Sip & Paint is all about giving Catholic women the opportunity to come together and get to know each other – and of course to sip wine and to paint. After the success of the first Sip & Paint, Kelly was back for a second time teaching us how to sew on canvas and then personalise it with paint.

This was my first time, and not being a regular at St Mary on the Quay, I wasn’t too sure where to go. So I took a pew (in a sitting rather than a thieving kind of way) in the hope that other people would soon be turning up. St Mary on the Quay is an absolutely beautiful church, so it’s very easy to sit there and take time out. It’s very 1920’s art nouveau and has a quiet but beautiful simplicity about it. As it was just after Easter, there was a tableau of the 3 crosses and the open tomb. I was most impressed that one of the crosses was a home-made 3D cross out of cardboard. Someone has a real artistic talent for junk modelling!!

My period of quiet reflection didn’t last long before more ladies arrived and we got chatting, then the two organisers turned up and we moved to a beautifully laid out room with a table decked with fruit, champagne and other delicacies. I only knew one other person there but that didn’t matter, everyone was really lovely. Kelly (the organiser) introduced herself, and then there were simple some icebreaker questions, designed to get people chatting rather than put you on the spot. It was really nicely done.  I spent the next 10 minutes happily chatting to Catholic women of various ages who I’d never met before and who all turned out to be fascinating to talk to.

Kelly then gave us a step-by-step demo about what we were doing, we poured the bubbly (non-alcoholic but absolutely delicious) and we set about sewing.  The conversation died down a little but there was still an industrious hum of conversation as we all variously traced pictures, made holes in canvases, threaded needles, sewed and painted. As with all good things, time passed far too quickly and before I knew it, it was time to pick up my canvas and go home.