5pm on October 30th   5.16pm on October 30th Well it is November - so we do expect to have storms here on the west coast of Ireland. Storm Ciaran has passed over Ireland and is now thrashing parts of the UK. It has been pretty windy and the rain has been horrendous. We have had a lot of local flooding. However the house is fine, everything outside is a bit squidgy and soaking wet. Taking the dogs out is fun at the moment! Though with everything that is happening in the world at the moment, I certainly can't complain . .  With the nights drawing in, in the northern hemisphere, the sun is setting earlier and earlier. We have been enjoying some rather beautiful sun sets. The colours are quite remarkable, the images above were taken within 16 minutes of each other. Living out here on the edge certainly has it's advantages. I think you can see where I get the inspiration from for my work.   www.kimthittichai.com/work-for-sale   5.27pm on October 27th I particularly ...

This is a detail of the larger piece by Morag which is featured further down this post. A New Starting Point is one of my favourite workshops. It is newspaper based and can be taught over 2 - 5 days. This summer school at Inkberrow Design Centre was the 5 day version which means we could add print and stitching onto water soluble fabric. I love teaching at the IDC studios, there is plenty of room and the atmosphere is fabulous, slightly bonkers - just brilliant . There is room for the students to work comfortably.   Starting to paint up the newspaper and Bon daweb. The first thing we got on with was the 'prett y and background' technique featured in my book Reclaimed Textiles . B asically tearing, layering and then tearing again . . . working with both painted and unpainted B ondaweb. The group were working with all types of paper, old books, magazine pages, music . . .  We also included mica flakes and gilding flake - of course we did....

 Little birdies in the trees - nearly finished. Just needed the rest of birdies to be stuck on.  So - I have now caught up as far as May 6th at the Beads for Beauty studio in Babbacombe, run by Sylvia McCann and her ultra talented daughter Alison.    The studio at Beads for Beauty, Babbacombe. The teaching studio is fabulous, plenty of room with power to the tables - always good for me! Now You See It . . ! Is my machine embroidery workshop. I don't tend to teach machine embroidery courses, my friend Wendy Dolan ( www.wendydolan.co.uk) does it so well, and I don't want to stray onto another tutors 'patch'. The students colour a canvas with Inktense blocks or crayons ready for their machine embroidered shapes. I use the water soluble Solufleece for free machine embroidery, it is strong enough to stitch heavily without tearing, and washes away very efficiently. www.vlieseline.com If you stretch Solufleece in an embroidery frame, you can print ont...