.... our christmas competition......

We love Christmas! and we thought our newsletter readers might like a little seasonal something to warm up the festivities,  so we have put together a mind-jingling competition with a few ’made with love’,  handmade prizes for the first 12 people who reply to us with the correct answers.  Judging from how popular our previous competitions have been we hope this will get some of you into the festive mood.   We have 12 of our hand-made lavender pillows (which can also be used as pin-cushions) made entirely from up-cycled remnants and filled with textile scraps and fresh lavender from Les Soeurs Anglaises' gardens  - the scent of summer to lift  the cold mid-winter. (And if you're a Selvedge blog follower there's an extra treat!)

  

So, here's how to play ...........:

First visit our website, then

1. You will find a letter of the alphabet in red, at the bottom right hand corner of several (but not all) of the website pages
2. Go through the pages, collect all the letters and put them together to form the seasonal sentence we're looking for
3. Finally go to our contact page, fill out the necessary and write "Christmas Competition 2016" in the subject line.  Don't forget to add your answer and postal address to the message so we know where to send the prize if you are one of our lucky winners. 
4. Clue:  Sometimes known as The Bethlehem Magi

Answers should reach us by Saturday of this week (19th December 2015) so don't leave it too long.  But if you're pipped at the post, we also have a few other handmade gifts to give away to the runners-up

Good Luck!

For those of you who aren't into competitions however, here are a few things of interest that you might enjoy over the Christmas break:

101 Cookbooks:   Always offering delicious recipes made from whole, natural foods and inspired by ingredients that interest the author, Heidi Swanson's, life, and travels, always beautifully photographed.   This week's post is full of easy-to-make, festive biscuits;  her newsletters are really worth subscribing to.

Manteau Noir:   For our Australian friends, but with an appropriately French name and style, this shop in Victoria comes highly recommended and judging from the on-line boutique it sells just the sort of garb we love.  There's a sale on at the moment so it might be a good time for our antipodean friends to stock up for the cooler seasons ahead.

Empress Mills:   The website is simply choc-a-block full of yummy haberdashery and handcraft supplies and offers.  Based in Lancashire, UK, this is a second-generation, family type business with chatty, interesting and unpretentious newsletters and an excellent service!

Dionne Swift:  Read a fascinating interview with this inspiring textile artist and learn a bit about how she sketches and sketchbook to produce a finished artwork. www.textileartist.org is a great site to subscribe to generally!

The Weekend Artist:  Last but certainly not least, for those of you who have mentioned they are interested in writing workshops rather than the textile variety (but also anyone who enjoys great poetry), here is a brilliant book by Reg Starkey, one of our participants at the Roger McGough workshop several years ago. Coming soon from the Poundshop Poet, this is definitely something to put on your present list!  

        

Katie

It's been a long time coming, but to paraphrase the words of songster Sam Cooke, a change is definitely on it's way here at Les Soeurs Anglaises.  

We have finally uploaded our new website with all the workshop dates for 2016, and what an eventful and stimulating year ahead we have for you.  As usual, there will be our 5-Day/6 Night textile related events spaced over the summer months; one is to be led by returning favourite, Julie Arkell, the other three by new artists/crafters whose work we have long admired: Anna Kristina Goransson, Fiona Rutherford, and Celia Pym.  All three are mistresses in their field of excellence and we expect workshops to fill quickly. 

To stir things up a little, in 2016 we will also be hosting a new series of Weekend Workshops, for those of you who would like a taste of what we have to offer but whose busy schedule or travel arrangements don't allow a full week away. These are for a limited number of participants and will be taught by popular, past LSA Workshop leaders whose work and teaching we have particularly admired.  We suggest you check out their pages on our website, and trust you will find the possibilities as tempting as we do.

You'll find a lot more detail and information on our newly designed website.

Following on the heels of India Flint's highly successful event here this year, and amongst the Weekend Workshop leaders we are hosting in 2016, is the inspirational dyer and stitcher, Claire Wellesley Smith - whose book, 'Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art' was published last month by Batsford and is now available on Amazon.

So many of Claire's thoughts and ideas touch a cord with us at Les Soeurs Anglaises, and the illustrations of her beautiful work are truly inspirational.  
Hoping to see you next year

Katie x

a taste of things to come……..

Whilst the weather has taken a definite turn towards cool, and the leaves are beginning to drop from the trees down here south of Paris, we have been busy putting the finishing touches to our 2016 Calendar.  Workshop leaders and their dates have been confirmed and the new website will shortly go live, but we thought our newsletter  and blog readers might like a little taste of things to come.   We don't want to give too much away just yet, but next year not only will we be hosting a number of favourite creatives to lead our regular 5 day/6 night events, but we will also be opening the huge oak doors of Les Soeurs Anglaises, for the first time, to the occasional weekend workshop (i.e. Friday evening to Monday morning), something that we hope will appeal to busy working women whose holiday options are limited and prevented them from joining us before, but who would enjoy some intensive creativity. Join us for one of our pre-arranged weekends, or better still, why not put together a group of your own - it could be to celebrate a bespoke event (a pre-wedding "makerie" or a special birthday?)  then choose  one of our popular workshop leaders to guide you through a creative process; add some date options, and we'll deal with all the rest.  All you have to do is organise travel.  We'd love to hear your suggestions and can't wait to get your feedback about our new  website, which should be live within the next week or so - we'll let you know exactly when. In the meantime, if you can name the creators of ALL the 9 images above, (clue: not all have lead workshops with us before!) we have one of our much sought after wrap-over aprons to give away as a prize.  Send the answers to me and mark them SeptComp. See some of you soon we hope…….. Katie

Fancy That.....

Susie with our first Korean participant, Agnes Kim

With Susie Cowie's embroidery workshop over - our second in less than six weeks - we now have a little time to gather our thoughts and prepare for Rachel Hazell's amazing Book Art five-day extravaganza! The welcome return of a hugely creative individual who is always happy to share her hard-earned skills and enthusiam.

Looking down from the mezzonine at the workers

The weather has been less than kind since Patricia Roberts' crowd left, but the huge, light space of l'Espace allowed the embroidery participants to forget the elements for a few days and enjoy the camaraderie of like-minded enthusiasts in a safe and stylish environment.

Nancy Rignall's work in progress

Even the intimate art of stitching felt comfortable stretched along the beautiful, long oak tables; a little light music played on the newly installed sound-system from time to time, and there was the opportunity for everyone to show their ideas and and share their skills.

Felicity Shum from Selvedge Magazine displays what she is gong to work on

Lydia Esparza's inspiration: Diego Rivera

Nancy is first in line to taste Sheila's cakes

Our last afternoon always finishes with a High Tea - this time, Sheila Harris did the honours with the most delicious carrot and cheese cakes.

Jackie Jewezki shares a joke with Susie

Finally supper at the Maison de Maitre. One or two people were leaving early the next morning so farewells were said (and even a tear or two).

Next up is Rachel Hazell's Book Art workshop at the end of July. Sadly, one of our participants has had to drop out for health reasons so if the idea of learning (or improving) a hugely creative and original skill appeals, let us know ASAP and we'll pencil you in.

Meanwhile, dear ladies, check out a brand new website, The Style Director - a brand new site designed and conceived to help busy, stylish women find their essential wardrobe building blocks - without wasting time going from shop to shop or website to website. It looks like they have sourced all those luxury basics designed to stand the test of time, down to a handpicked few. With the help of their own style icons, each of the eleven categories features a "hero piece" with four alternatives to choose from. We think it's a brill idea that could save you hours of trawling through shops or the Internet and they would love to hear your comments. Don't forgt to put the site on your favourites list and check back from time to time as they'lll be adding and replacing pieces on a daily/weekly/seasonal basis.

Go for it!

A Stitch in Town

If you've been very busy in the garden preparing for the warmer weather and haven't had a chance to read your emails you might not yet have heard about Selvedge Magazine's Spring Fair to be held at their regular venue in Highgate, London on Saturday, 2nd April just down the road from their offices and shop. As usual, it promises to be full of fun ideas and great things to buy, and for the first time Les Soeurs Anglaises will be manning a stall.

So if you do make it to Town, try to squeeze your way through the crowds to our stand to say hello. If we're old friends it would be lovely to catch up, and if we haven't yet met then this will be an opportunity for you to find out a little bit more about our workshops, and to get a better feel for LSA's venue, location and hospitality.

Our events this year are pretty booked up by now, however Susie Cowie, who is leading our Embroidery workshop in June, and Rachel Hazell our super-creative Book Art teacher, will both be spending time with us at the Fair. This is a perfect opportunity to see and talk to them about their work, ideas and the sort of things they love to teach; and if there isn't room for your to join us this year, there is always 2012.

We've lived in this area of France for almost ten years and we thought we knew all the English there were to know round here by now; but then, a few months ago, we came across Jane Bedford, who until recently was running a delightful tea room called "Cupcakes" in Brantome a local beauty spot. Jane's baking and cake decorating skills are a revelation! She doesn't just produce sublime, bespoke wedding cakes. Her tea cakes, biscuits and pastries are to die for and we're discussing with her the possibility of her designing and producing speciality Les Soeurs Anglaises bakes for the workshops.

There's no time like tea time.

*Photograph of Surry Puffs by Rebecka Ryberg Skött

Bookbinding etc.

It's been a while since I've had time to add anything to this blog, but Rachel Hazell's workshop has just finished and I couldn't resist showing a few of my personal favourite "Extraordinary Expandable Sketchbook Journals" produced by both Rachel and her students over the five day workshop she led here.

More to follow in the next week or so in our August newsletter......