North Yorkshire Open Studios is a fantastic event and I’m excited to be welcoming you to the studio for the first two weekends in June. Join me from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 3, Sunday 4, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June and step into my creative world. I’ve been creating new work as part of my Fancy Goods collection and creating some new stitchscapes which will be available to but during the event.

My work is inspired by the Yorkshire Coast, from bustling arcades on Foreshore Road to peaceful cliff top walks, my surroundings are a huge inspiration. You can browse the work for sale and see new exhibition pieces. I will also be demonstrating techniques using my Pfaff Creative 3.0 embroidery machine and how I combine different fabrics and threads using hand stitch. You might even catch a glimpse of my studio assistant Dolly. I’ve really enjoyed creating these new pieces and I’m excited to see how the work will progress.

I’m excited to be working with WOVEN to run two embroidery workshops at Huddersfield Art Gallery on Thursday 15 June.

Since the first lockdown in March 2020, Give a Few Words have invited people to write positive and uplifting letters. These letters have been sent to people who are feeling socially isolated or lonely across Kirklees and beyond. But letters don’t have to be written with pen and paper In this two hour workshop, you’ll have the chance to make a small piece of textile art, which will be posted out to spread some cheer. I will show you how to embroider your message using Give a Few Words signature yellow thread. No experience necessary and all materials will be provided but if you have any favourite fabrics you’d like to include, please do feel free to bring them along.

You can visit the Give a Few Words project to find out more and book your place here

I’m excited to be demonstrating some of the techniques I use to create my work on Saturday 13 May at Inspired By…Gallery in Danby. The beautiful gallery at Danby Lodge National Park Centre (formerly The Moors National Park Centre) hosts regular exhibitions of work by artists and makers who draw their inspiration from the landscape, life and colour of the North York Moors.

My work is being exhibited as part of From Moors, Coast, Dale and Beyond, a preview of work by artists taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios in June. The exhibition runs until Sunday 21 May and is open daily from 10am to 5pm.

I’ll be demonstrating alongside potter Claude Frere-Smith and painter Lindsey Tyson who will be sharing the techniques they use and talking about their work, ideas and inspirations. You can visit us from…

11am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3pm

Entry is FREE and there’s no need to book

Danby Lodge National Park Centre
Lodge Lane
Danby
Whitby
North Yorkshire
YO21 2NB

There is a pay and display car park nearby

I’m excited to be working with North Yorks Art School in Scarborough to offer a six week introduction to hand embroidery course starting in June. The course is suitable for beginners and people with some embroidery experience who would like to learn more. All materials and equipment are provided.

The course starts on Friday 9 June 10am to 12.30pm for six weeks and you can book your ticket here

Here’s the overview of what you will be learning on the course…

Week One

You will get to know the tools and equipment for hand embroidery. I will guide you through the basics of using an embroidery hoop, marking tools, needles and embroidery threads. You will make a start on your sampler of 10 basic embroidery stitches.

Week Two

You will continue to work on your sampler learning more basic embroidery stitches. I will show you the rest of the stitches and begin a fill-the-square activity using the stitches you have learned.

Week Three

You will continue your fill-the-square activity, working with the stitches you have learned and a variety of embroidery threads. This will help you to understand how to combine the stitches to create your own embroidery designs.

Week Four

I will guide you through the process of designing your own embroidery. You will build a design, transfer it onto the fabric and start to embroider using your sampler as a reference guide.

Weeks Five & Six

You will continue to work on your own design, bringing it to life through stitch. I will be there to help you work through the project and give you tips and tricks to help with your work. You will leave the course with a sampler, your embroidered squares and a completed design.

Day Workshop – Stitched Landscapes

I’m also offering a day workshop where you will create a stitched landscape using different fabrics and threads. You will learn how to build up the different layers of your picture, adding different textures of fabric and enhancing them with a variety of embroidery stitches including stem stitch, straight stitches and lazy daisy stitch.

This workshop is suitable for people with some embroidery experience and more advanced stitchers who want to learn something new. I will be providing inspiration images to the workshop but if you have a picture or photograph you would like to inspire you, please bring it along.

All materials and equipment including an embroidery hoop are included. Refreshments and lunch provided. The course is on Saturday 1 July 10am to 4pm and you can book your ticket here

I decided to take a break over Easter and get some time in the studio without the distraction of emails and workshop planning. I have a great job but sometimes it takes over and I don’t get the opportunity to create new work as much as I’d like.

It was great to get the Pfaff Creative 3.0 going to create a new piece as part of the Prism Textiles Warped exhibition. This was a last minute edition to a piece called Flotsam & Jetsam that I’ve been working on for what seems like forever. The new piece is my favourite part of the larger piece so I might use this as part of another design with other found objects.

I’m also trialing the new software subscription from Pfaff called My Sewnet. It has some great editing functions for building new design files that I’m looking forward to experimenting with.

We visited an antique shop on a day out and found this great printers tray. I’m planning to make some new work to go in the compartments. Not sure how this will work out just yet but I’m excited to see what I can create. I’d love to create some text based pieces that give a nod to the typesetting past of the object. We might have also picked up one to display on the living room wall. We wanted a fun way to display some Lego Mini Figures and found objects.

I’ve also started to create some new pieces for Fancy Goods, working with paint and stitch to create some collectors plates. It’s been fund to look back through old samples and decide which ideas to try for finished pieces.

You can see more new work and find out more about my creative process at North Yorkshire Open Studios in June

I’m excited to be taking part in the annual exhibition by members of Prism Textiles which opens on Thursday 20 April at The Art Pavilion, Mile End Park, Clinton Rd, London, E3 4QY. The exhibition runs until Monday 1 May and is open daily from 11am to 6pm. The exhibition is FREE and NO BOOKING is required. You can see my work Harbouring and Flotsam & Jetsam alongside the work of other members.

As part of the promotion work for the exhibition I recorded an episode the brilliant Stitchery Stories podcast alongside fellow artist Maria Walker. We had a great time chatting with host Susan Weeks about the exhibition and what goes on behind the scenes. It was great to tell people more about the exhibition and share our own upcoming projects. You can find our episode online here.

To find out more about the exhibition and the work of our members on the Prism Textiles website

I’m excited to be taking part in North Yorkshire Open Studios this year, the event is just a couple of months away. I’ll be opening the doors to my studio on 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th of June from 10am to 5pm. You can see my current work and learn about my creative process. I’ll be demonstrating hand embroidery as well as my Pfaff Creative embroidery machine. If you’re lucky you might get a glimpse of Dolly too.

The brochure which includes a map is available to download from the event website so you can plan your route. I’m at location 140 but there are lots of other Scarborough artists to visit while you’re here.

Location 132 Adam King, Applied Art & Design

Location 133 Lesley Warner, Ceramics

Location 134 Jacqui Barrowcliffe, Mixed Media

Location 135 Lindsey Tyson, Painting & Drawing

Location 136 Nicholas Robinson, Ceramics

Location 137 Petra Ingham, Painting & Drawing

Location 138 Michael Atkin, Printmaking

Location 139 Lynn Comley, Textiles

You can also follow the event on Instagram and see work by NYOS artists in our exhibition at the Inspired Gallery in Danby.

After ten years of teaching as part of Heydays at Leeds Playhouse I said goodbye to everyone at the end of term celebration this week. The time felt right for me step down and see what other opportunities the future has in store. I will miss everyone so much, as one of my participants pointed out I’ve been at Heydays for almost a quarter of my life! I was treated to some lovely presents too which was so thoughtful.

Working with Leeds Playhouse has been such a fun experience, I’ve met amazing people and run a huge array of courses from stitched landscapes to protest banners, turning up each week with my suitcase of craft materials and seeing what people wanted to create. We’ve shared stories and laughs, I remember a conversation about why people think Benedict Cumberbatch is sexy but there are so many more that I’ll keep with me too.

For my last term it felt apt that we made stitched memory books, creating them from fabric scraps, photographs and trimmings. Lesley, who I’ve been teaching for years, created a book jam packed with stitching and collected objects. I love her maximalist style. There were also books about cats, people’s travels and family stories.

You can see more images of my work with Leeds Playhouse in my portfolio

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who I’ve worked with and taught over the last ten years xx

It’s been a busy few weeks in the studio getting the banners completed as part of my community project The Unravelling Fantasia of Miss H. I’ve not had much time between banner making and workshops to spend time on new pieces but I’ve had lots of ideas and I’m making notes in my sketchbook.

My Fancy Goods work is my next priority, I’ve been finding more inspiration as the shops open for the start of tourist season. From crinoline ladies made of shells to the different flavours of rock, the colours are so vivid. I will be showcasing my new work in my studio this June for North Yorkshire Open Studios.

A friend treated me to an online workshop with Hand & Lock which started this week, it follows on from the workshop I did last year creating embellished textiles using different materials and techniques. It was great to spend the afternoon chatting and learning new ways to work with materials. We created texture with goldwork purl which was my favourite technique. I’m looking forward to the next class and learning something new.

I also need to get my skates on as my work for the Prism Textiles Warped exhibition needs to be finished and delivered. I’m enjoying working with my Pfaff Creative 3.0 embroidery machine again, it’s been a while and I’m really excited about creating new fragments of embroidery to include in my Harbouring pieces.

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