November Meeting 2025

Our meeting in November contained lots of information about the upcoming AGM, events planned for 2026 and a presentation given by our own Kay Gardiner about the embroideries of Mary Queen of Scots.

 

Kay started off by giving us a reminder about the life of Mary Queen of Scots, the history and politics of the time, the ties between Mary and Bess of Hardwick which lead to a discussion on how and how needle work was used by not just convey secret messages but for political effect even then. Kay explained how men would travel the country drafting patterns for women to stitch and how messages were hidden in some of the motifs. Kay explained how her fascination for historical needlework means she does not dust, preferring to spend her time drafting and reproducing some of the canvaswork panels stitched by Mary. In order to do this she had to undertake a lot of research and get special access to photograph them.