CQ's "AGM"

It's not really an AGM - "annual meeting" or "general meeting" is a better description. It's usually held in London, as being fairly easy for most people to get to; some people take a long train-ride or fly in and make a weekend of it. Of 700 members in the UK, about 80 attended.

Discussion was lively, both in the business meeting, and before and after -

 Members brought delicious baked goods -

 As well as a display of journal quilts, contributions of Bookwraps for the tombola at FOQ poured in -

The afternoon speaker was Sue Stone, whose embroidery reflects her family history in Grimsby. Her website is womanwithafish.com and indeed a woman with a fish appears in some of her work.

Loaves and Fishes; image from here. The portrait of her grandparents
appears in Textiles: The Art of Mankind by Mary Schoeser

Sue started out in fashion design but life had other plans and she eventually found herself at Goldsmiths studying under Constance Howard, Christine Risley and Eirann Short - and she's been a member of the 62 Group for some time. You can see her recent solo show here - this detail is from the sidebar of that page -

"I like fillling in the clothes the best," she said. (She lists her five favourite stitches as: running stitch; arrowhead stitch; cross stitch; darning stitch; couching.)

We had a good chance to look at the work and sketchbooks she'd brought along - impressive! Again, her focus on her own history bears out the old adage of "look to what you know" in terms of finding what will make you unique as an artist.