September 2026 Our first Pilgrim Quilters Charity Quilt Exhibition is now on display at Reigate Community Centre, with 16 colourful quilts brightening the walls. Every quilt on display has been made to support one of the two wonderful charities we regularly sew for – Project Linus UK and Quilts for Care Leavers – giving our members an opportunity to use their skills to make something special for someone else. The exhibition is also a chance to take Pilgrim Quilters out into o

Friday 4 September 2026 Eleven Pilgrim Quilters set off for Reading for our latest Textile Heritage Tour, this time to see the remarkable full-size Victorian replica of the Bayeux Tapestry at Reading Museum. We had arranged a private guided tour, which proved a real highlight. Our guide brought the story and the stitching to life, pointing out fascinating details that many of us admitted we would otherwise have walked straight past. There was plenty to interest us as stitcher

Wednesday 19 August 2026 Our Pilgrim Quilters Summer Tea Party brought 28 of us together for a relaxed afternoon of sewing, chatting and, of course, plenty of tea and cake! Members brought along their own projects to work on, giving us a chance to see what everyone had been making and to enjoy some unhurried sewing time together. There were homemade scones and cakes, plenty of conversation and the inevitable discussion about the correct order for jam and cream! We also enjoye

Thursday 30 July 2026 This year’s Pilgrim Quilters coach trip to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC Birmingham was particularly special – because amongst all the wonderful quilts on display was one of our own! Our beautiful Around the World quilt, designed by Jinny Beyer, began life as a kit belonging to our much-missed friend and fellow quilter Shelagh Jarvis, who died three years ago. The kit was gifted to Pilgrim Quilters and, because of the complexity of the design, six of

One of the changes we’ve been delighted to introduce this year is many more opportunities for Pilgrim Quilters members to get together and sew. Our sewing days were traditionally occasional Saturday events, but we’ve now significantly expanded the programme, adding a regular choice of midweek sewing days alongside our Saturdays. And they’ve proved very popular! These are deliberately relaxed days. Members bring their own projects, spread out and enjoy several uninterrupted ho

One of our most popular summer projects was the beautiful Lone Star, taught by our very own Pippa Petersen. Our first workshop on 13 July proved so popular that Pippa arranged an additional day on 7 August, giving more members the opportunity to tackle this striking traditional design. Pippa did a fantastic job of guiding everyone through the techniques involved – and, as our photographs show, she inspired some amazing work. Different choices of fabrics and colours resulted i

Our June day trip on Wednesday 24th June turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year, but that certainly didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm! Eight of us set off in two cars, with Kate driving one and Fiona the other, for a wonderfully enjoyable day visiting two inspiring quilting businesses in Tongham. Our journey was pleasantly uneventful, and we arrived at Sunflower Stitches, where Karen Crookes gave us a very warm welcome. We were treated to tea, coffee and a delic

Our May meeting featured a fascinating talk by textile artist Harriet Riddell, who shared her remarkable journey into the world of free-motion machine embroidery and demonstrated how she uses thread to create stunning works of art. Harriet's love of stitching began at the age of five, and by the time she was ten she had learnt free-motion stitching from her grandmother. After later completing a degree in Mixed Media Art, she developed her distinctive style, describing thread

Today has been quite a busy Pilgrim Quilters day, with the coach trip organised by Lesley to visit the Lady Sew and Sew warehouse in Henley-on-Thames. Where we were hosted by the staff, learnt more about wadding and the variety of options available for us to use and well as an amazing selection of fabrics. This was followed later by our usual monthly evening meeting, which as programmed was a Stitch and Share meeting. The meeting incorporated a demonstration by Charlotte, of

This evening was originally planned as a talk by Sarah Brangwyn on “Building Colour Confidence in your Projects.” Sadly, Sarah had to cancel at short notice, but happily we have been able to re-booked so we will hear from Sarah next year. So we adapted and made the most of the opportunity to enjoy a relaxed and sociable Stitch & Share evening with plenty of time to review the fantastic collection of blocks created in response to our Festival of Quilts challenge to respresent

Pauls talk had everyone enthralled from start to finish with his immense knowledge of spinning weaving and kilt making. He certainly looked the part in his kilt and waistcoat. Paul explained where the best fleece can be obtained, Lincoln Longwool sheep first and second shearings, how its spun, he uses a drop spindle and then onto weaving. The natural colours of fleece would have allowed for tartan material to be woven without any dyeing. The oldest known tartan is from 200-3

Despite this probably being one of the wettest evenings on which PQ has had a meeting, with ‘lakes’ of water outside the centre. It was a great opportunity for everyone to relax and get together to chat after the festive period. Everyone learnt about the skilfully crafted plans for our quilt entry for the 2026 Festival of Quilts and was able to select their block and pick up wadding. There was a wonderful demonstration by Kate of Seminole and what fabulous fabric she had for

Our meeting in December was a celebration of what we achieved together through 2025, a generous sharing of delicious foods, fun and games, an opportunity to present to Lynda - a voluteer and representative of our chosen charity - Maggies centre - with a cheque for £6,400.

Our usual Wednesday meetings for October and November were dominated by Exhibition activity for our Pilgrim Quilters 26th Exhibition. We had already been busy throughout the year with members making quilts to display, items for the sales table and Morsbags. Also donating fabrics and magazines, selling raffle tickets, distributing flyers and encouraging ur friends and families to come along. However the last meeting before the Exhibition was the final opportunity to make

Karen was a delightful and engaging speaker. Seven years ago, she established her business, Sunflowerstitches, and as she told us her...

We had lovely weather and great fun together on Wednesday 13 August. Demos from Kate supported by Lesley on creative ways of using our...

What a day! Thanks to Lesley Boys and Kate Humphreys, our quilting group enjoyed a fantastic coach trip to the Festival of Quilts. We...

Gill came to our meeting in June and we learnt how and why she changed her career from a very high-flying and stressful Corporate Life in...

Penny Bicknell and Hilary Richardson, both members of the quilt group “By Design” came to show and tell us about how their group of...

Wednesday 2nd April 2025: A PQ day trip to Janet Clare’s Studio in Farnborough. 15 members enjoyed a great day out. To quote one of our...