This photograph shows the front of one of my large Pink Pig sketchbooks. I have about a dozen of these A3 size books, in both landscape and portrait format, and I find the large size excellent for samples, drawings and design work. I like the coloured covers, which can be successfully decorated with collage or … More Last Post – Sketchbooks

Collect together a pile of fabrics in all the colours you love. They can be plain or patterned, smooth or textured, but the colours should sit well together. You could use one of the patterned fabrics as inspiration for your colour scheme or select a favourite postcard or picture as a way to co-ordinate your … More Instructions For Mosaic Project

In preparation for a workshop I am running soon, I thought I would make some samples in colours that weren’t my usual ‘coastal’ selection. Deliberately choosing the bright yellow and blue of ceramics tiles seen in Portugal I made my choice of fabrics accordingly. I made one large, layered piece, using a variety of fabrics, … More Mosaic Workshop

Not normally one to use pictures of myself on this blog, I thought I would include this as the source of inspiration for some potato printing I’ve been doing today with a group of friends. We had seen Grayson Perry printing a travel poster on his recent Channel 4 Art Club programme and he had … More Potato Printing

I took this lovely photograph on a recent trip to the Farne Islands, with my cheap little point and shoot camera. We were able to get very close to the puffins and they didn’t seem to mind nearly as much as the Terns, which kept dive bombing everyone and making a lot of fuss. I … More Sea Parrots

I purchased this little leather bound journal while on holiday in Israel. I particularly wanted to buy something that I could fill with pictures and jottings once I returned home and I found this book in the flea market at Jaffa. The leather needed a little cleaning, and the metal front piece a bit of … More Travel Journal

I have recently returned from a holiday in Israel where I was lucky enough to find a wonderful fabric shop! In fact, there was an entire street of fabric shops, lots all side by side, the wares spilling out into the road – such a choice! People always say about taking an empty suitcase on … More Fabric Spree

I spent a happy hour or so painting the centre of a beautiful peony flower I’d been given recently. There is currently a great free project on Este Macleod’s site, which took you through the stages of making this circular design. I wasn’t sure about using the Payne’s Grey colour as the background but I’m … More Peony

Just a pretty picture, printing with potatoes (pebbles) and carrots (flowers). The background is spayed brusho and the navy that looks like seaweed is acrylic ink, blobbed, blown with a straw and then spritzed with water. Clearer in the picture below.

Last Wednesday, at Textiles In The Garden, I was talking to a visitor about embedding an organza wheel into glass! I took down the email of the lady in question, in order to email instructions about how to go about sewing such a wheel. Unfortunately, I lost the email address during our clearing up, thought … More Mystery Guest