Exciting!

Landscape quilting is very much in vogue and in a few weeks, I will be behind a sewing machine, in a classroom, making art with a very talented fabric artist and tutor called Anne Robson.

Anne created the beautiful landscapes you see above and this week, I went over to Studio 2, where I will also be delivering courses, to see how everything is coming along.

Anne teaches in the same studio where I will also be teaching art and craft starting in January and I just love the space where all this creativity is taking place.

If you are based in Suffolk UK, then you too have the chance to come along to Studio 2 to dabble in some new arts and crafts with us.

Studio 2 is a beautiful art & craft hub over at Rendlesham, Suffolk.

Studio 2 is part of Wooden Roots, a music studio on the old American Air Force base known as Bentwaters. (More about Studio 1 on my sister website early in the New Year.)

In January, several of us will be launching our four week art & craft courses at Wooden Roots.

I will be teaching workshops in making beautiful art/writing journals from scratch – more about that in my next post.

For now, I want to highlight Landscape quilting artist and tutor Anne Robson who will be leading the workshops on landscape quilting.

Anne has sewing in her blood. She made her first sewn item at seven years old and by her teen years, she was making her own clothes.

She later went on to design cuddly toys that were also night-dress cases in the form of dinosaurs, polar bears, lambs and koala bears.

Although Anne really only made these as novelty toys for her children, the demand for them was such that Anne and a friend had a small business selling the cuddly nightie cases.

She gradually moved on to designing gorgeous bags made from furnishing fabrics, while she was living in Spain.

Anne had discovered fabric art, back in 2006 in Santa Monica California, where she fell completely in love with it.

She didn’t know it at the time, but her love of quilting would eventually lead her into teaching others the art of Landscape Quilting.

Anne told me that seeing enormous wall quilts hanging in an exhibition at an Arts & Crafts house in Santa Monica made her want to know more about the art.

She said: “The wall hangings really left an impression on me – I was completely inspired by them and began thinking about how I could create my own fabric art.”

As Anne’s knowledge and experience of Landscape Quilting grew, the pieces she was producing attracted a huge amount of attention from people wanting to learn how they could do it too.

She often found herself being asked to show people how to produce the quilts and eventually, she decided to begin teaching workshops.

This has now grown to the point were Anne needs to be teaching in a purpose built studio where everyone can sit comfortably at sewing machines with space to layout designs.

Finding somewhere to do that wasn’t difficult because daughter Gemma, along with percussionist husband Marcus, already have a music based business where there was plenty of room for Anne to have her studio.

Marcus, Gemma and Anne all lived in California for many years and it was there that Marcus started the very successful Wooden Roots, a business specialising in making high-end Djembe drums that are sold to musicians world-wide.

Two years ago, they all returned to the UK to continue developing the business and they moved into spacious premises formerly occupied by the US Air Force.

Studio 1 and Studio 2 nestle side by side at Wooden Roots in an atmosphere of absolute warmth and creativity, both musical and artistic.

This is the perfect place to learn something new. And as someone who is both teaching and learning at Wooden Roots, I can tell you this is the place to be if you want to explore your creative possibilities in a truly inclusive and supportive atmosphere.

I will be writing more about Marcus in the New Year and sharing my Djembe experiences with you.

I will also be reporting back on how I get on in Anne’s Landscape Quilting classes – so watch this space to see how I get on🤔. I’m sure I’ll be fine!

To be honest – I can’t wait to get started learning landscape quilting with Anne!

Although I know my way around a sewing machine and have made ‘stuff’ throughout my life, I’m not a stitchy, sewy kind of person – well I thought I wasn’t until I saw Anne’s work. Whatever happens, it will be enormous fun having a go because Anne is so passionate about her art.

How can anyone resist boxes of neatly folded, colour coordinated fabrics to choose from?

This will be a compete departure from my usual creative environment which is an array of paints, inks, papers, glues and varnishes.

The boxes of beautiful fabrics that Anne has are so calming compared to my own tangle of art stuff in my home studio. It will make a change to have clean hands while I create!

If you live in Suffolk, particularly the Woodbridge/Ipswich area, visit the sign up page and book your place on this brilliant four week course.

Fabric, cottons, pins and sewing machines. What more could a girl (or boy!) ask for?

Places on this block of workshops are being reserved fast.

If you want to ensure you get a place – hop on the Wooden Roots website now to book and pay and then you will be guaranteed a place. For those who have only provisionally reserved with the office, remember, booked and paid for trumps reserved – yep, life is like that!😍

The course is over four Wednesdays from 1pm – 3pm – January 15th, 22nd, 29th and February 5th 2020.

If you fancy learning Landscape quilting – this is a brilliant opportunity to do it NOW – see you there!