April Meeting

"Collage just got bigger" was the title of Sarah Hibbert's presentation on the first evening meeting of 2025.  

We certainly saw some large quilts with large designs.  Originally Sarah had produced some more traditional work and hand quilting.  Later she found an interest in more abstract designs.

I personally, not being particularly proficient at art and design, was fascinated with her process of producing modern abstract designs.  As a starting point she cuts/tears paper before arranging them as a stepping stone to her quilts using mainly solid colours, often with a limited palette.

Sarah was an interesting speaker, often sharing humorous details of producing quilts even if they illustrated problems she faced, including a grandchild dyed blue by a non-colourfast fabric.

Kathy Francis

April Speaker

Our April speaker is Sarah Hibbert and her talk is entitled "Collage just got bigger".  Please note that this is the first evening meeting starting at 7.30.

Sarah's quilting has been on a journey over the last few years.  Having learnt traditional patterns as a hobby over thirty years ago she has now begun to explore more modern designs. She lives just outside London and her little study is floor to ceiling in boxes of fabric. Reinventing her design process has helped her to have more fun with fabric choices and to largely let the fabrics talk for themselves.

She loves the combination of old and new; of the traditional and contemporary; patterns passed down through the generations and her personal contribution bringing something new.  Even though she enjoys playing with large abstract prints she finds using solids more appealing for their timeless appeal. She mainly works in linen, purely for the texture and natural element of the fibres, but also for the way linen blends so well with the hand quilting making a conversation together that will carry onto the next generation.

Her second love is paper collage, enabling her to broaden her colour palette.  From these simple paper creations, she has taken the idea through to quilt layouts. This not only challenges her in problem solving but excites her seeing her design in two creative mediums. 

March Meeting

A beautiful early Spring afternoon was the backdrop for our March meeting.

Mary Hart, a mixed media textile artist from Northamptonshire, brought many examples from her vast repertoire of textile embellished projects.  We could handle these examples closely and learn how each technique was used.  Inspiration was often from nature, both in the home countries and her travels all over the world.

Images of Mary's work

Speaker for March

Our speaker for March is Mary Hart and her talk is entitled "Here is one I made earlier".

Mary is a textile artist.  She has been working in textiles for 25 years.  Her style of working is explorative, experimental and ever evolving as Mary is forever developing more techniques and adding new ideas to her repertoire.  Mary finds that new media and processes fuel her work and she often responds to  a brief in an intuitive way.  Her work is abstract, free flowing and multi layered.  She has a wide range of textual techniques at her fingertips.

Mary is a keen exhibitor and has a large folio in stock.   Mary also offers public speaking.  Her topics are on either techniques and approach or based on textile artwork produced following inspirational travels.

An example of her work.

AGM and Mark Francis

 You might say that Cosby Quilter’s AGM held on February 5^th, was a meeting of two halves.

Firstly, the business of the AGM was efficiently dealt with by our Chairman, confirming that 2024 had been a busy and successful year with a good mix of speakers, workshops and traders and our finances are in a good position.

This was followed by a change of focus when Mark Francis, our speaker, treated us to a range of anecdotes about his TV appearances on the popular Sewing Bee.

 

He had brought some of the garments he had made on the programme but concentrated mostly on the details of how the programme was run and what was required of the participants.

For example, we were unaware that everyone had to plan and make all the garments for the last challenge each week up to the quarter finals before any filming took place.  This meant so many garments were never seen if contestants were sent home before the semi-final.

Mark gave a light-hearted and fluent presentation and was able to reveal a few of the programme’s lesser-known details and answer questions from the audience.

Kathy Francis

Doughty's are coming to whetstone

 

Please note that the AGM paperwork has been updated and also the follow notice.

February Meeting

 The next meeting is the 5th February which is the AGM.  The AGM will be followed a talk from Mark Francis of the Sewing Bee.

Please note that details of the year's programme are now available on the speaker's page and workshop page.  There is still some information to fill in but that is all towards the end of the year.

The documentation for the AGM will be put on as soon as it is available.

We all look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.