Last Sunday, May 18th, 3 of our ladies, dressed in their best clothes, went with Sharon who leads Quilts4You and our weekly sewing group, to collect a special prize for the quilts they entered into the Spring Quilts Show at Malvern.

This was a write up from Lucy at Pinhole Quilting who was an event sponsor.

Celebrating the success of the local group Evesham Vale Welcomes Refugees. The Wednesday group produced an amazing quilt and it was wonderful to be able to award them prizes donated by Pinhole Quilting and AbbieAnne Patchwork Quilting & Textiles. None of the ladies knew how to use a sewing machine. They have learnt so much, shared the joy of entering a show and we celebrated that achievement at the prize giving ceremony. Sharon from Quilts4You leads the ladies and is supported by other stitchers to guide them. As refugees to the UK, the support, friendship and community they enjoy is invaluable in giving them confidence and learning English. Well done to the whole group. It was fantastic to meet F from Pakistan, A from Syria and Y from Cuba.

To say we were blown away by their success would be an understatement. We have to acknowledge the wonderful work done by Sharon, Shirley, Elaine, Teresa and Anthea in supporting them to get this far. Our sewing group meets every Wednesday morning – the ladies are learning a variety of skills, including quilting, knitting, crochet, dressmaking and tapestry – and having a lot of fun as well. The room is always full of laughter.

You will be able to see some of the quilts the group have completed at an exhibition in The Hive, in Worcester, starting on June 9th and continuing through Refugee Week (16th – 22nd June) until June 28th.

NB Faces and names have been anonymised to protect the ladies’ privacy.