Its not often we arrive at the hall on club night to find a big bus parked outside. Our numbers were swelled by a load of happy quilters from Palmerston North. They had come to join Town and Country Quilters to listen to a lecture by South African fabric artist Kathryn Harmer Fox. And what an inspiring speaker she was, as she told us about her family, her new husband, and her working processes.
All her works start with a drawing, and Kathryn loves being part of the computer age, making research so much quicker. Previously, she spent many hours in the library, taking home armfuls of heavy books. We were shown slides of some of her work, and she explained how her pieces developed from the drawing stage to the finished product. Kathryn works with collages, and using heavy free motion quilting to hold everything in place. She is taking classes while here in New Zealand, and brought along a multitude of samples.
Class samples of Post Cards
These gorgeous pieces were on the stage, so I was able to get up close to them – but still wondered “how did she do this?” Such amazing work.
Unbelievably detailed
We all admired Kathryn’s colourful orange top, which she had made herself, but were astounded when she told us that she had also stitched her pair of matching orange boots. Not too hard she said, and only took three days! All you need is a pair of rubber soles, then you wrap your feet in masking tape to get the correct shape. I don’t think many of us would be tackling a project like this though.
She concluded her talk with four observations.
1: Inspiration, be inspired by what you see and feel.
2: Repetition, practice makes perfect.
3: Let yourself make mistakes, and learn from them.
4: Laugh, and release your younger self.
Truly inspiring, and such a lovely lady too.
Awards were made for the Poppy Challenge, with four entries being received. Diane Young won the challenge, with her entry no.1. Avon Haigh won Viewers Choice, her entry was no.3. Congratulations all round.
Challenge entries number 1 and number 4
Challenge entries number 2 and 3.
There were two special baskets for raffle prizes, and our inspirational speaker Kathryn won the Wine and Cheese basket. Avon Haigh won the draw for the Sewing Basket.
After the talk concluded I had to rush to the kitchen as I was on supper duty, helping to serve the teas and coffees. Just as well there was extra help in the kitchen, as there was a seemingly never ending queue of ladies after their cuppas. There was plenty of chatter going on, and then the call went out, the bus was ready to leave for the return trip. That really got our visitors moving as the piled in to the bus for their homeward journey. The kitchen helpers tidied up, washed the dishes, packed everything away, and then it was our time to wander home. Such a great evening.
Jenny Benton
