There is pattern and colour everywhere you turn in Uzbekistan.      The Khiva Retreat - A Journey Through Uzbekistan . . with me!! 17th - 30th October 2026  I am so looking forward to going back to Uzbekistan. Having led 2 x 14 day trips there in 2025, I know what wonders are in store for us on this exciting trip. This tour is particularly special as we will be staying longer in Khiva. There will be time to sketch, stitch, take photos, wander . . . This will be the first retreat style tour with Aahilya Holidays, I will be leading 4 more next year in Delhi, Spain, Morocco and Uzbekistan.  After all my tours last year, I felt there was a place for a slightly slower paced tour, spending longer in one city, giving us a chance to take in more, maybe develop some designs to stitch or get out and sketch. On this tour we will be traveling through Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and ending in Khiva for 5 days. I adore Khiva. It is small, everything is contained withi...

Girls just wanna have fun!! In Khiva.  Hello, it's been a while - Happy New Year! The change from teaching to traveling has been reasonably smooth. And very exciting. In 2025 I was tour leader for 2 x 14 day tours of Uzbekistan in March and April, and in November, I led 2 x 7 day tours of Istanbul. Working with  Aahilya Holidays  has been the new opportunity I didn't know I needed. It has changed how I feel about myself, I feel more confident . . and able! Getting older is interesting, the things we worried about when we were younger hold less importance. We have different worries now, our knees and backs and occasionally, our memory!! And for me, my confidence. Who was I if I wasn't a tutor anymore? Did I have any value? Working and traveling with Isha from Aahilya Holidays really opened up my world, literally. Isha and me in Istanbul I discovered that all the years of teaching different groups of adults was a brilliant training for managing the groups of excited guests ...

  Detail of a ceiling The Bihar Retreat - The Stitched Stories and the Mudejar Architecture of Bihar January 15th - 25th 2026   I am very fortunate to be a group leader for Aahilya Holidays. It is a wonderful opportunity to discover more of the world, and especially, to understand more about the history of the world through it's textiles and architecture. Learning more about the Silk Road, The Golden Road, The Cotton Road and The Paper Road, I am falling in love with the stories of Central Asia and all the artifacts, crafts and layers of architectural design.    Islamic architecture in Uzbekistan started me off and now I am researching further afield. Reading more history books I am beginning to understand there is no one architectural style. All are created from ideas, experiments and new ways of building down the centuries. Invading armies captured artisans with skills not known to the invaders. These artisans were put to work to build mosques, churches and palaces...

  Me with 2 of my ExTex girls Mary and Trisha     I had 2 days at The Festival of Quilts. The exhibits were fabulous, a real inspiration. And it was so good to catch up with friends.  If you missed my previous post about my favourite stand at FOQ 2025, you can find it here -  My favourite stand FOQ part 1 Isha Sharma, Wendy Dolan and me I made the trip to catch up with Wendy Dolan, Isha from Aahilya Holidays and Janet Kolle from Vlieseline. John J Cole Morgan was the bonus!! Wendy and I have known each other since we first taught at The Connaught Adult Education Centre in Hove. UK. in the late 1990's. We have both developed from adult education tutors to professional freelance tutors, artists and authors. This is Wendy's website.  Isha Sharma is the owner of Aahilya Holidays. You may be aware I am now leading tours for her company, as is Wendy. My first 2 trips to Uzbekistan in March and April of this year were incredible. Everything is so very well organis...