A few weeks ago I visited the MA Expo at the School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University. This is where students show key pieces of work made during their Master's degrees. It's always interesting because there is a great variety of work being displayed, which reflects the range of MA…
Threads of Life I've been so busy lately that I've not been able to keep up with writing about the things I've been doing. A couple of weekends ago, I went to Threads of Life in Castle Donington to teach a crochet workshop. I first met Sue, the owner, a…
© The Knitter Magazine 2013 Magic of the Circus bag This has been a very exciting week! Firstly, I have machine and hand-knit work in an exhibition (see here and here). Then I returned home from the Private Preview for the exhibition to find the latest issue of The Knitter…
This is only the second exhibition in which I've been involved in the installation. It is a strange process - installing artwork. We started with a plan of where each piece would go; only a few changes were made and this is to be expected because some decisions have to…
It is nearly a year since I graduated with an MA in Fashion and Textiles from Nottingham Trent University. Now, together with some of my fellow Master's graduates (Brenda Baxter and Janet Wootton), I'm installing work for an exhibition, "Transitions", which opens tomorrow. The exhibition reflects on the transitions that…
There seems to be at least one yarn or textile festival every weekend at the moment. I've been suffering from real indecision about which ones to visit. Last weekend was one of my few free weekends until December, so it was fantastic to be able to visit a local event.…
Afternoon tea - how it came to be A couple of years ago a friend was hosting a house-warming party; for entertainment, she had booked a well-known crochet tutor to teach a workshop. Unfortunately, the tutor had to pull out a few weeks beforehand, so my friend was wondering what…
In my last post, I showed you some of the beautiful buildings in Lavenham. These were financed using wealth generated from the wool trade during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. There are many areas in the UK where, at some point in their history, the economy has been based on…
There are many towns in East Anglia where you can still see examples of late Medieval or early Tudor buildings. The Tudor period was from 1485–1603 (the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I). These buildings were constructed during the wool industry's boom years.…
This year we decided to have a Suffolk seaside summer holiday. We've flown over, and travelled on and under the sea, but not actually been to the coast for a long while, so we were excited about this holiday. We're a bit too old for buckets and spades, but we…