Treasure

Treasure is the theme of the challenge for the group decided on at last week's meeting.  It came from someone saying they would love to work on something related to the Staffordshire Hoard (the picture shows a piece from the hoard, a fitting for the hilt of a sword, made from gold and set with garnets).  Fairly speedily we swooped on the theme of treasure (having decided that a broad theme that could be interpreted in various ways would be the most likely to inspire us).  So: challenge details as follows:

• interpret the them in any way you choose
• any size from postcard upwards
• as many or as few pieces as you like
• flat or 3D
• any techniques
• deadline is the last meeting of the year, which is on the 8th December

All these things have been kept deliberately as open as possible to enable people to join in in any way they like.

Also at the meeting we decided that sharing and learning were our priorities, though which of these came first varied from one person to another: some wanted to get on with making whilst others wanted time to explore new techniques.  The upshot of the discussion was that meetings would be more flexible: with time for people to come and sew and share ideas but with the opportunity, as an optional activity, for people to have the chance to learn new techniques/try out new approaches and materials.  Hopefully this will cater both for people who are suffering from technique overload as a result of doing City and Guilds recently as well as those who are relative newcomers to contemporary quilting.

One are that came to the fore was the need to have a new approach to the "Show and Tell" sections of meetings, including not just finished items but also works in progress,  either as a means of sharing with people the ways in which things happen for each of us, or asking for advice when we get stuck: again what we share is also optional - if anyone feels the need to eep their work under wraps until it's finished that's OK too.

This has been a long post - sorry - I'll conclude with the dates of future meetings: all Saturdays, all at Clifford Village Hall:  July 7th (sorry about the distance between meetings here, but the hall is undergoing renovation work on the date we'd originally booked); August 4th; October 20th; December 12th.  Hope to see you there!