November Meeting

The return visit of Carolyn Forster on November 4th proved to be a lovely, friendly afternoon meeting.

The theme was Quilts from Pre-cuts which was illustrated by many beautiful, large quilts. They included the uses of Jelly Rolls and Layer cakes which could be a true time-saving feature but even these could be further cut to achieve a variety of blocks.

The construction of each quilt was explained so we could see the variety of effects achieved.  Two of our committee members helped by holding up each quilt in quick succession, adding their own observations - after all they could see the close-up deetails!

Carolyn was a well prepared, entertaining and friendly speaker much enjoyed by our members and she also did a workshop the following day.

Kathy Francis

Some examples of Carolyn's quilts

November Speaker

Our speaker for November is Carolyn Forster and her talk is entitled Quilts from Precuts.  The meeting starts at 2 pm.

Carolyn Forster studied textiles at Bath and has a City and Guilds in Patchwork and Quilting.

Over the years Carolyn’s work has been featured in various British and International quilting magazines. Her quilts have appeared on the television; both here and in the US, and has contributed to books published by New Holland and That Patchwork Place.

Since self-publishing her first book, Quilting-on-the-Go, Carolyn Forster has written books for Landauer Publishing in the US, and Search Press in the UK. Carolyn teaches widely both here in the UK and abroad.

October Meeting

On October 6th/7th we saw a welcome return of textile artist Gail Lawther.  She travels the UK widely doing talks, workshops etc. as well as doing commissions for books and banners especially for schools and churches.

We saw many beautiful quilts and Gail explained their designing and planning, several being in the books she has published.  Some were the same design design in different colourways showing dramatic changes of mood and atmosphere.

Colours were vibrant especially when emphasised with the stained glass effect achieved with black, silver or gold iron-on bias binding.

Even for those of us less confident with free motion quilting Gail showed several effective designs without the feed dogs being lowered.

A variety of books and patterns being available was also popular as was her Christmas workshop the previous day at Ashby Magna.

Kathy Francis

Janet's flip and sew jaguar

October Speaker

Our Speaker for October is Gail Lawther and her talk is entitled "Animal Magic". This is our first afternoon meeting and will start at 2pm.

Please note that she is holding a workshop on Tuesday 6th October for a "Christmas Sampler" and that there are still places available.  Details are on the workshop page.

Gail began working full-time in fabric and thread about 20 years ago, and can’t imagine a better way to earn her living. She designs and stitches quilts for books and patterns, and also creates larger pieces on commission.

She travels all round the UK and further afield, giving talks about her quilts and teaching workshops, and several times each year she does residential workshops in different places.

There are also places available on the Carolyn Forster  workshop "Woven Scrappy Jelly Roll Quilt".

September Meeting 2

On 2nd September we had a true "mixed media" speaker at Cosby.  Emily Notman has developed a strong style of her own leading to her reputation as "The Textile Florist"

Emily was able to explain to us, with slides and many examples, the path of her career and the effect all her experiences have had on her current work.

Having studied fine arts at Leeds, Emily went to the University of Cumbria where she was able to work on embroidery, printed textiles and ceramics.  This covered a huge variety of processes, perhaps not always taking the path her lecturers expected of her.

This has led to her delicate compositions using a 'soft' colour palette.  They have great depth and rich tactile surfaces combining layering, embellishment with paint, many fabrics, incorporating 3D objects especially of a ceramic nature and beads as well as embroidery with a variety of threads.

Emily's finished work was much admired and several people showed an interest in a workshop with her at a later date.

Katy Francis

September Meeting

Our speaker for September is Emily Notman and her talk is entitled "The Textile Florist". The meeting starts at 7.30.

Once described as “The Textile Florist,” her work pays homage to her mother’s floristry career and the charm of her cottage garden. She creates delicate textile compositions where stitched flowers and foliage intertwine, celebrating the beauty of nature through thread and fabric.

She studied Fine Art at Leeds College of Art and Design and Contemporary Applied Arts at The University of Cumbria, graduating with a First Class BA (Hons) specialising in embroidery, printed textiles, and ceramics. Since then, she has had the privilege of exhibiting and creating bespoke, commissioned pieces for clients around the world, with her work featured in books and international publications.
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Alongside her studio practice, she runs day workshops and talks across the UK and offer online sessions worldwide, sharing her passion for textiles, mixed media, and hand embroidery with others who love to create.

July Meeting

 I’m sure when we have visited quilt shows in the past, we have all looked at all those fantastic quilts on display, and thought “Why did that one win? - my choice is much better?”

Well our July speaker: Vendulka Battais, is now a certified quilt judge. In her talk entitled Judging and Winning “ she very carefully explained the judging process under detailed headings which needed to be examined by each judge.  Surprisingly the quality of the actual stitching does not come high up on the list.

Vendulka showed pictures of quilts on screen to be compared by the audience and then revealed the actual class in a show.

Many of these were her own entries but we gasped when we saw several of them ‘in real life’ in front of us. They were huge and so much better and more impressive than the pictures!

Other pieces of work that Vendulka brought with her

6" square Challenge

Bag for the third day of Summer School