Unless stated otherwise my courses all take place at The Hearth in Horsley, Northumberland. This small rural arts centre has studios for 9 resident artists and I hire a nice big room to teach in with plenty of space for you to work and me to lay out materials. At lunch time we can take advantage of the café on site which serves delicious light lunches ,snacks and cakes and I usually open up my personal  studio for a short while so you can see what I am currently working on.
You may be disappointed to find all my courses are FULL so if you really want to get on a course you need to sign up for my newsletter as it is definitely worth being on the waiting list. Students sometimes pull out for one reason out another.

Fish Sat 16 July 10-4 at The Hearth £60 including all materials FULL

For a long time I have been looking for an excuse to use my beautiful metallic and lustred fabric and threads and fish have swum into view! Have a go at building up a textile collage of a warm golden cod, a pretty speckled trout, the common herring or another of our British fishes. We will work by hand on to a background of a damask table cloth building up the layers and then putting in the details and the sparkle with hand stitching.
to be on the reserve list forthis course please contact me HERE
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Sea and Estuary Birds Sun 17 July 10-4 at The Hearth £60 incl all materials FULL

At this time of the year when we are heading to the beach more we can not fail to notice the birds that live near the sea and in our estuaries. I come from Norfolk where the bird life is particularly rich and now the Northumberland coast provides the same inspiration. In this course you will build up a simple background context for your bird and then I will provide templates so you can have a go at the textile collage technique I use myself for building up my bird portraits. I will provide the palette of materials you need to do the job, suggest stitches and give you some ideas for making more of the background with the addition perhaps of some real sea weed and shells! Once you know this technique you can use it to develop portraits of all your own favourite birds and animals.
To reserve a place on this course please contact me HERE

Folk Art Applique at The Hearth 10-4 Sunday 18th September £60 including all materials FULL

Folk art often grew out of the home garden and the domestic and in this course you will have the opportunity to construct a small textile picture using traditional folk art motifs  found on old appliqued quilts such as flowers and foliage, birds and animals and hearts. I will show you where I gets my inspiration from and how to do the traditional finger turned appliqué to build up your design on to a piece of old quilt.You will decorate the surface of your piece with traditional embroidery stitches. You don’t need to know stitches or be able to draw as handouts will help you!
Contact me HERE to be put on the reserve list for thiscourse.

Grace at The Hearth 10-4 Sat 22nd October £60 including all materials

Grace Darling is a bit of a North East legend and was an early female celebrity star. In this course you will create a collage on to a textured and painted piece of domestic linen that reflects the colours of the rough North Sea. You will applique small and subtle scraps around a portrait of Grace and use hand stitching ( we will have a look at seaweed forms for inspiration)  to embellish. You can include a few words if you wish to.
To book on to this course please contact me HERE

Winter Windowsill Sun 23rd October 10-4 at The Hearth, Northumberland £60 incl materials FULL

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In winter a palette of muddy brown, beiges, grey and white persist with a touch of blue in there on good days. Green and Spring is yet to come. This course is based on a body of work I have made where I mix research into Ben Nicholson’s paintings of pots, jugs and windowsills with drawings I have made of the bare silhouettes of plants and a subdued soft winter palette of colours that I love. I will demonstrate how I paint up fabrics to achieve painterly cloth ( I will have done it for you as there is not time in a day to do everything)  and you will get a chance to overprint if you wish and use a discharge technique to make marks on your pots. You will make one small collage which can be embellished with simple surface stitching. To be put on the reserve list for  this course please contact me HERE.

Memory Maps Sat 5th November at The Hearth 10-4 £60 incl materials FULL

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This course is about creating a stitched map based on your memory of a place or journey or walk. It might be somewhere from your childhood that has changed or that you can  not revisit or it might be a mapping of a walk you do now ( like my walk through the cemetery to the allotment).
It is not about trying to stitch a conventional map but about working out what is important to you and what you want to remember. I will  give you some advice on how to prepare before the course starts and on the day will help you prioritise what is important in your mapping memory and how to depict that in stitch. I will demonstrate how I  sometimes mix in applique and stitch.
To be put on the reserve list for this course please contact me HERE

Alfred Sun 6th November at The Hearth, Northumberland 10-4 £60 including materials FULL

I have for a long time loved Alfred Wallis’s naïve paintings of little ships, houses and seascapes and a visit to Kettles Yard where many of his works are held rekindled my interest. For this course I will supply a muddy palette of fabrics ( some hand painted) which fit in with his aesthetic and we will use these to build up a collage based on his paintings. I will provide ideas in terms of drawings and the idea is to capture the “spirit” of this fisherman painter. We will also refer to the work of John Craske who came from my home county of Norfolk and painted in stitch. If you have been on any of my courses based on the work of Winifred Nicholson then I think you will love this course too!
To be put on the reserve list for this course please contact me HERE
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 Garden Birds Sat 3rd December at The Hearth 10-4 £60 incl materials FULL

The birds that come and visit my garden give me great delight and I feel I get to know them even better through creating textile portraits of them and really trying to capture their characteristics. You will learn to use tiny scraps of fabric to "paint" your bird and which stitches to use to work the eye, legs and and plumage. You will work on to an old piece of quilt as a basis which you can further embellish when you get home with a context for your bird. To be on the reserve list for this course please contact me HERE

DOLL at The Hearth Northumberland 10-4 Sun 4th December £60 incl materials FULL

I will show you how to make a tiny doll which could just be a keepsake doll or a Christmas angel. You will learn the simple the techniques I have devised to make the doll and will have a wide variety of lovely fabrics  trims and hair tresses to dress your doll, Very relaxing hand sewing workshop in the midst of a stressful season!

To be on the reserve list for this course please contact me HERE
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Further afield in 2022
Sat January 22 and Sunday 23rd January Red Hen Stitchery online workshop with French General HERE

May 14 Hope and Elvis Vintage Textile Collage HERE
May 15 Hope and Elvis Red Work HERE

23-30 June Stitch Retreat at Le Manoir aux Ecureuils France. Information HERE

3-10 September Stitch Retreat at Studio Preniac, France HERE

9-14 October Textile Retreat Goodnestone Park, Kent HERE