Nicola Brown and me in the sunshine in Geelong         The Geelong Fibre Forum 2023 was fabulous. Yes, Australia was a long way to go, but it was worth it. There are few opportunities to teach a live 5 day workshop. They can be a challenge, but so rewarding when everything you have planned works out. It is a good test to check you are still capable of developing and delivering quality teaching. Whilst I am a very experienced tutor, you can never take anything for granted. You are only as good as your previous workshop or course. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with my good friend Nicola Brown (who also lives in Ireland and was also teaching) and tutors Mary Hettmansperger (America) and Pam De Groot (Australia) who I hadn't seen for several years. It was so very, very good to see them again. Plus I finally got to actually meet Dawn Edwards, who I have been friends with on FB for several years. There will be at least 3 blog posts about the work my group cr...

  My first 4 books . .    Welcome to my new blog subscribers.  I have 2 mailing lists one for this blog, and one for my newsletter. This blog tends to be a long read, it can contain all kinds of things, my life here in Ireland, my dogs, my travel, whatever takes my fancy, I can ramble, I like to talk to you all. There is a search engine in the top right hand corner, I have been writing this blog for 10 years or so, so if you want to find out what I have written about Lutradur or Tyvek or New Zealand, anything really . . just pop it into the search engine My newsletter is more of a short read, what is happening with my teaching, news of shows and new travel tours. That kind of thing.         I don't know if you can hear it from where you are, but my brain is whirring with new ideas and techniques. While I am filming and updating my 12 most popular workshops, I am developing new ideas to share with you. My 'what happens if . . ' head is definitel...

Me on my stand having the best time,  photo by Amanda Duke Well I am back - just! I got back home in Ireland on Monday night. I still haven't fully unpacked the car. I am waiting for some energy to galvanise me - maybe it will arrive tomorrow . . ! The Festival of Quilts was fabulous. It was like one big colourful party. It was so good to catch up with so many friends. There was so much laughter and squeals of delight. Lots of plans were hatched and several trips planned. The beginnings of my stand   It always takes longer than you think to set up a stand. Particularly when you are demonstrating. How much space do you allow to spread out and play? I wasn't really happy with it until the second day. My last show was pre covid in 2019, so it had been a while . .     Video of my stand There were exhibitors and visitors from all over the world at the show. I was particularly pleased to meet one of my online students from America. While we can chat and have tutorial...

A sample beaded vessel for the Baubles, Bangles and Beads workshop Looking inside I love working with different sizes of beads   It's nearly here - The Festival of Quilts 2023. www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/exhibitors/kim-thittichai/  The last show I did was Festival of Quilts in 2019. Then the world ground to halt! It seems to have taken ages to prepare for this show. Just the admin takes a lot of time, and then there are the decisions on how to dress the stand. What do I want to promote and how do I want to promote it? What will I sell? Various heat distressed effects on painted and layered Tyvek Well the decisions are all made and I am halfway through loading the car ready for the drive over to the UK on Monday. I will be promoting the Experimental Textiles Video Library & Membership with a special show discount and selling various packs of Hot Spots and Tyvek along with 2 special packs of transfer foils. I will be demonstrating on the stand every day. I will be in th...

Printed layers of bonded recycled papers It's not long now - The Geelong Fibre Forum in Australia 24th to 30th September 2023 is just 12 weeks away!! I had better start getting organised. It always takes longer than I think. Planning what I can take in my suitcases. Teaching a 5 day workshop on the other side of the world can be a challenge, what materials do I REALLY need to take? The students have a comprehensive materials list, but I am always worried someone might forget something. I think there are couples of places left on my workshop - https://taftainc.com.au/workshops/kim-thittichai I haven't taught in Australia or New Zealand since 2019. I was due to teach this workshop in 2020 - but we we all know what happened that year, things got very quiet!! So International Tutors are now being invited back to the Fibre Forums and Quilt Symposia. Painting The Journey Taking sections from The Journey Printing blocks created from the original designs taken from The Journey It'...

A detail of one of the panels of the mobile Those of you who teach will know how great it is when a past student sends you an excited email with images of work they have created (and sold) after one of your workshops. This student, who doesn't want to be named but has given me permission to use her images. She took various online workshops with me during the pandemic. This work was created after working through my workshop A New Starting Point, which features painted Bondaweb and recycled papers. Maybe a bit of glitter and foil too . . ! The work that has been sold is this beautiful mobile. Isn't it fabulous? The mobile featuring 11 double sided panels of gorgeousness   Here are a few of the panels in progress . . Detail of the print on these small panels    The decorative papers were torn and layered with painted Bondaweb and decorated with transfer foil and print. I love the use of red, not many people use it, It balances the darker blue beautifully.   Here are few...