The Knitting and Stitiching Show Dublin - 30 October - 2 November


Viv and Kevin.
Starting our time in Dublin with a full Irish breakfast.

Apologies for the delay in writing this post life has been a tad - hectic!

I had a lovely time in Ireland. Laura and I shared a house in Donnybrook with Viv and Kevin from Art Van Go. We were there to do The Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin. This is the second time that Vilene have a stand at this show, and after having such a good time last year we knew what we were in for . . .

 
Laura on the stand, halfway through setting up the stand.
 It is great fun working with Laura at the shows - we do have a laugh together, we work hard too, of course!!!

The Dublin show is not as busy as the other two in the UK, but it has a fabulous atmosphere and great charm. Some of the stand holders are the same but there are many more from Ireland. There was lots to see and many friends to catch up with.
I always enjoy looking at the graduates showcase. There is always interesting and intriguing work to discover. I particularly liked the work by Helen Sill.
Her work is about herself and the changes she is experiencing through the simple medium of cloth, stitch and print.
 

Have a look at her site/blog, its a great read.
Amy Brannigan was exhibiting again - I do love her work. Laser cut leather. The designs are based on old, deteriorating cast iron gates and railings that can found be found all over Ireland.


 
This is Amy's website

There was a lot of fabulous work on show, these were two artists that caught my eye.
When we are in Dublin our 'boss' in Vilene comes over and takes Laura and I out for the evening along with the Vilene Dublin rep. We always have a great time out to together - we go to The Bank, an old bank turned into a fabulous bar and restaurant. I do love it there.


You can see the fabulous ceiling in this shot.
Of course a little drink is taken . . . it would be very rude not to . . . .


Guess which one is mine?

We will be going again next year - it will be fabulous. 
Art Van Go run the Artists in Action stands at all the Twisted Thread shows. It takes a lot of organisation and is a great chance for artists to play and develop ideas while they chat to visitors at the show. 
I got a chance to play one day at the show - I didn't have a lot of time to plan what I was doing - but thoroughly enjoyed myself - I worked with Decovil 1 iron-on interfacing. I love the way it feels like leather and its soft, but firm drape. I painted one side of the work with metallic paint and the other side I sprayed colour through stencils. I will show you more of it when I have developed my ideas further  . . . . 
This is a sneak peek . . . needless to say, it is 3D and about 6ft tall.


 ***
 After the show finished I had a couple of days break in County Leitrim - at Lough Rynn Castle. My goodness, it is soooo beautiful. A beautiful country house with excellent staff, service and food. http://www.loughrynn.ie/

 I have never stayed anywhere sooooo beautiful. The weather was showery and sunny but it didn't matter as there were cosy sofas to snuggle into and roaring log fires to stare into. 

 
 The wood panelled entrance hall.

 
 Beautiful stained glass in the entrance hall.
 My room - blimey - just gorgeous.
The view from my window divine.

***
It was great to have a short break before getting back to my crazy world.
I shall be off to teach at Art Van Go tomorrow www.artvango.co.uk - I am teaching a two day workshop, Reclaimed Papers, on Tuesday and Wednesday in the studio at Art Van Go. Then I go straight up to Redditch to teach the two groups of ExTex 3 Thursday to Sunday. Then it's Harrogate and The Knitting and Stitching Show.

***

I have two new products that I am launching this week on nid-noi.com. The first is SoluLuxe - a heavy weight water soluble embroidery stabiliser. It is thicker than any other similar product on the market. When using two layers of SoluLuxe you will not need to use an embroidery hoop for free motion embroidery so it is easier to work on a larger scale unrestricted.
 Solufix - cut to A4 and run through an ink jet printer then backed with SoluLuxe to create firm fabric on which to stitch without a hoop.

I have begun to stitch the image, I hope to finish it when I am on the stand at Harrogate.

SoluLuxe can be combined with Solufix to free machine printed images and then wash away both products to just reveal the stitch. Solufix is a self adhesive water soluble that is on a firm carrier paper, making it firm enough to safely print through an ink jet printer. 
Once the Solufix has been printed, remove the carrier paper and stick the Solufix onto the SoluLuxe. You will then have a firm surface on which to stitch.

Pre cut A4 sheets of Solufix and SoluLuxe can be found in Fix/Luxe packs and Fix/Luxe printed packs which can be found here -  https://www.nid-noi.com/product/SolFIX.php

More on the second product in the next post . . . . . .

x x x

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