Painted Bondaweb ironed onto a cream background fabric and decorated with gilding flake, sequins and foil. My first job back in this lovely green and very wet country was an afternoon lecture and workshop hosted by the Winchester Branch of the Embroiderers Guild . What an organised and helpful branch they are. There was definitely the buzz of a vibrant and focused group, they made me feel very energised. Does that make sense? My lecture went well - it was my first time talking about my 'Textile Travels' and it seemed to be well received. I stayed that night with Susan Chapman, www.susanchapman.com Susan lives close to where I would be teaching the next day so it all worked out very well. We had a great evening catching up with most of what we had been up to since we had seen other last at Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch at the NEC in March. We both had so much to talk about - the main source of conversation was Susan's new house - FABULOUS. I'm only a little

 Layers of Vilene Spunbond CS 500 and 800 zapped and layered with polyester organza and mounted on hessian.  Phew! what a week - it was very full on what with staying in Katoomba and teaching in Springwood but we coped admirably with lovely students providing lifts. I was staying in a little house with my wonderful friend Mary Hettmansperger who was also teaching and who makes the most beautiful metal jewellery.  www.maryhetts.com All the classes for the Contextart Forum were held at Springwood High School or Korowai School . I had 14 students in my class which overlooked the school playing field. Everyone got on very well and all were happy to work on samples rather than make anything considered 'finished'. The group worked well together and we all soon gelled. You can almost hear the cogs turning with concentration.   Sulpher Crested Cockatoos wrecking a tree out side our window.  I'm afraid I was bit naughty now and then when I

A beautiful sample of Vilene Spunbond CS500 that has been backed with Bondaweb and then cut with a soldering iron. The cut shapes are then ironed onto more Vilene Spunbond. It is Wednesday - halfway through my week at Ballarat. There are 16 tutors teaching groups of students all over Ballarat Grammar School. We all are having a great time and working hard. We have an afternoon off today so i am catching up on the blog and then I will have a snooze - I need to re-charge my batteries - I am still not quite right - the drugs help a lot though!  my girls painting acres of Bondaweb I have a FABULOUS group of students, they are very patient with this strange women from the U.K. who shouts orders at them - they are starting to get used to me . . . . The ladies are working very hard and are excited about working with products that are new to them such as Decovil, Tyvek and Spunbond.   The girls working in the textiles studio   Just Bondaweb, painted and then iro

Painted Bondaweb ironed onto a turquoise background fabric, decorated with dried seeds and leaves, jewel dots and strips of the backing paper from the Bondaweb  The first day of this 3 day course was spent showing the students the basic layering techniques we were due to cover. Once the students have got to grips with the basics they can then start zapping and stitching or whatever they fancy. First of all we painted Bondaweb and Tyvek - The Bondaweb we started to work with today (as you will see) and the Tyvek will be played with tomorrow. While the Bondaweb was drying the students ironed some plain Bondaweb onto a piece of pre-coloured Vilene Spunbond CS500. A soldering iron was then used to cut out shapes which were the ironed onto a second piece of Spunbond. Here are some of their samples -         We then experimented with transfer printing onto white CS800 - the heaviest weight Spunbond. I have my heat press here so the students had the chance to try tr