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

July Speaker

In July Vendulka Battais will be returning with a talk entitled "Judging and Winning".   When she came to us last year in October she mentioned that she had become a certified quilt judge.  She has created a talk to give us insight into what the judges are looking for in a project and how they have to come to an agreement on which ones will be awarded first prize etc.

June Meeting

Although Roxanne from Hannah's Room was in the middle of an extremely busy period, she stepped in at very short notice when our June speaker had to cancel.

Members able to attend at this time of year were limited but they missed a treat as we enjoyed a really stimulating evening.

Roxanne had visited us before with  beautiful examples of her wide range of quality batiks.

Her presentation covered in detail how her fabrics are produced and followed Roxanne's journey into her present work.  She has produced a huge range of designs based on inspirations from nature.

We were captivated by the kits and patterns she brought with her, so many of them with stitched and framed examples.

Many of us were happy to give in to temptation and bought one!

Sales Table left to Right

Examples of her small project work for workshops

June Speaker

 Unfortunately Julia Gahagan is unable to come to our June meeting due to illness in the family.  This means that she has cancelled the talk and the workshop.

Pat Screaton has been able to find someone to take her place for the talk in June.  Roxanne from Hannah's Room will be coming to talk and will bring her pop up shop.

Roxanna is the owner of Hannah's Room, which is named after her elder sister.  When she her sister left home in 1999 her bedroom became their mother's sewing room and eventually the base for a fabric business, specialising in Batik fabrics. Since then Hannah's Room has grown and grown.  Roxanne took over from her mother ten years ago.  She juggles a busy family life, as she is the mother of 4 children, with running Hannah's Room.  She is keen to show her children the pride in working hard as well as the value of quality time together.

She is passionate about Hannah's Room and all that the business does.  They only stock the best quality of Indonesian Batik Fabrics.  

She is keen to constantly improve the experience for her customers whether that is online, at shows, talks and workshops.

Kate Findlays Workshop

Unfinished pieces from Kate Findlay's workshop

All different

 

May Meeting

 Our May meeting saw the return visit of textile artist Kate Findlay.  She last came in 2022.

She did not disappoint and her presentation was met with an attentive audience following her detailed and fascinating explanations.

Through her videos Kate led us through building up her original designs of animals, birds and natural landscapes.  There were also plenty of finished pieces to examine as well.

Kate dyes a lot of fabric herself and particularly interesting was her method of painting tree trucks and using tiny confetti pieces.

Many of us were tempted by the wide range of items on sale, ranging from greetings cards to patterns and complete kits of her designs.

Examples of her work

Our speaker for May is Kate Findlay and her talk is entitled "Nature in Textiles".

Kate is self employed as a textile artist and teacher.  She lives with her partner and son in Berkshire, and has a studio at home on the second floor which gives her plenty of exercise up and down the stairs!

Kate taught Design Technology and Art in secondary schools for many years, before getting a job as an art teacher in a private primary school after her son was born.  It was working part time here that allowed her own art to develop.

After creating a body of work inspired by the the Large Hadron Collider she turned to the natural world for inspiration and began a series of pieces inspired by birds, which has gradually grown to encompass a great variety of wildlife, and also landscapes and woodlands on a larger scale.

Kate travels the country giving talks and workshops based on all her work - and her ongoing interest in e-textiles and the use of other media.

Making art is a complete passion and is probably the most important thing in her life right now.

 

April Practical Evening

 Our meeting on the 1st April 2026 is a practical evening  starting at 7.30 pm.

The project is shown below:

You will need scissors, needle and thread.  

March Meeting

 At our March meeting our speaker, Jane Stock, explained how Japanese Boro developed.  She was able to show us many examples and how she has evolved her own style.

Boro has a long history and its use grew in the less affluent communities from necessity.  They used and re-used textiles for clothes for warmth and economy.  It involved putting layers of fabric over thin or damaged areas and securing them with simple stitching.

Jane explained the use of indigo dyes on cotton and jute fabrics; natural fibres that could be grown locally.  She showed us fabric that she had dyed using "tie/dye" techniques to achieve different "depths" of colour and many differing patterns as well as printed areas.

Jane's work was varied and showed how she has experimented to produce her individual style.

Kathy Francis

Examples of her work

March Speaker

Our speaker for our meeting on the 4th March at 2pm is Jane Stock.  Her talk is entitled "The History, Traditions and Techniques of Japanese Boro". 

Jane enjoys working with a range of fabrics and media but she is particularly drawn to materials and textiles that have had a previous life and show signs of wear and repair.

She uses different processes including hand stitch, printing, and dyeing.  Indigo is her favourite colour and she is fascinated by the various patterns and effects that can be produced.  Her hand stitching is all about mark making rather than precision or regularity.

II enjoy working with a range of fabrics and media but I am particularly drawn to I   joy working with a range of fabrics and media but I am particularly drawn to materials and textiles that have had a previous life and show signs of wear and repair.  Different processes include hand stitch, printing and dyeing.  Indigo is a favourite and I am fascinated by the various patterns and effects that can be produced. 

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My hand stitching is all about mark making rather than precision or regularity. 

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Textile history, from samplers, to the machinery and processes of large mills their pattern and sample archives, are of d textiles that have had a previous life and show signs of wear and repair.  Different processes include hand stitch, printing and dyeing.  Indigo is a favourite and I am fascinated by the various patterns and effects that can be produced. 

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My hand stitching is all about mark making rather than precision or regularity. 

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Textile history, from samplers, to the machinery and processes of large mills their pattern and sample archives, are t have had a previous life and show signs of wear and repair.  Different processes include hand stitch, printing and dyeing.  Indigo is a favourite and I am fascinated by the various patterns and effects that can be produced. 

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My hand stitching is all about mark making rather than precision or regularity. 

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Textile history, from samplers, to the machinery and processes of large mills their pattern and sample archives, are of particular interest. enjoy working with a range of fabrics and media but I am particularly drawn to materials and textiles that have had a previous life and show signs of wear and repair.  Different processes include hand stitch, printing and dyeing.  Indigo is a favourite and I am fascinated by the various patterns and effects that can be produced. 

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My hand stitching is all about mark making rather than precision or regularity. 

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Textile history, from samplers, to the machinery and processes of large mills their pattern and sample archives, are of particular interest.

February Meeting

Please note a change to our planned program as our February speaker is unable to attend this meeting due to ill health. We wish Sheila well, and hope to see her at a future meeting.

The AGM will be , followed by a Members' Meeting including the following:

Members Show and Tell - We'd encourage you all to bring along a piece of work for a general show and tell;  perhaps something you've made over the last year which you'd be happy to share. 

We will launch the2026 group 6 inch square project.  

You'll see items from previous workshops where the tutors will be here again this year - to give an idea of some of our 2026 workshops, which we hope will inspire you to come along! 

We will show our Suitcase Collection -  individual items made by members 

We look forward to seeing you all on the 4th February 2026.

Programme for 2026

Please note that the pages for Speakers and workshops have been update to reflect 2026.

December Meeting

 The meeting in December is a practical in the afternoon at 2.00.  The project is pictured below.  

November Meeting

 At our November meeting we were introduced to Alyssa Robinson’s method and source of ideas for her textile art.  With many detailed samples, she explained the development of an original idea isolating and analysing separate colours in a picture or natural object.

Like many of us she had always sewn from childhood but embroidery inspiration came later and she did City and Guilds embroidery.

Alyssa now does bespoke items as well as teaching and has her own studio on Leicestershire/Northamptonshire border.

Examples of her work

Work in progress - Design being coloured in with stitch

Final design printed on cushion

November Speaker

 Our speaker for November  is Alyssa Robinson and her talk is entitled "One thing leads to another" The meeting is in the afternoon at 2 pm.

Alyssa and her mother enjoyed getting the new edition of Golden Hands Magazine each month and she loved all the different techniques and remembers making a smocked dress for a little girl in the seventies.

She made clothes for dolls from her mothers dressmaking offcuts and then things for herself. She learnt sewing all through school, and made stage costumes and copies of high street fashion for herself.

She qualified and worked as a cartographer and geologist but always spent spare time making clothes, eventually setting up a bespoke dressmaking business.

After some amazing years as a full time mum, she enrolled in a City & Guilds Embroidery course and hasn't looked back.  By the time of her Diploma Show, She had completed her Post Compulsory Education Certificate and was teaching the beginners' class at the same college.  After 7 years teaching there, she set up her own studio on the Leicestershire/Northamptonshire border and set about teaching City & Guilds courses and day workshops.   

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We had a very enjoyable evening when Vendulka Battais talked to us about her “Journey with Oliven”.  She was born in the Czech Republic and moved to the United Kingdom in her mid-twenties.  Her mother had sewn many of her and her two sisters’ clothes and her eldest sister trained to be a tailoress.  She felt the need to craft with her hands and initially tried upholstery, then millinery and finally attended a patchwork class and fell in love with both the patchwork and the quilting.  Around this time, she met her husband Olivier and the first quilt she made was for him in blue and white.  They travelled to Australia and the next quilt we were shown included Australian fabric and fabric printed with photos from their travels. 

They settled in the Isle of Wight and created a fabric shop with workshop room above and also a café.  The first workshops were table runners. Very often it was the fabric that inspired the design. Eventually they relocated to Suffolk and opened another shop with workshop however now the shop is closed and this enables her to concentrate on teaching and give talks.

Over the years she has been inspired by specific techniques such as log cabin, bargello, cathedral window and been on workshops to improve her skills enabling her to pass on her expertise to her students.  Her next inspiration was using mandala as the basis for designs and she made a number of small quilts using patchwork but also embellishing the work with embroidery, beads and paint.

Her work was being notice by the quilting fraternity and she was winning prizes at quilt shows.  Some of these were in co-operation with her husband as he also is very artistic and has given up his career as a trained pastry chef to become a textile artist.  They won best in show with the quilt “Our Ladies” at the NEC in 2021.

She has trained to become a quilt judge and now understands how difficult that can be.

Her latest venture is into quilted garments using the fabric for inspiration.

It was fabulous to look at all the different projects and to find out how they had been created.  A few are shown below.