Every Monday morning, as sunlight spills through Kiama Uniting Church’s windows, tables begin to fill with colour – fabric squares, embroidery threads, paint palettes, half-finished cards, and quilts in progress.

This is Kiama Creative Crafts – a group that has shaped community life for more than two decades, built on the simple idea that people need people.

The group meets from 9am to 11.30am during school terms, hosting crafters working across an enormous variety of skills: crocheting, embroidery, tapestry, quilting, card making, candlewicking, applique, and more.

In the Lecture Hall, artists paint in every medium from watercolour to oils.

Despite being hosted in the Church, most who come are not church members.

Kiama Creative Crafts every Monday at Uniting Church. Photo: Ella Gunning

“There’s less than a dozen actually connected to the church – most people are not,” said coordinator Deirdre Teague. 

“There’s people that come from Nowra, one from Sydney, some from Campbelltown, and a few from Shellharbour.”

For many, attending is more than an artistic hobby.

 “For some people, this is the only social connection they have all week,” Teague said.

Social chatting before artists get to work

 “From this they can get help for other people, and our minister here is very supportive – if there’s somebody who needs something she’ll make sure to follow up.” 

Members can contribute $5 for tea or coffee, an amount that accumulates into local support. 

“That $5 ends up going to different charities, so we give quite a sum, $500, to Kiama for their breakfast for high school, to homelessness, and the CRMI.” 

The group also supports the Carols and provides Christmas hampers to three local schools: Kiama High, Kiama Primary, and Minnamurra. 

As Teague put it, “It’s a well-being situation. Push the small groups, support each other.”

People come for the craft, but stay for the companionship.

Bill Jauncey, a former Kiama High geography teacher, has been coming every Monday for around a decade, and what began casually quickly became part of his weekly routine.

“It’s not a formal sort of class,” Jauncey said.

“I’ve always wanted to dabble a bit more in painting but this just sets up the ideal situation to do what you want.

Jauncey's recently finished and admired wave painting

"You go around and talk about ideas, and see what everyone else is doing and how they’re doing it, get some ideas to make it work.

“This group’s been growing… this whole thing is really important for people getting out – it’s the social thing and chatting for a lot of people here.”

Ken Mitchell, who joined a little over 12 months ago, described the easy rhythm of the mornings: “It’s great. It’s nice to chat to everybody.

"Everybody’s talking away in the morning when we first start off, then by say 10 o’clock everyone goes quiet working away for an hour, then just before 11 o’clock they all start getting up and talking again. It’s really a social event, and it’s very good.”

Some projects become almost landmarks of the group’s history.

Gladys Ling, who has been attending since 2001, recently finished a quilt she began before COVID in 2020.

Flannel flowers, gum nuts, Christmas bells, and gum leaves make their way across the fabric – a patient, years-long labour of love completed in 2025.

Ling's "not for sale" quilt that she began before COVID and recently completed. Photo: Ella Gunning

Kiama Creative Crafts remains a place to create, chat, and reconnect.

Open to everyone, the group hopes to gain more members in the coming year. 

 “Particularly since COVID, we’ve realized how important it is – we need more people coming in,” Teague said.