The entrance hall to the Castle has been moved around a bit, so the reception desk is no longer by the stairs, but directly opposite the front door where it can be seen more easily. However, this means that the quilting table was pushed into a corner - about half the table was in direct light from one of the windows, but the corner was a bit dark.
I wasn't sure what to expect, so I went along with no sewing materials at all. The regular ladies quickly set me up with needle, thread, snips and a pile of material cut into hexagons that needed to be sewn to hexagon shaped pieces of paper. When the quilts are finally assembled, the paper is taken out.
Another new lady was shown how to add hexagons onto a partly completed quilt.
Each quilt is quite small, and they are intended to be given to new refugees.
Conversation around the table was interesting - one lady was about to go to Shanghai to see her son. Another lady is a potter, and she showed us pictures of a Viking lamp she had made. This is a small bowl with a central column, and you wind beeswax impregnated twine round the column to make the wick, then fill the bowl with wax, or olive oil, or whale blubber if you've got it! Because it's a coiled wick, it makes a brighter light than a normal candle.
Another lady had pictures of the Red Dress. It's an absolutely gorgeous silk dress, made from embroidered pieces from all over the world, and it took years to put together. Many of the pieces were made by refugees. It's now touring on exhibition - it was at Theatr Brycheiniog last September, and it's in Geneva on 10th March. Later in the year it will be in Australia.
There's now a new project for a Calico Dress made in a similar way. Calico Dress Cymru has been made by a variety of different groups across Wales, in partnership with the Waterfront Museum in Swansea. Other calico dresses are being developed around the world.
The quilting group meets every Saturday at 11am at the Castle, and I've already put a little box of supplies ready for next week.
