Chronicle report – January to March 2026

Written by Anne Carter

For the second year in a row, the first meeting of the New Year was cancelled due to heavy snow!

On 20th January, members made greetings cards recycling off- cuts of silk left over from the last group quilt.

Beartown P’s and Q’s and Montague Patchers from Sale have a long history of exchanging “meet the neighbours” evenings. In February, several Beartown members took dozens of quilts and quilted items to show to the members at Montague Patchers, then at the end of March, six Sale members reciprocated and visited Beartown with a large variety of their quilts.

Also in February, an accidental bag workshop, led by Anne Barber, was held at Astbury Village Hall with several members taking part.

An electrician was arranged to carry out PATesting for small electrical appliances on the same evening as a discussion on the merits of becoming a member of The Quilters’ Guild of The British Isles.

On 3rd March, Wendy Dolan was the speaker via Zoom, about Indian Treasures. Wendy has a diploma in textiles and embroidery, specialising in Indian embroidery techniques. A regular visitor to India, she explained the different techniques used, including block printing with hand carved, wooden, hardwood blocks and also wax and mud resist, indigo dyeing. Wendy adapts workshops to her own designs with experimental, surface stitching and sponging dyes, plus free- motion quilting. She also runs courses and tours to India and Japan. https://www.wendydolan.co.uk/

On 17th March the AGM was held before a demonstration of how to make fabric and beaded necklaces.

The last meeting before Easter on 31st March was the return visit from Montague Patchers, as mentioned above. Also included in their display were two challenges called “quilting whispers.” Starting with the same picture for inspiration, groups of quilters made small quilts, each month passing a photo of each quilt to the next member, resulting in twelve quilts looking vastly different from the original picture. (There are photos on our Quilty Whispers 2026 page)

Beartown P’s and Q’s began their own “quilting whispers” challenge in February and all will be revealed by the end of the year……