Making Zen: 5-day event for mindful makers

Bright and early on a Monday morning, and here’s the first of my two Big Newses I’ve been waiting to share: I’m delighted to be hosting a workshop on the fabulous Making Zen online stitching retreat, happening from 26th May, and you can get your free ticket here:

🎨 Get your free ticket to Making Zen here!

Making Zen is much more than just another free event. It’s an opportunity to slow down, tune out the noise, and reconnect with your inner artist. If you’re looking for a quiet pocket of time to make something with those delicious scraps of fabric and threads, then here’s an invitation to somewhere special.

It’s called the Making Zen Online Retreat, and it’s five soul-soothing days (26–30 May 2025) hosted by Kate Ward of Zen Stitching, where 32 (!) makers, artists, and creators share an invitation to slow down, reconnect with your creativity, and rediscover the joy of making with your hands.

You’ll discover:

  • How to turn your scraps and remnants into stunning art (and peace of mind)
  • Cultural traditions in art to explore
  • Why listening to your gut might be the most creative move you make

And I’m delighted to be there too, sharing my session on zero waste stitching.

If you’ve already purchased the course, the Making Zen workshop will still be of value. In addition to the workshops there are free gifts and exclusive extras, plus you get to join over thirty other workshops from some incredible artists including Jody Alexander, Ann Smith, Mirjam Gielen, and many more.

And the best thing about all of this is that – yes! – it’s 100% free to attend.
No strings, no catch. Just art, peace, and a community of makers who understand the value of quiet, mindful making.

🎟️ Get your free ticket here

I’ll look forward to seeing you there, with an open mind and hands full of thread.

For transparency, you will see that this email contains a few links to the Making Zen ticket. These are affiliate links, which means if you later decide to upgrade to the VIP Pass, I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) and you’ll be helping to support my work as an independent artist. Thank you so much for signing up – there’s so much to enjoy here.

And PS – for anyone looking for information on pricing (for the VIP pass) here are the prices:

Fast action – $67 for first hour after signing up

Early bird – $97 until event begins

Regular – $147 until the end of the event.

Stitched samples for sketchbooks

Good news! My new course is about ready, I think. It can be hard to tell when these things are done because you get so immersed in the process of making, videoing, editing (and re-editing) that it can be difficult to be objective about it in the end.

Stitched Samples for Sketchbooks is all about turning your fabric scraps (and other odds and ends) into something beautiful, useful, and inspirational.

I’m probably primarily a textile artist, but I spend a lot of time working (or playing) in mixed media sketchbooks to explore different themes, colour palettes, textures and different ways of stitching. Most of that happens behind the scenes, but it’s essential groundwork for whatever I happen to be working on at any one time.

This course shows you how I go about preparing and adding stitched samples to my sketchbooks.

scraps

By layering your scraps and adding some simple stitching you can create unique little samples that you can add to your sketchbook, or indeed turn into any piece of decorative work.

getting started

There is layering, stitching, painting, sketchbook work, and more.

painting backgrounds

As always, you can watch the preview for free before you commit to anything, and you get lifetime access to all lessons. You can download the videos, watch as many times as you like, and learn at your own pace.

working with layers

I had lots of fun putting this one together, and I’ve made some interesting samples for my own sketchbooks too.

preparing samples

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

And stay tuned for some exciting news coming next week…

Scraps

This week I’m in the scraps box as I start compiling my new forthcoming course on making stitched samples for sketchbooks. New courses take a while to create, but I do enjoy making them.

fabric scraps

However much I take out of the scraps box, it never seems to get any emptier. It always reminds me of the fairy tale about a magic porridge pot that keeps refilling itself. Not complaining, but I do wonder where they all keep coming from.

I like to use lots of layers in my stitched samples. I think of them as transparent layers of time.

stitched samples in progress

The one below is made from scraps of antique and modern lace covered with two layers of very fine tulle, with some textured cotton yarns couched onto the surface.

whites

I’ve also been painting some lovely patterned tulles:

painted tulle

Fibre reactive dyes won’t work on synthetics, but fabric paints do. I use Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow, which are very liquid and behave more like dye than paint. My Stitch a Little Landscape course has a section on painting fabrics this way. You could even use standard watercolours, if you don’t need them to be washable.

At some point it will all come together nicely.

layered stitched scraps ready to become something useful

March 2025

I don’t pass the time, the time passes me. Every day I watch it go, picking up speed as it hurtles further away.

March 2025

There were daffodils for St David’s Day, and a row of dancing women for International Women’s Day.

March 2025, detail

There was a bouquet for Mother’s Day (here in the UK it’s the fourth Sunday in Lent).

Mother’s Day flowers

There was equal day and night for the Spring Equinox.

March 2025, detail

Some of these days are tutorials on my YouTube channel here.

shamrocks for St Patrick’s Day

Today we have blue skies.

The other side is a reflection of sorts.

the other side of March

Three months gone. A quarter of the year behind us.

First quarter

A reminder that this is the last day for the Early Bird price on my Make a Simple Sketchbook course and my Painted Collage Papers course. Courses are pre-recorded; you get lifetime access; you can download lessons or watch online as often as you like; learn entirely at your own pace.

April is going to be very busy – there is a lot going on, which I will share when I can.

Erratum: PDF25 template

Oh dear.

I guess it had to happen sooner or later…

The keen-eyed among you will have spotted a slight error in the April page of the 2025 daily stitching template.

whoops

It looks like I’ve omitted to erase the vertical line that runs between 9 and 10 on the template, circled in red.

I hope the solution is fairly obvious, but you just need to choose either the vertical or the horizontal line that separates 9 and 10. From the positions of the numbers, it looks as if my intention was for the division to be horizontal.

I wouldn’t mind, but I (and another person) checked these templates about a hundred times before publishing them.

I guess this is proof, if it were needed, that (a) I’m human and therefore fallible, and (b) that everything I produce is hand-drawn.

My sincere apologies for the error and for any confusion caused. Easily remedied, I hope.

And I hope the rest of my week – and yours too – passes without further frustrating errors.

Painted Collage Paper and Mark-Making

A little excitement for a Saturday morning: my new course, painted collage paper and mark-making, is out now.

new Teachable course out now

There’s lots to explore, from choosing, preparing and painting papers to making your own stamps and stencils, some simple hand-printing techniques, and lots of ideas for using your hand-painted papers.

all this and more

Special early bird price until the end of March, so be quick if you’re interested. You don’t need to enter a code, the special price of £30 is already set at the checkout.

simple mark-making

Classes are pre-recorded, so you can learn at your own pace. You can download the videos to watch later, and you get lifetime access – watch as many times as you like. Enrol before the end of March to take advantage of the Early Bird price.

exploring supplies

This course is designed to follow on from my Make a Simple Sketchbook course, but there’s no obligation to enrol on both.

make your own stamps and stencils

All you need for the basics of Painted Collage Paper is some paper, some paint, a little time, and a gentle spirit of adventure.

zero-waste paper techniques

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

And as if that’s not enough excitement for one day, I have some even more exciting news, which I will share when I can. Watch this space 🙂

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Cherry blossom

The ornamental cherries are starting to flower here, so today’s daily stitching is a celebration. You can see it in progress, together with written instructions, on my YouTube channel here.

cherry blossom, 15th March daily stitching.

School of Stitched Textiles

I was delighted last month to be invited to share my work in an interview with the School of Stitched Textiles.

The School of Stitched Textiles runs various excellent courses for beginner and intermediate stitchers; you can see more on their website here.

You can read the feature about my work here.

SoST interview, March 2025

If you’d like to leave a comment at the end of the SoST article, please scroll down the page to the end of the interview and you should see the comments box.

stitched landscape

Comments are off for this blog post (busy day ahead) but just wanted to share the article here.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🙂

Happy International Women’s Day

Intuitive Daily Stitching for 8th March, celebrating International Women’s Day.

There’s a video and brief written instructions for this on my YouTube channel here.

International Women’s Day 2025

Have a lovely weekend.

Make your own Sketchbook

My new mini-course on Teachable is now available here

Make your own Sketchbook course

Three very simple sketchbooks to make, plus lots of ideas and techniques on preparing and filling the pages with paint, collage, and simple mark-making.

My preference is always for making my own sketchbook rather than simply buying one. I often think bought sketchbooks have more pages than I can comfortably fill, and they also tend to get too full once you start sticking extra papers or stitched samples in them. If you make your own book, you can limit the number of pages from the beginning so that it’s not completely bursting at the seams when you’ve filled it.

The first book, the basic concertina/accordion fold book, is very simple – some might think simplistic, or a bit too simple – but I think it’s one of the most versatile fun little things you can create.

sample of concertina books

The zine-fold book – also very simple – is equally versatile, and offers lots of possibilities for some quick explorations.

zine-fold sketchbook

The third book in this little mini-course is a single signature stitched book with a wrap-around cover with integral pockets.

single signature sketchbook with painted pages (step-by-step tutorials for this)

You get to see lots of pages from my own sketchbooks, and you get some collage paper to print and download, plus some tag templates and some poetry lines to cut up and re-assemble.

see lots of my sketchbook pages

Special Early Bird price of £25.00, which will rise to £30.00 from 1st April. You don’t need to enter a code; just buy before the end of March for the lower price. It’s all pre-recorded, so you can start any time, download the lessons, watch as many times as you want for as long as you want. No time limits, no deadlines, just learn at your own pace.

It’s primarily aimed at beginners, but I’d like to think there’s something for most mixed media enthusiasts here.

Tools and supplies

This is the first in a series of short mixed media courses. Up next (and still working on it – for which read, ‘haven’t really started it yet’) will be paint your own collage papers plus mark-making tools and techniques for mixed media sketchbooks. That title might need some work, but I’m having lots of fun here this week. I hope you are too.