The Last Chapter...

So some time ago I made a book called A Lost Conversation which I entered into the Bank Street Arts International Artists Book Prize. I decided to give the book to be part of their permanent collection and as a result a book shop in Sheffield have selected it to go in their window in the run up to this years event.  A very lovely suprise to be chosen.  The book shop is called the Last Chapter  and they have very kindly put a little it of blurb on their website here about the book.
So I will be popping along to see it at ... . There are 4 books in total that have been chosen including mine,  which will be in the shop for the next month and each will get a turn in the window. .... so if you happen to be in Sheffield - bob along for a look.  If you can't make it - here is a very lovely photo they sent me....

Memory and Cloth at Salts Mill

I was very excited to go see the Memory and Cloth exhibit at Salts Mill in Saltaire yesterday. Curated by Lesley Miller featuring artists from the UK and abroad. Some very beautiful work. In particular work by Caroline Bartlett was beautifully stitched and lovely to see some of Caren Garfens work.  I won't add photos as I don't want to spoil it for you - but its worth a trip to see. Lovely to meet up with some old friends too. I'll be going back to take a bit more time over it all.

Festival of Quilts 2013 - in the Virtual Studio

It's always nice to be asked back to the Virtual Studio at the Festival of Quilts by Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan of Committed to Cloth.  I spent a lovely morning with a print table and some cloth I had been developing as part of a new collection of work.  As always met some friendly people who are genuinely interested in the process of making and also great to catch up with some fellow textile people, such as Alice Fox, Gillian Travis and also to meet some new people such as Claudia Helmer and Susie Koren .  Find out more about Committed to Cloth here and if you missed the Festival of Quilts - be sure to put it in your diary for next year - find out more about it here

My work bench in the virtual studio

More drawing please

An interesting article on the Pattern Observer website here, discussing the increasing need to gain more followers and fans on the internet in order to develop customers and your business. And whilst yes, traffic to web pages is important -   the crux of the piece is really about investing time in making the best work you can - only then will people want to buy what you have made.  So get off your computer  and do some drawing instead of bemoaning the fact that you are only 2 away from having 200 followers on facebook!

 

Which is what I am off to do now!

 

The Hepworth

Ok, so far I haven't managed to get to go on an actual holiday whilst off work this summer, but I did finally find time to visit The Hepworth in Wakefield and I think it kind of made up for the lack of a beach and the sea (I may be kidding myself)...

A beautiful exhibition of William Scott's work and of course Barbara Hepworth's sculptures and process of working was amazing. Spent a good morning making notes and sketches - lost in thought and time allowed for developing new ideas was just what I needed.

Indigo Blue

I am a bit of a magpie for learning new stuff (probably why I enjoy teaching) so I was really fortunate to go off this summer and see Claire in Shipley for her Indigo Workshop.

A lovely day that allowed us to use the garden and be inspired by Claire's in-depth knowledge and understanding of natural dyeing processes.

I have some very beautiful samples thanks to Claire's great teaching

I am really rather pleased with the left over dye on the tools we used to create them (perhaps not that surprising since I really rather like working with wood).

Claire run's other workshops and I would highly recommend her to you all.  You can find out more about Claire and her workshops here

George and Albert

George and Albert mean business.

 

They are always very very busy and also really quite famous in the world of tailoring (but they don't like to show off about it) hence their rather fabulous outfits.

 

They like to unwind in their handmade homes (also known as boxes!)

 

 

Most of the time they get on really rather well, except when Albert tries to give George fashion advice.

 

A limited run of 10 of each, complete with artists stamp brass button.  They are aprox 23cm tall and 6 cm wide. £45 each - please get in touch to purchase.