitched books with Sue and Annette.

Since then, we have had another workshop day with Margaret Beattie and Annette Cooke on free machine embroidery - another lovely day, well-supported, and everyone seemed to enjoy getting to grips with this technique. Many thanks to both for a well-prepared system and a relaxed way of doing things.

We are so fortunate in the branch to have so many people who are willing to share their skills and expertise.

Next Tuesday 5th July, Sue Cork will be doing Flower Pounding with anyone who wishes to try this technique - some have already had a 'bash', and the results are very interesting. Just remember to bring some strong-coloured flowers from your garden, and you have had any other requirements in a list from Sue already on email. 

Jane Ostler will be working with us on colour; the colour wheel and its influences on how we see things and how we decide on using colour in our embroidery and art.
You will need your basic sewing kit, and possibly threads of choice, although we do have large stash of threads in the group now, and, if you have coloured pencils, these would be useful, too.
Fabric will be provided, and there will be new sketch books if you wish to buy one to use.

On the next Tuesday,12th July, we have Brenda Scarman's Casalguidi workshop, organised by Sarah.

Plans for the Belton exhibition are gathering pace, and it's all beginning to look very exciting; please remember to bring your pieces for the exhibition to the meeting - if you are having problems with mirror/glass plates, we can do that for you. Do make sure that they are adequately packaged and well named - we do not want anything falling out of its bag or box and going astray.
We also now have an entry form for Grantham Museum in September - I will send those out shortly, as Pam Keeling would like them in by August 1st, and she requires a photograph of your piece with the entry form. Don't worry if you cannot get that done before you bring in your pieces next week - we can always do it when they are displayed at Belton, as long as we know!

We still need a few more stewards for Belton, so please see Sue at some point on Tuesday if you can volunteer for another session.

Looking forward to another productive meeting next week.
Kate.

Despite my best efforts, we have not been able to find a substitute speaker for next Tuesday's meeting, so again we are dependent on members sharing their skills with us; grateful thanks to those who did so at the last meeting, Jean, Margaret, and Sue and Annette - what would we do without them all?

Some of them are coming to the rescue again - Sue and Annette will be continuing with stitches and stitched books; it is good to have this continuity, and hopefully, those relatively new to embroidery are gaining a lot from this.

Kaye Mundy has kindly offered to bring a selection of her quilts to show us, and will share with us her technique for turned-edge applique; if you have cotton fabric you would like to use, please bring it along with your usual sewing requirements. There will be freezer paper supplied for this.

Kay Carne (and I) will demonstrate simple 'silk shading'. Kay has several lovely books on the subject, which are an inspiration for trying this technique. We have fabric and threads, but you will need an embroidery hoop not larger than 10 inches diameter, and the usual sewing requirements; also stranded cottons, if you have them, preferably in three shades of the same colour. Not essential, but bring them if you have them.

I will also bring the requisites for paper collage, which might inspire some of you into more abstract work. (Magazines and/or handmade papers would be useful, plus a Pritt stick.)

There are still places on the Brenda Scarman 'Casalguidi' workshop on Tuesday 12th July; do see Sarah Edwards or me for detail and requirements. Payment will be required on Tuesday.
I think the Free Machine Embroidery workshop on Friday 24th June is full, but do check with Margaret and Annette.

In the July meeting, Jane Ostler will be working on Colour and the Colour Wheel with us, and Sue Cork will be doing Flower Pounding - I hope that both will outline at next week's meeting what this all entails.

Plans for the Belton exhibition are coming along; this will run for 6 weeks from Thursday 21st July to Thursday 1st September, and we still need lots of volunteers to steward if it is to be open every day during that period, as we would hope. Please see Sue cork if your name is not already on her list!
Boston and Stamford branches are also involved and will help with stewarding, particularly on 2nd August when we have Mary Sleigh's talk 'Jewels of India', and on 6th August, which is National Day of Stitch, when we have 2 placements at Belton, and also one at St. Wulfram's Church in Grantham,- fingers crossed for a lovely sunny day as last year. 

Set up at Belton will be 18th, 19th, 20th July, and during the week before this, there will be boards to paint ready to hang our pieces on.
Registration forms are available for your submissions to this exhibition, which are required by 
the hanging team and by Chriss Smith of Boston who is kindly making all the labels - by 21st June, please.

Dianne Marriott has set up a Facebook account for the branch, assisted by Annette, and hopefully this will be explained at Tuesday's meeting.

Annette is also requesting donations of Raffle Prizes - do keep them coming, as the raffle does help to boost our funds. 

Many thanks to all who put in so much time and effort on behalf of the branch; I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday.
Kate.