Sample from Poetry of Stitch with Christine Chester

After the excitement of Festival my feet are now firmly back on the ground! Time to look ahead. I have some wonderful guest tutors visiting my studio over the next year. Some of their workshops are fully booked however I do still have places on the following:

Poetry of Stitch with Christine Chester, Monday 20th to Friday 24th September 2021. In this five day workshop Christine will look at ways of stitching that will expand your language of marks. You will look at both hand and machine stitching thinking about the character and the weight of the stitching that you are using and how to apply that to printed work so that the stitch either enhances the printed layer; or creates focus within the print.

Poetry of Decay with Christine Chester, Monday 22nd to Friday 26th November 2021. Only two places left. This is one of Christine’s most popular workshops. 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.

Accidently on Purpose with Louise Baldwin, Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th July 2022. Only two places left. In this four day workshop you will explore ways of constructing, breaking down and reconstructing a series of stitched mixed media works using a range of materials based around found packaging, fabric and ephemera, alongside any imagery that you might find particularly evocative.

And finally …. a change of dates means that there are now places available on Northern Landscapes with Helen Parrott, 8th to 10th April and 14th and 15th May 2022. This two part exploratory weekend workshop combines personal creative development with individual coaching time. You will explore mark making and hand stitch inspired by photographs of your own favourite northern landscapes, creating paperworks and samples as you go along.

I will also be hosting a couple of book binding workshops with Ruth Brown next year. More details to follow!

SAmple from Northern Landscapes with Helen Parrott

Cadence 7

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram may already know that I had a very good Festival of Quilts last week. Like most exhibitors, and many of the visitors I guess, I was a bit anxious about going and really wasn’t sure how the show would go. But it went great!

So thank you to the event organisers and the staff at the NEC - you created a spacious, safe, clean environment and your support is much appreciated. Thank you to my son Joe for helping with set up on the Wednesday and to my dear friend Ruth Brown for helping me on the stand during the show. Thank you to all the visitors - you created a wonderful ‘vibe’ and it was lovely to speak with so many of you after such a long gap. Thank you to those of you who are reading my posts for the first time. Thank you to those of you who brought my fabrics and my books. Thank you to those who placed orders for dyes, screens etc. And a very, very big thank you to the judges who awarded my quilt, Cadence 7, 1st place in the Art Quilt category. That really was the cherry on the icing on a very good cake!

Shows like Festival of Quilts are hard work but always rewarding. This year was special in so many ways and I’m glad that I made the decision to go. I have already booked my stand for next year - it is going to be amazing!

I’m busy packing boxes and printing signs ready for Festival of Quilts which opens on Thursday at the NEC, Birmingham. I’ll be on stand QIA - the Cadence quilt above will be on the stand along with Ruins 8:Kilns so I should be easy to spot.

As I said before I am limited in what products I can sell on my stand so am offering an order now, collect at the show option on orders over £20. Just type in the discount code FOQ2021 at checkout and no postage will be added to the order. The deadline for this service is Monday (tomorrow) at 10am so that I have time to get orders ready.

I will also be taking orders at the show for a selection of products from my online shop including dyes and screens for delivery to your home address free of charge after the show. Unfortunately this offer will only apply to UK addresses and again the minimum order will be £20. Postage outside the UK is just too expensive to extend this offer outside the UK.

On my stand I will have my books and my hand dyed and printed fabrics for sale. And, of course, you’ll be able to sign up for workshops in my studio in 2021 and 2022. I’m also giving a Quick & Easy workshop at 1pm on the Saturday called Hand Printed by Me! And I’ll be demonstrating breakdown printing on my stand. I am really looking forward to connecting to people again. Hope to see some of you there!

The talented Ruth Brown has been teaching her Books for Textile Artists workshop in my studio this week and I loved participating. In the space of 4 days we completed six books - three folded books, a drum leaf bound book, a long stitch leather bound journal and, my favourite, a secret Belgium bound book using book cloth made from hand dyed fabric. And I got to ‘test drive’ using a webcam and projector so that students could see Ruth’s demonstrations in a social distanced and safe way. My thanks to the other students - Alison, Jan, Mandy, Phil, Tracy and Tracey - for their good company!

Ruth will be teaching again in my studio next year. Dates to be confirmed …. so watch this space!

In the meantime I have now loaded all the workshops that I will be teaching in 2022 onto my website. As well as the workshops I’ve announced over the last couple of weeks I have added new dates for:

Simply Screen Printing 2 day workshop

Print, Stitch, Go! 5 day workshop

Print Your Palette 5 day workshop

Colour Your Palette 5 day workshop

And, of course, Breakdown Your Palette 5 day workshop

Click on the links above to find more details. Pricing is the same as this year - £160 for the 2 day workshops and £400 for the 5 day workshops. If you can’t wait until 2022 there is still availability of some 2021 workshops. Have a look at my workshop page here.

And now I need to crack on with my preparations for Festival of Quilts …. opens on Thursday, very excited!!

Grey by Leah Higgins (2021)

I have been teaching my Creative Surface Design workshop for a couple of years now where the workshop is spread across 5 weekends over an 8 month period. It has been working well however this has been one of my workshops that has been most disrupted by the pandemic with often very big gaps between sessions. And I’ve seen how those big gaps can interrupt the students progress - it can take half a day in the studio to get back into the swing of things!

So next year I’m going to deliver my Creative Surface Design workshop as two 5 days classes approximately three months apart. I have seen the progress students make in my 5 day breakdown, print and colour workshops and think five days immersed in the studio will help Creative Surface Design students get more out of the workshop. The gap in between sessions will allow students to reflect on what they have achieved and to think about how they want to progress. You can find out more here.

I have also decided to offer my first mentoring based workshop. Called Focussed Creative Development it will run with just two students so that they have 50% of the studio and 50% of ‘me’ at their disposal. I’m only going to accept students who have either completed my Creative Surface Design workshop or one of my five day workshops as I believe that building on an existing relationship will enrich the process for both the students and for me. The workshop is for students who are comfortable with the techniques they use, can work from a source of inspiration or to a theme but who are still striving to create a cohesive body of work that truly represents their personal artistic vision. It is for those who are ready to invest in their art and take it to the next level – whether that be an exhibition or just having the confidence to call themselves an Artist with a capital A! You can find out more here. And please get in touch to discuss further if you’re a bit uncertain if this is the right path forward for you.

I’ll tell you about my other 2022 workshops next time so bye for now!

I am delighted to announce that Louise Baldwin will be giving a four day workshop in my studio in July next year. Louise is a member of the highly influential 62 Group of Textile Artists and a member of Art Textiles: Made In Britain, a group that regularly exhibits at Festival of Quilts. Aspects of her work combine mundane domestic packaging with layers of stitched imagery. She works directly with her materials, intuitively responding to them as she builds layers of imagery.

In this four day workshop you will explore ways of constructing, breaking down and reconstructing a series of stitched mixed media works using a range of materials based around found packaging, fabric and ephemera, alongside any imagery that you might find particularly evocative. As you join, cut up, wash away, paint, sand down and reconnect your materials you will be encouraged to investigate the qualities and abstract narrative that various approaches with both hand and machine stitch can create. 

You can find out more about Louise and the workshop here.

I still have some places left on workshops run by other guest tutors. Have a look at Poetry of Stitch with Christine Chester 20th to 24th September this year and Christine’s much delayed Poetry of Decay on 22nd to 26th November this year. I also have one place left on the delayed Rust Marks workshop with Alice Fox, now running on 22nd to 24th April next year.

Yes, I have figured out how to do it!

Although I will have my fabrics and books at Festival I’m not able to sell things like individual dyes, screens or textile inks on my Quilt in Action stand. However I can offer a buy now, collect at Festival service. Which means you can avoid paying for shipping. This is applicable on all orders over £20 and is available from today until 10am on Monday 26th July. Just type in the discount code FOQ2021 at checkout to activate. Click here for my online shop.

You will be able to collect your order from my stand, QIA30 at any time. Please bring a copy of the order confirmation so I can make sure you get the right stuff!

And don’t worry if you circumstances change and you don’t manage to get to Festival - if you live in the UK I will post them FOC to your home after the show. If you live outside the UK and don’t pick up your order I will be in touch after the show, you will be able to either cancel the order or pay the postage for delivery.

And although I won’t have stock of dyes etc at the show I will be taking orders during the show for FOC delivery the following week. Minimum order value will be £20 and, unfortunately will only apply on UK address.

I hate that postage outside the UK is so prohibitive! And that so few of my European friends are likely to make the show …. hopefully 2022 will be a brilliant return to normal!

Thank you, Leah x

I am very happy to confirm that I will have a stand at Festival of Quilts which opens at the NEC, Birmingham in three weeks time. I’ll be on stand QIA30 which is in the Quilt in Action area. Please stop by to say hello if you are attending!

I’ll be demonstrating breakdown printing on the stand and will be running a one hour workshop at 1pm on the Saturday called Hand Printed by Me! as part of the Quick and Easy programme. It’s a lovely little workshop in which we use textile inks and a selection of acrylic shapes to print a tote bag. Although the main purpose of my Quilt in Action stands is to promote my workshops I can also sell my own work - so I’ll have lots of my hand dyed and printed fabrics and, of course, my books with me.

In the lead up to Festival I’ll be launching my workshop program for 2022 including an exciting new guest tutor. And if I can figure out how to do it I’ll be offering a ‘collect at Festival’ service for orders placed on my website so that you can avoid postage. So watch this space!

Now I know that there has been a huge amount of debate on social media about whether running Festival is a good idea and I thought long and hard about whether to take my stand or not. But, on balance, I think it is the right decision for me and here’s why.

Health - infection numbers are inevitable going to be high by the end of the month but I’m double vaccinated so my risk of serious disease is reduced and my ability to infect my family members after the show is also reduced. I will wear a mask and will be using buckets of hand sanitiser. I’ll be wiping down things like my payment machine after each use. I will be using lateral flow testing before, during and after the event so that I can respond quickly should I be infected. I believe that the majority of the visitors are also going to be vaccinated reducing the risk of transmission within the show. And that a large percentage will be sensible and wear masks even if not legally required to. And the organisers have put a lot of effort into reducing risk - more halls, wider aisles, multiple entrances and staggered entry times. None of us can guarantee that we won’t catch this awful disease but I’m ‘comfortable’ with the level of risk that I’m taking. But I can totally understand those for whom attended the show is an unacceptable risk - we all have to make the right decisions for us and our families.

Money - having a stand at Festival is a big investment for all the exhibitors and none of us can afford to ‘loose our shirts’ but the organisers have recognised that and are supporting exhibitors financially even though they will be running the event at a loss. And they have been open with us - visitor numbers are likely to be 50% of normal but with many exhibitors withdrawing the visitor to exhibitor ratio is similar to previous years. I have seen over the last 15 months just how generous and caring our community has been in supporting us small traders and I think that will extend to the show. I don’t expect to make a fortune - I’ll be happy to break even this year.

Future - it has been a tough year and many people and small businesses in the creative industries have already lost their jobs or stopped trading. The longer this goes on the worst this will get. And although we probably all see the event organisers as being part of a big business and therefore more able to weather the storm there is a limit and there is a risk that some of the events that we love will disappear. Bordering on the political here …. we need to support each other to ensure that our corner of the creative industry survives because the government is not going to do so.

I appreciate that you might not agree with me. But then again maybe you do.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest I better get back to ironing and folding fabric. Stay well, Leah

Taming The Wilderness - detail

Or, in my case, make a quilt!

I should be in the middle of a busy teaching schedule here in the studio but I’ve find myself with two ‘empty’ weeks. I have been isolating for the last week and have had to cancel next weeks workshop due to students having problems.

Why isolating? Well it’s a bit complicated. Our grandson lives part time with us and his dad, our son Joe, and part time with his mum and her parents. Last weekend a person in his mums household tested positive for Covid so everyone in the household was contacted by track and trace and told to isolate. Including our grandson who had just switched to our house and so was told to spend his isolation period with us. Isolation is tough on adults and would be totally cruel on an 11 year old who is pretty worried and upset. So we have been isolating as a household …. hence I had to cancel the workshop. The students have been wonderfully understanding, the family member with Covid has recovered and we’ve all been testing negative on our daily lateral flow tests. Panic over.

Some people might see two ‘empty’ weeks as an opportunity to relax, chill out, watch some TV etc etc. Hmmm …. so I have done a little bit of that but I just don’t have it in me to not find something ‘productive’ to fill the gap. Hence the quilt. It’s only a little one (30cm by 196cm high) but I’m rather pleased with it. I’ve called it Taming The Wilderness (detail above) and I will be entering it into a Contemporary Quilt exhibition called ‘Uncharted’. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know that I work in series and don’t make my quilts with entry to themed exhibition in mind. But if the theme fits with a series that I’m working on then I will make a piece that fits a specific size requirement. Which is the case with this one.

My current series is called Cadence and is about the joy of process; the joy of making. I’m using my favourite colours and my favourite techniques …. I’m making comfort art in an uncertain world. Cadence is a musical term and I used a specific type of cadence to determine the layout of Cadence 7 and plan to use another type of cadence for my next ‘big’ quilt. So musical connections are generally buzzing around in my head.

During the pandemic I have found myself listening to more and more instrumental CDs and have been playing a lot of music by a band called Explosions In The Sky. One of their CDs that I brought a couple of months ago is called The Wilderness. It has the most fabulous cover art by visual artist Jacob van Loon that I could loose myself in for hours. In my head Uncharted = Wilderness = my new quilt. The jurors will probably consider the connection too tenuous but making this quilt has filled my empty week and made me happy.

And happy is good.

Taming The Wilderness (detail of backface)