A slice of Mary's particularly delicious lemon cake. Alison arriving with a box of lemon drizzle cake and banana and toffee muffins. Rachael arrived with a box of Rice Krispie cakes and Mellisa brought in a box of dairy free chocolates. Session 5 of Experimental Textiles looks at Constructed Textiles. Knit, weave and felt. We also look at working in 3D. But first we look at the homework . . .  I am currently teaching two groups of Experimental Textiles. One on Thursday and Friday. The other on Saturday and Sunday. The course is taught over nine months, from June to March, one two day session per month. This post shows a mixture of images from both groups. This was just a small part of Kate's homework - she created several fabulous pieces. A ripped up painted still life, reassembled and decorated with hand stitch.  . . . Another from Jane . . .   . .  a detail . . . Marlilyn missed the 4th session but created her own still lif...

You may remember the beginnings of this lovely stitched pieced from the last post about the Malmsbury Embroiderers Guild workshop.  This is it stitched, finished and mounted.  Chris Taylor and Laura Strutt on the Vilene stand.  Boy did we have a good time. The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace was, as usual, stunning. it was also very long - FIVE days, with a late night opening on Thursday. It was fabulous to see so many friends - new and old. We had a very busy time on the Freudenberg Vilene stand. There are still people out there in Textileland that dont know you can paint Bondaweb - so my work here is not yet done! The exhibits at the show were fantastic. I have two series of work I would like to share with you. The first is by Mary Flynn - The Shore Archive. Her work celebrates the beauty of the sea and shore and communicates her feelings about our responsibility for the environment Over a period of years Mary Flynn's work has i...

 Vilene Spunbond (Lutradur) with Bondaweb on the back, cut with a soldering iron, then ironed onto a background. I teach a lot of workshops to a lot of Guilds, both Embroiderers and Quilters. Every now and then you come across a rather special group. Don't get me wrong, all groups are welcoming and great fun - but this group was FAB! The Malmesbury Guild are one of three Embroiderers Guilds in Wiltshire. They are a  small group and as with all small groups they could do with some more members. If you live in the North of Wiltshire, I highly recommend you consider joining them. This is their blog - malmesburyembroiderers.blogspot.co.uk with contact details.    Painting Bondaweb. Hot Textiles is the first workshop I wrote after my book of the same title was published. I hadn't taught it for a while, then two or three bookings come along at once. It is the basic sampling workshop, teaching how to use heat tools safely - Soldering irons, heat guns and...