NOVEMBER – Cake, Coffee and Craft with Ann Hill and others

Professionally, Carol spent her career (not counting a summer job peeling prawns!)  as a teacher and lecturer in primary, secondary and tertiary education.    However, now retired she spends her time fully indulging her passion for crafts.

As a child, she would happily potter in her father’s shed, banging nails into bits of wood; making clothes for her dolls on her toy sewing machine; or, helping her mum with floral art (yes, she does know the difference between her ikebana and Hogarth curve).  As an adult she continued to craft, mainly embroidery and sewing, but was always eager to try something new.

“I used to be a little jealous of my son when I would take him to his Saturday art group.  I wanted to join in and couldn’t understand why there wasn’t something similar for the adults.  Since then, I’ve always been on the look out for workshops where I can learn new skills.  In 2024, I travelled to India to learn chalk painting techniques with Annie Sloan, and most recently did a workshop on glass blowing in Murano, Venice.”

Carol is an open studio member at Clayworks in Dumfries and attends weekly stained-glass sessions with local glass artist, Lorrie Kyle.  She is a member of u3a and leads a craft group where she introduces members to a new craft every month.  She has been described as a serial crafter, although she prefers the term crafting butterfly (flitting from craft to craft!).  She has participated in workshops in bookbinding, silver smithing, mosaics, willow weaving, fused glass and folk-art painting, as well as being self-taught in many other crafts.

Carol loves to share her enthusiasm for craft, especially with beginners.  Her philosophy is ‘how hard can it be?’ and even if the end product isn’t what you expected, it’s about having a go and enjoying the process. 

Ann has been professionally teaching quilt making for 15 years. She has exhibited her work around the world, currently with an exhibition touring America and another about to start touring 40 countries. Ann is quilter in residence at Alzheimer Scotland and has been awarded a Point of Light and a British Empire medal for her services to Alzheimer’s, both through working with those living with dementia and raising awareness through quilting exhibitions.

Ann teaches beginners and experienced quilters in the fundamentals of quilting and progress through traditional, modern and contemporary quilting. She runs weekly classes in Dumfries and Galloway. Ann is Chair of Dumfries Rotary and Vice Chair for Shambellie House Trust. She is also lead for the Quilters of Shambellie House, who are responsible for organising quilt festivals in autumn and May each year and running classes throughout the year.