… with a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom, Victorian semi-detached house to sweeten the deal. Yes at long flippin’ last our house is on the market! About 4 weeks later than I had planned but unsurprising given the scale of the archeological dig into my husbands study and the front room in the cellar. And we have managed to clear out huge amounts of stuff without getting divorced or killing each other. But there is still time … hubby has got to reduce all of the books / comics / graphic novels etc that are currently taking up nearly 5 walls of shelf space by half. And yes, I still have to finish going through stuff in the studio.

If you are feeling noisy you see the house online by clicking hear. Or you can look for a video walk through on Instagram by clicking here. Please feel free to share - especially to anyone who is looking for a modestly priced artists studio with huge house attached.

The last four to six weeks have been solely focused on the house with little time for rest or art. We caught up on our sleep and had a thoroughly lazy few days in Largs last week - great weather, amazing views and Nardinis - and yesterday I got back into the studio to make art. I have some pieces in my new Shoreline series that need finishing but my priority is making new art for my exhibition in Telluride in September. I’ll be sending over a couple of very big Ruins pieces and the remaining coal mining panels but need to fill approximately seven metres of wall space. My plan is to create four small (for me) abstract pieces inspired by the history of Telluride. It was originally a mining town, part of the gold and silver rush in Colorado in the 19th century and was notoriously difficult to access. I’m fascinated by the feats of engineering that supported its expansion …. much like the canals, railways and navigable levels that supported coal mining here in Manchester. I’m also going to make a couple of small Mill Tower pieces which will link in with the large Ruins pieces. So busy but in the happiest of ways!

Unfortunately the number of sign ups has been low since I launched the workshop just over a year ago. Even when offered at a reduced price. So I’ve decided to change how it is offered moving forward.

Originally offered with 12 months access and support via monthly Zoom meetings it is now going to be offered with lifetime access but without support via Zoom. I will continue to support students via email.

And the great news is that I’ve reduced the cost from £300 to £120! You can find out more details here.

(I will be running Zoom meetings for existing students until the end of April 2026 and will continue to add the recordings to the workshop so they will be there for new students to watch).

In other news ….. the house will go on the market in the next few days, I’ll post again when it is available to view online.

Artefact 2

First of all, a very big thank you to everybody who came to see me at The Scottish Quilting Show in Glasgow. I feel like I already have a bunch of textile buddies in North Ayrshire and we haven’t even moved yet! And thank you to the judges and sponsors of the open competition. Artefact 2 won gold prize in the new professional makers category and I got my first ever rosette! Absolutely thrilled and the rosette is now pinned to my design wall. The prize money was also very welcome …. I treated myself to some threads and a slap up breakfast at Nardinis in Largs before heading back home.

Back home means yet more sorting as we get the house ready to sell. Two tip runs yesterday and today I am jet spraying the front path before painting the door step, gate etc. Yes it’s an exciting life! Luckily I am getting about 3 hours each day in the studio focused on making art. I’m currently sewing sleeves on Shoreline II and have the potential fabrics for Shoreline III pinned on my design wall. Over the next week or two I will be making screens and printing fabric for the pieces I need to make for my exhibition in Telluride, USA in September. Exciting times!

For the first time since my very first show in 2018 I am actually ready for The Scottish Quilting Show with a few days to spare! Normally I’m busy folding fabric late into the evening before we head off. I could take a few days off. Hmm … that doesn’t sound much like me so instead I’ll be busy sorting more stuff out in the house and doing a bit of printing. I’m loving the better balance I have in my life without the constant string of deadlines associated with running a teaching studio. There is a lot of work still to do before we can put the house (and studio) on the market but there is also plenty of time to work in the studio, to meet up with friends, to roll over in bed for an extra 30 minutes, to settle down with a good book. I’m blessed!

And I am looking forward to seeing some of you at the show. It takes place at the SECC in Glasgow from Thursday 6th to Saturday 8th March. I’m on Stand M19 and will have lots of fabric to sell as well as some quilts that I’d love to find new homes for. I’ll also have my books, dyes, screens etc. I’ll be joined by best friend Ruth Brown who some of you also know.

Even if you can’t make the show you can still take advantage of this years show special - 50% off the cost of my Simply Screen Printing online workshop reducing it from £300 to £150. Please use the code SSP50. The code is valid for the whole month of March!

And I hope you will join me! This is the only show that I’ll be doing this year and it is my favourite. It takes place in Hall 4 of the SECC in Glasgow between Thursday 6th and Saturday 8th March. Opening hours are 10am to 4.30pm. The discount code above will get you (and your friends) cheaper tickets. You can find me on stand M19 which is on the far left hand wall as you enter the show. I’m between the lovely Jo Avery and Uist Strands. And you can find out more about the show here.

I’ve been exhibiting at this show since 2018 and the Scottish Quilting part of it has grown and grown attracting quilting tutors and artists from across the UK. It shares the hall with the Creative Craft Show but what started as a little bit at one end now covers over half the hall. It isn’t on the scale of Festival of Quilts but lots of textile groups have small exhibition spaces and the quality and quantity of competition quilts has improved year on year. I’ve even entered a piece into the new Professional Makers category!

I will be demonstrating screen printing on my stand and will be selling my books, dyes, screens etc and my Wonky Print Inspiration Packs as per normal. But this year I will also have lots of ‘sale’ fabrics. As part of clearing the studio for the big move to Scotland later this year I’ve created 45 Hand Dyed Scrap Bags from the fabric pile below. All hand dyed by me the cotton with pieces range from a few inches square to 10 - 12 inch pieces. At £10 for approx. 200g (1.25 square metre) of hand dyed fabric I think they are a bargain! I’ll also have a box of Randoms - pieces of printed, stamped, resist dyed, discharged (and more) fabrics that I’ve made over the years demonstrating different ways of adding colour to fabric. Most are fat quarter size and I’m selling them for £2 a piece so come and have a rummage!

I’ll be putting any packs / pieces that don’t sell on my online shop after the show for those who can’t make it. But for those of you that can visit the show please stop by and have a natter!

Breakdown Printed Fabrics

Work towards the big move is going well and I think we are still on target to put the house on the market in March although it might be on the 31st! Some areas are looking really good. We cleared all the book cases on the first floor landing and had the hall, stairs, landing and more stairs decorated last week. A new (cheap) carpet will go in next week. We also decluttered the kitchen so that it could be decorated at the same time. The cellars are mostly clear and son Joe has made lots of progress on his and Rileys (grandson) rooms. And I’m about 2/3 through the studio. Big pat on the back!

Next is the ‘dining’ room which is mostly a dumping ground for books, magazines, jigsaws, coats, bags etc and then there is my husbands study. Hmm ….. it is going to be a challenging few weeks. Luckily I can really only sort stuff for a couple of hours at a time before I loose the will to live and am forced, yes forced, to retreat to my studio. For the sake of my sanity.

And I’ve been having a wonderful time printing lots of fabric and working on new art. I’ve been using breakdown printing (what else) to create a palette fabrics that range in colour from a slightly muted blue through some beautiful chromatic greys to a slightly muted brown. I’ve adjusted my printing technique to create fabrics in differing values. The collection is inspired by the colours of the shoreline at Largs, the north ayrshire town that I hope to call home soon. I have one quilt nearly finished and am making good progress on a second piece. Their compositions are simple and abstract. As always I want the printed fabrics to be the stars of the show! As I think about composition I have been thinking about the effect of place on my mental state, a theme I explored several years ago in my Dunure series. I think about family stuff and the path my life has taken in recent years. And I look forward anxiously. So much hard work, so many uncertainties. The one certainty is art. It is my carrot.

Happy New Year, I hope you had a good Christmas and are looking forward to a creative New Year. I certainly am!

Because of the move to Scotland this year I have changed my teaching practice. I’m no longer teaching in my own studio but will be teaching in other studios through the year as well as taking my studio stuff out to visit groups. I’ve listed my teaching schedule below. Some of the courses are already full but have waiting lists. (I also have a couple of online workshops that you can sign up for at any time - you can find details here.)

16th to 20th June - Breakdown Your Palette at InStitches in Wokingham. The workshop is currently full but you can find details here and ask to be put on the waiting list.

25th to 29th September - Simply Screen Printing at the Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride, Colorado, US. You can find full details and book here.

2nd to 6th October - Luscious Layers at the Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride, Colorado, US. The workshop is already full but you can join the waiting list here.

27th to 31st October - Breakdown Your Palette at InStitches in Wokingham. Booking is not open yet but you can sign up to receive an email when it opens here.

22nd to 24th October - 3 day Luscious Layers at Littlheath Barn Studio in Bromsgrove. The workshop is alreadu full but you can join the waiting list here. I’ll also be returning to Littleheath Barn Studios in April 2026 details to be confirmed.

Yes, I’m going to be teaching in the US this year. I’m very excited because I have so many friends and online students there and can’t wait to spend time with them. I will also have an exhibition at the School in September. Telluride has a fascinating history. Today it is an artsy tourist destination in the summer and a ski resort in the winter but it used to be a silver mining town. So I will be exhibiting some of my coal mining and cotton mills pieces alongside new works created for the exhibition.

On top of all this I will have my usual stand at The Scottish Quilting Show in Glasgow from 6th to 8th March. And will demonstrating in (and helping to organise) The Creative Textile Studio at Festival of Quilts in August.

Looks like I’m going to be very busy but not as busy as I would be running a teaching studio etc so I will have plenty of time to make art (and move house). At least that’s the plan!

The Christmas tree is up, the presents wrapped and the cards written! And, judging by the lengthy food shopping lists, it must be that time of year again!

It will be a somewhat emotional one for us as it is the last Christmas that we’ll spend in the home we’ve lived in for over 26 years. But also one in which we look forward to a new life in Scotland.

This post is my last ‘work’ thing before I take a break from work and house clearing. But not a break from the studio as I’ll be finding time to make art … some ‘me’ time.

Thank you all for your support this year, my life is better for being part of this wonderful textile community. May I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Creative New Year,

Leah x

It had to be done. Making a decision about what art to keep and what art will be sold, gifted or recycled before we move house (and studio) next year. And that is what I have spent the last few days doing.

The sad reality is that the older the piece gets the less likely it is ever going to be exhibited again so some decisions were easy. Others, not so easy especially as I needed to think in terms of what would I show in a retrospective exhibition which sounds uncomfortably pompous but a girl can dream. And then of course are the pieces I love most and can’t quite bear to get rid of.

You can see the pieces that I have decided to sell in my online shop or by clicking here. They range from small panels to medium sized quilts. There are pieces from my older series that I know I won’t be going back to - Hidden Messages, Print, Structures and Dunure (Still / Storm) along with some pieces from series that are still ‘active’ - Cadences and Traces (the coal mining series). And there are a few old ball pieces. I have reduced the cost of the pieces by 60 - 75% so the prices range from £40 to £495.

(And yes, I am keenly aware that selling art cheap can undermine the value of newer works but I would rather these pieces find a new home than end up being recycled …. something we could have a long debate about)

Let me know if you have any questions and please, please, spread the word! Thank you.