Beach huts on Seaford beach front. I had a rare weekend off this weekend and spent a lot of it at my sisters in Seaford. We had a great time together with lots of food and drink and a good walk on Sunday morning in the freezing cold. These modern beach huts line a section of the front and are very cheerful. I have been trying out some techniques for my workshops at the NEC this month. I will posting more information next week. I want to show how versatile the Decovil 1 iron-on interfacing is and one way to work with it is to texture it. At the moment I am using 5" texture pockets which aren't really big enough. Sissix were bringing out 12" texture pockets but they still haven't materialised. If any of you know of any 12" pockets I would be grateful if you could let me know. I cut an 'envelope' style bag out of Decovil 1 with my Big Shot Pro die cutting machine.   I then foiled the sticky side with transfer foil. ...

  Transfer printed satin covered with hand knitted wire embellished with hand stitch - by Sally. It is sad when a long course comes to an end - it is also a time to celebrate all the hard work of the past year. Friendships have been made amongst the group that I hope will last for years to come.     Sally stitching in to the sample above.   We started off with eight students and lost two along the way through broken bones and pressure of work. I am hoping that Liz of the broken bones will be picking up the course again some time this year and hopefully Emma will feel more able to work with the group as they go forward into new ventures.     Claire and Shaun appear to be working hard but were definitley feeling slightly hysterical and mucking about. Claire blamed the caffeinated tea she drank at lunchtime for her extreme fit of the giggles. (Claire normally drinks decaffeinated). Heidi working hard on her wall piece. ...

I forgot to take a photo of the stand before I left - so here is one I prepared earlier - at Bluewater in February. Well I'm here in Glasgow and not tooooo worse for wear! I drove up as far as Carlisle yesterday and then onto Glasgow this morning. I had the stand more or less set up by 3pm so came back to my Travelodge for a snooze. It was great to see so many friends at the show. Wendy and Rob Dolan are here, we are off to see 'The Artist' tomorrow night. We are staying in the same Travelodge so Wendy can look after me - bless her, she is such a good friend. Isobel Hall, Jenni Rayment, Val Hughes are also here, amongst others. Cardonald College has the stand next to mine and it is looking good. The college are hosting the fashion shows over the next 4 days and they promise to be brilliant. I love coming up here - we always have a great time, everyone is so friendly. It will also be good to catch up Kathy Troup on The Embroiderers Guild stand, we don't of...

painted Bondaweb ironed onto black CS500 Spunbond decorated with strips of blue CS500, glitter and sequins Just a quick post to say I have just had confirmation that I have an extra show next year, I will be at Creative Stitches SECC Glasgow 8th - 11th March. It is a great show in a stunning venue and I am so excited to be going. If any of the Guilds that have been wanting me to deliver workshops and lectures in Scotland want to come and see me at the show I will be taking email addresses to plan a 2 week 'tour' of Scotland in 2013, probably September ish!!! I am still wading through the orders that are coming in thick and fast but I should get up to date today. . . . . . .   . . . altogether now - "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - la, la la, la la!!!"   x

one of my groups of keen students trying some new techniques Well here we are, another week on and I am sitting in my room in the Travelodge after a hearty breakfast about to pack up the car and start the long drive home back to Brighton. I have had a great if very busy and tiring time in Glasgow. The show was very busy and it was great to catch up with friends and customers up here.  Wendy and Rob Dolan were also with the show and we went out on the town on Friday night. We went to Ashton Lane in Glasgow - first of all we saw The Kings Speech at The Grosvenor Cinema, this is a refurbished Victorian cinema furnished with large leather seats with places to hold your drinks and food. You can buy a bottle of wine to take in with and a plate of Italian meats and olives if you fancy, or fresh popcorn or . . . .  you get the idea. After the film we manged to stagger 3 doors along to The Ubiquitous Chip, an amazing restaurant serving traditional Scottish fayre with a very modern tw...

  Various  weights of Vilene Spunbond cut with a soldering iron and bonded onto CS800  Glasgow here I come!!! I will be leaving tomorrow to start the long drive up to Creative Stitches at the SECC in Glasgow. www.ichf.co.uk It is a 4 day show from the 3rd - 6th March. I will be on stand no ZG01 and will be running 4 x 30 minute workshops a day on the stand. Tickets are on a first come, first served basis. The workshops are for 6 people at a time. Scrumptious Spunbond  30 minute Workshops Everyday - Book places with Kim 10.30, 11.30, 12.30 & 2.30    Come and discover the versatility of Vilene Spunbond CS 500, CS800 and Bondaweb, learn how to colour and distress these wonderful products. Experiment with different weights of Vilene Spunbond and heat tools to layer up a fascinating sample to take with you.  Layers of CS500 colours zapped with a heat gun to create a fantastic texture to stitch I love the journey up North and look forward to the...