It was worth having a little hint in the last post - Janet sent me 2 images of how she is beginning to stitch in to her samples.    Starting to look good . . .   The one day workshop on Sunday was A New Starting Point - the day started well with Noel cooking me an 'Ulster fry' - How could I refuse???    A girl needs a good start to the day . . . I must say that the ladies of The Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild  www.nieg.org.uk are very good fun - and also VERY talented. I had the best weekend teaching this fabulous group of women.  The ladies working hard.    Just look at that bottom lip . . . !!!! Joanne/Joanna was particularly good fun.    Lots of layering of papers, painted Bondaweb and of course - sparkles.             The papers were then printed onto - preferably with a colour that is already in the works so the print isn't tooooo 'in your face'!!        I will show you the finished samples in

  A fabulous sample created on the short On the Surface workshop Saturday afternoon. After a dismal start on Friday - I eventually arrived in Belfast 4 hours late. I missed my flight as the M23 was closed due to flooding. A journey that usually takes 30 minutes took three and a half hours - aarrgHH!!! I was met by the lovely Janet who whisked me away to look at the sea and then off to a local bird sanctuary - Castle Espie, where I had the best rhubarb pie and ice cream I have ever had - deeelicious! Then it was on to Chez Breen to meet Catherine and Noel my hosts for the next two nights. I have never been so well looked after. This post will be in three parts as these lovely ladies created a great deal of fabulous work. On Saturday morning I delivered my lecture which was well received - then we had lunch and I taught a short version of On the Surface. In just two and a half hours the group produced some beautiful work. The group working hard . . . Very

  Rachel's beautiful little felt pot - with stitch!!!  Yes! I know it has been a while - I am struggling to keep up with everything at the moment - things should calm down a bit after next week. Paperwork and admin - aarrgHHH!!! Last weekend was the eighth for my ExTex 2 group, just one more weekend to go then it is final show time. The last two weekends of the course are for catching up and working on the final projects or samples. As the course is not accredited we don't have to jump through hoops to tick boxes, this gives me more freedom to work with each student individually. Rachel joined the course with no textiles or stitch experience and felt very much at a loss to start with. Her main hang up was the lack of knowledge about stitch - well just look at this . . . . .  This is Rachel's little felt bowl from the constructed textiles weekend, and she has stitched into it - gorgeous hey!!! I think she has proved to herself that she can stitch - with littl