And so to something completely different! I wanted to create our own personal Christmas piece to be brought out and hung every Christmas season at the beginning of Advent, remaining in place until Epiphany. I had found a collection of fabrics which now seemed suitable during a room-sort three or four years ago. They had been gathered together in the 1980s and 1990s when I was teaching Patchwork and Quilting courses for Suffolk Adult Education. My turn now to play with them and create the design you see.

We have moved from Purple to Red – the reddest red imaginable. Its redness seemed to me to sing or should I say carol as I worked out my fabric designs in the six square shapes. The fabrics I had gathered together nearly a quarter-century before carried their own messages from that time. This piece became more and more special as I worked on it.

Last Christmas was my first Christmas as a Quaker, returning to the fold having worshipped in the Beccles Meeting house in Suffolk between 2007 and 2012. It was very special. A Quaker Christmas in 2022 will be a piece of celebration and remembrance of our Quaker identity for our future.

So there we are. Something different. I wanted to create a work of warmth and cheer – with just a touch of the quirky. We are looking forward to its return to our Christmas wall in under three months’ time.

My A Quaker Christmas in 2022 measures 35” x 35.5”.