For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Friday, July 3, 2026

It was a plan.....

 



Yes, more patchwork, more Grandmothers flower garden.

If you look at the first image there is quite a large piece of patchworked hexagons, it looks a little bit like Australia to me!

It's at the top of that image. 

A little while ago...OK.....quite  along time ago I had a plan for a single bed size patchwork coverlet.

That's as far as I got.

What can I say, distractions, daunted.....

But, last night, looking at my recently pieced Grandmothers flower garden patchwork it occurred to me that I could add them to the Australia piece.

Nothing would match.

It would be a mishmash of all sorts.

What do you reckon? 

"Mishmash" (a confused mixture or jumble) 

(I'm sure you know what mishmash means but I do love a definition) 


Thursday, July 2, 2026

Grandmothers flower garden

 

A little patchwork today, Grandmothers flower garden, hexagons.

I love making these, I lose myself, repetitive, meditative stitching.

There are no plans for these as yet but that's OK, they're here, they will be used at some point.

I'm in no rush. 

Thanks so much for all the love on the 'pillows' earlier this week. It's really appreciated.

There are just these two left in the shop now. 

(if your country isn't listed for shipping please contact me and I will try and work something out) 



 

Monday, June 29, 2026

A pile of pillows

 





A pile of hand stitched pillows......three of them for pins and the other for? whatever you wish.

All completely hand made, hand sewn seams, hand sewn edges, hand made Suffolk puffs.

These are now listed in the shop.

 

Friday, June 26, 2026

A little weaving

 



There's a little bit of weaving going on.

These are samples which will inform a little design work I am doing with my online class. 

One piece is just cloth, the other has cloth strips woven through some threads I wrapped on the sewing machine.

Two very different pieces.

Let's see where they go from here. 

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Titivated

 



Oversized, stuffed Suffolk puffs.

Finishing touches for these two panels which will soon become a pillow. 

The approximate size of this is twelve by ten inches.

There have been a few pillows created over the past couple of weeks which will be for sale very soon.

I'll let you know when they are in the shop. 

Titivate, spruce, smarten, and spiff all mean "to make a person or thing neater or more attractive."  

Monday, June 22, 2026

Embellishments

 

Just a hand full of stuffed Suffolk puffs for an edge or maybe a seam.

Sunday, June 21, 2026

A little design work.

 



Surface design, a new design sheet, each torn piece of paper hand stitched to an A3 base of white.

The end goal here is a design collection which leads to the creation of a drawstring pouch.

As I am working on this in class it's slow going.

Videos are posted monthly so I'm trying to rein myself in and not get carried away! 

 

Friday, June 19, 2026

Small things

 




Little mix and match pieces.

Liberty fabric and gingham. 

These will be six inches square when they're finished.

There are Suffolk puffs and there's likely to be more prairie points. 

They're fiddly but I don't mind a bit of fiddly. 


Thursday, June 18, 2026

Piecing and pinning.

 


Just putting a small piece together, using my stash of Liberty fabrics on a silk dupion base.

There are prairie points here and there will be Suffolk puffs.

I'm thinking minimal embroidery, perhaps just a little stab stitch to secure these pieces. 

Hopefully the Suffolk puffs will add enough of a finishing touch on here. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Declutter

 






I tried. I did honestly.

I was ruthless.

It's amazing how much junk you shove in a cupboard (or a glass cabinet).

It's tidy.....ish now.

But.

How many artist books are too many?

How many pin pillows are too many?

How many hand embroidered pouches are too many?

How many embroidered sample books are too many?

And with that in mind.

Why am I currently embroidering more pillows?

Why am I currently finishing another artist book?

Just be thankful I'm not embroidering another pouch.

Yet.