TIF or TIF?

We arrived back from Textiles in Focus late last night. It was an excellent show with lots to see, very good exhibitions, and an interesting selection of workshops. I taught a couple of hand-stitching workshops using water-soluble paper and you can see the sample here.



The flower was made from scrim and then applied. The next step is to spray the finished piece with metallic paint. It is too cold to do that today, the paint will probably freeze as it leaves the can, so I'll post another picture when it's finished. This is a technique that I love, and creates surfaces that can be put to a number of uses - including book covers and box tops.

It wasn't until I thought about this post that I remembered our abbreviation for Textiles in Focus is TIF. I could so easily be confused with the Take It Further Challenge!

February TIF Part 2

This is just a bit of preliminary playing along with my original thoughts. There's still a lot to do.

Missenden Abbey Weekend Workshop

This is the view that greeted me from my bedroom window at dawn on Saturday morning. As a tutor I was lucky enough to be accommodated in the main building at Missenden Abbey. The view is over lake, and it was truly magical to see it unfold. As the sun rose the white frost began to shine. The camera couldn't capture it, especially as it is taken through a small pane of one of the windows.

There were students on the course from all over the UK, including Northern Ireland. We had lovely weekend and they produced some fantastic pieces. Stupidly I forgot to ask their permission to put their pictures on my blog, so you will have to make do with this view instead.

Back to the grindstone today. Lots more dyeing to do for Textiles in Focus at the end of the week. The Vegetarian silk in the fabric rolls has really taken off and I have once again sold out. I honestly thought I had enough to last us until after TIF! so it's back to the dyepot....... Now is the time to place any special orders and I'll incorporate them into a dyeing session!

Take It Further:: February

True to her word Sharon posted the February challenge earlier this month. I have been thinking about it, even whilst finishing that of January

My family memories of the past are extremely good. This has been a real blessing recently as I have been able to reminisce with my mother about all sorts of things. My earliest memory is being taken for a ride in my pushchair while staying with my grandparents in Brecon, S Wales. As my brother wasn't yet born (I wouldn't have been in the pushchair if he had)and my mother wasn't even pregnant with him yet (her pregnancy meant she could no longer travel) I must have been younger than two.

I certainly don't want to commemorate that, however. I have been thinking a lot about babies, though, prompted I'm sure by recent visits from our newest grandchild. I have had two pregnancies and both my children were born in the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital in Aldershot. Although this was a military hospital (it was closed a while ago) it was also open to civilians, and that's how I came to be there! Shortly before my daughter was born an IRA bomb was detonated close by. This meant that there was much security in place, and some roads in Aldershot were closed (and have never been reopened). This is not something I would like to dwell upon or commemorate either. My son, however, was born 4 years later in much more relaxed circumstances, and in the middle of a heatwave. To tie it all together I've decided that that's what I'll consider for my Take it Further Challenge for February. The heatwave!

Is anyone visiting Textiles in Focus next week? We'll be there so come and say 'Hi'.

Take It Further January

Well, it's finished. The colours are much closer in reality, but here is the initial design




And here is the finished piece.



I'm surprised that the stitches aren't more in evidence in the finished piece. I have layered scrim over a layer made on the embellisher, The scrim has been pulled into a textured layer. I'm quite pleased with it and enjoyed doing it - even though it is blue!

Vegetarian Silk

At last I have been able to upload a picture. There are more,but they will have to wait until tomorrow.

These are sheets of vegetarian silk. I have discovered it quite by chance, and it is beautiful. It works like a dream with the Embellisher, and makes a lovely surface for stitching too. We are selling them rolled together with other similar surfaces including scrim. Vegetarian silk? It's other definition is pre-felt made from cellulose fibres from a sustainable renewable source. Let's call it one of our contributions to the environment!

Busy, busy, busy

January has been out busiest ever. Although we are now into February we are still sorting ourselves out after our visits here there and everywhere! I also have to prepare for teaching at Grayshott on Wednesday and for a weekend at Missenden Abbey starting on Friday. Both are on the Embellisher, so I know they will be fun and that everyone will go home with lots of pieces.

It's during times like this that I miss having times to create as much as I would like. I still haven't quite finished my take it further challenge, but that is well on its way, and it should be finished by the weekend. The new challenge for February is already up, and I know what I will be doing for that, however, I won't share that here until the other is completed. Part of the delay has been caused by having to use every available surface for sorting. Wednesday of next weeks sees us heading off towards Cambridge for the annual Textiles in Focus in Cottenham. This is a lovely show, and it will be good to meet up again with friends and customers that we see regularly. I've been dyeing more of the Embellisher Rolls, we sold out of our stock over last weekend, and have been packing orders for these and other goods at the same time.

The above should have been scattered with photos and scans, but uploading isn't going to happen now, it would appear. I'll post this now and update the pictures later when things seem to be working better.

January Take it Further Challenge - Vulnerability

Well, the task that I have set myself is to become more vulnerable within my creativity. For that reason I am going to share the following poem that I wrote last year. I haven't shown it to anyone except my close family, so this is quite daunting in some ways, But here goes. Some of you may remember that baby Jack was born very unexpectedly 7 weeks early, this was written the day after he was born when we saw him in the Special Baby Unit, and for the first time. I am pleased to say that he is now thriving.



For Jack

Silent, you lie there,
Oblivious of the tubes and pipes,
Accepting and contained.
Your world is small
No noise except the cry of babe
Hungry and impatient.
No knowledge yet of deep maternal love,
Of father, standing by
With arms of love and strong protection.
No thoughts or fears,
Complete in self, yet so reliant.

Sleep well, sweet babe,
for in that sleep grows strength.
Surrounding silence intensifies the love
That soon will be apparent.
Take naught for granted, love is all,
And God is Love.

Courses and Workshops

Details of workshops, courses and summer school 2008 can be found by clicking on the links in the sidebar. Several more workshops are currently being planned, and will added as details are available.

January Blue Take it Further Challenge

Well it isn't often that I am up with the 'trends', but it seems as though I may be this year! Here is an interesting item about blue.

I've got the blues

I never work in blue. I have the greatest difficulty in working in blue, so I have chosen this colour for the Take it Further Challenge.

I have been playing around with paints and printing, and have come up with this design. I'm not sure if it's finished yet, I think it needs a little tweaking, but it is a start.

I'd be interested to have your thoughts.

Trying to Take it Further!

Gosh, this is hard. I didn't realise that I was such a coward!

I don't make New Year Resolutions. However, I have decided that this year I must work on making myself more vulnerable. It is going to be a question of small steps, and I will apply them to the Challenge as it progresses.

How will I start? I have decided to choose a colour scheme that I wouldn't normally use. I'm not sure what I will use yet, but that seems to be a step in the right direction.

Thanks to those of you that have left positive comments. It's an exciting start to the year, isn't it?

January Take it Further Challenge

I have rashly decided to take part in Sharon Boggon's Take it Further Challenge. I tried to do the TAST challenge last year, but once a week was just too much to add to other committments. Hopefully a challenge that only has to be finished once a month will be easier to accomplish. The challenge for January has been posted. I have thought long and hard about it, just whom do I look up to and admire? I have come up with two names.

The first is Ann Stone. I am willing to bet that none of you have heard of her. She was a friend and neighbour for nearly 20 years. I first met her when she and her husband moved into the bungalow opposite. For many years she had been a professional dancer, and now she was able to indulge in her passion for art. Her paintings were amazing, but she had many other skills including stitching, and she was the first person I knew who created art from textiles. Her work inspired me to have a go, and Ann encouraged me on every step of the way, always telling me that I could do it, even when I had serious doubts about myself.

The second is someone I met almost by chance about 5 years later. I was now fully seduced by textiles, but needing a new direction. I was introduced to Vicky Lugg by a fellow stitcher, eventually spending a number of years attending her Masterclass in stitched textiles. Vicky was a very supportive mentor and teacher, her support for all her students going far beyond the call of duty, and enabling each of us to call her our friend.

So what was it about these two ladies that is so appealing? What is it that I particularly admire and wish to emulate? I have to say that it was their vulnerabiltiy. Each was willing to push the boundaries and expose parts of themselves in their work. Sadly, they are now no longer with us, but their inspiration lives on.

I'm not sure I can do this in a month. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to expose my vulnerability! However, I have at least admitted that here, and if I keep working away at it I may achieve something by the end of the year. Thanks for the challenge, Sharon. I'm willing to give it a go.

Another quick post

Still no opportunity to upload photographs, I don't know how long I will be online. It is very frustrating to be half way through something and then switched off for no apparent reason. I am hoping that I will have some free time (ha ha) next week and that I can at least solve half of the problem. In the meantime - just words which can be written offline and then just copied and pasted. If only blogger didn't take quite so long to upload pictures I could do the same with those.

However, today I am off to Newport in S Wales to teach a session on the Embellisher at Busy Bees Patchwork. It is a flying vist, and I am looking forward to staying with Sandra of Busy Bees and her husband. I will leave shortly after lunch today, and try to get there in daylight! I am teaching a taster session on the Embellisher, if you are in the neighbourhood I'm sure Sue and Sandra would love to see you at the Craft Workshops at Tredegar House, and maybe I will let you have a peek at what we are doing! I will post pictures when I can.

Tomorrow I must leave as soon as the session is finished as I have to get home to unload, then reload. On Sunday we are off to Urchfont Manor to see Sian Martin and Lynne Horniblow and their respective students. If you ever get the chance to take a course with either of these tutors make sure you grab it. They are both excellent and you will learn a lot.

I may be offline, but I'm not sleeping..........!

Can you help .....

...... to find this quilt? I was given this link by phone today. I hope it works! Maybe you have room for a comment on your blog too.

Hello again

Well, it has been 3 months since my last post, and to say the least those three months have been eventful. However, not in the way I would have wished!

Firstly, I have hardly been able to get online. I'm not sure when the problem started, in fact I don't think I realised that there was a problem at first. I was aware that emails had suddenly become very infrequent, and that I seemed to be switched offline more than I was online, but I just thought it was because people were on holiday, or that the Internet was very busy. However, then I discovered that I couldn't send emails. They would just sit in my outbox, and when I finally discovered this there was a long queue, no notification, they were just quietly waiting for something to happen. This situation is still continuing, we can only send on one of our addresses, sometimes 2. We can receive on these too - but sometimes we can't. Is there any logic? I don't know, but apparently my Firewall is reacting with the ISP and causing problems. The problem now is that I can't stay online long enough to sort it out. I am writing this post in Word, saving it onto DVD and will then put it online, maybe at my son's. If anyone has been trying to get in touch please keep trying - even if you have to resort to leaving a comment below with your email address included. I do want to hear from you, please try again.

Next there was an injury. Now I'm not sure how it happened, I didn't know that I had injured myself. I was aware for some time (from about May) that I had pins and needles in 2 fingers in my right hand (this is my dominant hand). By the end of August the pins and needles had turned to pain, not an ache, a definite pain. It was agony to do anything, writing or stitching (or knitting etc) was nil, at times it became all consuming. Sleep was impossible as it seemed to be worse at night, I was unable to find a resting place and painkillers didn't touch it. A visit to the doc's informed me that I had damaged the nerve on my elbow. Now how on earth could I have done that without knowing? I don't know - but I did. Rest was the answer, and, although the symptoms lessened while we were on holiday, the problem is still there.

You may or may not know that we had a new grandchild during all this. Our daughter-in-law gave birth to our third grandchild in mid-August. He was early, not due until early October, and, although he worried us for a while, is now doing well. I had a lovely long cuddle today, you can imagine how much I enjoyed that.

Next we had the postal strike. What fun that was! The collection service locally was supposed to be working, albeit intermittently. Packages were taken to the Post Office, but took days to arrive which was most frustrating for the recipients. A couple were returned as undeliverable. They must have been sitting around in strange places for a while, they were in quite a state when they were returned, at least the packaging was. Thankfully we had put our return address on the back of the packages - always worth doing. Customers were contacted and the goods were sent on their way again. However, those that had only sent an email address were more difficult to contact - no email as detailed above. Mails from a different address were neatly stacking up in others spam boxes, a lesson learnt in always checking spam, even if it only turned out to be something not required.

We had other dramas too. Other members of the family needed looking after requiring a stay away from home again. We managed to get through several shows without too many mishaps, but phone calls from customers morning noon and night began to make us feel a little like the Windmill Theatre ('We Never Close'). We usually work at weekends, so one customer rang us at 6.30 on a Sunday morning to catch us before we left - please could we post a packet of machine needles to her tomorrow! Phone calls have also been received at 11.30 pm, and not from customers overseas who have miscalculated the time.

Phew! I've got all that off my chest. Now, maybe I can start to make the odd entry or two, adding pictures may be a problem, but I'll face that when I have to.

Oh, and if you want a little light relief you may like to look here.

My absence from blogging has been enforced by internet problems. If anyone has been trying to contact me please will you email

Festival of Quilts

This is a particularly busy time of the year and I have hardly been here to post anything. If anyone is passing we will be on Stand J22 at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham UK from Thursday until Sunday. Pop by and and say hello.

A justifiable wrist slap!

I have just had a conversation with a friend who has chastised me for not updating the blog over the last while. Yes, I freely admit that I have been tardy. Life get's in the way, but then maybe I ought to regard this as part of life! I have tried to keep work and 'life' apart as I'm not sure why people really visit a blog. I follow some blogs because they are full of interesting 'arty' stuff, and others because they relate to real life. Those that mix the two don't really grab my attention, especially if the life is the main excuse for not producing art. Of course, you haven't seen much 'art' on this blog anyway, it has mostly been quick ways of using the embellisher. I know that some of you read my life blog, and for those of you that haven't and want to (no obligation) here is the link. (Of course, due to life, I don't update that one every week either!)

I have also had my wrist slapped for forgetting to tell you the name of the fabric I mentioned in an earlier post. It is called Evolon and we sold out of our first delivery within 48 hours of anyone seeing it. More is on the way and will be here in time for Worthing Textile Arts Forum on Saturday 14th July, and we will hopefully have enough left for Ardingly on 21st July. I really like using it. Hopefully you will see some results before too long, but I'm working on a number of items for the Summer School at Missenden Abbey at the beginning of August.

Another giveaway has been announced at Dye-A-Lot. Pop over and take part. The perle 8 can be used on a sewing machine with a topstitch 100 needle, and the perle 5 is lovely for cable stitch, also using the sewing machine.

Lastly, thanks to everyone that left a comment on the last post. I have also had a number of emails and it would appear that the problem is even wider than I at first thought.

Another day, another Exhibition

I don't want you to think we have been idle since my last post. Far from it. This time of year is full of different venues. We have spent a lot of time travelling from place to place, and later today we are off to Eastleigh College for the exhibition at the annexe in Cranbury Road. Open tonight from 6pm - 8pm and again from 10am - 3pm tomorrow, pop along and see what has been going on for the last few months! The exhibitions cover embroidery, quilting, flower arranging and art. They are usually well worth seeing.

On Sunday we are off to Salisbury. St Edmunds Art Centre is the venue, for an exhibtion with Inspire Stitchers. This promises to be worth a visit too. Only open from 10am - 4pm. After that we are hot foot to the car to career off down the road towards Urchfont Manor. I've forgotten what's going on there, too much to take in this week!

The winner has been announced on the Dye a Lot blog pop over and see who has won - and then go back next week for a new little competition. I have had fun reading all the emails from everyone. A total of 72 people took part in the last draw.

I am wanting to have a little moan. It has been brought to my attention that a tutor I know vaguely has developed a list of workshops based solely on other people's work. Apparently the last episode involved a visit to an exhibition where she saw something she fancied. On arriving home she made a complete and apparently fairly exact copy. This is now being offered as a workshop. I'm interested to know what you all think. Any comments? I know that at least 2 workshops are based solely on my book - and another is based on a book by a well known textile artist. Customers have mentioned this to me and complained - I have told them to complain to the tutor in question, but I don't know if they have. I've seen the results of some of the workshops, so know that this is more than just a rumour. I'd like to know what you all think.