SOW TO SEW
Spring Sowing is starting!
Our 2026 flax growing season has begun!
We have several plots around the borough where you can join in and get involved in the process.
Here are the upcoming dates:
Sunray Community Centre - 27th March 10am -12pm
Tolworth Station Community Garden - 14th April 11am - 2pm
Dorich House Museum - 17th April 12pm -2pm
Hogsmill Community Garden - 22nd April 12pm -2pm
To sign up please follow this link
Hope to see you there!
VOLUNTEERING
We also have some volunteering opportunties on 2nd April at Searchlight Community Centre 11:00 - 2:00. If you would like to support our session with Kingston Mencap or just help us with some gardening, get in touch!
Blue Cornflower 2026
DOWNLOAD & STITCH
To celebrate International Women’s Day this year,
we are giving away FREE cross-stitch patterns of our Blue Cornflowers tapestry and invite you to participate in this embroidery project!
Join us by embroidering your cornflower at home and send it to us when finished to be included in our exhibition in May, or post your progress online during the event.
For our exhibition, we aim to create a new participatory artwork - FIELD OF CORNFLOWERS -
to celebrate all the displaced women and children of Ukraine now living in the UK.
PATTERNS
There are 3 sizes to choose from below:
Blue Cornflower 2026 large part 1
Blue Cornflower 2026 large part 2
Blue Cornflower 2026 large part 3
Blue Cornflower 2026 large part 4
Blue Cornflower 2026 large part 5
This large cornflower is a long-term project and suitable for a group or a proficient needleworker. The image is an exact extract from our main tapestry. It contains 30 A4 pattern pages and 8 colours of threads. This is to be stitched on Aida 11 count. Dimensions of the final textile should fit a 60 x 80 poster frame. Progress can be posted online during our exhibition.
Blue Cornflower 2026 small b&W
This small cornflower is perfect for an individual, and it fits in an A4-size frame. To be stitched on Aida 14 count.
This mini cornflower is ideal for the little hands and can be stitched on Binca.
Deadline for sending the small completed embroideries is Friday, 8th May.
Please send an email to magdalena@ariadnesthreadgroup.org for queries and details on how to submit your work.
THREADS
Our patterns were designed for DMC floss, but we want to encourage you to use cheaper alternatives or different colour interpretations.
We would particularly like you to use leftover threads from previous projects or donations from friends. The more imaginative the flowers, the better.
EXHIBITION
“Blue Cornflowers 2026” Textile Exhibition will mark 4 years of our community participatory needlework projects with refugees and migrants, which began on 23rd May 2022.
The exhibition will run from 21st May to 4th June at All Saints Church in Kingston upon Thames.
Our main tapestry, currently with 205 participants, will also be displayed, and group stitching will take place during the opening event.
MINDFUL MONDAYS
New location!
From 9th March we will be moving our Mindful Mondays sessions to Sunray Centre permanently.
Over the past 4 years our meetings have grown and the number of participants have expanded considerably. We see new visitors each month and sadly our community kitchen at Tolworth Station is no longer suitable for this weekly activity.
❗️We will run one final Easter session from Baking Ideas in Tolworth on Monday 30th March. This will be our annual Pysanky egg decorating activity. ❗️
After that, we will meet every week 11:00 - 2:00 at Sunray Community Centre
Knollmead, Tolworth KT5 9QP
Anyone is welcome.