Back from the Unfrozen North

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and emails about the books. I'm so glad that you all like them. I think Lynda and Carol have a smash hit - everyone is saying that their book is quite unique.

I can't tell you what a great time I had in Scotland - right up near the top, beyond in Inverness. It was hot, too. The scenery was breathtaking and I've got lots of panaramas to stitch together) both photographically and with a needle). The verges of the roads were lovely, as you can see.

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It was amazing how late the sunset was, that far north. It didn't really get dark at all - more like a deep twilight around midnight. This sunset was taken at 10.30 on our last evening.

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But it was the people who made the greatest impression as they were so lovely and welcoming. We were taken to see all the sights, fed wonderful meals and generally made to feel special. I was in competition with a pipe band for part of the talk, which gave a very Scottish flavour. Good things were made in the workshop, too - a talented bunch. They all kept going with a will and made lovely things; Andrea learned to free-machine and took to it like a natural. Here's a foiling sample from Sally.

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And a potential bookcover from Dee.

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In the church next door to our workshop venue was this amazing Pictish stone.

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We had a call at Inverness airport for our hold case to be examined. Must stop taking things with wiggly pipe-cleaners that look like bombs. Our arrival back at Gatwick was not uneventful, either. In their wisdom the authorities now make you queue when you get off the plane so they can take a photo. This is for an INTERNAL flight. They gave us a piece of paper explaining why. I was cross, so screwed mine up and chucked it in a bin. After walking for miles they made us wait again and then demanded the piece of paper. I had to go back to find my rubbish bin and rummage through the old banana skins and coffee drips to find it. GRRR.

Clive, meanwhile was waiting at baggage reclaim for one last case. Along with lots of other folk from our flight we waited for ages and then discovered that it wasn't a circular belt and that an unhelpful man had taken the cases off and they were all thrown anyhow on the floor.

This (plus extreme hunger) drove us to have an exceedingly naughty fish and chip supper which was lovely. It was very good to be home, especially as there were some excellent review books waiting for us

The Morning After

So many thanks to all who have responded about the books. It's always a bit of a worry - how will your baby fare out there in the wide world. This time I had a step-child to worry about as well - Lynda and Carol's book. Not that I was really worried about that one as I know a good thing when I see it and their book is quite unique.


Sharne - I didn't recognise you without your bits'n'bobs (so to speak). How great that your envelope came out first. I have to say that yesterday was a little fraught - we had so many orders that we had to organise a van and more books, so much of my time (when I should have been quaffing champagne) was spent lurking at the lock-up!

Doreen - we by-pass the post office and take the books straight to the local sorting office who are wonderful. Fiona had us so organised; she had all the labels on the envelopes ready for us. Clive and Fiona stuffed and I wafted about, getting in the way, while Phil made trips to the sorting office. I put some of these cards into the give-away. They are made by Jane Wild's daughter Emma and I think they are so lovely. She majored in fashion drawing and I love the combination of the figure and the postcard, complete with stamp.



She has a web site http://www.emmawild.co.uk/ if you want to see more.

I have a confession about yesterday's champagne. It was a bottle that I grabbed from the wine cellar (aka the garage) on my way out and when Fiona looked at it, there was a Tombola number taped to the bottom! So I was acused of being a cheap-skate and we settled for a good Aussie Shiraz instead. This was drunk with our fish and chips after all the books had gone. Not quite the best part of the day but pretty close.

Launch 2

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Books have been going in envelopes. This is not quite the spectacle I promised you. I dashed home and got my USB lead and still had trouble with photos. Never mind; here is a boring one of some boxes.

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And here is one of me signing books and looking very careworn! It's been a hard day.

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Anyway the big giveaway is almost complete and most of the goodies have been slipped in with the books. The two pieces of my work have gone to Sharne Gregory of Billericay, Essex - she gets the scroll - and PaTi McMahand who gets the weaving. I do know and love PaTi, but it wasn't a fix, honestly.

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Here are Fiona and Clive busily book stuffing.
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I'll be interested to hear who gets the lovely postcards from Lynda and Carol, so let me know. The two winners of the big prizes will receive them separately. Everything else will be in with the books. I hope you were lucky - more tomorrow.

Hooray! It's launch time - part 1

I am blogging on Fiona's machine and my camera won't talk to her PC so I shall have to paint you a word picture of the launch party.

Imagine a good-sized bungalow with a large sitting room, biggish dining room and enormous kitchen, plus Fee's office and a downstairs bedroom. Imagine them all stacked with envelopes and mailing packs containing the wonderful books all waiting for the magic 4pm moment when the goodies will be popped in them and then...off they go.

Now imagine a champagne bottle - still quite full, as we are trying to remain in full control until we've packed the giveaways. I shall be back very soon must stuff some more envelopes!

Prints and Pogos

I am so thrilled with your response to the new WoW and Quiltwow merge. It’s good to know we’re getting it right and we’ve had lots of new subscribers since I posted, so that is wonderful. Thanks for all the support and the lovely emails.

Diana you can look at the big free Taster before signing up – all on the site at www.workshopontheweb.com

Doreen – number of sleeps is going down quite scarily. I am planning my demos for the Perth show. I thought a pinch of water soluble technique, a smidgeon of vanishing muslin excitement, some carrier rod silks and a little Ink-Aid stirred in. This will be news to Dale, as I think this is totally different to the last info I gave her. Good thing that she stocks everything known to woman. No doubt she'll give me some new stuff to play with, too. So looking forward to it.

Textile Arty – good tip about composing posts. I’ll certainly look into it. It was so annoying with the last post as I like to think about what I write, not just dash it off. The whole lot went – pics and all and I had been saving as I went along, too. I won’t tell you what I said!

So glad you enjoyed the talk Frances – yours is a lovely branch and I had a good time, too. The Velcro was a bit of a giggle. It actually reminded me that I’d forgotten to turn my mobile off. It’s most embarrassing if the speaker’s phone rings.


Heather – thanks for the message, news on the baby printer below. It seems easy to get the specials papers Margaret, so I don’t think it can be going out of circulation.

Today we went for our holiday jabs – just boosters, as we were quite up to date. However, I think it must have mangled my brain as I gave Fiona a message to send out about the books in which I said I’d written Stitching the Textured Surface and Lynda and Carol had written Stitches, Straps and Layers! Good thing you lot know what’s what!

The books are on their way down to me from Tunbridge Wells and I’ve just had a call from Michael who is seeing them on their way. He is not given to great shows of emotion but he was so excited about the way the books looked. We have used a new printer and he seems to be very good.

So, tomorrow will be a mad day of stuffing books and distributing the goodies. I’ll blog in the afternoon, from Fiona’s house where the stuffing will take place.

Now, back to the Pogo printer. The new one arrived and is wonderful. It’s only a tiny pic but the resolution is really quite good, considering it is straight from the camera with no sharpening. I did a few sketchbook pages on last week’s Common walk and some pics of late rhodies.






That’s the pic, much blown up, of course. They are sticky backed and it is possible to hand stitch into them. Here’s a page – I just wet the page as a base and dabbed with Starburst Stains.

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Then covered the pics with skeleton leaves. They are a little shiny but not full gloss.

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This page is more leaves and cut up pics. I am so pleased – I know I can come home and print off all my holiday pics, but I never do. I put them on a CD and there they stay. Now I shall do my sketchbooks on the move and I’m going to start in Scotland later this week.

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I'll be back tomorrow with the launch blog.

Greater Excitements

Still looking on target for next week for the books. More details of the launch and how the give-aways will work on http://www.d4daisy.com./
It feels like the longest ever gestation period - possibly similar to an elephant.

The books have both been printed, cut and folded so it is only the binding to go. Michael went to the printers today and he says they look like books already, even though the final sewing has yet to be done at the binder. He is going to send me one to look at.


I have another goody to report - some of you will know this already but we haven't told you the full excitement quota yet! We are going to merge Quiltwow into Workshop on the Web, which will grow large with lots of extra workshops and goodies. This is partly because there is such an overlap of interest and feedback from quilters indicated that they wanted innovative articles - much like the ones we love to offer on WoW. December will be the first bumper issue and we've got lots of people that both quilters and embroiderers love - such as Jan Beaney. This is a great scoop as she rarely does 'workshop' articles and I'm thrilled to have talked her into it. Add to that, articles by our own Gina Ferrari and Olga Norris (both great bloggers) and several other wonderful workshops. For the quilters, we have surface design with Ruth Issett, art into stitch with Sandra Meech and Greta Fitchett on piecing photos. That's just a few off the top of my head! If you don't know about WoW there's a super Taster at http://www.workshopontheweb.com/

The other reason for the merge is that we plan to build in video feeds - both teaching and interviews. We want to build the site into a huge combined rescource for embroiderers, quilters, paper artists and mixed media fans and all for £15.50 a year. Can't be bad.

Now I have to tell you about a disappointment. I've been lusting after a Polaroid Pogo - a diddy little handbag printer. See below.

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With this in mind I painted paper for my Oz trip sketchbook.
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Then I squished (technical term) some cast paper onto the page by wetting the edges.

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Here's a detail.

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And the disappoinment - I got one and it doesn't work. It won't talk to my camera and I know that the lead is OK as I often use Pictbridge to plug into my big printer. A very nice lady is sending a replacement on Friday but now I've heard a rumour that they are to be discontinued. Anyone know about that?

One final excitement is that I have been asked to teach a summer school in Italy for the Knitting and Stitching Show folk. I don't often do summer schools but I have been persuaded. It sounds fabulous - the outings, and the wine, the good food, and the wine, the good company - and the wine, of course. Details on http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/masseria/

Too much for one day and I've just had to re-do the entire post as blogger refused to publish it.

The big give-away draws near

Hi Folks



Really started something with the old money reminiscence! Not good to go there - especially the gasoline - we pay about double that Wabbit


Becky - we do seem to have finally made contact and it's exciting that you are going to write an article for us.



The launch for the books looks set for 30th June. My book is printed and at the binders and Lynda and Carol are being printed now. Here are the printers proofs, spread all over my dining table, with the dynamic duo's postcards for the giveaway.
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. I've got some postcards, too, as well as some small embroideries.

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Plus a couple of pieces of work. You've seen the scroll and here's a small weaving I'm fond of, which is also up for grabs.

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Then there are loads of materials from Colinette yarns to stitching silks. Also sheets of Lutradur, shrinky plastic and lots more.

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Further details later in the week.