Tower and Town, March 2024 (view the full edition)Textiles and Stitch Around MarlboroughOnce a month Kennet Valley Hall in Lockeridge is the meeting place for members of the local textile group known as Textiles and Stitch Around Marlborough. The group has just completed its second year as an independent group and was formally a branch of the Embroiderers Guild for 45 years. We now have over 40 members whose interests cover not only hand and machine embroidery, but also many other creative arts such as patchwork, quilting, felting, mixed media and printing to name a few. We are a friendly group and love to meet and share our skills and knowledge. Guest speakers and textile artists are booked each month to give talks and lead workshops on their particular topic. To get the group off to an exciting start in the autumn of 2022 we welcomed some interesting speakers including Kirsten McCleod and her amazing Red Dress (see picture), followed by Ruth Smith who talked about the Miao tribe in China, Karen Lane who was a felt maker and two ladies from the Kennet Valley Guild of Spinners & Weavers. More recently we have had talks by Lizzie Godden on Eco Printing and for our Christmas meeting Michelle Carragher talked about her embroidery on garments for Game of Thrones. In addition, we have 'in house' workshops, members' stitch days and several outings each year. Last year we had a very successful outing to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where we had a private viewing of Robert Shaw's wonderful collection of Chinese robes. Looking ahead, we have an inspiring selection of speakers and workshops already booked for this year and into 2025. Our programme is on our website if you would like to take a look, we welcome visitors at all our meetings. https://textilesandstitch.co.uk/ In the summer we will be holding a public exhibition of our members' work in Kennet Valley Hall, Lockeridge from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th June . We will also be serving teas, coffee and home-made cakes. As well as the main exhibits, there will also be various items on sale, and we hope to welcome Sewcraft, the textile shop from Swindon, so we can stock up on textile supplies.  The Red Dress-a 14-year project with 380 embroiderers from 51 countries. See https://reddressembroidery.com/ Ann Louise Smith |