Chiharu Shiota & Yin Xiuzhen at the Hayward Gallery - London

Chiharu Shiota - Threads of Life

 

Two exhibitions on at the Hayward Gallery in London, until 3 May 2026, are Chiharu Shiota - Threads of Life, and Yin Xiuzhen - Heart to Heart.  Both feature large scale immersive textile installations.  Shiota draws on her own experiences and engulfs everyday objects in webs of wool to express universal human concerns. Yin Xiuzhen is renowned for her use of secondhand clothing, concrete, food and household ephemera in her sculptures to express ideas about the individual, society and memory.

Chiharu Shiota - Threads of Life

One of the things that intrigues me about such exhibitions is how they were installed.  So - Threads of Life (pictured above) took 10 people (five from the Hayward Installation Team and five from Chiharu Shiota's Studio) 12 days to install and the gallery attendant thought there were 4000 keys.  Apparently Shiota's team bring the top layer of threads from which everything else hangs.  I don't know whether Shiota oversaw the installation.  Threads of Life features red wool, a double door & keys.  Shiota believes that people are connected  by an invisible thread which she represents here with red wool. The keys represent both the security of locking the door to your home but also the possibility of opening doors to new possibilities.

Chiharu Shiota - State of Being (Dress)

Shiota uses found objects in her work that she comes across in her daily life.  She tells us that clothes carry memories and traces of the wearer and, for example, even without the wearer's presence, the dress above represents a state of being.  A web of threads fills the surrounding space.  When Shiota can no longer see where a single thread leads she considers the work complete.

Chiharu Shiota - Letters of Thanks

Letters of Thanks contains within it letters of gratitude and thanks that members of the public had left at the gallery. A collecting box for these was at the gallery entrance and letters could still be left.  Shiota thinks it is sometimes easier to write a letter of thanks than to say it.  Letters have been collected from around the world where iterations of this installation have already been exhibited.

Chiharu Shiota - During Sleep

When Shiota first moved to Germany she lived in several different places and would wake up disorientated and wonder where she was.  She began weaving yarn around herself to create her own cocoon. This idea is developed here in During Sleep. At certain times during the exhibition performers sleep in the beds.  Shiota likes the traces of existence they leave - crumpled sheets and dented pillows.  It's hard to imagine how they actually get through the threads to the beds though. 

Yin Xiuzhen - Heart to Heart

Yin Xiuzhen - International Flight & Portable Cities

International Flight & Portable Cities are exhibited as a baggage reclaim complete with a plane above. The suitcases are spilling open on the conveyor belt.  Each contains a different city that Yin Xiuzhen has visited.  The used clothing that is stitched into these cites was collected from inhabitants of those cities.

Yin Xiuzhen - A Heart to Heart

Unlike Portable Cities which have been shrunken to fit in suitcases, A Heart to Heart has been enlarged so you can walk and sit inside it.  Yin Xiuzhen hopes it will inspire people to have meaningful conversations.

Yin Xiuzhen - Wall Instrument No. 17

Yin Xiuzhen traps unusual materials in a ceramic base.  Here, in Wall Instrument No. 17, fabric and buttons emerge from the porcelain like flaws and fractures.  She sees this as representing the changing landscape of her home city of Beijing and also the tensions between society and the individual.

Yin Xiuzhen - Collective Subconscious

Collective Subconscious is a minibus that has been elongated with textile sections giving a caterpillar-like appearance.  Because it is constructed from clothing from 400 people, all with different experiences, Yin Xiuzhen sees it as a collective subconscious.  Inside, the colours of the clothing give a stained glass type of light.  A song by Wang Feng - Beijing, Beijing - is playing inside the minibus.  It reflects Chinese people's complicated relationship to a changing Beijing.  She sees this as a spiritual place.

These are fascinating exhibitions that are well worth a visit - go see...

New Fabric Necklaces Arrive at cambridge contemporary crafts

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

 

A whole new batch of Hippystitch fabric necklaces have now arrived at cambridge contemporary crafts (ccc) in Bene't Street, Cambridge.  There are lots of luscious Liberty prints in soft Tana Lawn cotton...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

There's quite a colourful selection so you should be able to find one that's perfect for a present or a treat for yourself...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

As well as jewellery, ccc have ceramics, prints and paper, sculptures, glass, textiles and cards. Find them at 5 Bene't Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QN.  Definitely worth a visit.

York Makers Winter Fair - Saturday 22 November 2025

York Makers Winter Fair - Hippystitch
(Flyer Design - Lucy Monkman)

It's almost that time of year again when the York Makers Winter Fair puts in an appearance to make your Christmas shopping easy. Pop the date in your diary - Saturday 22 November 2025 at Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, YO23 1BW from 10am to 4pm. Expect to find me there along with other stallholders who will be selling candles, terrazzo homeware, textiles and clothing, leather goods, prints and cards, paintings, stained glass, wooden items, felted creations, paper and book art, ceramics and jewellery of all sorts. This year we have the added bonus of a cafe run by Planet Food. It'll be a great event to start your Christmas shopping or to treat yourself.

Colourful Hippystitch Button Brooches

I love searching out interesting fabric and buttons and turning them into jewellery.  So, as well as my fabric necklaces and button bracelets (see top image), I shall have lots of new brooches.  Some are colourful (above) or vintage & modern...

Hippystitch Vintage & Modern Button Brooches

Some have a Christmas theme...

Hippystitch Ceramic Holly Button Brooches

Some are wooden...

Hippystitch Wooden Button Brooches

Some use old coins no longer in use...

Hippystitch Vintage Coin Brooches

Some are unusual shapes...

Hippystitch Button Brooches

and there'll be more besides.  So do come along, I'm sure you'll find something to tempt you!  Also if you pop over to the York Makers page on Instagram you can enter the competition to win a £30 voucher to spend at the fair.  Check it out here. You have until 6pm on Monday 17 November 2025 to enter..

Looking forward to seeing you!

New Hippystitch Brooches Head to The Ropewalk, Barton upon Humber

Hippystitch Vintage Coin Brooches

A host of new Hippystitch brooches are winging their way to the Craft Gallery at The Ropewalk in Barton upon Humber.  There are both vintage and modern offerings.  Expect to find coin and domino brooches...

Vintage Domino Brooches

and vintage button brooches with lots of mother of pearl buttons...

Hippystitch Vintage Button Brooches

But also colourful tagua nut and ceramic button brooches...

Tagua Nut & Ceramic Button Brooches

and large button brooches...

Hippystitch Large Button Brooches

and more.  

Why not take a trip there? It has exhibitions on in its galleries as well as its super Craft Gallery Shop. There's also The Ropewalk Museum and a coffee shop, not to mention some nice walks nearby. It's well worth a visit - go see!

Small Treasures Christmas Exhibition at Gallery 33, Scarborough

 

The Small Treasures Christmas Exhibition opens in Scarborough on Friday 7 November 2025 at Gallery 33 and continues in the run up to Christmas. 

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

I shall have a selection of items in the exhibition. Expect to see some colourful and some Christmassy things...

Festive Holly Brooches

Gallery 33 is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11.30am to 3.30pm at 33 Newborough, Scarborough. It is easy to find as it is on the main street a bit beyond M&S.

Colourful Button Brooches

You'll find some super things there - hope you get a chance to go.  Why not combine your visit with a swim in the sea, a trip to the Stephen Joseph Theatre (SJT) or coffee/lunch at Greensmith Coffee.  Also, it's an easy journey by train from York.

Upcycling Coffee, Coffee Packaging & Coffee Pods

Hippystitch Coffee Themed Notebooks

 

Over the summer (July, August & September) I led a series of Stitch Clubs at York Embroiderers and Stitchers (YES). YES are a are a friendly group of stitch and textile enthusiasts of all levels of ability and experience and I am a member.

The Stitch Clubs were initially inspired by some work I did in the YES Travelling Book. The Travelling Book is a book that members of the group add to every month with samples of whatever work they choose. It may be examples of stitched work but it could be mixed media work or something else. For my pages, I decided I would go with the theme of "using the unusual" and to narrow that down a bit I chose coffee as a linking factor. I used colourful coffee packaging, used coffee pods, and leftover coffee as paint. You can read about it here. This inspired me to run a stitch club on a similar theme.  

We started off using coffee painting, coffee packaging and stitch to create some notebooks...

Coffee Painting

It was great to watch everyone's progress and different designs...

Stitch Club Participants' Work
(Top from left - Jane, Jill.  Middle - Tina, Eileen, Maggie. Bottom - Pauline, Liz B, Elaine)

And to see some of the ingenious completed outcomes...

Judith's Notebook Complete with Pocket

More Completed Notebooks (Liz(L),(C - clockwise from top left) Marina, Andrea, Jill, Michele, Elaine(R))

After we'd finished making notebooks we moved on to a stitch coffee pod flower collage...

Hippystitch Coffee Pod Flower Collages

which involved a bit of practising cutting, hammering and squishing to get coffee pods into the desired shapes...

Diane, Jill and Andrea's Stitched Coffee Pod Collages

and resulted in some fab collages and some new ideas for flowers and embellishments. All in all - great fun!

Andy Goldsworthy Fifty Years - Edinburgh

Andy Goldsworthy - Wool Runner

 

Andy Goldsworthy Fifty Years is currently showing at the National Gallery (Royal Scottish Academy) in Edinburgh.  Goldsworthy is a land artist, known for working with natural materials.  Much of his work that you may be familiar with takes the form of outdoor installations. The exhibits made especially for this exhibition are in response to the Royal Scottish Academy building.  Overall there's lots to see - 3D installations, 2D & 3D artwork, photos, film and it's all fascinating.  I'd say it's a "must see" if you can make it.  Of everything, it was the large scale installations that I liked best.  Here's a flavour... 

When you arrive you are greeted by Wool Runner (see above) which is a series of fleeces showing the farmers' colour coded markings, that are attached to sheep netting with thorns.

Andy Goldsworthy - Fence

At the top of the stairs is Fence, made of rusty barbed wire, stretched between two of the buildings columns. The columns are protected by a layer of rope that is wrapped round them. Goldsworthy comments about the fences/barriers/obstacles that he encounters in his work, and how he hopes to find a way through.

Andy Goldsworthy - Fence (detail)

In this area are two sheep paintings.  A mineral block (sheep food) was placed in a field of sheep on a canvas. The weather, number of sheep and how often they visited the food source all affected the outcome.  The white central circle is where the mineral block was placed and later removed...

Andy Goldsworthy - Sheep Painting

Andy Goldsworthy - Sheep Painting (detail)

In an adjacent room is Skylight, made from bullrushes, collected from Dumfries and Galloway where Goldsworthy is based, and also from Angus. The seed heads have been removed and the thinner end of one is inserted into the thicker end of another to make this floor to ceiling installation around a central skylight.

Andy Goldsworthy - Skylight

Andy Goldsworthy - Skylight

Gravestones is seen as a partner piece to Skylight.  Gravestones being from the earth and Skylight reaching for the light.  The stones are collected from graveyards across Dumfries and Galloway and are those that are displaced when graves are dug.  A larger Gravestones project is planned and there are maps showing where all the stones have come from.... 

Andy Goldsworthy - Gravestones

Blank flags were dyed with the reddest earth from each of the 50 American states, originally for an installation at the Rockefeller Centre in New York. You can see them displayed here. We are told that Goldsworthy hoped that the connection of flag and land would offer connection rather than division and a different sort of defence of the land (environmetal rather than fighting).

Andy Goldsworthy - Flags

Oak Passage has been constructed from fallen branches and serves as a reminder that the oak floor was once a tree.  At the far end is Dock Drawing and at the other end a swirl of ferns pinned on with thorns...

Andy Goldsworthy - Oak Passage
(Dock Drawing on the far wall)

Andy Goldsworthy - Ferns and Thorns

Red Wall was made by plastering sieved, dried, crushed, clay rich earth, dug from the Lowther Hills in Dumfriesshire, mixed with water onto a backing that fits the wall space.  As it dried it has cracked and as the exhibition progresses chunks may fall off.  Its redness comes from its high iron content.  Goldsworthy reminds us that our blood also has a high iron content and suggests that this commonality binds us to the earth...

Andy Goldsworthy - Red Wall

Andy Goldsworthy - Red Wall (detail)

I found the Hare Blood Snow paintings(?) rather gruesome.  Goldsworthy hit a hare, while driving and took it home, disemboweled it, filled it with snow, hung it up and then as the snow melted it dripped blood onto paper below.

Andy Goldsworthy - Hare Blood Snow (detail)

Keep your eyes peeled as you wander round so you don't miss anything...

Andy Goldsworthy - Barbed Wire Ball

There are also lots of varied photographs...

Andy Goldsworthy - Black Sand, Morecambe Bay, Lancashire (detail) 

Andy Goldsworthy - Iron. Rising out of the ground in the valley below. Collected and painted onto a dead hawthorn tree.

And don't miss this one as you're leaving...

Andy Goldsworthy - Work Gloves

On until 2 November 2025, this exhibition is well worth a visit.  The Royal Scottish Academy has a cafe and is a short walk from Waverley station.