Sashiko and the Knit and Stitch Show at the Rheged Centre

It has been a while since I managed to add any photos of student sashiko work, so here is Joyce Petrie's lovely sampler from the final sashiko course at Edinburgh.  It is going to be shown in her group's exhibition in May (more details coming soon) and also at the Sashiko in Stockton exhibition at All Saints' Church, Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees, on Saturday 20th July (more info on my website events page).  Here's the poster for the Busy Bees exhibition -



This version of my koi carp was stitched by Marian Nichols.  I'm revisiting this design at the moment, and working on a new version...

 

This little boro inspired landscape was my workshop at the Spring Quilt Festivals at Newark and Harrogate, and I am teaching it again this weekend at the Knit and Stitch Show at the Rheged Centre, Penrith.  Sorry, it is already sold out! I think I will have to do it as an online tutorial sometime. I'm also giving a free talk there on Saturday, 'Japanese Sashiko - working together'.

I was on Sewing Quarter TV again last Sunday, with two one hour sashiko lessons (2nd and 4th hour of the show), focusing on using the sashiko panels I created for Olympus.

We've been at several shows this year, including the Spring Quilt Festivals and World Textile Days, and the boro side of things is getting more and more popular! So we are taking recycled vintage Japanese fabrics for sale too. These bags were made in my boro bag workshops in 2018.

My 2018 - 2019 sashiko couse at Stockton is now finished, and my students have some amazing collections of blocks to put together in their samplers. The dates for my 2019 -2020 Stockton course are now on my website (events page) along with the two sashiko summer schools I'll be teaching too.  Please contact me via the website if you are interested in booking.

Update on Edinburgh classes - 

Main course is cancelled but there will now be a 'reunion' session on 24th November, so I'm collecting names for that. Please bring any current sashiko projects you'd like help with, but I will also have a couple of 'new' patterns to show you. Reiko Domon has included some wonderful patterns by Hokusai in the new Yuza Sashiko book and I want to stitch some of those.

Rice Sack Bag class - places still available on this mini course. 15th December (to start the hitomezashi panels) and 5th January (machine sewing the bag). This is the handbag I usually use (in photo). The latest version is called the 'indestructible', as I've added a lot of little strenghtening pieces inside the bag (finally found a use for those sashiko cloth 1cm leftovers!)  It has an outer pocket and a little 'ticket pocket' detail too.

The remaining date (1st December) I'm going to suggest to Gerald and Alison that I run an 'Exploring Japanese Boro' workshop, with the option to start making one of the boro bags or a boro panel. Since I've got the workroom dates booked, I don't want to waste them.

All individual days and courses are £40 per day. I'll take the bag samples over to Edinburgh Patchwork next Saturday morning, so you can see them in the shop too. UPDATE - I've negotiated a special discount offer for all workshop participants on 24th November, 1st December and 15th December -  20% off marked prices across Edinburgh Patchwork's shop for those attending my classes! A great time to treat yourself for Christmas (on 5th January, the shop will be having their annual sale with even more discounts).

Some of the boro bags - first two mini ones are by Fiona Fitheridge -

The National Quilt Championships at Sandown Park - next weekend

 

It's hard to believe but it is six years since I went to the National Quilt Championships at Sandown Park - the photo above is from 2012.  This time, we are trading as well as me demoing (sashiko and kogin this time), plus I am running my popular mini boro bag workshop at 11.30 a.m. (details on the website link above).  Here are a few photos of Fiona's version of the mini boro bag plus pics from when I ran the workshop at the Spring Quilt Festival at Edinburgh earlier this year.  It has sold out quickly at the shows, so get your tickets as soon as you arrive.

The reason I haven't been back for such a long time is purely down to logistics.  Since I moved to Scotland, I'm nearly two and a half times further away from Esher than when I lived near Wrexham so, like most of the shows in England, it is a much bigger trip for me.  But I missed doing this show, which always has a fun atmosphere and where I met up with a lot of quilters I know from the south east.  It has taken a lot of planning to do it, but I'll be there setting up on Thursday and the show is open from Friday to Sunday.  Please drop by and say hello!

Knit and Stitch Show, Penrith - sashiko and boro classes next Sunday

I will be teaching two classes at the Knit and Stitch Show near Penrith on Sunday 15th April, and we will be taking some of the Japanese fabrics to sell too.

Title: Learn Sashiko with Susan Briscoe: Marking and Stitching Maru Shippo
-          Date: Sunday 15th April
-          Time: 10.00am
-          Duration: 2 hours 
-          Location: Pennine Gallery  

 Title: Learn Sashiko with Susan Briscoe: Mini Japanese Boro Bag
-          Date: Sunday 15th April
-          Time: 2.00pm
-          Duration: 1.5 hours  
-          Location: Pennine Gallery

 

The workshop size bags are the smaller ones in the photos below.

The maru shippo workshop is the same one I taught at the Prague Patchwork Meeting last weekend and the boro bag class is the one that was oversubscribed at the Spring Quilt Festivals at Harrogate.  Booking is direct through the Rheged Centre - click here for a full list of events for the weekend.