Well, we’ve come to the end of another enjoyable textile event – our second Spring show at the Jeannie Avent Gallery in London SE22.   It was a riot of colour, chatter & textile activity with lots of new visitors as well as old friends who had visited us here last year. Workshops were well attended & people went home with an amazing array of gorgeous tactile textiles, made with skills they didn’t know they had!

Kim’s beautiful shibori tied, indigo dyed scarves flew out of the gallery, destined to be gifts for friends, mothers, daughters & aunts.

Janet’s beloved needlefelted dogs were gathered up by those who just can’t resist their imploring little faces and quirky characters, to be cherished by dog-lovers everywhere.

We said goodbye to our favourite of Dianne’s colourful rag-rugs made with recycled t-shirts, which was bought for someone’s toddler daughter to step out onto when she leaves her bed in the mornings – soft, deep pile underfoot.  Gorgeous!

And goodbye to Joan’s orange weaving which had given such a zing of gorgeous colour to the wall.

Carol’s workshops attracted a wide range of participants as always.  A day of feltmaking resulted in these accomplished pieces of work by first-time felters and by one who has been twice before.

Beginners’ embroidery introduced Mary Thomas to a different way of producing abstract art, and 9-year-old Christopher embroidered a little garden for us all to enjoy.

Shisha mirrorwork embroidery class presented a challenge to some, but by the end of the evening all had managed to get the basic stitching techniques into their fingers, and took home their practise pieces ready to do more.  Lara and Emma enjoyed it so much they want to come back , and they are most welcome.  We had a good laugh at some of the hiccups along the way, such as someone sewing her embroidery to her dress!

Mustn’t forget our needlefelted birds and dogs workshops – as popular as always.  Robins are always favoured by first timers at the birds workshops as they are an easy shape to work on to start with, and 13 year-old Marielle made a lovely little dachsund for her first try!

A big THANKYOU to all our supporters and friends, and to all our new visitors.  We had a great time sharing our textiles and our making skills with you all – until the next time ….

Kim, Carol and Joan – Women of the Cloth

And our wonderful guest artists

Janet Thompson

Robyn Archer 

Mary Rodriguez Thomas

Dianne Brown