It has been a better week. Not out there - out there the infection rate and death toll is still too high and our politicians …. well, don’t get me started!

But here in the Higgins household, in my studio, in my head and in my heart it has been a better week. Thanks in no small part to the support and generosity of this wonderful textile community. There has been the odd ‘moment’ but most days I have put in some solid work on my next book and on my latest quilt.

It is still too early to say too much about the book. I’ve got about a third the words out of my head and in rough draft and I have a solid outline for the remainder. The list of samples I need to make, and processes I need to break down and photograph is looking a bit daunting at the moment. But if I can work at a steady pass I hope to have the book ready by the end of the summer.

I have been working at the computer each morning and afternoon but by about 4pm my brain starts leaking out my ears and I need to switch to something less challenging. And this week that activity has been quilting the second piece in what I guess I should call my Covid 19 series. I wonder how many Covid series are being worked on by artists around the world right now? I have finished the quilting on both pieces, trimmed them to the same size and added facing strips. I just need to sew those strips down and they will be ready to photograph. I think the two pieces would best be described as companion pieces as they both relate to the same day in April. I don’t think they work as a diptych because of the shift in scale between the two. I haven’t decided which juried exhibition to enter them into yet so I’m only showing a shot of some detail right now. Once they have been rejected (or more hopefully accepted) I will be free to share them with you!

Tomorrow should have been my first day teaching my 5 day Breakdown Your Palette workshop this year. It is so sad not to be welcoming new students into the studio but life is what it is and we just have to get on with it. But I am not going to miss out completely. My post 4pm, less challenging activity this next week is going to be breakdown printing fabric for sale on my website. My week will be full of colour!

As always, I hope you and yours are still OK, stay well. Leah