half the year gone & the start of another busy month @&made!

in two weeks we have our next launch event @ manchester craft & design centre – you can follow this link & find more details here;

 http://www.craftanddesign.com/exhibitions/craftinghistory

along with my fellow tenants i am working on my exhibition piece which will be donated by &made for our charity auction in november.

but before that we aim to finish work on our new studio – no.21 – almost there now, complete two more commissions – already wip, plan & deliver a new workshop @ whitworth art gallery in three weeks, tweak our  plan for a tenant led workshop mc&dc in september, continue r&d on new work for the great northern contemporary craft fair in october – it’s nice to have a few surprises – & stay on top of stock levels for the shop!

i like to keep busy!

sugar rush

what better way to spend a wet wednesday than revisiting the whitworth art gallery?

we had a lovely morning ‘baking’ this batch of cupcakes with a group of ladies on their first visit to the whitworth. i was really impressed with the inventive decorations & colour combinations ! i really enjoy these workshops – it fulfills my childhood ambition; succeeding Valerie Singleton on Blue Peter !

thank you to ed watts for his invitation to cupcake heaven…

 

 

smart deco workshop

Bank  holiday weekend at the Whitworth art gallery – what could be better ? A select group of keen crafters gathered together on Sunday afternoon for a few hours creating, stitching & making. Everyone was keen to experiment & try something new, inspired by the wonderful, ‘ Walls are talking’, wallpaper exhibition at the Whitworth.   

needle & thread

 Thanks to Francis Vose for being on hand to take the photographs.   

farrow & ball gown

i‘ve had a  fab few days, designing & making this frock, using some beautiful farrow & ball wall paper samples.

thanks to debbie peers who owns the  lovely millan interiors shop and design service in parbold, lancashire for giving me this dream job.  the farrow & ball gown was commissioned for a new window dressing display;  i couldn’t resist attempting matching bag and shoes just to complete the picture!

it’s wierd how two completely seperate projects come along from entirely different sources yet are linked. following on the heels of the window dressing project i have been lucky enough – again -  to be involved in a course of workshops being run over the summer at the whitworth art gallery.  the interior design course has been inspired by the current exhibition – ‘ the walls are talking’ . four of my lovely fellow tenants are running consecutive weeks of skills workshops designed to explore various techniques & ideas with a group of keen and ambitious crafters.  we’re all looking forward to it, i’ll report back – hopefully with some images of our creations.

a big thank you to ed watts for involving mc&dc tenants in this project.