So, I’ve never blogged before and I don’t believe for a moment that my life is interesting enough to warrant a blog but the world is a big place full of many people with many interests, so it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to think that someone might be interested in this I suppose.

I love embroidery. I love doing it myself and looking at (and hopefully) buying other peoples. I did a bit of embroidery as a child, a stitch-a-long sampler with my mum, giant plastic needles and wool. The I did a little bit of cross stitching as a teen but was teased a bit, so I ditched it in a moment of teenage insecure weakness.

It wasn’t until just over 2 years ago that I rediscovered it properly. I work in a major art museum in London and they had a wonderful exhibition on Louise Bourgeois, who works in many mediums. In the shop my best friend Rosie saw this pillowcase (above) and really wanted it but the price was a bit steep. So I decided to recreate something similar for her for Christmas.

To cut a long story short I embroidered a tiny blue bird in the corner of a pillowcase, I liked it so much I decided to put something else in the other corner, and then something else in the other corner this carried on and spiralled into lots of embroidery. Hearts with anchors and skull and a rose, all kitsch tattoo inspired stuff.

And thus began something of an obsession really. I try to embroider most evenings and I’m just completely fascinated with the medium. My interests lie on the slightly more contemporary side but I also hugely appreciate the old styles. What I love most about it really does have the most personal touch. I love buying old pieces from charity shops and wondering where it came from and who made it. I went to an exhibition called ‘Byzantium’ earlier this year at the Royal Academy and there was an embroidery which was 900 years old, can you imagine?! The stitching was just incredible and intricate. I’d love to think some of my embroideries might be around in 900 years time (!).

I'm sure no one will read this, but if you stumble across it, I promise to get some pictures up at the weekend