OK so 2025 didn't go as planned .......
This time last year I was busy getting the house and studio ready to sell and looking forward to a positive year. Selling the house and moving to Scotland was bound to be stressful but it would be worth it! I was going to spend as much time as possible in my studio before the house (and studio) sold and had an ambitious plan to produce a significant body of work. And I was really looking forward to teaching in the US in the autumn.
Didn’t quite go as planned. If you are a regular reader you will know the negatives. Still living in Manchester, couldn’t get a visa to go to the US and lost weeks to Lyme disease. With life being ‘challenging’ I’ve struggled with motivation and haven’t produced as many new works as I would have liked which is very frustrating.
But there have been positives and as I list them I think that it wasn’t such a bad year after all.
I finished the first three pieces in a series I’ve called Shoreline and have nearly finished a fourth piece.
I made five new pieces for my exhibition in Telluride.
14 square metres in finished art is pretty good actually.
Artefact 2 won 1st prize in the Professional Makers category at The Scottish Quilt show.
Shoreline I won 2nd prize in the Art category at Festival of Quilts.
I had a solo exhibition at the AhHaa School for the Arts which ran from the beginning of September to the end of November. The exhibition was well received and I sold work.
I delivered an online workshop for TextileArtist.org which was a really challenging as it had to include hand stitched samples! Yep, completely outside my comfort zone.
I taught workshops at InStitches and Little Heath Barn and am looking forward to doing so in 2026.
I survived (and enjoyed) my first workshop as a student since 2013. And I would recommend it - TEXTure with Claire Benn. Watch this space to see where I go with using text as texture!
And I’ve started work on my next book.
And, as always, I’m grateful to all of you for reading this post and specially those who have taken time to get in touch. Your support helps.
This time next year I will be walking by the sea in Largs x