This month we had a joint group meeting, so six WIs got together to hear all about the history and personal experience of Sally Wilson, former Devon County Chairman working there for her first job.
Sally's dry wit and interesting information made this a fun afternoon.

This image, of Madam Taussaud herself we made by her when she was about 70 years old:

Last night at Preston WI we had fun - what some call a 'dabble day' and others a 'four-corner day' - or in this case - evening, where we were offered the chance to try three of the five crafts on offer.

The choices were making earrings, knitting with carrier bags (!), making ribbon flowers, folded star patchwork and glass painting.  

It was a good chance to try out crafts we perhaps hadn't done before.  Also it was really nice to have a chance to talk to other members; this WI is growing so fast that it's difficult to keep up with who's who. 

Friday: I have started knitting a bag rather like the one above - can't decide whether to iron it or not.  

We had a talk this month at Paignton WI about tiaras, followed by a demonstration and fashion show of members wearing all sorts and colours of  fascinators.    

For wearing the fascinators, we were chosen according to the colours we were wearing, hairstyle and head shape - and what was amazing was that everyone looked fabulous.  Will post a photo on here very soon ...

The first part of the talk, about tiaras, was mainly tiaras for weddings, tiaras to go with brides and bridesmaids dresses and slightly less ornate ones for wedding guests, as well as ornaments to decorate the hair.  

These were all hand made by the demonstrator and incorporated beads and crystals, and some of the crystals had even been dyed to match the bridesmaids' dresses. 
We were shown how fashions in tiaras had changed over the years, becoming less ornamental but perhaps more complex. Some fashions in tiaras have even changed due to people wanting to emulate celebs and dress how they've seen people in the movies.   An example the speaker gave was of someone who wanted a tiara like the one which had been worn in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

The demonstration about fascinators was preceded by an interesting aside about the different feathers which birds produced, samples were shown to us of feathers from various parts of an ostrich, also chicken feathers.  
Apparently, the longer, outer feathers are less bendy than the short inner ones.   It was interesting to see how stripping away most of the feather left a fun bit at the end which would wave around as the wearer moved.

to be continued ...