There's The Good News....

and the not so good news.... but there's more good than bad, hurrah! And even the bad, has some good attached...

The good news is that I'm back, after a long blog break which has had a lot to do with me returning to the world of Paid Employment, and combining it with Self Employment, and struggling to find the time to turn round, much less write my blog... The good news is that I'll be at Festival of Quilts, and when I'm not teaching, I'll be demonstrating at Spunart's stand (D25). Anyone coming to my Instant Postcards workshop will have the chance to work with the new Lutradur XL, which I think is amazing. It will make fab postcards, and I'm looking forward to making textile and mixed media books with it. I used the sample that Spunart sent me to back some small quilts; it's great for that, too. So hopefully I won't have to do too much ironing at FOQ this year; I plan to make a small book while I'm there.

And I'm not coming alone; I'm bringing two books with me. Lovely Lutradur is at the printers as we speak, along with 'Finding Your Creative Focus', my book on getting round creative blocks. They will be available from me during FOQ, and I'll be selling them through the Other Blog, as we did with the CDs (which will still be available).

The bad news, or the less good news, is that Exquisite Evolon is not going to be ready for this year's FOQ, though it will be ready by mid September, according to my printers. Part of the reason for that is that I'm working with a wonderful photographer, Haydn Rodgers, who has introduced me to his friend, designer Terry Symonds, who has created amazing covers for Lovely Lutradur's printed version, as well as 'Finding Your Creative Focus'. He is now going to work his magic on Exquisite Evolon; I'm sure you'll find it will have been worth the wait! In the meantime, feast your eyes on a couple of Haydn's photos for Exquisite Evolon, showing the jacket that is one of the projects in the book. There is layer upon layer of surface design on the jacket, and there are step by step directions on how to achieve this look, as well as the construction methods. Hope you like it as much as I do!

All The Fun Of The Show...

...in this case, the Spunart team in a few quiet moments before the mayhem began at the start of Sunday. You may recognise a few of my quilts hanging behind them; thank you to the lovely people who commented that they look much better in real life! You can probably tell that the messy desk at the front of the stand is mine; I create mayhem wherever I go, co opting space madly. I had great fun talking about Lutradur and Evolon both, my favourite textiles. Wonder what other industrial products can be turned to artful uses... Mervyn, get your thinking cap on!

It was great to meet fellow bloggers and Etsians at the show, and there are tentative plans for a retreat later in the year. Amazing what you can arrange in a few minutes between demos! I had a ball, but I have to admit I'm really tired still, so I may be quite quiet for a while. Or not...

It's Been A While...

but for a very good reason. Lovely Lutradur is finished, and as you can see, is piling up on my living room carpet! Preorders are going out in the next day or so, and we're accepting orders by email; just contact Dijanne or myself. If you would prefer to order online without emailing us, I'll also set up information on the other blog where you can find a complete listing of the contents as well as a Paypal payment button.

So.... what about Lovely Lutradur? Well, it's an E-Book, or book on CD. It is supplied as two PDF files, so you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free on the net. An E-book works just like a normal book, without the paper, of course, and it does the odd advantage. One of them is that it has 'bookmark' icons. If you click the bookmark icon on the left of the page, a list of chapter headings will pop up. Click on one of those, and you are immediately taken to the relevant chapter of the book. Handy, huh?

The book is divided into several parts. First, we explain about Lutradur itself, then we go on and talk about how to colour it and use it, including a step by step visual guide by Dijanne that shows the whole process as she makes one particular piece. The third section of the book is a series of projects, which we hope will show you how we use lutradur, and give you lots of ideas for using it yourself. And of course, there is the ever important suppliers list. On a separate file, there is a gallery, full of images of our work, and information about the specific pieces. In all, 88 pages of textile temptations!

Price?
Australia $25 inclusive of postage
United Kingdom 12 GBP- inclusive of postage
Europe 15 Euros inclusive of postage
USA $24 inclusive of postage

I'll be at Festival of Quilts on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday at the Spunart stand (apparently we're just behind Ricky Tims!), with CDs, a laptop and a hard copy of the book. Why not come and say hello, and check it out!