About Me

I've been eagerly beavering away making textiles since I was a child.  My Granny taught me to knit, my Mother how to use a sewing machine, make rag dolls and clothes. Later on I completed the City and Guilds Creative Embroidery Certificate and then a Diploma and was awarded the City & Guilds medal for excellence. Shortly afterwards I was selected as a Finalist for the Charles Henry Foyle Stitched Textiles Award.

You can never stop learning and over the years I have learnt many, many different embroidery techniques, both ancient and modern, from medieval goldwork to modern machine embroidery. I love to spin, weave, dye, and have experimented with block and lino printing, surface decoration, feltmaking, mixed media and have invented a lot of peculiar things of my own! My greatest love is hand stitching using gorgeous hand dyed and spun fabrics and threads (but experimental machine embroidery comes a close second).

 

Exhibitions   

• Royal Charter Centenary Celebration – display of craft excellence London GuildHall 2000

• ‘Metamorphosis’ Charles Henry Foyle Award Redditch Needle Museum 2003

• ‘Charles Henry Foyle Stitched Textiles’ Birmingham Art Society 2003

• ‘Gorgeous’, Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft at the Enginuity Museum, Ironbridge, Annual Show Nov 2006-16

• ‘Showing Off’ Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft, Ludlow 2006-10

• ‘Landmarks’ Exhibition with Marches Makers at the Gateway, Shrewsbury Jan 2006

• Shrewsbury Flower Show, Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Crafts Marquee 2005

• ‘Earthworks’ exhibition at the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford 2005, the Secret Hills Centre, Craven Arms and the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shrewsbury 2004

• ‘Take Five’ exhibition at Stepaside Studio Gallery, Church Stretton 2004

• ‘Stitched Landscapes’ exhibition at the Secret Hills Centre,

• Craven Arms Shropshire County Council 2004

• Beaux Arts Gallery, Ludlow – textiles exhibition 2000

• St Julian’s Craft Centre, Shrewsbury – selling exhibition 1999

• Quilts UK, Malvern 1998

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Teaching

I love to help open up the whole exciting world of textiles to people. I have a Teaching Certificate in Further education and  taught for several years at Westhope College, Shropshire (C&G embroidery and machine embroidery, short courses and summer schools). I was an Arts and Crafts Instructor for Shropshire Council, teaching in Adult Day Services. I worked at Acton Scott Historic Working Farm teaching Victorian needlework (such as smocking, whitework, patchwork etc) and giving demonstrations in many techniques, for example, spinning, weaving, Dorset button making, quilting etc.

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Past Membership

• Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft

• The Embroiderers’ Guild 

• Marches Makers Fibre Art Group

• Ffiesty Felters

• Made in Shropshire

• Shrewsbury Makers

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