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Free style hand embroidery, paper crafts, I'll try any type of crafting (apart from knitting!)

I am an archaeobotanist married to a dairy farmer in the middle of West Wales with two teenage daughters, numerous cats (eight at the moment) and one very spoiled dog. My journey into selling crafts started as a dream when I was eighteen and began making embroidered items way back in the days before the internet!, Life took over with university, jobs, etc. and I put my dreams to one side. However about 12 years ago I bought a manual die cutting machine and started to make and sell cards, I was made redundant from my job as an archaeobotanist in 2012, this was both a blessing because I had more time to embroider again but a curse as I am now on a zero hour contract which means some months any income I get is from selling my crafts.

My main sources of inspiration are from historical designs, ever since I saw the interlace carvings on stones in Scotland I have had a fascination for the patterns and how they can be used for embroidery and decoration. My second source of inspiration is from Medieval floor tiles, the image above is taken from a tile and it is an experiment with gold leaf and paint applied directly to the lid of a wooden box.

At the moment I am experimenting with tapestry weaving using wool from local sources, for example Cambrian mountain wool and wool from Llanwennog sheep, a technique I first tried some twenty years ago but have never had the time to return to until now.

Where do I work? Well my family would probably say anywhere there is a flat surface! I do now have a dedicated crafting corner but it is amazing how stuff escapes and invades the rest of the house, this is not helped by having both daughters working on textile projects too! I have taught both of them to embroider and the eldest is using her skills for her GCSE Art and Design through textiles.