Gur-e Mir (Tomb of the Emir) Samarkand It's happening!! Hurrah!!   The Textile & Architecture Journey of Uzbekistan 2025 with Kim Thittichai is now up on AAhilya Holidays website - here is the link - https://www.aahilyaholidays.com/tour/6c2e/-a-textile-&-architecture-journey-of-uzbekistan-2025-with-kim-thittichai#Tours_Name As you can probably imagine, I am so very excited about this trip . I have always been fascinated by The Silk Road. The colours, the designs. The wonderful structure of the buildings. The huge rounded forms against the stunning blue skies. Bibi Khanum Mosque, (dome over the north iwan) Samarkand Bibi Khanum Mosque, Samarkand Bibi Khanum Mosque (courtyard), Samarkand We will have opportunities to work in sketchbooks as we travel around these amazing cities. Do these images make you feel energised and wanting to explore? Do you fancy joining me? Madrasah and minaret of Islam Khodja and Soviet school, Khiva Kalyan Minar, Bukhara Chor Minar, Bukhara Registan...

  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...

Some great appliques shapes cut with a soldering iron. Well that was fun. Workshop 2 - Transforming Transfer went well. I am getting used to the live Zoom format now. I am by no means an expert, but I am dithering less. We had students from the U.K, Ireland, Scotland, France and an early start in Georgia, USA. Whilst teaching on Zoom is not ideal, nothing can replace being in the same room as your students, it is pretty good. The studio looks relatively tidy behind me - you should see it in front of the table - not quite so tidy!!           The group were asked to mix their disperse dyes and paint up their papers before the workshop. This meant after the introductions and a quick demonstration from me, we could get started. Firstly the group got to grips with ironing their painted papers onto their synthetic fabric. It can take time for the heat to transfer the dye onto the fabric. A good hot iron is necessary. At least 2.000 watts. Of course, if you have a hea...