We have had rather a torrid week with car issues, and I have been worried sick. I have been driving a Golf Hybrid very happily for several years but recently it has let me down refusing to start not once but twice, and I have had to be unceremoniously delivered home...
Contemplating the new pond! The magic begins… I am making my planting plans. I was determined to turn over a new leaf this year and make sure I am better organised. It’s almost March as I write, and there is no sign of this working yet. Life seems as hectic as...
I was telling a friend about the saga of my book Following a Thread arriving and ended the sentence with “you couldn’t write it!”. I will tell you what happened… All sorts of not-so-glamorous things go on behind the scenes of creating a book. As I have written over 20...
I wanted to tell you all about the Hussif * I created in 2024 as a homework project for guests attending Mrs Parkman’s Academy of Needlework in October 2025. The intention was that the guest would receive their pattern and instructions by email and work the counted...
I do not mean that literally as, although I have aways fancied riding, I am now too much of a coward. Everyone falls off their horse, and the injuries vary but at my age I think that gardening is quite dangerous enough. I think my bones are made of concrete or similar...
The time has come for change in my garden. During some of the high winds, and with the drought during the summer, I have lost my laburnum tree planted the year we moved into Pinks Barn. It just keeled over. And the self-seeded cherry tree overhanging the greenhouse...
Is it me or are our UK winters getting longer and greyer? I look out of my workroom window, and I almost feel that I am seeing things in black and white – or even sepia. As a result, I am striking back with stuff to cheer us up… Last month I had the most...
I have been working on a very special project for quite some time and finally revealed it recently at Mrs Parkman’s Academy of Needlework last month! Several years ago, I inherited a...
When I think of all the ways you can finish a piece of work, a hemstitch border has to be amongst my favourites. I often get asked to demonstrate this, so I thought I would share a video I am preparing for a class. Just press play to work through the whole process. A...
The book proof arrived – an a little celebration was in order! I was having a rummage on our library shelves and I had to chuckle when I saw my shelf full of foreign editions of the books I have written. My contract with my various publishers has always...
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