'Travel Without Leaving Home' - talk by Andrea McMillan

 On a dreich, foggy November day we were treated to a riot of colour with Andrea's beautiful art quilts. A great traveller, visiting family in far flung parts of the globe, Andrea has a massive collection of photos from around the world to draw on for inspiration. These photos were a boon when we all went into lockdown and couldn't travel to the shops, never mind getting on a plane. Andrea had more time to sew in her lovely wooden cabin studio, and made a series of quilts and hangings during this trying time.

Andrea gave a very professional presentation depicting the creation of the quilts from conception to finished item, starting with a brilliant sketchbook detailing the working out process. She had a slide show showing the various stages of a number of quilts she had brought along, so we could see the progression and the finished quilt, exactly how it was put together and stitched, which was so useful. Many questions were answered.

Andrea is giving us a day school in February, which is something to look forward to.

Day School,with Morag Gray - Village Draught Excluder

 Members enjoyed a day with repeat tutor Morag Gray, making a draught excluder for those chilly winter nights. Lots of different fabrics were used to create houses from imagination, including especially some lovely tweeds. The first picture is by Morag herself, the finished item. 

The photos following are just a few, showing different stages. I hope to get some photos of people's finished work when they are completed at home.

Talk by Jeni Reid - My Journey

 Today's talk was a bit out of the ordinary, we saw things we hadn't seen before in an interesting slide show. Jeni started her career as a photographer, and visited many places photographing artists and designers work, including lovely knitwear.  From there her interest branched out into cyanotypes, which we hadn't seen before, and is a process of applying a chemical to paper or fabric, after placing items on it to make a resist, or shadow, and then the material is placed under light and left to magically make an image as the chemical turns blue, leaving a negative image. She had brought along items made up from the cloth. Due to long term illness she has made many cloth and knitted items.

She had done some research into the transatlantic slave trade and how it affected people in Angus in the past, probably without their knowledge. Some people who lived in Angus owned over 5,000 slaves, who knew? Jeni had made up a load of postcards with photos of Angus scenery, and on the back is written a name from the slave returns to commemorate the individuals, and leaving the postcards all around the county so people can learn about this history.

Jeni is also passionate about the awful plastic waste that blights our landscapes and beaches, and has turned some of this detritus into rather lovely jewellery, made from things like bottle tops and toothpaste tubes. 

More of Jeni's work can be seen by searching for her on Instagram.

Welcome and Afternoon Tea

 After this indifferent summer it was lovely to see so many familiar faces, and some new ones (welcome to the new members!), and to catch up on all the news. Nancy brought us all up to date on plans for this year, and we had a surprise speaker, Beth, who has opened a lovely fabric shop in Keptie Street, Arbroath. Beth is a fabric designer with a passion for patchwork and quilting, and she had brought along a collection of quilts in gorgeous colours, and to talk about her shop where she will be offering classes, as well as selling kits, and having a 'craft cafe', which sounds wonderful. 

Do visit her excellent website at www.lovefrombeth.com and see a feast of colour and pattern. Some photos below of what she she brought.

We then had a delicious tea of home bakes, and a gossip, and some inspiration for the coming year.

Programme for 2024/2025 now published

 The new programme is now published in the headers at the top of the page.  Check out the treats in store, and book the dates in your diaries.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in September.

'The Gathering', Perth

 Ten of our members spent the day at the 'Gathering', a recently formed organisation uniting clubs of stitchers from all over Scotland. There were demonstrations, stalls and workshops, and a display of member's work on the theme of the Stone of Destiny. There was also a raffle, and our members did very well, Kate won a Husqvarna sewing machine!!! Hopefully more of us will make it next year.