Making Zen

It is always such a pleasure to sit down with my friend Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio, and talking about Making Zen is especially fun! I love Amy's insight about how beneficial it can be to our art to do things like retreats and residencies, where we are surrounded by other artists and immersed in different techniques and projects.

It was lovely to sit with Bianca and welcome her to our retreat. She’ll be showing us how to add different hair textures to our embroidered pieces, and I loved seeing all of her ideas for displaying finished projects! We had a great conversation about representation and the incident that started the ball rolling on exploring embroidered hair textures for Bianca and her daughter.

Many of you know that I value stitching as a meditative act, and I have a kindred spirit in Emma in that regard! In our chat, we dive into stitching as mindfulness practice, and discuss Emma’s workshop for the event, where she’ll teach us to make a healing meditation cloth.

Deborah Fisher shows us how to make small felt boxes in her workshop, and we love a quick, practical project. What makes this one extra special is that the project can be used as a canvas for some of the techniques you’ll learn in the other Making Zen workshops!

Melissa Galbraith is a maker at heart, having been introduced to a love of crafting at a young age - something that really resonates with me! We got a chance to talk about unwinding with a good project, the meditativeness of stitching, and the joyful tactility of stitching.

A common question I get for folks who are new to stitching is “what do I do with all my samples?” And Kasia has some brilliant ideas for you! One of the best parts of this retreat for me is seeing all the wonderful things the community creates, and I have a feeling we’re going to see some gorgeous pieces come out of this workshop.

We're thrilled to have Ruth Woods returning to Making Zen! Ruth is an expert in basketry, and we are so pleased to be able to have her talents at our retreat! It was great to talk to her about the threads that connect textile arts and basketry, and how practicing in different mediums can help us open our minds to new ideas and possibilities.

A delight to sit down with Kiala Givehand. Kiala was a speaker at the very first Making Zen retreat, and this is her first time back since then! I’m thrilled to have her back and teaching at this one, and we had a lovely chat about her workshop and the growth that’s happened in the space between the first retreat and this one.

We're excited to have Kirsty Freeman joining us for this retreat! Kirsty is a modern hand stitching artist who designs kits for embroidery and cross stitching. It was a treat to talk to her about her designs and inspiration!

What a lovely chat with Clarissa Grandi! Clarissa’s work is breathtakingly elegant. We’re delighted that she’ll be sharing her skills with us and teaching us Parabolic Paper Stitching as her workshop.

Mollie is a fantastic stitcher who is going to be showing us how to add beautiful mums and marigolds to a stretched canvas. We got a chance to talk about the tools and accessories we use in our stitching and how helpful they can be, and of course about Mollie’s workshop and VIP bonus!

What a lovely opportunity to chat with our new friend Kat Waters! Kat is introducing us to tambour embroidery - a skill she picked up when making her wedding dress in 2017! In our chat today, we got to talk about how special and fulfilling it is to make your own clothes - especially for a big occasion like a wedding.

Elnaz Yazdani is new to the Making Zen retreat. It was lovely sitting down with her and talking about her Rethinking Embroidery workshop, as well as departing from the "rules" of traditional embroidery and using found objects and things you have on hand to make beautiful works of art.

It was lovely to sit with Rebekah Johnston and welcome her to our retreat. Her Making Zen project is all about using what you have and making coasters from scrap fabrics, which, of course, I adore!

I am so pleased to introduce you to Care Australia, one of our wonderful partners for the Making Zen Online Retreat. One of the reasons I started this retreat was so that I could give back to the community that’s given me so much. Working with Care Australia allows me to do that by donating a percentage of profits from the retreat to their cause! Care does incredible work, putting women at the centre of their efforts to end poverty worldwide. I encourage you to have a look at their page to see all the work they’re doing, and support them if you can!

I had a lovely time catching up with Nat about her Introduction to Hand Embroidery workshop. We chatted about her background and her journey from Ukraine to Canada, she told me about some of her techniques.

Between Sew Organised Style and Making Zen, I’ve had many chances to sit and chat with Maria aka @velosews and it’s a delight every time. We love having @seworganisedstyle as a partner for the Making Zen retreat. Maria’s podcast episodes featuring the Making Zen artists are so valuable to the retreat and teach us so much about the artists!

What a pleasure to introduce you all to Yuko of Shokunin Store, one of the wonderful partners we have supporting the May 2023 Making Zen Retreat. We had a lovely chat about the importance of craftsmanship and how much more special it is to work with a quality, handmade tool as opposed to something that’s mass-produced on the cheap.

Have you ever thought about the lessons you learn about yourself when you practise art? What a wonderful chat I had with Lisa Agaran about how art is truly a self-care practice and how important it is to listen to your intuition and inner wisdom.

I had a lovely chat with Erika Maizi about our shared love for stitching and stories, and the power of journeying inwards and hearing our souls speak to us. It was lovely to see some of her own stitched pieces, as well!

Don’t you just love a small project that’s a quick make, functional, and teaches you something new? I had so much fun sitting down with Heidi Parkes and chatting about her Quilted Brooch workshop for the Making Zen retreat, which is exactly that!

I love Mirjam Gielen's approach to embroidery and the organic look of her pieces. It was a delight to chat with her today about her inspiration and the wonderful things you can do with the humble running stitch!

Are you always on the lookout for new visible mending techniques? I know I am, and Jody Alexander is after my heart with her visibly mended back patches! I had the lovely opportunity to sit down with Jody and talk about her mending, art, and collection of mended fabrics!

Don’t you just love learning new techniques? It was such a pleasure to chat with Jayne Emerson about her magical, water-soluble “weaves” and her process.

I know so many people with hand-stitched pieces that they aren’t sure what to do with. Does that sound like you? If so, you’ll want to check out Blair’s workshop for the Making Zen retreat!

What a pleasure to chat with Miriam about her art and upcoming workshop for the Making Zen Online Retreat! I loved hearing about her passion and how she gets as much out of teaching a workshop as she does out of taking one.

Did you know that Aurifil is a family owned and run business based in Italy and they create mindful threads for us to work with using egyptian cotton? Some of the process that Karen shared with me today is that the threads are singed to remove excess fibre, and then run through a paraffin bath to add extra sheen and strength. What a lovely chat with with Karen who enlightened me about this wonderful product.

I really enjoyed sitting down with Suzi today to talk about her daily approach to creativity. We chatted about her creative process, leaving ‘gestures’ such as preparing your workspace the night before as an invitation to start afresh each day and the power of 15 minutes of ‘me time’.

I really enjoyed sitting down with Pippa to talk about how her Making Zen workshop is an accessible way to start out with her style of embroidery. We also chatted about her creative process, finding inspiration in nature and enjoying the little things, like opening pretty packages and seeing the first signs of Spring.

Such a delight to chat with Jo Avery all about her upcoming workshop for Making Zen, the peace of sewing by hand, and how wonderful and inspiring a room full of learners is. I was especially fascinated to hear about her #100DayProject and the element of play it brings to her art!

We’ve had Liz as a presenting artist before and we are so excited to have her back this May to present about Making Fastenings. Liz is a kindred spirit when it comes to sustainability in craft, and it was lovely chatting with her about making with found objects and using what you have.

It was so lovely to chat with Yasmeen about the origin of her business, Sand and Stars, as well as the importance of the craft community on- and off-line, and finding peace in stitching.

Victoria of La Creative Mama is joining our Making Zen retreat for the first time. It was lovely sitting with her and talking about eco printing and natural mark making!

It was fascinating to learn about Meredith’s art background and schooling, and the important role that drawing plays in her sculptural embroidery.

It was so much fun to sit down with Liz Kettle and chat about mark making on fabric and her workshop for the retreat.

Join Lori and I as we chat about the freedom and spontaneity of stitching and embracing the beginner mindset to discover new ways of working.