Visit Report - "Creative Approaches" at Forge Mill Museum on Thursday 30th October 2025
At the end of October, the Stitch and Chat group paid their last visit of the year to an exhibition at Forge Mill. This one was presented by Oddfellows Art, a group of printers, potters, painters and textile artists from the West Midlands.
Naturally, being stitchers, we gravitated towards the textile exhibits, which formed the greater part of the exhibition in fact. We had expected there to be a greater range of crafts on display but there were only a few paintings and ceramic pieces there.
There being no specific theme through the exhibition, as there had been in the previous textile exhibitions we had visited, the displays felt more disparate. Nevertheless, there were several pieces which attracted our attention and prompted much discussion.
Altogether, we had a most enjoyable morning, starting and finishing with coffee in the Cloisters!
We are looking forward to arranging our visits in 2026 and I expect to be able to announce our programme in February. So, watch this space! And remember, anyone is welcome to join us - you don’t have to be a regular at our Stitch and Chat meetings at The Bridge on the 1st Tuesdays of the month!
Reported by Sylvia Edwards
Visit Report - "Arranging Nature" at Forge Mill Museum on Thursday 18th September 2025
The exhibition, ‘Arranging Nature‘, by the well-known textile artist, Hilary Beattie, is currently on at Forge Mill Museum. The Stitch and Chat group visited it in September, and declared it to be the most impressive yet this season. The exhibition is described as drawing upon Hilary’s love of the natural world and we found this to be clearly evident throughout all the works on display. We loved the ideas presented and the range of colours used, and we greatly admired her skill and techniques. It is on until 16th October so there is still time to go and see for yourselves!
Visit Report - 'Curiosity' at Forge Mill Museum on Thursday 3rd July 2025
In early July, the Stitch and Chat group visited the Forge Mill exhibition, ‘Curiosity’, presented by The 98 Lace Group. They are creative lacemakers with members throughout the UK, who aim to challenge the traditional view of lacemaking by giving it a contemporary twist to demonstrate the relevance of lace as an artform.
You can see from the images, that they succeed in this. Exhibits ranged from wearable items such as the lilac shawl shown, to intriguing pieces of work that would look great in anyone’s living room. As always, we discussed the techniques, colours and effects, and agreed on our favourites to take home!
Reported by Sylvia Edwards
Visit Report - 'Eclectica' at Forge Mill Museum on Thursday 8th May 2025
A couple of weeks ago, the Stitch and Chat group (and other members) made their prearranged visit to Forge Mill for coffee and the current textile exhibition. Presented by Eclectica, 'Mixing it Up' was a collection of colourful works using hand stitching, machine embroidery, mixed media techniques and quilting. As always, we enjoyed discussing the techniques used and ultimately 'selecting' one to hang on our walls at home! Some photos below to capture the event.
Visit Report - ‘Expressions’ at Forge Mill Museum on Thursday 17th April 2025
In April, members of the Stitch and Chat group visited the Forge Mill exhibition, ‘Expressions’, which was a thought-provoking and instructive exhibition presented by textile artists, Bernice Hopper and Becca Birtles. Becca is deaf and uses her work to explore and express her own experience of severe deafness, emphasising the need for clear communication. Some of her work also explores the way that our memories become distorted over time. Much of Bernice’s work explores the theme of captivity and freedom. Many of the exhibits were therefore in muted colours, even in monochrome, a contrast to previous exhibitions we have seen there, which have used a wider colour palette.
As usual, we will meet in the Cloisters at 10.30am for coffee and chat, then moving on to the exhibition about 11.00am or so. It is still worthwhile buying a Textile Connoisseur’s pass for £14.00 as this gives entrance to all the remaining exhibitions: including Mixing it Up, there are 4 textile and one non-textile exhibitions yet to come for which an individual entrance fee is £6.95. This pass also gives you 10% off in the Forge Mill coffee bar and shop, and at Village Fabrics in Inkberrow.
The non-textile exhibition may be of interest to history buffs and to those who attended the wonderful talk given to us by Sheila Parkes on ‘The Titanic: then and now’ back in 2022. The title is ‘Titanic: Honour and Glory’ and contains a collection of genuine and rare artifacts from the Titanic and her sister ships, Britannic and Olympic. Details can be found on the Forge Mill website under the tab, ‘What to do’ – ‘Exhibitions’.
Reported by Sylvia Edwards
Visit Report - 'Hidden' by The Contemporary Quilt Group of the British Isles, Forge Mill, 20th February 2025
After meeting in the Cloisters of the Abbey at Forge Mill and putting the world to rights - particularly WhatsApp and Facebook! - over a cup of coffee, we meandered into the Needle Museum, for the quilting exhibition. Wow! I was blown away with all the exhibits. Such a lot of work, thinking and planning had gone into the items on show. The theme was titled, ‘Hidden’, which baffled me initially. I was expecting to see patchwork quilts and the likes, but instead it was like visiting an art gallery. The exhibits were tapestries using a wide range of textile techniques in addition to quilting, each telling a particular story. Each individual artist had chosen a subject dear to themselves. Here, I understand this artist, Liz Brooke Ward, was afraid of moths and insects, so she was facing her own fears by incorporating the burnet moth into her work.
A super few hours out with a lovely, welcoming group of ladies. Thank you, Sylvia, for encouraging me to take part.
Reported by Linda Magner
Some photographs from the exhibition can be found below - click on the image to enlarge (click top right x to return to page).
Visit Report - 'Spaces to Dream' by the Stitch in the Middle Group, Forge Mill 7th November 2024
The visit of the Stitch and Chat group to the latest exhibition at Forge Mill, started of course, with coffee and cake, and although the weather was becoming rather autumnal, we were able to keep warm under the heaters in the Cloisters.
When we moved on to the exhibition itself, we were greeted by an impressive range of textile interpretations of the Packwood House gardens. Packwood is, of course, one of our local National Trust properties, particularly known for its ancient yew trees. We were all familiar with the site and found it fascinating to examine and consider how the artists had worked on the theme to produce such fine work in so many different interpretations.
As always, it was so much more enjoyable to discuss the exhibition together, admiring the skills involved, comparing our impressions and interpretations, and feeling a mixture of inspiration and awe! A few photographs below to capture the visit.
Reported by Sylvia Edwards
