I was introduced to Instagram during a remote Scottish textile retreat. I was seduced by its quickness and flexibility and have been using it instead of writing this blog. Sorry.!

How did this happen?

In November I went to a workshop with India Flint on the Ardtornish Estate. The Ardtornish Estate is a wonderful, beautiful and remote location, as I hope the photos below show.

The workshop was fantastic.

We stitched, drew, collected leaves, wrote poetry and eco printed.  We did more, we explored the countryside and brought it into our work.   Here are some of the pieces I made.

Of course, I also chatted to all the other workshop participants.   That was when I heard that most of my fellow textile artists, were big fans of Instagram. Why I asked? Overwhelmingly the answer was that it was easy and so much more friendly than other social media options.

So I decided to give it try. To me, this was a very unexpected outcome from this textile retreat. I was of course, and still am, inspired by the stitching and eco-printing we did during the course.  I remain amazed my some of my new friends beautiful textile works and Ardtornish is imprinted in my heart and I hope will echo through my work for years to come.

But Instagram.

Could I do it? Slowly and tentatively I posted a few pictures, of felt, of stitching, dyeing and of my new venture into mending. I learned a little about hashtags, and I followed a few people and a few hashtags.   It was very easy to do and I had lots of new interactions with like-minded people.

In my enthusiasm and perhaps also because of Christmas I did not even think about writing a blog, about my fantastic time at Ardtornish and course with India Flint. However, rest assured I will now try and post to Instagram and also write a blog a month.

Wish me luck.