In January, we had 4 members of the society who were kind enough to talk us through some of their work that had won prizes at recent exhibitions.

Maggie Tomlinson presented her hand-knitted sweater from the 2022 exhibition, which told the moving story of her father’s life from his birth and childhood on a farm, to his time serving in the army.

Sara Perkins gave an entertaining talk on the process of creating her wine bottle doll and it’s many accessories from the 2024 exhibition, which was (retrospectively – she had forgotten the subject of the exhibition when making the doll!) inspired by Strauss’s waltz “Artist’s Life”.

Hazel Barker presented a lovely quilt, “Love and Laughter in May” she had made for her daughter’s wedding. The wedding guests were all asked to write their wishes for the bride and groom on fabric, which Hazel then made into the quilt along with some photos.

Diane Beaumont talked us through the creation of 2 pieces, “Nature in Spin”, a mixed media piece and “Bluebell Wood”, a thread painting on silk, that were selected for entry into the 2024 Open Exhibition at the Ferens gallery in Hull.

Our December speaker was Meredith Towne, who was a dress historian and clothes maker. She gave a talk celebrating the 1950s’ evening wear. Various items of clothing were shown which included cocktail dresses and a smocked children’s party dress. Meredith read from a pamphlet which outlined the arrangements necessary for getting ready to go out in an hour. The required underwear was modeled, followed by a cocktail dress and accessories. The talk was vert entertaining, and was supported by Meredith’s “glamorous assistant”, who displayed some of the items.

Our November speaker was the lovely Stuart Hillard, always one of our most popular guests, who gave a very entertaining talk to a full house, on mistaken identity (apparently he’s really Kaffe Fassett…) and the inspiration for his new book “Quilts from the Country”.

Having grown up in the countryside, Stuart wanted to write something personal to him and reflect his love of the country, so his latest book is full of quilt designs with seasonal themes.

He brought along a selection of beautiful quilts made for the book, and had some signed copies of his book for our members to buy.