Louise Gardiner Worshops in 1784 Quarry Bank Cotton Mills, Styal, Cheshire * 22-24 October 2012

The feedback on this courses is simply amazing! I am hoping to get up to Styal this year which is the loveliest and best preserved of all 18th century cotton mills set in a fabulous area of Cheshire, more famous now for footballers' homes and the shops that go with the footballers' wives! Louise has taught at Museums, Guilds and Universities across the UK and in 2010 was invited overseas to teach at the New Zealand Embroider's Guild Conference.She demonstrated drawing with a sewing machine for Jenny Murray on 'Women's Hour' and Julia Pearson writer for the Time Out Blog recommended Louise's workshops as one of the five top things to do outside London.

The workshops take place at a fantastic water powered cotton mill built by Samuel Greg in 1784 called Quarry Bank in the village of Styal, Cheshire, which has a rich textile heritage and is a mile from Louise's studio. Louise was invited here to launch a new gallery space in summer 2011. In parallel to this successful solo show 'Losing the Thread' Louise began the series of SUPERSTITCHERS workshops which challenge anyone's traditional ideas of an embroidery class and break as many rules as possible. Drawing and design are a large part of the workshop and all students are encouraged to let their hair down and not force creativity. Music, movement, coffee, biscuits and ALWAYS sherry are employed as aids to help get the creativity flowing and every student leaves feeling inspired if not a little more bonkers. The fee for the course is £240 - accommodation is not included - and 14 places are available.

Love of Letters

My love of letters goes back way before I could read. When I has small I would run my finger around the carved words on chuch memorials - in the days when nobody bothered about such things. The feel of words and the form and pattern of words is as strong in me as their sound. I love letters carved in wood - they are particularly delicious if I can be allowed such synaesthesia! Words incised in copper or other metal, on the other hand, I experience like a dose of smelling salts - they are a quick and sudden jolt to the senses. Different type-faces have different sounds, too. We all know that upper case words are experienced as a shout in emails, don't we?

So, I love anything from a printer's shop. I love the Plantin Museum in Antwerp - and the printing museum in Tokyo is heaven! Perhaps you can see why I have fallen in love with these items from the Old Printing Shop.

The animal print blocks are perfect for letters.

They remind me of early children's books.

And these lovely wooden print cases must have a use for storing needlework treasures. You can purchase them all. Click here for more details.

Samplers at Auction

This fabulous darning pattern sampler is for auction at Charterhouse Auctions on 24/25 May and is Lot 878. It is down as being Dutch, but I think it is certainly from the Norwich area of the UK. It is very interesting that these darning samplers were very popular in that area just as the local weaving industry was going into decline. Is there a link? It is late 18th or ealy 19th century. It measures 36.5 x 36 cm and has an estimate of £120-£180. Click here for more details.

Meanwhile at Canterbury Auctions on 22/23 May is thisd other more humble darning pattern sampler from Sheepscar School signed E Sharp and dated 1814. I don't know Sheepscar School, but this looks Quaker taught to me. It is Lot 378 and has an estimate of £80-£120. Click here for more details.

David Lay has two pretty sampelrs for auction on 17/18 May. The first is Lot 114 which is an early Victorian needlework sampler by Jane Crabb aged 13 years, 1844, decorated with a religious verse and vases of flowers, trees and bird motifs. It measures 35 x 31cm and has an estimate of £40 - £60. Click her for more details. The second one below from David Lay is Lot 255. It is a William IV sampler by Ann Jamieson, 1836, decorated with religious verse, a building with peacock and floral motif - I think this is Scottish. It measures 49 x 42cm and has an estimate of £80 - £120. Click here for more details.

Mary Wigham in Texas and the Antikythera Device

It has been a mesmerising day today - in spite of the continuing rain. I have a lesser spotted woodpecker feeding on and off just outside the window and the sight of this bird disrupts all work for the duration - the intricate web of black markings over its head and neck and those flashes of crimson hold me spellbound. And the other delight was to see a wonderful Mary Wigham. Many thanks to Anita for sending in the picture - she says: This was stitched my a friend of mine, Sheryl. She began stitching it back in the summer of 2009 when you kindly released the chart. It is now on display at our local needlework shop Stitches from the Heart in San Antonio, Texas. So, Brava Sheryl - you have stitched a fabulous sampler! And Hello to everyone at Stitches from the Heart in San Antonio! I have a feeling you are not as rainy as we are here... send us a bit of warm sunshine, please. At lunch I watched HRH Prince Charles deliver the weather forecast on the telly - a few swear words (his not mine, I hasten to add) but even he couldn't promise any sun. And I have just finished watching the documentary on BBC4 which started at 9pm on the Antikythera Mechanism - a 2,000 year old computer for predicting eclipses and planetary movements. (But not the weather!) If you are able to watch this programme, do, it is a breath of fresh air to see. And you will see some of the imaging equipment that I was familiar with in the past - and some of the archaeological stuff that was my obsession when I was in Greece as a teenager. I hope you have mesmerizing and inspiring day too!