Hayley Watson While I was writing Layered Textiles I met Hayley Watson at The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace , London . I had a stand at the show and Hayley walked past. I was so taken with what she was wearing and how she was wearing it, that I dashed up to her and asked If I could take a photograph of her. She was very surprised but said Yes! I explained I was working on a book and why I would like to include her in it. I had wanted to include Hayley in the 'Inspiration' chapter but this was vetoed by my editor - ggggGRRR!!! So to make up for not being able to include her in my book I said I would write about Hayley on my blog - so one of Hayley's fashion illustrations using ink, bleach and white paint for the background, she then   made pages of a mixture of meduims and paper and cut them up to make garment shapes Hayley is twenty one years old and is currently studying BA (hons) Textiles for Fashion at Basingstoke College of Technology. She is ins

 Hurrah! and lashings of ginger beer! My first course in Australia 2012 is full - there are still places left on other courses so if you are one of my Aus followers - check out the website fibrearts.jigsy.com/fibre-arts-at-ballarat-2012. I am so excited, particularly as this will be a new workshop combining newspaper with Vilene Spunbond and painted Bondaweb . . ooohhhHH!!!! It's going to be GORGEOUS.   old dyed newspapers layered with painted Bondaweb and gilding flake with STITCH, don't die of shock, I do get round to stitching sometimes . . . .   old dyed newspaper decorated with foiled Hot Spots!and Yes! more stitch  There are still places left on my workshop for ContextArt Forum in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains 4-DAY Workshop: HOT TEXTILES – NEW SURFACES FOR STITCH ( from Mon afternoon April 16 th to Friday noon, April 20 th 2012). Come and discover what Kim has been experimenting with in the past 2 years since she first graced Australia shores in 2010 to work

 Vilene  Spunbond CS700 backed with Bondaweb, cut with a soldering iron and applied onto CS800 Did you all enjoy the lovely weather we had on Friday? NOT!!!! I needed to drive to Stroud to deliver a lecture Friday night and a Scrumptious Spunbond workshop on Saturday. I was due to arrive at 7pm to start speaking at 8pm. As it was raining very hard and it was a Friday afternoon I had to decide if I was going to dice with the M25 or drive along the coast and up the M3. The coast road would add 30 minutes to my journey but I thought it would be a better route as it would keep moving!!!! HAH!!!! I have never had such a terrible journey in all my time driving to workshops. I left Brighton at 2.30pm thinking I would have plenty of time to stop and eat on the way. Silly girl!!! I actually arrived at my destination at 8.40 pm - it took me SIX hours in stead of three. I could have flown to Spain or driven down to my friend Sue in France in that time. It was unbelievable.  I have never seen so

 the stunning country side around Newcastle on Clun After I had eaten my second piece of cake and taken another 100 or so photos I left Bryan's Ground and tootled along further up country to have supper with Bobby and Martin Britnell and Bobby's students who were working in her studio over the weekend.   For those who are not aware of Bobby (there can't be many), she is an amazing tutor, quite inspirational and SUCH good fun. Bobby runs fabulous courses from her studio at Moor Hall in Shropshire. Bobby also runs workshops working along side Ruth Issett, the demi goddess of all things to do with colour, print and design. They make a great team, encouraging students to produce new work and develop new ideas. All workshops and dates can be found on Bobby's website www.bobbybritnell.co.uk/index.htm   Bobby also has an excellent newsletter www.bobbybritnell.co.uk/news.htm I would recommend you subscirbe to it. Moor Hall in the late evening the sunny terrace for coff

As I needed to drive up to Mostyn in North Wales for Sunday morning I thought I would take it slowly and visit a garden and a friend and colleague on the way up - North Wales is a long way from Brighton!!! I decided to try to find Bryan's Ground after I saw the images on Angie Hughes' blog recently. I wasn't disappointed. Bryan's Ground is the most beautiful and quirky garden I have visited. Absolutely STUNNING!!!!! www.bryansground.co.uk Bryan’s Ground , Stapleton, near Presteigne, Herefordshire LD8 2LP - if you want visit you need to hurry, the garden has very limited opening times and it closes for the year on the 18th July.  It is a very intimate garden, beautifully laid out and everything exquisitely placed. It just falls short of being manicured which makes it even more gorgeous. Everywhere you turn there is a surprise and a lovely vista. There are formal areas and crazy areas, this place has to be seen to be believed. the planting is stunning a surpr

  one of the original 10 black dresses made form black bin liners  I received an email this week from Sarah Patterson saying how useful she had found my book Hot Textiles.  When you write a book you never know how it will be received or if anyone will even read it, so it is always very satisfying when you hear your book has been useful. Sarah teaches A/S A/2 and GCSE Textiles at Portsmouth College , she likes to teach students a range of techniques such as Photoshop, printing, embroidery etc. This year her A/2 group were inspired for the final exam by the little black dress and this coincided with a local exhibition at Portsmouth Museum based on the LBD. The task Sarah had set her students was to create a dress using non conventional materials such as bin liners, condoms (not used!) tampons (again not used!) in fact anything that could be coloured or turned black. The students went to the exhibition and collected great ideas and inspiration for shapes and cuts. When the students r

The Tulip Tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ) in full flower - quite stunning, just one of the many specimen trees in the grounds One more post about Denman College. www.denmancollege.org.uk It is a very beautiful place to work, learn and play! Denman has it's own new website which will be continually updated over the next month or so. Although the college is the home of the W.I. all the courses are open to the public - MEN and women. You don't have to be a member to enrol on the courses and enjoy the whole Denman experience. The grounds are stunning and well kept with plenty of areas to explore in any spare time you have. They look good throughout the year. Amongst many attractions I love the long flower border and the lake. looking across the grounds to a beautiful group of trees one of the gorgeous flower borders one aspect of the lake with its well established trees and surrounding planting There are usually several courses running at one time at Denman and on the l