I am very pleased to say that I have now started shipping internationally again. Postal services seems to be working better although there may still be delays shipping to some countries as they struggle to cope with Covid 19.

To celebrate I have decided to add my new Absolutely Darling Hand Dyed Fabric Packs to my webshop. Each pack contains 6 fat quarters of lovely hand dyed cotton poplin fabrics. Each piece is approximately 50cm x 50cm and the packs contain a mix of textured multi-coloured pieces and ‘nearly solid’ coloured pieces. Each pack is totally unique. These are fabrics that I had been dyeing for sale at this summers Festival of Quilts. With FoQ cancelled and no idea of when I will next be exhibiting at a show I thought I would make them available online.

I have also been busy printing fabric this week and have added some lovely new Wonky Print Inspiration Packs to my shop. And, as I promised I would, I have taken some of the yummiest bits of fabric and made bookmarks that I am selling to raise funds for the The Trussell Trust. The work that The Trussell Trust do to support food banks in the UK and to fight food poverty is more important than ever as we face a prolonged period of high unemployment due to the corona virus. I have made 12 bookmarks each in three lovely colourways and am selling them for £5 each. There is no postage on these and every penny will be donated to the charity.

And finally, when I set up my webshop I was only selling my book and set the postage rates accordingly. Since March I have been selling a much wider range of products. Some are heavy, some are light, some can be posted large letter and others need to be posted as parcels. I’ve spent some time looking at what the actual postage has been and tried to figure out a better, fairer system. So, for UK customers, I am pleased to say that I have been able to reduce the postage and packaging rates on larger orders with a cap on postage at £10. Postage and packing rates are unchanged for international shipping but I will review these in a couple of months time.

Stay well, Leah

It has been a better week. Not out there - out there the infection rate and death toll is still too high and our politicians …. well, don’t get me started!

But here in the Higgins household, in my studio, in my head and in my heart it has been a better week. Thanks in no small part to the support and generosity of this wonderful textile community. There has been the odd ‘moment’ but most days I have put in some solid work on my next book and on my latest quilt.

It is still too early to say too much about the book. I’ve got about a third the words out of my head and in rough draft and I have a solid outline for the remainder. The list of samples I need to make, and processes I need to break down and photograph is looking a bit daunting at the moment. But if I can work at a steady pass I hope to have the book ready by the end of the summer.

I have been working at the computer each morning and afternoon but by about 4pm my brain starts leaking out my ears and I need to switch to something less challenging. And this week that activity has been quilting the second piece in what I guess I should call my Covid 19 series. I wonder how many Covid series are being worked on by artists around the world right now? I have finished the quilting on both pieces, trimmed them to the same size and added facing strips. I just need to sew those strips down and they will be ready to photograph. I think the two pieces would best be described as companion pieces as they both relate to the same day in April. I don’t think they work as a diptych because of the shift in scale between the two. I haven’t decided which juried exhibition to enter them into yet so I’m only showing a shot of some detail right now. Once they have been rejected (or more hopefully accepted) I will be free to share them with you!

Tomorrow should have been my first day teaching my 5 day Breakdown Your Palette workshop this year. It is so sad not to be welcoming new students into the studio but life is what it is and we just have to get on with it. But I am not going to miss out completely. My post 4pm, less challenging activity this next week is going to be breakdown printing fabric for sale on my website. My week will be full of colour!

As always, I hope you and yours are still OK, stay well. Leah

Intersecting Lines 2

The very good news is that my roll of thermofax mesh has arrived safely from Australia so I can now make screens. Hooray!

But nothing is straight forward at the moment.

The bad news is that I only have 15 large frames and 30 small frames and am struggling to source more. Manufacturers are busy using their perspex supply to make protective screens for supermarket tills etc. I’m currently being quoted at least another 5 - 6 weeks for frames. I did think about waiting until the supply chain was back to normal but I know that some of you are waiting to order. So I have made all the thermofax screens available in my webshop. Hooray!

My webshop isn’t clever enough to total up orders and stop at 15 large or 30 small so I will fill orders as they come in and will make the screens unavailable once I have used all the frames. My apologies up front if I don’t do this soon enough and you are able to place an order that I can’t fill. I’ll issue you a refund.

Of course it could be that I am not clever enough to figure out my own webshop. Surely not!

The other bit of good news - I have now added gift cards to my webshop. Available in £20, £50 and £100 amounts each gift card is a unique code sent to you by email. The code is used by entering it at checkout and is valid for ever.

Stay well, Leah

Scattered Lines 1

I have been completely overwhelmed by the response to the post I wrote on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their feelings and thoughts via the blog, Facebook and by email. I don’t think I have ever had such a response to a post. It warmed my heart and, yes, it made me cry. It also made me sad that all but a couple were feeling the same as me . We are in an emotional mess that is exhausting. But the message from everyone was to know that I am not alone, to stop feeling guilty, to accept that I am not wonder woman (who knew?) and to just roll with it.

I have seen it written that we will bounce back from this stronger. I think it will take all of our personal and collective strength to get through these awful times. When we emerge from the physical threat the majority of us will be mentally fragile and will need to continue to support each other. I am grateful for the virtual support you are giving me today but, my goodness, do I look forward to the day when I can give you all a great big hug!

With love, Leah x

Work in (very slow) progress ….

I can’t be the only one, can I? Along with sadness and anxiety I have felt a pervasive sense of guilt over these last awful weeks. Social media is full of so many people doing wonderful things with the unexpected time that lock down has given some of us. Learning mandarin whilst home schooling and organising daily zoom meeting for friends and family …. I feel like such a slacker!

There is the endless list of ‘shoulds’

• I should be making lots of art (but my artistic mojo seems to be pulling a lot of ‘duvet’ days).

• I should be writing my next book (but writing complete sentences seems like an uphill battle some days).

• I should be stitching dozens of pairs of scrubs and flooding Salford with cheerful laundry bags (but … well no excuses on this one really).

• I should be sticking to my healthy diet and cooking wonderful dishes from those lentils I stockpiled (but lentils really don’t tick that comfort eating button do they?).

• I should be taking my government prescribed one hour of exercise each day (but why break the habit of a lifetime?).

• I should cobweb (but again, why break the habit of a lifetime?).

• I should wash the filters in my vacuum cleaner (yes, that actually crossed my mind in a particularly depressing moment).

• I should, I should, I should …..

But the reality is that some days I just want to curl up with a tub of Ben and Jerrys and watch Netflix. Some days I do want to work on my art, some days I do want to work on my book, some days I do want to eat healthy food (but to be honest there aren’t many of these) but even on those good days those little feelings of guilt still creep in …..

It can’t just be me, can it?

Staying well and staying sane(ish), Leah

Thank you so much to those who managed to buy one of my charity bookmarks before they sold out! Yes, all 30 bookmarks have been sold raising £150 for The Trussell Trust. I have just made the donation (and used gift aid so that the charity can also claim back an extra £37.50 tax on the donation). The work they do is so important especially today when many, many more people are struggling to feed themselves and their children. Your money will make a difference.

As I said I am going to make more bookmarks every time I print fabric for my webshop so if you missed out you will get another opportunity to help.

Keep well, stay strong! Leah xx

Last week my daughter Jess and her pals at Good Press in Glasgow designed and printed bookmarks to sell to support local charities. I thought it was a brilliant idea. So brilliant that I have stolen it! So let me introduce my Limited Edition Fabric Bookmarks which I am selling, via my webshop, to raise funds for The Trussell Trust. The UK has a frankly shocking level of food poverty and this charity supports food banks across the country as well as campaigning for an end to hunger. The Corona virus crisis has made the situation worse so their work is even more important. Hunger is unacceptable anywhere in the world but I have chosen to support a UK charity as I am currently only shipping to UK addresses.

I have made each bookmark by sandwiching a piece of interfacing between two pieces of my hand printed fabrics and have finished with stitch. I selected the yummiest bits from my latest batch of breakdown printed fabrics to create sets of ten bookmarks in each of three colourways. I thought long and hard about pricing and have decided to sell each bookmark for £5. I know that there will be some reading this who are suffering financially right now but I also know that many of you are doing OK and for whom £5 is not too much. I’m not charging for postage on these bookmarks and every penny will go to The Trussell Trust. And I am committing to making more sets of 10 bookmarks each time I print and dye fabrics to sell in my webshop for the duration of this crisis.

As well as the bookmarks I have added my latest batch of Wonky Print Inspiration Packs to my webshop. Eleven different colour combinations this time. I hope you like them.

As always, stay well,

Leah

Folded rusted fabrics - Alice Fox

Along with lots of teachers I have had to cancel and postpone workshops whilst we live in these strange and worrying times. In most cases my lovely students have been able to ‘sign up’ for rearranged workshops but not everyone has been able to do that. So I now have places available on two wonderful workshops.

I have places on Rust Marks with Alice Fox in which you will learn about the potential for using found rusty objects for printing and dyeing on paper and fabric. Using an experimental approach and found metal you will explore methods for transferring marks from rusty metal onto papers and fabrics. The new dates are Friday 19th March to Sunday 21st March 2021. The workshop cost is £255 with a £125 deposit needed to book a place.

I also have places on Poetry of Decay with Christine Chester. This mixed media course will introduce you to some materials and processes that will help you to create rich and textured surfaces based on the inspiration found in your own photographs. The new dates are Monday 8th to Friday 12th March 2021. The cost is £425 including a £175 deposit.

Of course none of us know exactly what will be happening over the next few months but I am hoping that we will all be able to be together soon. Much as I love having the studio to myself I am missing the fun, the conversation and the glorious chaos that comes with a full studio!

Stay well, Leah

Interpreting decay - Christine Chester

I think I’ve got my artistic mojo back! Time will tell if anybody else agrees but right now I am feeling in a good place. I have spent the last week or so trying to cut out all the distractions, trying to quiet all those negative, anxious thoughts and instead focus on creating. Of course the outside world has continued to be a source of anxiety and fear so I decided to be kind to myself and set aside pushing any boundaries until a happier time.

Instead I took two decisions upfront. Firstly I decided to work with a colour family I developed several years ago and used in my Dunure series of works. At the time our oldest son was in a very dark place and life was the hardest we have ever known. The colour palette was inspired by the scrubby beach at Dunure, Scotland on a grey, stormy November day and the series was a reflection of the effect of place on my mental well being. I had hoped that I would never return to this series and this colour palette but here we are.

Secondly I decided to work with circles and specifically broken or fragmented circles. I tend to call my work ‘abstract’ but the reality is that I like to make marks that relate to my inspiration. Inspiration seems like the wrong word in this case but of course this new work is a response to the virus. Small envelopes of protein that invade our bodies, multiple and corrupt our cells. That separate us from our loved ones.

Of course I have been using breakdown printing to create my fabrics - my studio equivalent of comfort eating. And I have been using bondaweb to fuse fabrics together as my patience levels are not high enough to be piecing curved edges right now. But I think I am getting somewhere. And I’m going to stick at it for a while.

Which means no new fabric packs on the website for another week - sorry.

Stay safe, stay well, Leah