Can you identify the packaging? There are times when you just have to give in - and having shingles is one of them. I had no idea it was so debilitating and so vicious - or that it would last for so long. I have heard the horror stories, 2 friends of mine have had it recently, 1 on the bra line and 1 on the unmentionables but I guess until you have it yourself you can't understand what it is like. I am lucky I got the anti viral drugs early enough and I am starting to feel better, there is less pain everyday but the rash and blisters are still spreading, but more slowly now. I may have to design myself a stunning yashmak if they don't start to clear up soon - but I can't go anywhere or see anyone as I am still contagious - I feel as though I should have a bell to ring . . . . .  This will pass - I have to remember this is just one tiny part of my life and there are far worse worse things (though on Friday morning at 6am I would have disputed that) . The recovery i

 Bondaweb painted with diluted Colourful Thoughts paint and then printed with the same paints at full strength. Never say never!  I have always said I will never sell paints or dyes - just products that will do something with heat. However - due to the encouraging growth in sales of my Play packs, particularly the Hot Spots! I am now gong to incorporate Colourful Thoughts Paints, Gilding Flake and Jewel Dots in two new Play packs that I will launch mid January ready for the new Creative Stitches Show at Bluewater at the beginning of February.   These multi surface paints are the best I have found for painting all my products but particularly for Bondaweb and Tyvek where you need to dilute the paint but you still need some colour. They have a high metallic content which is great as many of you know I like a bit of sparkle . . . Which  brings me to the Gilding Flake and Jewel Dots -  I just LOVE this stuff is makes my happiness complete when I am layering with

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 twist. We a

Hurrah! and lashings of ginger beer! I've finished the book. The first draft has gone winging its way to my editor. Oh the relief!!!!                           The book is about layering textiles and here are three of the images that have inspired me in the past months. I am hoping the book will be published ready for The Festival of Quilts next August, but it will be a tight schedule, so fingers crossed. I have had to remove the heat gun from the nid-noi.com website as it has been discontinued, I am hoping to find a replacement at the trade show in February. I will let you all know when I have found one. A 300 watt versions will work - but they take time, and if you are like me with the attention span of a goldfish, you want your heat gun to work fast! I can now get on with putting my house back together after our best ever Open House. I am looking forward to a weekend off  . . . . . and away . . . . Ho! Ho! Ho!!!  x