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Finished!

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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

Nearly there!

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It's 6am and dark outside. The words are flowing now and I have already eaten TWO  pain au chocolat. I am SO naughty. I seem to need lots of treats to keep me going, why is it only bad carbs will do when you are under pressure? I can be slim and gorgeous next week Ha Ha!! once the book has been delivered. So - this blog is supposed to be about promoting Hot Textiles - not books and snow.  The sample above shows dyed lightweight pelmet vilene (green) and Spunbond CS700 (brown) cut with a fine tip soldering iron and bonded onto Spunbond CS800 (blue). If you want to iron on your intricate cut outs, make sure you iron Bondaweb on the back of your products before you cut them. You can leave the backing paper on or take it off when you solder, it's a personal choice. Don't forget your baking parchment on top and underneath and of course, you need to be soldering onto a ceramic tile or similar. Right back to writing - keep calm and carry on . . . . . No Richard, I haven'

pain au chocolat and coffee . . . .

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  do you dunk yours? The snow was washed away on Friday night by very heavy rain, it was a miracle. We went to bed with thick snow on the ground and woke up on Saturday morning to virtually no snow at all. We now have freezing fog, which is very beautiful in the garden decorating all the different textures with white lace - but deadly on the roads. The change in the weather was very timely for a busy Open House weekend. I was particularly pleased this weekend as I sold a large piece of work of my own for a change. It always does my confidence a power of good to sell something - it also helps my groaning bank balance!  . . of land, sea and sky '. . . of land, sea and sky' was created on two 'L' shaped canvases by layering hand dyed silk tops onto similarly dyed heavy pelmet Vilene plus and 'knocked back' with toning painted Bondaweb. The whole piece was then painted with acrylic wax to seal the surface. The piece can be hung as one solid work or slightly sepa

. . . . be careful what you wish for . . . . . !

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. . . . . . well that will teach me to say I have never been anywhere cold before! It's minus five today but feels like minus 10. Now I know what I will be wearing in Alaska. We had another 10" of snow last night. I am well and truly trapped now. This is the view from my window. I have always loved living on top of a hill at the end of a very large cul de sac, it is very quiet with wonderful views, now I am not so sure.  Hey ho!!! I have enough food for three more days and it SHOULD clear up a bit by then - I hope. My local shop is a mile away which I could walk to if ABSOLUTELY necessary, but I don't want to fall over. Two of my friends have fallen over and broken their wrists. I had an email from one of my customers in Scotland telling me they had been in Arctic conditions for the past 9 days.  The most important thing is that we all look after each other. Keep warm and if you are bored, keep in touch . . . . I'm only writing a book . . . . . disturb me anytime 

BBRRRRrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

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Wow it's chilly! The snow has arrived in Brighton and I am trapped in my house so the chains weren't necessary after all. I am happily typing away grooving to the new Caro Emerald album - 'Scenes from a cutting room floor'. It is FAB! The book is coming along well and I HOPE to be ready for the December 10th deadline . That's enough prevarication - back to the book. I've fed the birds, cleared the ice from the bird baths, done the washing up and written and sent the nid-noi.com monthly newsletter so there is no excuse.   We have two more week ends to go of my Open House - I do hope the snow clears a bit so everyone can get to my house. I hope you are all keeping snug and warm. Hello to all of you enjoying warmer temperatures around the world - think of us shivering in our boots!!!!! x

Looking ahead . . .

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Anyone who is self employed, particularly in my line of work knows we have to book our work quite far ahead. Whilst it can seem you are wishing your life away, it can also be good to have something exciting to look forward to. I have just signed the contracts for Fibrearts Ballarat Australia and the Creative Fibre Festival in Blenheim New Zealand in April/May 2012. I have also had confirmation for the Fibre Festival in Anchorage, Alaska for March 2012.  my gorgeous girls at Fibrearts Ballarat April 2010 I am SO excited about going back to teach at Ballarat - watch out Donnie and Ruth - Yeehhaa!!!! This time I will be concentrating on 3D structures using all the Hot Textiles techniques. It should be great fun and by then we should have some new products to play with. What will make my happiness complete is that Mary Hettmansperger will also be teaching that week. We met this year when we taught together at Ballarat and Orange. She is FANTASTIC, it will be wonderful to see her again. G

The Design and Technology Show

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my stand looking quite tidy from the front . . . . I have just unloaded my poor car after the The Design and Technology show. I don't think it has ever been SO packed to the gunnels. It is a 13 year old Volvo V70 and still going very strong - thank goodness. The show was great fun. My role was to inspire, help and listen to teachers who need help to create new courses that include textiles, whether they teach art, textiles or D and T. A lot of schools and colleges are developing new, more creative courses and need help with the new products and materials that are now available.  My main tasks were to demonstrate how to use a heat press for transfer printing and a die cutting machine to cut out textile shapes along with all my usual heat distressing techniques. on closer inspection - not quite so tidy behind the scenes - definitely not tidy! showing how to use a die cutting machine (Prestige Pro) to cut textiles You may have seen die cutting machines such as the Sissix Big S