The new book from D4Daisy www.d4daisy.com  Most of you will have seen that Maggie Grey has a new book out from D4Daisy and some of you will already have it. It is a fabulous book, full of exciting ideas. Every page had something brilliant on it - using one cutting tool or another on it - from hole punches to laser cutters. It is a very good read. The book features several of the Vilene interfacings - or 'pelmet Vilene'. I though this might be a good time to explain the differences between the 'pelmet' or 'craft' Vilenes as most of you know them. There is no such thing as 'pelmet' or 'craft' Vilene. It is a term that has been adopted to describe a firm sew-in interfacing. The correct name, or in fact, number for it is - S80 . Not very exciting - but if you don't know the number you will have trouble finding it. I sell all the medium to heavy weight iron-on and sew-in interfacings on www.nid-noi.com. I have h...

The 'before' photo . .  The lovely Laura Strutt who works with me on Vilene stands at all the shows. I couldn't do the shows with out her, her energy and humour keep me going. Well, that's that for another year. The Festival of Quilts was even bigger than last year, with fabulous quilt displays from all over the world. There were thousands of visitors every day, many from all points of the globe, including Australia and New Zealand. Working on the shows is a great way to keep in touch with friends, and of course, make new ones. The finished stand - in action. The lovely Laura showing off her fabulous samples.   The not so lovely and very hot Kim demonstrating her samples.   I made a new friend at the show - the very beautiful Laura from the Italian Vilene office. As you can see we got on well right from the start. We had great fun together and will no doubt be seeing each other again. One of the many great things a...

A fab page from one of the sketchbooks. Apologies for being a bit behind with this blog, I was being a student my self this week - on a course with Gwen Hedley - FANTASTIC! I feel as though I have found my path again. It's time I stopped writing books and started creating work. So - The second sessions of Experimental Textiles went well, all the students came back!!! That was a good start - and with such fabulous homework and a good start on their sketchbooks. The homework was to take one design created on the first session and make a collage in black and white, maybe playing with counter change or inlay applique. These are just a few of the beautiful samples that were produced for homework.     This flipped and mirrored design was turned into applique and then mirrored blocks were cut.   The prints from these blocks worked really well and I will show them at the end of the month when the groups meet again with the rest of the fabulo...