The cover of Patchwork Professional Magazine You can just picture it can't you - me sitting here at my computer in my bathrobe writing this with blue dye on my hair being incredibly excited about my second article to be published in a magazine - I feel so grown up!!! Patchwork Professional is a very beautiful German magazine the promotes all kinds of quilt art and associated textile techniques and skills. This issue has featured me as an artist and a workshop on how to use my lovely Hot Spots!   I have been given permission to scan in the cover of the magazine and two of the pages from the article. As they are scans they are not perfect but the images give you some idea. The shaggy newspaper pieces and the 'Blue Cross' image are based on the detritus that gets caught up in the steel work under our West Pier in Brighton. The 4 foot vessel on the right is one of my pieces created from CS800 that has been dyed, zapped and layered. The top image

 My new black (well charcoal really) pelmet/craft Vilene decorated with painted Bondaweb, foils and gilding flake and then cut with a soldering iron and bonded onto the same black pelmet/craft Vilene. FAB!  ooooohh!!! It's chilly! Have you got snow too? This is the third year in a row we have snow in Brighton - most unusual. We also had snow at Bluewater so Sunday was a very quiet day . The first three days were fabulous though. None of us were sure if anyone would come to the show as it was a new venue, but we needn't have worried - you all came in your droves. Thank you! It was great to see so many of you there and you seemed to be having a great time. It was fabulous meeting you all and catching up with friends who also had stands at the show. As it was a bit quiet yesterday I had the chance to play with some of my new products that I will launching on the website in a couple of weeks time. I am just having them cut and priced then I can let you all know what I

The beautiful courtyard at La Verderie 2 workshops in France September/October Hot Textiles - Creative Bondaweb  September 26 th – October 1 st Luscious Layers October 3 rd – 8 th I am very blinkered in the way I think and sometimes need a nudge to make me realise what is staring me in the face!  Gorgeous old buildings with loads of inspirational textures can be found around and about La Verderie Because the workshops in France are going to be for 4 - 5 students I immediately thought they would be good for beginners and marketed it accordingly. It has been pointed out to me several times that working in a small group would also be a great opportunity for more advanced students to have their own 'masterclass' with me. There will be plenty of time for one to one tuition for any level of experience so Sue and I have now changed the skill levels on all the advertising. I am giving you all the 'heads up' as I start my show season this week and wi

Bonded and bejewelled newspaper for stitch at Foredown Tower March 3rd Hello again, apologies for the gap in communication. I had been struck down by a DISGUSTING cold and am just about getting back into the land of the living. I was so bad I had to cancel my workshop at Uckfield Community College last Saturday - unheard of!  I am almost up to date with all the orders on nid-noi.com . The Hot Spots! give away was obviously a good idea. That offer has finished now so things should calm down a bit orders wise - which is a good thing as I have just a little bit of organising to do for upcoming shows and my trip to Australia and New Zealand looming up fast. Because the funded workshop at Foredown Tower filled up within hours of my mentioning it I have added another one - there are 6 places left. This workshop won't be funded - it will cost £35 for the day and there will be a materials list. As many of you will know I rarely teach in my home town as my college close

 Hot Spots! decorated with various heat transfer foils, sequins and glitter - FAB!  Well that was good idea!  I offered a free Hot Spots! Playpack (value £6) with every order received on nid-noi.com between the 15th and 25th January on this blog and in my newsletter and have been very pleased with the result. I wanted to see if it was necessary to put anything on the home page of the website to generate interest - it seems not! I think if I had put the offer on the website I wouldn't be able to cope. Thank you all for your orders and for being such lovely guinea pigs . . . . . . I have never done an offer before but I am so encouraged I think I will do another one next month - so watch this space.   It is my way of thanking my existing customers and blog followers and gives you a chance try something new . So until midnight on the 25th January - if you place an order - you get a free Hot Spots! Playpack. If anyone fancies sending me an image of what they have done w

  Painted and foiled Bondaweb with painted, textured and foiled Tyvek The final day at West Dean was a day of layering and stitch, a great treat. Having the extra day made such a difference, to the work and to the group. All the students bar one were beginners in the Hot Textiles field and they all produced some brilliant work. We worked through all the basic Hot Textiles processes as you will see in the previous posts. The students were left with various piles of heat treated fabrics which I asked them to create some kind of composition - here are the resulting samples -   Layers of transfer printed CS800 Vilene Spunbond zapped with a heat gun and decorated with frayed organza and embossing powder.   Transfer printed CS800 Vilene Spunbond zapped with a heat gun decorated with a Tyvek motif.      Polyester organza decorated with painted Bondaweb, zapped with a heat gun and decorated with textured Tyvek  Painted Bondaweb decorated with hea

Transfer printed Evolon decorated with silver transfer foiled Hot Spots! This is a just a catch up post - I will continue with the West Dean workshop later when I have had time to sort through all the photos. Being a bear of little brain and what brain I have left is soggy with a cold, it has only just occurred to me that my followers on here are not necessarily subscribers to my newsletter and therefore won't be aware of my special offer this month. I am giving away a free Hot Spots! Playpack (value £6) with every order received on www.nid-noi.com between the 15th and 25th January. I am so pleased with this product I want everyone to try it. There is a free film to watch if you can bear it on the top left of this blog showing you how to use them - you can fast forward to the demo . . . . The pack contains 2 x A4 sheets of medium spots, 2 x A4 sheets of small spots, 2 sample pieces of heat transfer foil, hints and tips and a free gecko template.