Jane Davies - textile artist

On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have Jane Davies as our speaker. She was pleased to come, as she only lives in Rugby, so it was very local for her! Here she is in full flow.

Jane is a textile artist and talked to us about "Fantastic Fabrics - Textiles from Many Lands". She started by showing some slides (just the right number!) of some fabulous examples of textiles from around the world, China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was lovely to see people wearing beautifully decorated textiles, obviously some of them everyday wear, as was evident by one little Chinese girl's rather grubby embroidered blouse!

She had brought along examples of embroidered, pieced and appliqued fabrics for us to drool over and to inspire us. The workmanship in these pieces was awe-inspiring, and the colours fabulous.

Then Jane showed us some pieces of her own which her interest in ethnic textiles had inspired. A pieced fabric can be easily enhanced by decorative stitching, embroidery or applique.

Jane had a sales table as well with lots of very tempting goodies. This attracted lots of attention, so much so that I couldn't get a photo of the wares!

However, I couldn't resist temptation myself (well, it's calorie free!) and bought two 'Mini Adventure Kits', one for myself (the green of course) and the other for a friend. Can't wait to get started!

I found her talk not only interesting but really inspiring - she's not just an embroiderer and she made us realise that some embellishment - beading, embroidery etc, can really add another dimension and interest to your patchwork.

It was disappointing at show and tell to only see three of the curved flying geese panels which had been made at Pat Deacon's workshop, but no doubt the others will appear in due course.

Vicky and Ann had made these table runners at a class at Quorn Country Crafts in Loughborough. The varying colour schemes make the pattern look quite different.

Gaynor showed her calendar quilt, made from a pattern in 'Quiltmaker'. Mine is still in my UFO box, but I love the way she has outlined each block with navy to unify the quilt. Perhaps that would work for me.

Paula made this beautiful cushion at a class with Sandie Lush.

These lively chickens, which are a Mary Mayne pattern, lead us nicely into next month's speaker, which will be Mary herself!