Our year ended on a high note with very successful exhibition held at the Hastings Community Arts Centre . There was a wide variety of work on display and it was good to see a number of people from outside our region visiting the exhibition.
Workshops started with a one-day class in needle Felting with Heather Turner. This was very successful and by the end of the day everyone had completed a colourful ball and there were some beautiful designs.

This was followed in May by a two-day class with Liz Seccombe in Brazilian and in June, Jane Lester took a one-day Christmas Decoration class 'Turtle Dove'. We were fortunate in August to join with other members from our region in a workshop with Siân Martin, 'Remove and Replace'.

The final class for the year was 'Punto in Aria' with Kerry Seeley, which was held over three weekends. This enabled homework to be done in between classes and was very successful. Some beautiful pieces were stitched in these workshops and it was very inspiring to see so many on display at our meetings.

One of the highlights of the year was our May meeting, held at the museum in Napier. Following the meeting we were able to look at the museum's amazing collection of embroidered and beaded bags.

Another highlight for some was the Conference and workshops on the North Shore in July. This is the third conference I have been to and as usual was it a very exciting and interesting week. On behalf of our guild I accepted the rules in preparation for hosting the conference in 2008. A steering committee has been set up and planning is underway.

Our certificates group meets periodically and our extensions group had a very successful day in September working on thread sandwiches with Elisabeth Beachen.
The Havelock North Library has a large beautifully stitched bookmark thanks to Rae Povey, Kirsty Burbury, Pat Carter, Dora Grainer, Ena Dames, Judith Wake and Yvonne Grooby. Rae designed the bookmark.

Our project for the year was a mystery band sampler, with the bands contributed by nine of our members, one each month from February to October. It was exciting to see some the completed and partially completed samplers on display at our Christmas meeting. They were all so different in colour and interpretation, considering that everyone started with the same patterns.

Colleen Gilligan