Our June meeting brought us a beautiful sunny evening, so welcome after many cool grey days.
Our speaker Dawn Cameron Dick had an equally sunny disposition.
Dawn is a textile artist and teacher of many years experience. It was the progression of these years that led to the title "One Woman Show".
We saw her very first quilt, in fact she had forgotten it until her son produced it for "renovation" for his own child having kept it since his own childhood.
We saw her quilts in chronological order and she explained her ideas and methods which led to the development of her own style.
We saw her signature technique of invisible machine applique and those who joined her the next day for her workshop also had a chance to use reverse hand applique.
Dawn was an excellent speaker with great humour. Interestingly although she sews commissions her love is of teaching rather than being competitive.
One could not fail to be impressed with her volume of quilting even on large quilts, many of them being hand quilted.
Our speaker for June is Dawn Cameron Dick with her talk entitled "One Woman Show".
Dawn has over 40 years experience working in the textiles industry and is best known for her signature technique ‘Invisible Machine Appliqué’. She teaches all over the world including the Festival of Quilts, Houston Quilt Festival & QuiltEuro. Dawn has written four books, presented on a TV sales channel, filmed classes for Just Hands on TV and filmed her own DVDs.
Textile artist, Sally Hutson visited us on 3rd May.
We were treated to a lively explanation of how here interest in fabrics, sewing and creating grew. She told us of the process of developing each idea she had brought and the pieces were all passed round for us to examine closely. In addition several large "kimono" style garments were displayed and she ware an attractive patchwork jacket herself.
Each of her creations are unique and often include vintage fabrics and those with special memories. Much of her work is commissions and she had had success at quilt shows in this country and abroad.
Sally explained her use of paint and stitching on her pieces and was generous with her tips and ideas.
Kathy Francis
Examples of her work
Our speaker for the May Meeting is Sally Hutson of Stitchywoowoo. Her talk is entitled "How did I Get Here".
Sally Hutson is a textile artist who uses a variety of techniques to produce one off textiles.
Embroiderer, Quilter and Doll Maker, her range of work is exciting and innovative. She has a passion for antique and vintage textiles and uses many old pieces in her work. She also combines commercial printed fabrics with many of her hand dyed fabrics. Every work is a unique one off piece of art.
Sally has an MA in Textiles and Anthropology. She has lectured full time in the History of Textiles and Applied Textiles. As a Textile Historian Sally believes old and worn cloth have memory held within the weave and threads. She stitches these fading memories into a beautiful rich narrative of past times and lives.
Sally runs workshops and gives talks to groups.
"Lock Down and Love it" seems an unlikely title for our April meeting, in view of our personal memories of that time.
However, it was chosen by our speaker: textile artist Moira Neal for her second visit to Cosby Quilters. Her positive attitude to her own experiences was refreshing as well as a little reminder of what many of us did at that time.
The positive slant covered teaching her 17 year old grand-daughter to drive on relatively quiet roads while delivering the items she had produced for the NHS and care homes. Even her array of colourful and often numerous face masks led to an artistic arrangement, not to mention her personal ones hung on a useful rack made from recycled materials.
She was also energetic and imaginative in the kitchen producing a variety of preserves from surplus fruits.
Moira brought her colourful and attractive cards and led a successful workshop earlier in the day as well as large quilts.
Her entertaining style gave us a very enjoyable evening and a positive feast for the eyes.
Kathy Francis
Moira Neal is a free machine artist and she loves to up cycle old cotton sheets to use in her work. She enjoys dyeing, printing, stamping, marbling and appliqueing them to create her own unique cloth. She no longer makes large bed quilts and now concentrates on making quirky work which she can use for her range of greetings cards.
She has had mobility problems and as a consequence wrote her first book called 'Colourful Canvas Landscapes.
Her workshop is at Ashby Magna Village Hall on Wednesday 5th April and is entitled "Pick and Mix Tuscan Landscape".
