Happy New Year - Never too late!!

It has been some time since I wrote last - Too many things happening and it's all good. Where to begin.
        A September trip to Ontario visiting family with side trips to Cape Cod, Princton NJ and Maryland to see friends has kept my computer busy with hundreds of photos.  So many, I just bought a 2TB hard drive to keep up.  Many of the images I wanted to use for small stitch compositions.

Images from Cape Cod and a stitched textile inspired by our visit.     

 The biggest news is writing a new book ' Connecting Design to Stitch' (Batsford - August 2012) and it has been my main focus for the last 2-3 months.  It will address design and composition through the eyes of a stitched textile maker- not just for contemporary quilters but embroiderers or anyone who loves fibre with mixed media and stitch. Similar to Connecting Art to Stitch, it will be full of wonderful pieces of work from international art quilters and embroiderers, composition collage exercises and design workshops.  Hopefully, something for everyone.  I will be at the Festival of Quilts in August (the NEC in Birmingham) with a small stand to introduce the book, so if you are in the UK and planning to attend, please come and see me.  

      One of the main sources of inspiration this time has been images from the Jurassic coast in Dorset - that 135 km stretch of ancient coastline.  Cliffs, beaches, boats and the sea  from West Bay to Lyme Regis feature often, and of course the classic fossil shape - the 'spiral' as it relates to the 'golden mean' - perfect proportion in nature. The 'rule of thirds' a simple version  of this, helps us to practise good composition in both fine art and wall hung stitched textiles.

Here is a glimpse some of the new work that will appear. Inspiration throughout the book will come from photo images based on a theme, world textiles, architecture, the landscape, nature and many more subjects of interest. 

Work from dozens of well known fibre and fine artists will be showcased in addition to my own latest art quilts and textiles. And... a  design class devoted to creating a stitch bound book, - full of great collage and composition exercises to try.

Apologies again for taking so long to write .....  Life overtakes....  I continue to teach, make and exhibit has kept me quite busy.
Look for another blog very soon with the latest news for the New Year.
Thanks for reading....