My Little Pony

You are going to see lots of swedish style horses in my work in 2015. Not sure whether this is finished or not. I quite like the all the space around it.

A Swedish Christmas

I bought a wonderful book second hand last week. Swedish Christmas was published in 1955 and has illustrations by Ake Gustavsson. 

Log cabin flowers

Stoke Rochford

Just home from three days of teaching at Stoke Rochford Hall in Lincolnshire. Gorgeous and appropriate setting to teach an animal textile collage course. Lovely ladies and some stunning work. Couldn't include every piece of work produced but here is a little suggestion of what went on. Thank you to Nicola for organising it.  She will be organising more Stitch Retreats next year. Visit her web site HERE. This is my last teaching this year and am looking forward to some more time in January to produce some more work of my own rather than encouraging others to stitch!

Enchanted Forest

Lots of new pieces in my Enchanted Forest series have just gone on to Etsy. The link is HERE. I have been very busy teaching, going to work and caring for elderly parents so hope these are not too late for Christmas gifts if you are really stuck!

Do you think these girls will grow up to be textile artists?

My Etsy Shop

I have just put loads of new things into my Etsy shop. Whether it is worth it I just don't know. It has taken  4 hours at least to mount, wrap, photograph and list!

Winter fair and Open Studios

 The time has come for our annual Winter Fair and Open Studios  at The Hearth and the all of us artists  are preparing our studios to welcome  visitors.  We have a wonderful selection of stallholders coming to the Hearth this year, there will be live music in the church on both days and on Sunday, weather permitting, we will be graced with a visit from Horsley the lamb, the artists' mascot who made his first appearance at the Wool fair in August.

Our stallholders this year are...
Andrew Pentland Ceramics - We loved Andrew's simple but elegant hand-thrown bowls and vessels at last year's Winter Fair so we are delighted he will be here again this year.
Oakwood Soaperie - Ceri Aitman is a regular at our Winter Fair with her luxurious handmade soaps and cosmetics which make lovely gifts.
Veronica Bell - Veronica makes hand crafted bowls and spoons made from locally sourced wood, bringing beauty to everyday objects.
Kate Jackson - Kate will be selling her hand bound books, diaries and journals, each unique and handstitched.
The Capable Gardener - Philippa Hodkinson will be bringing her trunk full of British-made gardening tools, heritage seeds and accessories - winter is a great time to plan next year's garden!
The Store Hus -  family duo Meg Held and Jan Baxandall create hand printed items for the home -  cushions, tea towels, lampshades and more decorated with scandinavian-inspired strong patterns and colour combinations.
Mark Rowney  - Mark's exquisite leatherwork books and bookmarks are illustrated with local flora and fauna, and his paintings depict the myths and folklore of nature.
Sheila Walton (Saturday) and Paula Constantine (Sunday) are members of  the Northumbria Basketry Group and will be bringing their willow baskets, wreaths and decorations.
Hadrian's Wall Honey and beeswax candles.  Delicious local honey - let's hope Dorian Pritchards' bees have been busy this summer! 

A new old quilt

A Loving Kiss

Last week I taught a workshop in a local art gallery where I based the session on my small collection of First World War embroidered postcards. I believe they were embroidered on to muslin by women and girls in France and Belgium and bought by soldiers to send home to loved ones. There are loads of images on the internet but it is nice to be able to handle something with so much historical and emotional resonance.

Remembering

I like making collages around "found" photographs. I have been meaning to use this one for a while as I love her textile necklace. Felt maybe?

Flower Designs in Cross-Stitch

I am just loving the diagrams in these types of books at the moment. Trouble is I can't actually be bothered to do the cross stitch!

The Lord is my Shepherd

The start of something....

Owl

A Group Gathering

 I am delighted to announce I will be one of the artists participating in a Group Gathering 2015: Daphne's Glove. This week I received my little parcel and by next April I will have to produce a piece of work using it which will be exhibited alongside the work of the other artists. I have done a lot of work with gloves before so I think I will find it quite hard to find a new approach but it is an exciting challenge.
To read about the project please visit www.agroupgathering.blogspot.co.uk

Folk Art Flowers USA style

I am back in the UK now after having a fantastic experience teaching for French General in LA followed by a two week road trip up the Pacific coast to Mendocino. Here are some pictures so you can see what went on. I am afraid I can't include every student's work so the choice is more dependent on the quality of my photography than anything else. In this country both Folk Art Flowers courses advertised on my web site had been fully booked but due to a change of circumstances I can now offer two more places on the Folk Art Flower course at Horsley on Saturday 8th November. Please contact me HERE if you are interested in taking up a place.

Taking Flight

Flying off to the USA today and hope to meet some of you at French General later in the week. These bonny birds are in my suitcase!

Ship Boy