I had a wonderful time last Sunday at the Great Northern Textile Show. The organiser, Tracy Fox, did an outstanding job and is probably still laid down in a dark room recovering! I put my exhibition up on the Saturday afternoon so saw the transformation from empty sports hall to a buzzing textile show. It was wonderful to see so many old friends and to meet new textile artists and traders. And the cup cakes were gorgeous! Well done Tracy!

I had printed and dyed quite a lot of fabric for the show and sold lots but I have some left over. So I have added them to my online shop. They include a selection of Wonky Print Inspiration Packs and some Absolutely Darling Hand Dyed Packs. You can see them all here.

I’m now in book writing mode so don’t expect to be printing or dyeing more fabric until into the New Year so if you’re looking for Christmas presents or just fancy treating yourself now is the time!

Leah x

The whirlwind that is Festival of Quilts is over for another year and I am already looking forward to next year! Thank you to everybody who stopped by and made it such a successful show and welcome to all you new subscribers. My biggest thanks though goes to Ruth Brown, friend, book binder, textile artist and all-round superstar. I quite literally could not have done the show without her.

I’m not sure we could have fitted more stuff in my van - lets just say that it is a good thing that both Ruth and me have short legs! Set up went pretty smoothly and I was really pleased with my stand. Lots of fabrics, lots of books, lots of dyes and lots of breakdown screens ready for me to print. The show opened at 9.30am on Thursday and we never stopped! My notes for next years show consist of one word ‘more’. More fabrics, more books, more screens ….. not quite sure how we’ll fit everything into my van but what a wonderful problem to have.

As well as the stand this year I was part of the studio collective running the Creative Textile Studio. This is a live space where a fantastic group of artists and demonstrators share their techniques and their work. Myself, Christine, Hazel and Terry are so grateful for the volunteers who helped set up the studio, who manned the sales table and generally pitched in when needed. If you visited the studio we would love to get some feedback from you.

Myself and Ruth also demonstrated in the studio and I thought I’d share a photo that one of the other demonstrators, Amanda Duke, sent me …. this was taken at about 4pm on the final day and boy do I look tired. Tired but happy! Thank you all again x

It is less than four weeks now until Festival of Quilts, Europe’s biggest quilt show held each year at the NEC, Birmingham and I’m busy getting organised! You can find me on stand K47 opposite the cafe and seating area in Hall 6, near the Theatre and Exhibitors Lounge.

I’ll be breakdown printing on my stand except on Friday and Sunday afternoons when I’ll be demonstrating in The Creative Textile Studio. Artist and friend Ruth Brown will be helping on my stand and demonstrating in The Creative Studio on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Please stop by and say hello!

I’ll have lots of my hand dyed and printed fabrics, books and cards on my stand and will be taking bookings for workshops. I’ll also have dyes, other chemicals, 14x12inch screen printing frames, squeegees and beginners kits for sale. But there is a limit on how much stuff I can get pack into my car and may (hope!) to sell out of somethings. So I’m offering an order now, collect for free at the show service. If you place an order in my online shop please enter the discount code FOQ2022 and your order will be ready for you on my stand.. The code removes the shipping cost. It can only be used on orders over £20. The code is valid until 11.55pm on Friday 12th August. If disaster strikes and you don’t get to the show I’ll get in touch after the show to sort out shipping. Please contact me here if you have any questions.

If you’re planning to go but haven’t got your tickets yet I have a promo code you can use to save you a bit of money. The promo code is CTSA22 which gives a discount on Adult and Concession tickets until midnight on 17th August, making the price £16 for Adults reduced from £17.50 and £14 for concessions reduced from £15.50*. Booking link is https://thefestivalofquilts.seetickets.com/ *T&CS and transaction fees apply.

I’m off to print some more fabric …. hope to see you soon, Leah x

In my last post I told you about the things that I’m doing to raise some money for The Trussell Trust, a charity that supports food banks in the UK and campaigns to end food poverty. Having recovered from The Creative Craft Show at ExCel last weekend I’ve spent some time updating my online shop. So …..

• I have now added the Charity Inspiration Packs that I have left to my online shop. Each pack contains a mix of silk, linen, cotton and viscose fabrics and threads. Each pack costs £12.50 and I will donate £5 from each sale to The Trussell Trust. You can find them here. I’ve also added some more Wonky Print Inspiration Packs.

• I have added new dates for a Breakdown Your Palette workshop (12th to 16th September) and a Simply Screen Printing workshop (16th and 17th July) as the other workshops had sold out. You can find out more about all my workshops here. And, as a reminder, I am donating £10 from every workshop place I sell between now and the end of April to The Trussell Trust.

• I have reduced the cost of my online Breakdown Your Palette workshop by 25% from £240 to £180 until the end of April in recognition of the fact that not everyone is free to travel yet. And in recognition that attending a workshop in my studio is not cheap and not accessible to all.

I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by my stand at the show last weekend, it was a real pleasure to be able to exhibit Ruins 7 and I’m humbled by the response it received. Ruins 7 was made in response to the Russian devastation of Aleppo in Syria. Let’s hope the world learns some lessons this time round.

Thank you for your continued support, Leah x

Ruins 7

Although the last posting date is later I’m setting Wednesday 15th December as a cut off for pre-Christmas orders as I plan on taking a long break over Christmas and the New Year. Orders placed later than this will be posted at the start of January. (Unless I get a bit bored and fancy a trip to the Post Office!). I thought you might also like to know that I’ve added a few more new Wonky Print Inspiration Packs to my online shop.

I have now finished teaching for this year. The bad weather this week meant postponing the last two days teaching but other than that I’m happy, and relieved, to have been able to teach so many workshops this year. Despite the worries about the new variant we are much better place compared to this time last year. The rollout of vaccines has been amazing but I’m very grateful for the great attitude of all my students this year. We’ve worn masks, washed and sanitised hands, taken lateral flow tests and made sure that the studio has been a safe environment for all of us. Thank you to each and every one of year!

With no teaching scheduled until the end of January I can now turn all of my attention to making art. I’ve removed the plastic screens and re-arranged the benches to make the studio feel more ‘mine’. I’ve pinned all my ‘work in progress’ up on the design wall. And hidden the stock of chocolate biscuits so my beloved family can’t help themselves. Chocolate, and lots of strong coffee are an essential part of my creative process! The next quilt in the Cadence series is ready to quilt and I’ve got a completely new series in the development stage. So plenty to keep me busy!

Leah x

It is that time of year when you may be looking for Christmas presents for others, or dropping big hints about things you would like yourself. So, always being happy to help, I have added some new products to my online shop that you might like.

I’ve put together some new Wonky Print Packs and some packs of hand dyed fabric. The fabrics are all ones that I’ve made whilst teaching or when demonstrating breakdown printing at Festival of Quilts in the summer. Each pack contains approx. 1 metre of fabric and includes some ‘nearly solid’ colours that co-ordinated with the printed fabrics.

I’ve also added some new Thermofax Screen designs. Most are designs that I’ve used in my older art quilts and that my students have really liked to use in the studio. Deco 1 (below) is a completely new design that I’m rather pleased with.

Together we have raised £336 this year for the charity YoungMinds. I’d really like to add to that total so I have had some beautiful ceramic mugs made that feature my quilt Cadence 7. Each mug costs £12 including a £2 donation to YoungMinds. I hope you like them.

Although I spend a lot of my time printing I also teach my students lots of ways to dye their fabrics. I’ve put together a Beginners Hand Dyeing Kit in two colourways. Each kit contains three 50g pots of dye, soda ash, urea, a graduated measuring pot and a detailed instruction booklet that covers bag dyeing, dyeing a colour wheel, gradation dyeing, layered dyeing, tray dyeing and high immersion bucket dyeing. The Spring kit contains Acid Lemon, Magenta and Turquoise dyes and the Autumn kit contains Golden Yellow, Scarlet and Royal Blue dyes. The kits contain enough dyes etc to dye over eight metres of fabric and (I think) are a good place to start if you have never done any dyeing with Procion MX dyes.

And finally, if your loved ones are worried that they might buy you the wrong thing how about suggesting one of my Gift Cards (available in £20, £50 and £100 units).

And that is the blatant plugging over for now ….. I might add a few more Wonky Print Packs when I’ve caught up with my backlog of rinsing, washing and ironing my printed fabrics!

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!

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

This is something I have been meaning to do for a while but hadn’t had the time. Now I have plenty of time so have been busy doodling different ideas. I have ended up with six new tried and tested thermofax designs which I love and hope you will to!

All six designs are available in two sizes - large gives a printed image approximately 17cm x 24cm and small gives a print approximately 10cm x 14cm. For those of you unfamiliar with thermofax screens they are a special type of silk screen that allows you to print fine lines or detailed designs onto fabric or paper using thickened dyes, textile inks or other media. They can be used to print interesting marks and texture all over white fabric before adding layers of colour on top or can be used on top of previously printed or dyed fabrics to add final detail.

Unfortunately I have had to increase my prices by £1 for the large screens and £0.50 for the small screens because of increases in the cost of the plastic frames I use. However I have added a new ‘soft edge’ option that is significantly cheaper. In the soft edge version the edges of the screen mesh are sandwiched between two layers of tape. Screens with soft edges are a bit more fiddly to use but I have made sure that you have a big enough tape surround that you can hold the screen firmly in place when using it.

I’ve also taken the opportunity to change how my thermofax screens are displayed in my webshop which I hope will make it easier to see the full range of designs.

I continue to ship all my products globally but I thought it worth acknowledging that there is currently a lot of confusion and some delays in shipping goods from the UK to the EU. There may be some of my products that are not covered by the new trade agreement and so may attract customs / import duty. However I’ve spent a bit of time looking at the European Commission site covering buying goods online from the UK and customs duty should not be applied to orders below 150 Euros. I’m also applying for an EORI number which should allow parcels to pass through customs more quickly. So, if you are one of my lovely European friends, please feel that you can still order from me!

New soft edge framing option