Happy New Year!! Are you ready?

 

A different view! Nicola Brown walking around her property.


Happy New Year!! 

Wherever you are in the world, I hope 2022 is looking good for you.

Well here we are! Are you ready? I have lots of plans for my field/garden and the making of new videos for a subscription opportunity on my website in a few months time.
 
I have a few events in the diary already. 10 live Zoom workshops the last Friday in every month starting this month. I have been asked to do 4 more live streams on the Vlieseline Facebook page in January, February April and May and I am giving a live Zoom lecture to a textile group in Portland, Oregon, USA in February. That is enough to be thinking about for a while, along with running the website, social media and working in the studio.
  
Beautiful book covers by Sharon on a recent workshop

I so enjoyed teaching the live Zoom workshops last year. They were such fun, it was wonderful to be able to work alongside the students in real time. So I am doing it all over again. The first workshop is the Journey on the 28th of this month. It is a great way to start your creative year. I will be working along with you. Creating original designs is so important. It helps your work stand out and be different. Here is a video to explain what we will be doing. The video also shows what we will be doing on the Creating Unique Printing blocks workshop in February. Making printing blocks is a natural progression after creating your new designs on The Journey. 
 
The Journey, Why? & How?

You can see the rest of the live Zoom workshops here - https://www.kimthittichai.com/workshops
The price of the workshop includes a group 2 hour show and tell 2 weeks after the workshop, so you have a chance to develop what you achieve on the workshop. This has been a really good idea, both myself and my students have benefited from getting together to compare and share ideas. 

***

Speaking of comparing and sharing ideas, I popped in to see my dear friend Nicola
Brown just before the new year. Nicola lives on the western side of Ireland so I don't see her as often as either of us would like. I first met Nicola when we were both teaching on the same fibre forum in Australia. To cut a long story short, it is because of Nicola that I now live in Ireland. Visiting her home and studio in rural County Carlow was the catalyst I needed to make the jump to Ireland. We have been great friends ever since. It is always great to catch up with her and walk around her wonderful dye flower borders and admire her plantation of trees to use in her work. Nicola is a passionate eco dyer and felt maker. This is her website - https://nicolabrown.ie/ and her YouTube channel - Nicola's YouTube
If you have any kind of interest in eco dyeing or felt making, Nicola has plenty of inspirational ideas for you.
 
Nicola and her dog Pip. Pip loves the water trough.




Pip enjoying a good paddle.

***
 
With the days getting slightly longer every day, I am feeling the urge to plan my planting in the garden/field. I have a big flower border that I reinvigorated last year. There is still a lot of work to do. Weeding out the creeping buttercup and clumps of grass that have appeared. I'm going for lots of colourful ground cover and perennials. I will be filling gaps with plants that I grow from seed in the next couple of months. My favourite plant that I grew last year was Ammi Majus also known as Bishops Weed or mock Queen Anne's lace. It's a bit like a very delicate cow parsley. I shall be growing double the amount this year so I can give a few plants to friends.
 
Ammi Majus filling the spaces between the daisy and pink geranium.


I tend to stick to perennials in the border, but it is worth the time spent grappling with small seedlings to have a such a beautiful frothy effect. 
 
***
 
As I mentioned earlier, over the next few months, I will be making a range of new videos to be hosted on my website as part of an annual subscription. I will be making videos of all my workshops as well as new tips and tricks videos. These will be aimed at those of you who can't work with me on my live Zoom workshops. If there is something that you think is missing from my range of workshops or something that I could cover in more depth, do drop me an email and I will consider it. info@kimthittichai.com
 
That's it for now. I need to get organised with the admin involved with the enrolments that are now roiling in and send out the materials lists. I keep all records on my desk top, email lists etc, but I still have document wallets for each workshop with all the printed off booking forms!! I do love a hard copy.
 
I will be back in couple of weeks with more workshops news . . . 

Keep well and don't forget to play!

x x x
 

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