For some time, I've had many people saying to me upon discovering that I'm an embroidery designer that they would like to try a creative pursuit (or even Bargello Embroidery) but they don't have enough time in their day to do anything like this. I get it, we all only have 24 hours in a day and during that time we require sleep and most of us work and have other responsibilities that take up a lot of our time. However, I wanted to share some top tips for making some time for your creative hobbies: Find a creative hobby you'd like to try (such as bargello embroidery) and find a project that excites you to try it out, so...
Several weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Appletons Wool Ltd in Aylesbury, UK. I had been very keen to visit them ever since I had found out about their long heritage (dating back nearly 200 years) and discovered their 4ply Tapestry Wool and started using it in my Bargello Embroidery kits. Apart from the beautiful quality of the wool with a wide range of colours to choose from (there are over 240 shades!), I was impressed to find out that all their wool is British from sheep to needle! I was keen to find out more about this long established company! I headed off in the car from Brighton, with Daisy wearing her little Bargello Embroidered harness...
I always think it's lovely when you see people create their Christmas decorations that they then display in their homes. I have fond memories as a child creating those Christmas paper chains that would then be hung up in my home. I've always loved the Scandinavian homemade designs and have often admired some lovely decorations on display in some of my Swedish friends home around Christmas time. You may already know that I'm also a keen hand knitter and several years ago, I was really excited when knitwear designers Arne & Carlos released a book called 55 Christmas Balls to Knit. I knew that I immediately wanted to create some knitted ball balls for my Christmas Tree that year. Also...
My love of craft style Advent Calendars all started 5 years ago when I attended a Flock Party event at LoveKnitting.com HQ (now called LoveCrafts.com). Back then I was a freelance Hand Knitwear Designer and had collaborated with them when they had first set up their website. I was one of the first group of Independent Knitwear Designers to sell my knitting pattern range so it was a very exciting time! When I attended the party, they ran several competitions that evening and I was fortunate to win one of them. I won one of their Knitting Advent calendars that they had launched for Christmas 2016 as they had released a new range of yarn and a variety of colours...
