The fountain in the grounds with evening sunlight on the water. Denman College has very beautiful grounds. This is going to be a lengthy post, I don't have time to write two and split the images. You may remember my recent post about my lovely group at West Dean and my saying it is not often you get a group that gels so well and that you have a lot of fun with. Well I taught another such group this week. They were great fun and very naughty!!! There is something about the groups I teach at Denman College www.denman.org.uk   They all seem to get on with each other quickly. That means they relax more and then feel comfortable being naughty! We did have a lot of fun. The course was a three day 'New Layered Textiles' workshop and basically takes the students through the processes in my book Layered Textiles. The first thing we did was paint up all the products so we would be ready to get down to work with all the products ready to play with. As usual we started

Beautiful repeat shapes - individual baked cheesecakes with honey sauce!!!! I am back teaching at Denman College  having a great time with a fabulous group, they are very funny and VERY naughty at times - perfect!  Denman is a beautiful place at which to teach, stunning grounds with beautiful flower borders and an amazing collection of mature specimen trees. The food is also very good . . . .   We can be healthy if we want to - with fruit salad . . . . . but if there is lemon and lime posset - no competition! The textiles studio is very spacious with plenty of power. A great place in which to play. I am very lucky to teach here. Guess who has the most messy table? The girls working hard. Torn painted Bondaweb decorated with foils, sequins and threads. Torn painted Bondaweb decorated with flower petals. A simple, but very pleasing composition.  . . . . and of course - we are using newspaper - well it is a Layered Textiles course. 

Medium sized Hot Spots! cut to shape, ironed onto black cotton and decorated with sequins, glitter and foil. This is just a quick catch up post. I have been home for a whole week - didn't get quite as much done as I wanted - The bindweed is still evident in the garden but my deck is looking very pretty. August seems to be a purple month in my garden. The Buddleias have actually come into flower at last. Everything is so slow to flower as there has been so little sunshine. My Pelargoniums (Geraniums in old language) are also just coming into flower. I have been having fun playing with Hot Spots! for an article in Stitch magazine. It is so good to have a reason to get the glitter and foils out. Playtime is now over - it is the end of a week that should have seen a sparkling clean house, Huh!!! no chance, I have been playing on Facebook and catching up with friends in the Antipodes. I always swore I would never go on Facebook but it is SO useful for keeping up with friends and

Bridget had fun with black Hot Stuff sheet. Decorating it with heat transfer foils and then impressing with wooden printing blocks while hot We had a chance to play with various materials on the course - Hot Stuff sheet was one of them, another was Solufleece . Solufleece is a water soluble machine embroidery product that has another use. You can 'crash' it with steam.       Solufleece is layered with Bondaweb and a top fabric. The sample is then stitched in rows and then steamed - the sample then puckers up. The samples above show the technique using two layers of organza as the top fabric. Do any of you remember those swimming costumes made with shirring elastic we used to wear that used to go all baggy when they got wet - No!!! of course not - you are far too young!!! This technique reminds me of that wet soggy feeling!!!!!   Christine stitching into her decorated newspaper     Bridget had fun layering CS500 Vilene Spunbond, free machining the

 old dyed newspaper torn and layered with painted Bondaweb and then torn and layered . . . Just a quick post to say we have had a FAB morning working with painted Bondaweb and old newspapers. My girls have been layering up large squares which we will be sticking to heavy iron-interfacing to make boxes - once the interfacing is dry as we dyed it this morning.           We have also been printing onto the layers . . . .  more later . . . . .   x