It has been a strange couple of weeks here in the UK with so many things paused and general life feeling somewhat subdued. But now things are getting back to normal and I am delighted to let you know that I will be at this wonderful new event, the Great Northern Textile Show and Sunday 23rd October.

I’m honoured to be the featured gallery artist and will be showing a mixture of old and new quilts under the title ‘Beyond Ruins’. You can find out more about the gallery here.

I will also have a stand at the show and will be in very good company. The organiser, Tracy Fox, has done a really good job of gathering a diverse range of traders and you can find out more here. There will be fabric, kits, yarn, spinning equipment, sewing & embroidery machines, dye, fibre & fleece and much more.

You can follow the show on social media using the links below:

https://www.instagram.com/greatnortherntextileshow/

https://www.facebook.com/greatnortherntextileshow

https://twitter.com/GNTextileShow

If you live in the North West I’d love to see you there! This first event is a little acorn but with your support it will grow and grow!

After the euphoria of Festival of Quilts and the fabulous news that my workshop in Australia next April has sold out I am back down to earth with a bump.

It may not surprise you to know that I love a spreadsheet. I keep a tight rein on the studio accounts, analyzing patterns of spend so that I can look forward to see what my potential earnings might be. Whilst Festival of Quilts will pay my bills for the next few months the outlook for next year is not great. And I’m not surprised. The news that fuel bills in the UK will go up by 80% from the beginning of October and are expected to go up another 50% in January is frankly terrifying. Sorry to get political here but without significant intervention many families, including those who have always felt reasonably well off, will suffer and worse.

I make my living from my customers and students discretionary spend and I would be very naive not to acknowledge that the cost of a workshop even without travel and accommodation, is going to be more than many people can afford. Or want to commit too when there is so much uncertainty.

So time to focus on more affordable ‘stuff’. I’ve started work on my next book and have set myself a goal of getting it finished in time for Christmas. I will be making an online workshop to go with the book although I don’t think it will be ready for Christmas unless I give up on sleeping. I also have ideas for some shorter online workshops to be available from next spring. And I will be printing and dyeing fabric off and on over the coming months so that I can offer fabric packs on my website.

I have a couple of five day workshops this autumn which are definitely going ahead but still have spaces available. I’ve decided to offer them at a 20% discount bringing the cost down from £400 to £320. The students already signed up will also get the discount as I’m not comfortable with students paying different amounts on the same workshop. The workshops are Print, Stitch, Go! (26 to 30 Sept) and Print Your Palette (10 to 14 October). Short notice but would love to have more ‘bums on seats’ as the saying goes.

It is four years, and one pandemic, since I made the decision to leave industry in order to start teaching. As a family we always knew that it might be ‘challenging’ financially but it is still the best decision I ever made and I’m grateful for all your support. 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

You’ll know already that I have a stand at Festival of Quilts (K47) and am involved in running The Creative Textile Studio at the show. This is the biggest quilt / textile event in Europe and the biggest event in my dairy. And getting ready for it is involves lots of lists …. the full packing list for the car along with lots of sub-lists. Lists of the equipment needed to ‘build’ the stand - table tops, table legs, shelf uprights, shelves, cross braces, table cloths, display cases, drill, hammer, screw drivers, screws (and gaffer tape and cable ties just in case, well there isn’t much that can’t be held together with gaffer tape and cable ties). Lists of stuff to go on the walls - which quilts to take (with velcro strips sewn on top and bottom), signage, velcro dots and tapes for sticking stuff up, double sided tape as the emergency back up option. Lists of paperwork. Lists of stuff needed to breakdown print on the stand (must, must, must not forget to make the screens next weekend!).

And that’s before I figure out the stuff that I’ll take to sell. Although it is wonderful to take bookings for workshops whilst I’m at the show the reality is that most people want to check their diaries and think about spending what is quite a lot of money before they book. So the cost of the show really needs to be covered by the sale of fabrics, books, dyes, screens etc. Books, dyes, screens etc are straightforward and don’t take too much time to organise. But my printed and hand dyed fabrics do. Whilst I print and dye quite a lot of fabrics during my workshops there is not enough to cover a show like Festival. So these last few weeks I have been topping up my supplies. And I love it! Printing and dyeing fabric to sell isn’t the same as printing and dyeing fabric for use in my art. There is no deep meaning, no controlled development of a colour palette, no sampling of printed fabrics. Instead I can just go for it! And loose myself in colour and in printing. Hard work but deeply satisfying. And the results - well I hope to have about 60 Wonky Print Inspiration Packs and 40 Absolutely Hand Dyed Fabric Packs ready for the show. That’s a bit more than I’ve taken to previous shows so I’m expecting to put the ones that don’t sell onto my website after the show. Maybe not immediately after …. I’m going to need a bit of a snooze after all the excitement of the show!

I’ve also developed something new for the show. Greeting cards that feature my breakdown printed fabrics. I’ve sold postcards before that were printed from photos of my art but have never felt that they really did justice to the intricate marks you get with breakdown printing. My new greetings cards are A5 and each one is completely unique. Some use fabrics which are very easy on the eye and some use fabrics that are a bit more urban and ‘gritty’. Any one piece of my printed fabrics might be used to make multiple cards but each will be unique as breakdown printing doesn’t give you repeated, uniform patterns. Which is why I love breakdown printing. Although they are greetings cards they could also be framed. Little pieces of affordable art. But I’m not sure what to charge. £2.95 would fit in with what a lot of artists charge for their printed greeting cards but there is a lot more work involved in making these fabric cards. There are a couple of examples below … would love to hear what you think?

This last week I had the pleasure of welcoming Louise Baldwin into my studio. She was here to teach her four day Accidently on Purpose workshop and it was a blast! The students had been asked to bring an eclectic mix of ‘stuff’ such as old bits of packaging, bits of plastic / metal/ ? from that drawer we all have in our kitchens where we put things then forget what they were used for, threads, buttons, wrapping papers, feathers, broken jewellery, scraps of fabric, unfinished bits from other workshops …. and out of the chaos they created and amazing array of samples.

During the first day they worked on paper collages and weavings. On the second day they added stitch to collaged papers then wash away some of the paper. And on the third day they hammered tacks into wood, and focussed on 3D samples. The final day was spent on deeper exploration of the the processes they liked best.

The benches were piled high …… and the results were amazing. The photo above is a work in progress piece by Sue R - she stitched papers to a piece of wool that she had previously printed then washed some of the papers away. Love it. The photos below feature work from Stephanie, Anna, Sylvia, Tracey and Sue.

Big thanks to Louise for a fab workshop!

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

It had to happen eventually. I was supposed to be running an ‘open bench’ week in my studio this last week. A group of students getting on with their own projects while I printed and dyed fabric to take to Festival of Quilts. I took my usual test last Sunday ahead of students arriving on Monday. And tested positive. Didn’t feel ill at that stage but within hours had a sore throat and banging headache. In the days since then I have had a cacophony of symptoms. Who knew that Covid could make your hands itch like crazy? A week later and I am mostly back to normal although still testing positive. Fingers crossed that I test negative soon and at least some of my very patient students can get a few days in the studio in the coming week.

I normally have two speeds - full on or asleep. And I am OK when I get a migraine - years have taught me that the only thing to do is to go to bed and stay there until the migraine spits me out the other side. I am less well behaved with illnesses that require naps and just taking it slow. I get bored. So apologies to my long suffering husband. Thankfully the need to isolate meant that I was banished to the spare bedroom / a chair in the garden / my studio so I didn’t drive him too nuts. I did however manage to give him Covid despite working hard at isolating. I owe him a very big bar of chocolate. When I can go to the shops.

When I can go to the Post Office I’ll catch up on the outstanding orders from my online shop. Apologies to those who are waiting.

I’ve managed to do some work over the last couple of days. Washing and ironing those fabrics that I’ve printed in recent months. And finishing and photographing my latest quilt. But I think its time to find some shade in the garden and have a snooze!

Very excited that Stewart Kelly will be teaching in my studio next year. Stewart is an award winning, internationally recognised textile artist. His work revolves around observations of the human form. Stitch is integral to his work and is often combined with drawing. Even if you don’t recognise his name you will almost certainly have seen his work. He has a great website which you can find here.

Stewart will be teaching a four day workshop from 12th to 15th September 2023. The course will encourage participants to develop a personal language through the exploration of combining drawing, colour, paper, fabric, and stitched textiles. It will be an experimental course, focusing on exploration, and the process of discovery through making. Stewart has provided a really detailed workshop outline which you can find here.

I’m expecting this workshop to be very popular. If it does sell out I will set up a waiting list so do please get in touch. Thank you, Leah

I am delighted to announce that Rosie James will be returning to Urban Studio North to teach her fabulous five day Drawing With Your Sewing Machine workshop from 8th to 12th May 2023. We had a wonderful time when she was here in 2021 and you can see some images of the students work below.

You can find out more about the workshop here. And you can find out more about Rosie here. The cost is £475 including a £175 deposit with the balance due 6 weeks before the workshop. Any questions, contact me here.

Thank you, Leah