March meeting

We were all looking forward to the meeting in March, when Tanya Elliott was coming to talk to us and show us her recreation of Mary Tudor's Wedding Dress. Many non-members had seen the publicity about it in the local press, so we were expecting a good turnout.

It was a huge disappointment therefore when I got a phone call at 9.30 am on the morning of the meeting to say that Tanya was ill with food poisoning and would be unable to attend.

I had arranged for a small group of Textile Expressions members to visit Haslemere Museum that morning. The curator was going to give us exclusive access to some of the Eastern European Folk Costumes that they have in their collection. When I shared the bad news with these other ladies, they were as upset as I was.

We had a wonderful morning at the Museum, where Julia was full of enthusiasm and helpfulness. As well as the costumes, embroidered towels, shawls, etc, the museum also has on display a wonderful Art Nouveau panel by Margaret Macbeth. This depicts Saint Cecilia and bands (literally!) of angels playing various instruments.

I took dozens of photos, then we set off home in almost blizzard conditions!

A dozen or so phone calls that afternoon netted a small group of members who were willing to step into the breach to 'show and tell' about the creative work they do.

By 10 o'clock that evening, we were still going strong. What a wealth of talent and interesting techniques we have in our group!

Our group is for anyone interested in all sorts of textile creations, whether stitch (hand and machine embroidery) knitting, patchwork & quilting, felting, crochet, beadwork, etc, as well as paperarts such as card making, miniature books, drawing and painting, etc, etc. In fact, even if you don't create with textiles, we'd like to share what we do with you.
Come to one of our monthly meetings, where you can see and hear professional and keen amateurs talk about and show their creations. We meet on the third Monday of the month, in the Age Concern Room at the Community Centre, Meudon Avenue, Farnborough, Hants. Arrive between 7.15 pm and 7.45 for a drink and to meet people before the main meeting. Visitors pay £4.50 per meeting, members £2.
On March 19th Tanya Elliott will be showing us her re-creation of Mary Tudor's Wedding Dress, which was made for an exhibition at Winchester Cathedral 450 years after Mary married Philip of Spain there.
Then on Saturday March 24th, Tanya will lead us in a workshop to make a Regency reticule (a Jane Austen style handbag, to the un-historically minded!) Cost for the day (10 am - 4pm) will be £15 to members, £20 to non-members, plus £6 for a kit of all necessary materials. Interested parties indicate here and I will email you the details.