Where does the time go?

I've been out and about quite a bit this past week, so there's not been much time for me to do any quilling ...  but hopefully that's all going to change today!  Before I settle down in my craft room, however, there are a few brief items of news I can share:

First, here's another piece of experimental quilling that I did last weekend, comprising some more twisted husking leaves, plus a diamond-shaped crimped vortex coil flower. (What a mixture of different techniques!) The husked leaves have a strip up the middle which is meant to look like a central 'vein'. I've mounted this motif on to another of those digital medallion backgrounds which seem to complement quilling because they look so delicate. For this one, I also decided to colour in the central segment using a gold glitter pen and add a simple quilled heart to embellish it. I think this makes quite an unusual card.

Second, I attended a quilling workshop a few days ago, which gave me the opportunity to meet up with a few other members of the English Quilling Guild who live in my local area. I was very glad I went, as the other ladies were all so friendly, and it was really great to be able to sit round a table doing some quilling all together. I noticed that the others were all using a brilliant little 'fine tip' applicator for their PVA glue, consisting of a small 'squeezable' plastic glue container which is capable of dispensing teeny-tiny dots of glue in a very controlled way - just perfect for quilling! Well, this little gadget made my portable glue pot and collection of messy cocktail sticks look very cumbersome indeed ... so I searched for the supplier online and placed an order straight away. I've only had time to play with my new applicator for a few minutes so far, but it seems to be a brilliant little tool which is going to be very useful and convenient to carry around. The design is very clever, too - you store the container upside-down with a special pin inserted inside the applicator tip so that the glue inside never dries out. You can check out the supplier's web site via this link. She's based in the UK, but ships worldwide.

Now, here's something else I learned at the workshop: if you take a damp sponge, wrap it in greaseproof paper and dispense a blob of glue on to the paper, you can spread out the glue into a thin layer and use it to dip quilled motifs in before attaching them to cards. The dampness prevents the glue from drying out, and so you have a useful reservoir of glue on hand that's just perfect for applying evenly to the reverse side of your quillings. I have always applied lots of little blobs of glue to the back of my quillings using a cocktail stick, but this seems like a much easier, cleaner and more efficient way of doing it ... so I'm happy to pass this suggestion on to you.

When I ordered my glue applicator, I also bought another five to keep in reserve - they are sure to come in handy at my next quilling demonstration which has now been scheduled for an evening in August. I think my participants will find them very handy as they learn to take their very first steps in quilling, and I'm really looking forward to doing the demo once again.

I've also booked a table at an art show which is being staged in our village at the end of this month, where I hope to sell some cards and earrings whilst also doing some quilling for people to watch. Maybe I'll be able to get some more bookings from local groups for my little demo - I certainly hope so! I'll let you know how I get on.