Christmas Greetings

Another year over - and the deeper in debt phrase that follows on from that will certainly apply once the credit card bill for Christmas arrives! Only one present left to buy and most of the food is in so it could be worse. Feeling quite festive, I thought I'd find these two images of Karen Woods' Madonna and Child - now in the Guild Collection. Amazing use of the third dimension and great stitching. I had Karen's permission to use them in a talk so I'm sure she won't mind me giving them an airing.

You have probably heard about the ridiculous VAT fiasco whereby anyone who sells online services has to register for VAT payable to European Union countries, even if they are way below the threshold here. Lots of people have stopped selling - not just textile folks but anyone who sells yoga classes, self-help or beauty stuff. You have to be able to establish three different sources to show where your sales are coming from and many people are unable to do this. Luckily Workshop on the Web can do this but it is still a lot of work. If you come across any of the many petitions against this, please do sign.

But enough of the VAT mess. Positive thinking is needed and, speaking of Workshop on the Web, we are planning to liven it up no end in the New Year with video content and a return of the kits that were a popular feature some time ago. I'd also like us to have a closed Facebook page for WoW members only - I know some people don't like FB but it is hard to see how to do it any other way. Let me know what you think. Oh, and we have an amazing Hilary Beattie article in March which looks as though it is going to be about twenty pages long - always a generous girl, our Hilary.








I'm not going to be too sorry when Christmas is over as I can begin to get ready for my retrospective exhibition. 30 Tones of Grey. This will be part of the Craft4Crafters show in Exeter - January 29th to 31st. More details of the show here: www.craft4crafters.co.uk 


The pic on the right is from my icon series and was the beginning of an exploration of metal.


Can't wait to get all my work out and I am aiming to have visiting artists to celebrate Workshop on the Web and d4daisy books. I think I might even show some of Val Campbell-Harding's work and also a piece by Julia Caprara - both much loved and missed artists.

At the show we shall have the impressive might of West Country Embroiderers on one side and the wonderful Adele Thomas on the other. We shall be doing loads of demos and hopefully passing samples between WCE and Adele for further decoration and stitching. 

Finally I would like to thank everyone who took part in our book auction for the Teenage Cancer Trust. We raised over £1400 and I am just about to send a cheque to the Trust to continue their wonderful work. Thank you all.

Charity Book Sale

The auction has now finished and we raised in excess of £1337.00. The remaining books will be sold at the Craft4Crafters show in Exeter. Thank you to everyone who bought the books and helped us to support The Teenage Cancer Trust.

I’m sure you will all have heard about our sale of hand-made books and sketch-books, hoping to raise money for The Teenage Cancer Trust – such a worthwhile cause.

Here are the ‘Buy Now’ books. You can secure the book of your choice straightaway by paying the suggested price, or you can make a bid and risk losing it. Bidding ends on Tuesday 9^th at 12 noon GMT.  We do hope to raise a useful amount for the Teenage Cancer Trust, so please support us. Any questions to maggie@workshopontheweb.com

Email Maggie or leave a comment to buy or bid. Payment options are shown at the end of this blog post.

There are further books, including a sketch-book by Val Campbell-Harding, in the auction on the Workshop on the Web Facebook page. 

Remember that both auction and sale end at 12 noon GMT on Tuesday 9^th December.



Stop Press: Two New Books


Book 22 - Elizabeth Saunders
A Lovely late entrant from this admired WoW tutor. This is a concertina book on the theme of travel, journeys and memories. Lovely little snippets of stitch, too.

3 x 3 in

Purchased at £20. Thank you, L.

Book 23 - Emma Siedle-Collins
A delicious book with a colourful stitched and embellished cover. Lots of colour inside, too, as you can see.

6 x 4 in

BUY NOW for £30.00 or make an offer by leaving a comment or emailing maggie@workshopontheweb.com

Current highest offer £

Book 3 - Cas Holmes 

This colourful book, by a much admired maker, takes as its theme the ecology of our world and our part in protecting it.

Dimensions: 4½ x 3½ in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, F.

Book 6 – Paula Watkins

This is a work of art from Paula – another popular tutor and writer. This book is a tiny

piece of heaven. Small, but perfectly formed, with some lovely pages of drawings.

Title: A Little Sketchbook

Dimensions: 3 x 3½ in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, Pat.

 

 

Book 8 – Zoe Ainsworth Grigg

This book takes shoes as its theme and includes some interesting design ideas and some lovely stitched samples.

Title: Shoes

Dimensions: 6 x 6½ in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, J.

Book 10 – Maggie Grey

A fabric book with stitched shapes applied to a zapped and distressed background. The spine is formed from zapped pipe-cleaners. The interior of the book shows lots of pages of small icons on a metal ground. Some of the pages remain blank to make room for your own saints.

Title: For all the Saints

Dimensions: 5 x 3½ in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, J.

Book 11 – Sue Gilchrist

A true sketch book with lots of room remaining for your own designs. The cover is beautifully stitched and embellished with particular attention paid to the decorative elements.

Title: The Purple Pink Button Book

Dimensions 6 x 4 in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, S.

Book 13 – Sam Packer

Unbound book with a Decovil and fabric stencilled cover decorated with gold strands of

Flash. It has decorative, textured pages. The wrapped pipe-cleaner tie keeps it all up

together. Add more of your own pages.

Title: It’s a Wrap 

Dimensions 5½ x 4 in

BUY NOW for £30.00 or make an offer by leaving a comment or emailing maggie@workshopontheweb.com

Current highest offer £

Book 16 – Paula Watkins

Another book by Paula on a fishy theme, this wonderfully shaped book has a folded fish

cover that encases painted and textured paper ready for you to decorate. 

Title: Folded Fish 

Dimensions 5½ x 6¼ in

BUY NOW for £40.00 or make an offer by leaving a comment or emailing maggie@workshopontheweb.com

Current highest offer £

Book 17: Origami ‘travel’ memory book – Beverley Wood

A beautifully constructed origami book with pockets for keep-sakes, notes or photos. What a

lovely Christmas present this would make.

Dimensions  6 x 6 in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, PD.

Book 18: Origami ‘butterfly’ memory book – Beverley Wood

A beautifully constructed origami book with pockets for keep-sakes, notes or photos.

Dimensions  6 x 6 in

Purchased at full price. Thank you, PD. Sorry Aussie Jo.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Payment can be made by cheque if you are in the UK (our preferred method) or credit card over the phone. In all cases contact Maggie first,  by email maggie@workshopontheweb.com.