The Sue Bush Challenge

In memory of Sue, the committee gave members a challenge over the year, which was to ‘try something new’. This is to reflect Sue’s enthusiasm for trying new things and sharing the pleasure of creating works of art. At our Christmas meeting we had a pop-up exhibition of the things people had been working on, and what a varied and interesting collection it was.

One striking thing about the exhibition was that many of the things that people had tried for the first time were things that they had learned from other members: quite often someone who had taught someone a new technique had also entered something that someone else had taught them. That seems very fitting for the way Sue shared her knowledge with us all. The beading above was made by Valerie and taught by Sue. Valerie wrote the note below to go with it:

Still on the beading theme, Betty entered the beaded bag below. Betty wrote: ‘Earlier this year, when Valerie and I inherited Sue’s beading stash, we found the pattern and beads ready to make this purse. This was her second one and was probably to have been her next project before she was taken ill. It was quite a challenge to make, with 75 triangles to make before assembly. Quite a daunting thought but I decided to give it a go, and I’m pleased that I did, as it is yet another nice memory of Sue’.

Gay wrote about her post-box toppers: ‘For my Sue Bush Challenge I decided to learn to crochet. No granny squares for me, straight into scary cats, witches hats etc. for Halloween; then gingerbread trains, baubles, Father Christmas and nutcracker soldiers. A collaboration with a friend who taught me’.

There are some photos of the afternoon over on our Facebook page. If anyone has a photo of the Christmas decoration that they made during the session, please could you email it to me and I’ll add them.