Talks for textile, patchwork and quilting groups
Or for anyone interested in textiles and design

I travel to groups around the UK, including:

• Patchwork and quilting groups
• Embroidery Guilds
• Textile art groups
• Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
• Area and regional days
• Special events

All of my talks are "hands-on". You'll actually get to handle my quilts, as well as many interesting and unique textiles that I've have collected on my African travels.

At all of my talks, I'll bring along some of my African fabrics and beads for sale.

The Road To Patchwork

Via the fabric markets of Africa

I started down the road to patchwork while I was on the road - literally, travelling across Africa by truck.

We'll "wander" through some of Africa's most colourful markets to "buy" African fabrics to use in our quilts.

You'll see and handle some of the wonderful textiles I've collected on my travels, learning about their heritage and how they are made.

You learn about African wax prints and Manchester Blue and how these fabrics provide a cultural and commercial link between both British and African textile heritage.

You'll also see some of my quilts inspired by Africa, which I hope will inspire you as well.

Big Is Beautiful

African Costume and Clothing Traditions

A lot of African clothing takes the form of a simple wrap around. Given the colourful fabrics involved, the effect is an expression of pure African joie de vivre.

When African costume goes beyond the wrap around, it takes on a new dimension – fabulous!

And the bigger the occasion, the more important it is to show off. Large and bulky clothing, embellished with lots of serious embroidery can only say one thing about the wearer: "I'm important."

Grand, flowing boubous and enormous trousers are just a couple of the items from my collection that I'll bring along to show and discuss.

To keep things in perspective, I'll also have a some items of not so grand proportion.

Ashanti Inspirations

Many of my quilts have been influenced by the traditional textiles of West Africa, where there's an incredible variety of designs and techniques.

The Ashanti people of Ghana are famous for two distinctive cloths - beautifully woven Kente and hand-printed Adinkra.

We'll discuss how these and other traditional cloths are produced and look at the background and meaning of their designs.

Discover a world of wonderful, inspirational design ideas from Africa. I'll show some of my quilts and we'll see how these African influences work in contemporary patchwork and quilting.

Indigo: The King of Colours

With this talk, you'll discover why Indigo truly is the King of Colours - beautiful, exciting and inspiring.

We'll cover a little bit of the history of this fascinating dye and introduce some of the patterning techniques used around the world.

Like all of my talks, this one's "hands-on". You may get a bit of Indigo rub-off from handling the fabrics in my Indigo collection. All part of the fun!