Posts from — July 2014

Judith Geater a WI from Leiston came to speak to us about a resolution concerning Charity Shops. Her resolution concerned the selling of new items in charity shops, items that weren’t from Fair Trade or that didn’t connect directly with the charity for example bought in Christmas Cards.This she felt this was unfair to other traders, especially as charity shops get preferential rates, we gave her our unanimous backing.

An absolutely fascinating talk by Elizabeth Taylor, on the subject of felting. The first thing I learnt was that felt was the oldest known textile. Evidence of a kind of pre-felt having been found on Mummies in the Taklamakan Desert in north west China dating to ca. 2000 BCE. To read more about these Mummies, please click here and here. Elizabeth went on to describe her various visits to a Felt master in Eastern Turkey and a Felt Mistress in Kyrgyzstan. She explained the different methods of making felt and showed us some examples she had brought back from her travels. Elizabeth also showed us some of her own work including an amazing jacket made from felt,  the picture below shows Elizabeth modelling the Jacket. And finally, for all the craftspeople out there, Elizabeth recommended the Knitting and Stitching show, for information please click here.

To see more images of felting please click here

Aldeburgh WI held a coffee and cake morning, to raise money for another blood pressure monitor at the surgery. The morning was very well attended and the cake stall was almost emptied of its fare.

To see larger versions of these images please click here