Those of you who follow me on social media may have spotted that I’ve been rather busy teaching my Breakdown Your Palette workshop. I’ve had three groups of students in three weeks. Exhausting but, at last, I’m just about caught up with my Breakdown students from all the cancelling and rescheduling caused by the pandemic. I love teaching this class because every student’s work is different and their appetite for learning is inspiring! And, of course, it is just wonderful to have actual human beings in the studio!

I plan on teaching Breakdown Your Palette three times in 2022. You can find the dates here.

But if you can’t wait or can’t make it to my studio then I also offer an online Breakdown Your Palette workshop. It is an on-demand workshop that you can start at any time. You get 12 months access to videos, notes and support from me so you can work at your own pace. You can find out more here.

I know that sometimes you leave a workshop with good intentions to keep going but then life gets in the way and, before you know it, months have gone by and you can’t quite remember what you did in class. So I am now offering those students who have done the five day Breakdown Your Palette workshop in my studio a £120 discount on the online version. Please contact me for a discount code.

And, if you’re enrolled on the online workshop and would like to come and do it in my studio then please contact me for a £120 discount on the price of the workshop.

And now I’m off for a few days holiday in a caravan on Anglesey, Wales. With fingers crossed for good weather but with a few good books in case it isn’t!

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