Sarah Maddison is a Hampshire based textile artist. She is inspired by landscapes and the emotions they provoke. From a wild, rocky coastline, to a newly ploughed field; from the most modern of cities to our ancient landscapes, with their standing stones, circles and forts, they tell a story.For our exhibition at Sir Harold Hillier…
Alison Young has always been interested in textiles from when she first made clothes for her two daughters when they were small. She progressed to textile work and completed the City & Guilds Part I Embroidery course in 1991. She is a skilled maker of patchwork quilts, which satisfies her need for accuracy. The delicately…
Mandy Dunning takes inspiration from her cottage garden and the beautiful Hampshire countryside she lives amongst. This is reflected in her textile work using free machine embroidery and mixed media techniques. Mandy has a keen eye for colour, pattern and texture resulting in exciting and vibrant creations which are intricately decorated. Mandy has also produced…
Over the next few weeks, in the run-up to the exhibition, we’ll be offering a preview of the wonderful work that will be on display at Hilliers. We’ll be introducing the new work of the members of the Alchemist’s Needle and meeting our two very special guest artists. To whet your appetite, here’s some of…
We are thrilled to announce that the Alchemist’s Needle is returning for an exhibition of brand new work at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Romsey. It takes place for two weeks from 21st July to 2nd August – see poster for details. We’ve been hard at work for the past 18 months and our theme, Mother…
Well we certainly started the New Year as we mean to go on with a fantastic workshop in very early January from our very own Alchemist, Anne Hellyer. On a freezing winter morning, we gathered in the toasty Kimpton Village Hall where Anne delighted us by sharing the many beautiful books she has made over…
We’d like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all our followers old and new and to the lovely visitors who came to our exhibition at the Whitchurch Silk Mill. We’ve had a wonderfully productive year. Our monthly meetings have helped keep our creativity flowing and we finished 2024 with a lovely Christmas meal and…
There’s still plenty of time and plenty to see in the last few weeks of our exhibition at the Whitchurch Silk Mill. As a group, we enjoy devising projects that encourage us to explore different techniques and approaches but which bring us together with a common theme. One such project is our ‘Earth Tones’ collection,…
October has been a very busy time for the Alchemist’s Needle – grab a coffee and read on to find out what we’ve been up to. The ongoing exhibition at the Whitchurch Silk Mill has proven to be extremely well received with lovely comments written in the visitors’ book. Our latest Jane Austen ‘stamp collection’…
Part 2 Following the wonderful response by visitors to our small Jane Austen project for the Passionate Women exhibition, we were asked by Whitchurch Silk Mill to create a second set of embroidered stamp pieces. These would form part of a display to launch their beautiful Jane Austen ribbons woven on site. Heritage silk weaving…
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First Workshop of the Year
Alchemist’s Needle member, Sarah Maddison, has been making beautiful embroidered purses for a while now and she sells them in her Etsy shop. We were delighted when she said she would show us how it was done. It was a workshop of two halves. First we created the stitched design directly onto the felt, which was slightly daunting as it was done completely freehand. Then came the assembling which required concentration and lots of direction from Sarah. The results are unique little purses, perfect for presents.
The Alchemist's Needle 