'Common Threads' 2008,a selected exhibition by the Midlands Textile Forum, opens in Leicester on November 17th until December 4th.

Selectors, Sian Martin and Michael Brennan-Wood will also be exhibiting.

Textiles by Susan Strachan Johnson

I thought you might like to take a look at two spectacular textile pieces created by Susan Strachan Johnson, a current Diploma student with Distant Stitch. Susan has had a piece selected for “Twenty Artists Stitch for Peace” a show at the ACA Gallery in Toronto recently. 'Forest Floor' by Susan Strachan Johnson. This textile piece includes non-textile pieces such as a torn wedding invitation, a beer cap, the wire from a champagne cork and a jacket button ["quite a wedding" quote Susan].

'Riverbed' by Susan Strachan Johnson. This textile piece is made from re-cycled samples with hand and machine stitching and uses non-textile items such as a pop can tab, a plastic bag and some plastic net. 26” x 25” framed.

Heraclitus, the ancient Greek philosopher, said “you cannot step into the same river twice.” Canada’s freshwaters are our most precious natural resource, and here present an allegory for the peaceful passage of time. While there is still much work to do to clean up our rivers, there is also hope. Our lakes and rivers are getting cleaner: not only do previous “acid” lakes now support fish and plant life, but the water is clearing. Now we can see our way to clearing up the detritus on the riverbed as well. In this quilt, the sun glints on an eddy of clean-looking river water, through which we see all kinds of evidence of neglect.

Distant Stitch Summer School 2009

DISTANT STITCH SUMMER SCHOOL 2009

The dates for next year's Summer School are 5th to 8th July, starting with dinner after the Textile Open Day at Urchfont Manor. Our celebrity guest tutor this year will be Janet Edmonds and the theme will be Three Dimensional Design. You can see some of her work below and via this link -

http://www.embroiderersguild.com/workshops/tutors/janetedmonds/

All Distant Stitch students are eligible to book a place. Mandy Dixon at Urchfont will start to take your booking from 1st November 2008.

mandydixon@wiltshire.gov.uk or phone 01380 840495.