I have just updated my website with all the workshops that I will be teaching here at Urban Studio North in 2021. It is going to be a very busy year! Like many textile teachers I have had to cancel or postpone lots of workshops over the last four months and have rescheduled many for the first half of 2021. If you take a peek at my website you’ll see that I’ve put on extra Breakdown Your Palette workshops to accommodate students from 2020 and have 4 places still to fill. I know that a lot of my students are anxious about travelling and about staying in hotels at the moment but I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that life returns to something approaching normality next year.

You’ll also see that I have a few places left on workshops in 2020. Including on workshops that were full a week ago. Life is challenging for all of us and individual circumstances change so I know that odd places are likely to become available at short notice. I guess we are all having to learn to be flexible right now.

And finally, this weeks teaser ….. I love bringing guest tutors into the studio and will soon be sharing the details of three stitch-based workshops with three wonderful tutors that will also run in 2021. So watch this space!

Stay well, Leah

So ‘the book’. Yes it is still too soon for me to reveal all but I can tell you that it is a more complex beast than Breakdown Your Palette. It has a broader subject and, whilst there are lots of ‘instructional’ bits, there are also lots more ‘wordy’ bits. Bits that require me to strung together coherent sentences and even coherent paragraphs. Bits that require a plentiful supply of coffee, biscuits and chocolate. (I save the gin for really bad days). Bits that some days get the better of me. Darn those bits!

There are definitely days when I wonder how I managed to finish my first book and what on earth possessed me to start a second. Let alone one that is about … nope, it is still too soon.

On the plus side though I have the perfect excuse for walking away from my computer. Samples. Dyeing samples. Printing samples. Constructing samples. Photographing samples. Surrounding myself with lovely, lovely colour. I’m just hoping that I can extract all the wordy stuff out of my head and into my computer before I run out of samples to make! There are only so many hours a day that I can bang me head on my desk. I’m also hoping that I can remember how to use InDesign as I haven’t opened the software since I finished the breakdown book 17 months ago. I suspect there will be even more coffee, biscuits and chocolate (and gin) needed.

I love it really. And I think I can tease you with a couple of shots of my studio and my design wall taken this week ….

Although nothing can be certain it looks likely that recreational and leisure businesses, such as Urban Studio North, will be allowed to open up in July provided we comply with strict hygiene and social distancing rules. There are no longer restrictions on lengths of journey in England and local hotels are planning to open from 4th July.

In light of this, and after a great deal of thought, I am currently planning to start running workshops again from 20th July onwards. None of us know when life will return to the old normal. Instead we all need to adjust to a new normal. So, to ensure compliance with social distancing, and to reduce demand on shared facilities such as the bathroom and sinks, I will be restricting class size to a maximum of 4 students for the rest of 2020.  I have already contacted the students affected by this change. I am making lots of other changes in the studio and in how I run the workshops. I have written a detailed COVID-19 UPDATE which I urge students, and prospective students to read. This is, of course, all subject to change should government advice change in the coming weeks and months.

I have had to cancel and reschedule lots of workshops over the last few weeks and months which has meant slotting some additional workshops into 2020. I am continuing to take bookings for workshops this year and have the following spaces left:

Breakdown Your Palette, 7th to 11th September - 1 place left on this 5 day dive into breakdown printing - find out more here.

Introduction to Surface Design, a day a month for 10 months starting on Saturday 26th September - 3 places left. Aimed at absolute beginners and covering a really broad range of surface design techniques. Ideal if you live locally to Manchester, you can find out more here.

Books for Textile Artists with Ruth Brown on 10th to 13th October - 2 places left. Because of the class size we are running two workshops back to back. The original dates are full but there are two places available on the workshop running from Saturday 10th to Tuesday 13th October. Ruth is a great teacher and with a limit of 4 students per class you’ll get lots of her time. You can find out more here.

Simply Screen Printing, 7th and 8th November - 1 place left on this two day introduction to screen printing. You can find out more here.

Print, Stitch, Go!, 9th to 13th November - 1 place left. We spend the first half of this workshop screen printing and dyeing fabric and the second half using that fabric - yes, I will make you cut into your lovely printed and dyed fabrics! Aimed at people who have never printed or dyed fabric before this is a really fun five days. You can read more here.

Although I’m a little nervous about opening up again I am really, really looking forward to teaching again. The studio has been too quiet for too long!

My lovely husband is coming home this week after 12 weeks or so shielding with his dad. This feels like such a big step forward for us and we have all our fingers and toes crossed that the situation in the UK continues to improve. Every country has different levels of restrictions right now but I hope that many of you are now able to spend a little more time with family and friends.

Stay well, Leah

I may have been quiet on social media for the last couple of weeks but I have been busy in the studio working on my next book. The world outside is still an upsetting mess but life in the studio has been a calm, colour filled oasis of gentle productivity. There is still a very long way to go but I have been playing with my Procion MX dyes. Exploring them individually, mixing them to create hundreds of new colours and dyeing fabric. Life feels good.

I was also delighted to receive my copy of the Contemporary Quilt newsletter. It is a special addition focused on the theme of colour and I’m proud to have written one of the articles entitled Colour and Breakdown Printing. The front cover is from the very talented Alicia Merrett. Maggie Jarman and Annie Henderson-Begg have done a splendid job under difficult circumstances and it is much appreciated …. receiving the newsletter through the post felt like a return to normal. Even if we all know that normal is going to be different.

Stay well, Leah

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