July was a relentlessly hot month, the garden is scorched and everywhere the grass has died off brown and yellow. It feels crispy underfoot, and whispers as you walk over it. All month I crunch along, listening to its rustle and watch the swallows swooping low over the field looking for bugs. In the garden, we’ve welcomed lots of birds – looking for water and also to strip bare my blueberry bush. I’ve even seen a garden warbler who looked at me curiously from the fencepost whilst I drank my tea.

It has been a busy month in the fields behind our house both for the farmers, and the wildlife. Before the corn was cut, I was lucky enough for a close up encounter with one of my favourite animals. At first I only saw his ears. A little hint of black over the tips of the brown gold corn. Not a hare, but a young fox stalking the grey partridge that live in the field. The partridge exist in a state of perpetual anxiety, and the stalking almost definitely didn’t help. But the fox, very handsome in his bright orange coat, with a big puff of white at the end of his tail didn’t catch one. They flew off squawking madly, and the fox trotted back off into the wheat in sight of his next target.

Now the corn is cut and the field full of straw bales. I am glad to see the arrival of August, with the cooler evenings, and the hint of Autumn in the hedges. The rosehips are tinted red, along with the hawthorn. The sloes are already big blue globes hanging from the branches. The brambles have outdone themselves this year and are laden down with blackberries. My children come home after every walk with purple stained fingers and faces.

The full moon came bright, and lit up peachy yellow from the setting sun. It rose enormous over the newly cut corn fields, long golden ears shorn to a crispy stubble. In this new landscape, the hares are once again out in the open and raced each other in the moonlight. The roe deer made her way carefully home in the twilight, particularly fitting under the July ‘Buck Moon’. The next day it finally rained, not for long but enough to fill the air with its scent. This time of year always feels magical to me, caught between Summer and Autumn, and I’m ready for the shorter nights, the cooler days to come.

Finished Projects

This month was all about the birds, and I stitched three pieces each with birds as the central theme. Stitched mainly in long and short stitch, and including beading, and colour blending they have each been an experiment in pushing my skills. My favourite piece is Swallows at Dawn, where I have tried to explore the feeling of movement with my needle, and hope I manage to capture some of dynamism of these acrobatic birds. The colour palette of this piece was also long laboured over.

What I’m Making Next

This time of year always feels a like a time for witchcraft, a feeling which only grows as we move into Autumn proper. I’m leaning into this and making lavender bags for friends and family – a little bit of garden magic for a good night’s sleep. It feels fitting that these should be embroidered moons and stars, and I cannot wait to get started on these.

Then its time to turn my attention to some new designs, all of which include elements of fantasy, or magic. At the moment, I’m particularly drawn to the idea of tarot – particularly because I had some huge and unwelcome health news this month, and the wheel of fortune, divination and the idea of fate have been playing heavily on my mind. I’d like to make my own card - The Needle Woman - a reminder to myself, that we can stitch our own story.

That’s all from me this month - but please tell me in the comments if any of this resonates with you, your latest nature encounters, or what you’re making next. I would love to hear about!

“And the roses—the roses! Rising out of the grass, tangled round the sun-dial, wreathing the tree trunks and hanging from their branches, climbing up the walls and spreading over them with long garlands falling in cascades—they came alive day by day, hour by hour. Fair fresh leaves, and buds—and buds—tiny at first but swelling and working Magic until they burst and uncurled into cups of scent delicately spilling themselves over their brims and filling the garden air.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

The sky right now is full of heavy black clouds, touched orange by the setting sun. I can hear the occasional rumble of distant thunder. It’s been raining for days here. Everything is green and new, growing ferociously. You can’t count on sunshine in England, so I’ve been tramping around the garden and the fields in my raincoat and wellies. Everywhere you go there are roses at the moment, bright pink, orange and red spilling over garden gates, climbing roses scaling trees, wild roses filling the hedgerow. In the rain, the air fills with their sweet unmistakeable scent.

At the bottom of the garden, under the old apple tree is our rose bed. It started with one yellow rose, an old fashioned single flower that we inherited when we bought the house. We’ve rescued two more - one from each of my husband’s grandparents’ gardens after they passed away. We care for those roses especially well, and I think of them often when I see them bloom. There is also the madness that is Emily Bronte who grows bigger and flowers more every year, a mothers day gift to me from my oldest son. And finally, a rose I planted in deepest despair, having miscarried a baby. It has grown slowly, as if mirroring my own journey of grief and acceptance.

I think for many of us, roses have been a talisman during a big life event, I carried red and pink roses in my wedding bouquet, have thrown their petals as confetti, laid them on the top of a coffin. They are a cultural cornerstone, a marker of life events, long associated with romance, love and female beauty, with warring knights, and fairy tale princesses. A scent and a taste as much a beautiful thing to look at.

Whilst I adore a garden rose, for me the most delicate and beautiful form of this flower is the briar rose that grows wild in the hedgerows all around my little patch of the world. Blossoming in pinks and whites it tumbles over the hawthorn, brilliant in the sunshine, and in the gloom of threatening rain clouds.

The briar rose forms the central and most important part of my Midsummer hoop. Heavily inspired by Poppy’s wedding bouquet and the floral garlands in A Summer Story by Jill Barklem, this hoop depicts all the wonder of the hedgerow in Summer - of the blooming briar rose and bramble. The creeping bindweed, and the sweet smelling honeysuckle. It’s taken many days of stitching, but the form and the colours came to me easily and I’m delighted to offer up this tribute to Midsummer created with needle and thread.

What are you making next?

In My Headphones

I’ve been listening to Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper. It’s one my favourite ever podcasts (but be warned, the episodes are looong). They are totally immersive journeys into the collapse of different civilizations, with incredible attention to detail. I love listening to them whilst I am stitching, and find them oddly soothing.

I’m Reading

A round up of my favourite articles on Substack over the last few weeks

I love this article about sketching from

Berry Patch

Pages from my May Sketchbook

Hello, and thanks for opening my newsletter! I use this space to share some of the things I’ve observed, contemplated, and enjoyed over the past few weeks, in an effort to celebrate the seasons more intentionally. Read on for some of my musings and a peek into my daily sketchbook practice…

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3 months ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Natalie Smith

And this from about returning to old haunts, and the wildlife she found there:

The Wild Path

A Rediscovered Wilderness

Hello, and welcome to ‘The Wild Path’. Here you’ll discover a collection of wild musings inspired by a deep appreciation for all the beautiful little moments Nature gifts us every day. I hope to make my posts as accessible as possible for all Nature lovers, no matter your experience, so I’ve included links to informative pages wherever I mention specifi…

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3 months ago · 22 likes · 18 comments · Poppy @ The Wild Path

And finally, this brilliant post from about the process of hand-stitching a shirt:

I’m a big believer in adventures, an endless source of new inspiration for me, as well as giving my children as many amazing experiences as possible. Last year after another weekend lost to screen time, stress and chores my husband and I decided we needed a change. We scrimped, saved and borrowed our way to buying a camper van and headed out! Last Summer we beachcombed in Norfolk, hunted sea glass in the North East, got lost in Sherwood Forest and went to more adventure playgrounds than I can count. Our kids ended their days tired, grubby having played outside all day and even gained a little independence by heading off to the campsite playground alone (always within sight, but feeling free of adults). Being out in the wilderness gave me a new yearning to live a more creative life. It was on those long Summer evenings that the idea for my embroideries and this Substack really took root. This year I’ll document some of our adventures here and the ideas they spark.

For our first Summer adventure this year, we headed for the opposite of a wilderness, and into London. I took my kids to see Fairy Tales at the British Library for a really magical day out. I adore fairy tales and their power to intrigue, delight and scare! I think the Ladybird book of Beauty and the Beast, and The Princess and the Frog are the illustrated books I remember most from childhood.

The kids were swept away by all the interactive instalments, including the Princess and the Pea’s stack of mattresses you could slide down, the Three Bear’s kitchen table, and the Magic Mirror. I think my four year old would still be there pretending to eat baby bear’s porridge if I hadn’t dragged him away. I loved all of the illustrations from modern pieces by artists like Lauren Child to amazing illustrations from the early 1900s. They were beautiful and enchanting with that edge of fairy tale darkness. It was fascinating to see how cultures, and different generations have taken the same stories and adapted them to suit their audience.

In my own pieces, I love the idea of weaving in some darker threads as well as the whimsey and magic of fairy tales.

What I’m Making

I just finished up this honeysuckle wreath:

And this little strawberry needle book:

Next up is a hoop for a new baby who just arrived (at the best time for a hoop inspired by nature) which I look forward to sharing with you all.

What are you making next?

In My Headphones

I’ve been listening to Real Vikings by Noiser Podcasts. This immersive history series is an excellent listen and I’ve learnt so much about these people that really changed the world in so many ways that I hadn’t understood before.

I’m Reading

Of course, I’ll be re-reading fairy tales to my little ones this week, including my very favourite Little Red Riding Hood.

As I got dressed this morning, I had an encounter with a goldfinch from the bedroom window. It stayed for a few minutes, flashing red and yellow whilst dipping its beak in the rainwater from the gutter of the porch roof. It didn’t notice me watching until I got my phone out to take a picture, at which point it promptly flew away. Outside my bedroom window things are busy at the moment. Starlings are nesting in a little gap under the eaves, always flying to and fro. The chicks wake me early in the morning with their calls. Not long after them, my little boy comes in for his morning cuddle, and we listen to them together. He wants to know which one is the big brother, and which one is the baby like him. Sometimes I open the curtains so he can see the starling parents flying in and out with breakfast. A few days ago we found a blue robin’s egg at the playground, and he is experiencing the wonder of birds and their nests for the first time.

Even waking to the frenetic energy of May, I am groggy and slow-witted first thing in the morning.  I am most certainly not an early bird, but not truly a night owl either – just an exhausted parent, running mostly on caffeine and not much else. At my best time of day, early evening, there is still light enough for a long walk. Great swathes of bright red poppies fill the roadsides. Gathered beneath the horse chestnut that shades the corner of the lane are froths of white cow parsley. A few red campions are popping up next to the oxeye daisies that grow on an unloved piece of verge by the new houses. On the breeze is the smell of hawthorn, going pink as it nears its end, and elderflower just coming out of bud. After a long dry spell there has been some rain, and the long grass hangs heavy with raindrops from a just passed shower. By evening, though, the clouds clear, and it is a glorious blue sky overhead.

In the garden, the irises are in bloom, yellow and purple flags, along with the first roses and magnificent pink peonies. The alliums are out, great purple globes standing proudly among the long grass in our wild patch.  A heavy rainstorm heralds the return of the big old toad that lives behind the shed. I find him sedately moving about the patio of an evening and keeping the slugs at bay. He observes me, disinterested, before hopping off for dinner.  The mornings have been frosty, a chill wind blowing down from the Arctic, and threatening my newly planted out echinaceas. The last days of Spring clinging on before Summer takes over. A shock to the system after a few warm and sunny days. After my walk, I go and check on them, staring anxiously at each one for signs they have survived the frosty temperatures overnight.

The roe deer has come back to the wheat field behind our garden, picking anxiously along the hedgerow every morning and evening. Where she goes, I don’t know – but as regular as clockwork she sets out as the sun rises and returns as the sun sets. A creature of habit, much like me. She must live in the blackthorn thicket that surrounds the still full medieval moat, ajll that is left of a fortification long ago abandoned and left to the herons and ducks to colonise. Sometimes if I’m in the garden late at night, I think about the people who lived there long ago. Sometimes I think I catch a voice on the wind.

What I’m Making

I’ve been stitching a hawthorn garland for a new baby. I increasingly want to add beads to my embroidery, and I am really pleased with how this piece turned out. Overwhelmed too by the love this has got on Substack. Her name has been added but baby names are precious so I won’t share that here.

I have made extremely slow progress on my shells, pink whelk almost done:

And finally a kingfisher in progress for my sampler, inspired by the river:

In My Headphones

This week I have enjoyed The Book Club - and particularly recommend the episodes on Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby and The Northern Lights.

I have also returned to a much loved podcast As the Season Turns, and am excited to find its host is on Substack! This is a beautiful podcast for a walk in the fields, with episodes describing each month in turn. I find it a very inspiring and enjoyable listen.

I’m Reading

My ‘To Be Read’ pile, or TBR as its called on social media grows ever higher. Books have started piling up by my bed, and instead of reading, I’ve been losing myself to the infinite scroll of Substack. It might need to be added to the list of apps to be Bricked.

However, here is my round up of my favourite articles this week:

I loved this article about making things purely for the joy it brings by :

Joyful Soul Stitching

How To Unlearn Productivity: Why ‘Useless’ Stitching Is a Radical Activity

I have a confession…

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4 months ago · 76 likes · 26 comments · Beatrice

This article by on lace making is a window into a craft I honestly am a bit scared of, it looks so complicated:

TheEmbroideryDiaries

Lace bobbins and bobbin lace

My mum made lace. My first exposure to the world of lacemaking was looking at my mums lace bobbin collection, which she kept in her sewing box in her room. If I asked nicely she would get them out for me to admire and look at carefully. Unbeknownst to her (or so I believe) I used to often creep into her room and look through her sewing box and her lace …

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4 months ago · 16 likes · 6 comments · The Embroidery Diaries

And finally, I really liked this piece about sheep by (it’s an older one):

The Garden Witch

The Weight of a Sheep

On the first spring-like day of the year, Maverick died…

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5 months ago · 74 likes · 21 comments · Garden Witch

This week, I didn’t know what to write about. Something tells me Substack might be full of people like me - with very busy brains. Mine can be a real advantage as I juggle all of my many identities - as a mother, a carer, an employee. But sometimes I tip over into chaos. That’s been this week. Waking at 2am with a racing mind, lots of dreams, thoughts and inspiration swirling around. I have learnt in these moments to let my brain do its thinking - and wait to see which ideas settle. Some of them turn into something, but often they float away as quickly as they arrived. I have had many thoughts on what this post might be, but I decided to write about something that brings me a lot of joy. Gifting something handmade.

This year I made a promise to myself that I would make a gift for every important soul in my life. Something stitched with love, that they could (hopefully) treasure - and a piece of my heart with it. The world is full of mass produced things, so it feels extra special to gift something unique to friends and family. It’s challenged me in all sorts of ways to make special things, that people will love just using my hands (and the despicable sewing machine when absolutely forced).

For the reader (and coffee lover)

A bookmark stitched on felt, of a cafetiere and a coffee cup sitting on a stack of book. Used every day (I happen to live with the recipient).

For my Yoto player obsessed 7 year old

Upcycled zip up pouch I found in a charity shop with a monogrammed dragon to store a growing collection of Yoto player cards. Frequently found under a pile of dirty washing, but loved all the same.

For the friend having a hard time

I started stitching this one with no recipient in mind - it’s not my design (the only one on this list), but from Trish Burr's Nature Embroidery Transfers which is an excellent resource if you want to enhance your thread painting skills. Anemones mean ‘hope in adversity’ and when one of my closest friends got diagnosed with cancer, I knew where it needed to go. I hope she knows how much love I poured into finishing it, and that it gives her hope on her darkest days.

For the January birthdays

Fun little monograms for all the January birthdays - a great use of my extra hours over Christmas! I wanted to practice using a single colour - so these are all created in different shades of the blues or pinks.

For the dreamer

A pencil case made from an old bedsheet. Embroidered with forget-me-nots, and beaded with the Aries constellation. A gift for an April birthday for a very special person, who always has their drawing pencils close at hand.

What’s next on the to make pile

Rainbow shells continues - a whole starfish and the start of a whelk added! And I’ve started the first stitches to my riverbank sampler. And a new gift in the works - a hoop of hawthorn blossoms for a May baby.

In my headphones

This week I’ve been listening to Betwixt the Sheets on the recommendation of Ellie from . I love a new (to me) history podcast with lots of episodes for me to sink my teeth into.

Let me know what you’re making, writing or dreaming about!

It’s my favourite time of year. In the garden the big old apple tree at the bottom of the garden hangs heavy with pale pink blossom, raining petals on the patio like confetti from a wedding. A gang of raucous goldfinches have moved into the garden, singing their hearts out all day, flitting energetically between the hedge and the weeping cherry. The columbine is just starting to flower – a wardrobe of fairy dresses in purple and pink.

I wake with the birds at 5am and watch the hares race each other in field under an endless blue sky, touched pink with the rising sun from the bathroom window. The swallows and swifts are back and chasing flies between the rooftops.

In the world beyond the garden, the horse chestnut trees are bedecked with their white candles, looking gloriously alive with their big fresh green leaves. There are lilac flowers tumbling over garden fences, and the roadsides are white and red with poppies and cow parsleys. Above the wide sweep of red kite wings follows me down the road, circling low and giving me a good look at his glorious plumage.

In the woods a deep sapphire sea of sweet smelling bluebells stretches out under the shade of new leaves. Almost over, but not quite yet. There are speckled wood butterflies flitting between a moss covered fallen tree trunk and the pathway, their wings like patterned lace.

Then there is the blooming hawthorn all along the hedgerow, and the heady scent of its white flowers in every hedgerow. Hundreds of perfect blooms on each branch. Brimstones and peacocks, and buff tailed bumble bees motor about whilst a robin sings loudly from the branches.

The world is as fresh as line dried bed sheets. I think heaven is England on the cusp of May.

What’s Next On The To Make Pile

I’m still stitching my rainbow shells – a sharks eye and a limpet finished this week and on to the starfish. Still beading to add on this project, and then it will hopefully become a Summer bag.

I am nearly ready to begin stitching my big piece inspired by the river, which might take me the rest of my life, but I am so excited to get started.

In My Headphones

I’m listening to Weird in the Wade. This is a hyper local podcast set in Bigglewade, Bedfordshire which explores the many ghostly goings on in the town, and the wider local area. It is beautifully written and weaves in lots of fascinating social history. It’s very inspiring to see such a niche podcast do so well, and credit to Natalie Doig for creating something so wonderful.

I’m Reading

Serious reading has gone out the window as work has picked up pace, so I’m on Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan. If you are a fantasy reader, this is a wonderful and hilarious read. Very much enjoying myself.

Recently I ran a half marathon. I had done no hill training, living somewhere very flat, and spent the whole thing battling one hill after another. But something magical happened to me about half way through. I could feel how tense my body was, and in that moment I was able to tell myself to ‘just relax’. I could feel the stress and tension leave my body, and even though I really had to push myself over the finish line I got there! I keep replaying that moment over and over in my head - and trying to apply it elsewhere in life!

And this week I decided it was time the embroidery took a turn at being more relaxed! I do so much detailed work, with lots of long and short stitch - and I thought it would be fun to do something a bit different….my challenge was a white linen shirt I got from Vinted maybe 2 years ago, and has been sitting around waiting to be turned into something.

I wanted to share the process of creating this white and blue folksy design - and I also wanted to share some maybe controversial opinions about embroidery. I think it can feel overwhelming when you first start - and there is A LOT of advice online - but actually you don’t need much. You could even do the same as me and create this shirt in a weekend - just because you can!

Designing something folksy and simple

I adore folk art, I think it is a totally magical, wonderful, expressive! And I wanted to lean into that style a little bit here. I have been obsessing over delphiniums in my sketch book - I love the colour and shape of them, so they were my chosen focus for this piece. I’ve embroidered delphiniums before - to create a hoop for a July baby - so I took my original roughs, and created a digital design via Procreate. The advantage of a digital design is that on this blouse I will repeat the design twice - once reversed - and this allows you do to this simply and easily. I leaned into simple shapes, and not lining everything up perfectly to create a sweet looking delphinium design. I always transfer my designs using a Frixion pen which can easily be ironed away at the end (it does come back in the cold, but especially on clothing I’ve never know this be a problem.

Second hand shirts, bedsheets and denim

I’m really trying to be conscious about my fabric choices at the moment. Rather than buying new I’m trying to seek out second hand fabrics and clothing. Vinted is a wonderful resource I’ve found for second hand linen shirts - I’ve bought several over the years, including this one - which is perfect for my project. I also use bedsheets, and old scraps of denim for embroidery - both of which are great. In fact I think you can embroider almost anything you want, as long as it isn’t a stretchy fabric (usually found in t-shirts, dresses etc.).

A small colour palette

Now don’t get me wrong, a love a project with a veritable rainbow of threads, but I also think a simple, selective colour palette can be just as effective. With a delphinium in my design, of course blue is the only choice. Here I’m just using two threads - a mid blue, and a dark blue. And here is my first possibly controversial opinion…and its about DMC - the true GOAT of all threads! DMC is a great brand, beautiful colours, beautiful texture. It is without a doubt a wonderful resource. But you don’t NEED it, and it can be expensive… You can get started using any cotton embroidery thread (I do avoid acrylic) - I often find mine in charity shops, and I also use Anchor (you can order a real bundle of colours from them via Amazon).

One stitch! For a whole project

This whole project is stitched in split back stitch. A simple stitch, a back stitch where every stitch splits the proceeding one. I love split back stitch for clothing - it creates a lovely texture, whilst also being very stable. It almost brings as much texture as chain stitch without bringing all the drama (chain stitch and I are not a great combination I admit). I’m using a plastic hoop for embroidery here - because I find it better at holding tension than the wooden ones which lose their shape I find. I think this one plastic hoop has saved me throwing out several wooden ones as I have used it for years! The needle is one I got for free from another embroidery project - but I use anything I can get my hands on. I don’t think I’ve ever had a high quality needle - I’m still working my way through my mum and grandma’s old stash of embroidery needles! Again, perhaps this is controversial - but particularly if you are just starting out - you can create something magic without a special needle. Just something sharp and pointy will do the trick.

Final result - blue blooms on crisp white, ready for Summer

I’m so happy with how this blouse turned out - it was a real experiment in taking a different approach. It proves the point that simplicity can sometimes create something beyond your expectations. I can’t wait to wear this in the Summer, and think it will look perfect for a day of beach combing! I love that it looks homespun - because it is!

What’s Next On The To Make Pile

I’ve got a big baby shower banner to make (with paper and paint), and then I’m back to stitching a beaded bag. I’m looking forward to starting to share it. I’ve also started to design my first sampler/wall hanging which I can’t wait to begin!

In My Headphones

Controversially, it’s silence this week! I’m feeling quite overwhelmed with work, so enjoying some quiet headspace whilst I stitch.
I’ve got a very big pile of podcast episodes and several started audiobooks to finish so I’ll be back to listening soon.

Embroidery Reading

I’ve just started Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. I’m predicting hares will start appearing in my designs, because I’m very in love with the book already!

My oldest boy was born 8 years ago now, on a cold March morning. I wasn’t really prepared for having a baby (is anyone?), but was thrust very suddenly into life with a new born and surrounded by other mums who all seemed to have much more clue what they were doing. I was already struggling mentally, when my mum was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. It is a devastating disease, and it was a huge shock to me to suddenly become a part time carer for my mum, when my own baby was only a few months old. For years after this diagnosis as a family we lurched from one crisis to the next, with my mum and dad coming to live with us so I could care for them full time. A combination of stress, sleep deprivation and far too much time sitting in A&E for hours watching my mum suffer whilst the NHS moved at a snails pace led me to a very dark place. By the time my second baby came along, I was in a deep depression from which there seemed no way to escape.

I took a masters in Psychology, desperately wanting to try to understand what was happening to me - only to leave it even more confused (once you start delving into the science behind mental health, the more you realise how little it is understood). Antidepressants didn’t seem to make any difference, and therapy never quite worked either. But slowly, I have managed to haul myself out of that dark space and stitching has been a huge part of that story. I don’t think I could ever imagined how picking up that first project was going to change my life and make it so much better. Learning creative practice seems to have given my head the jump start is desperately needed.

Now I stitch almost every single day, and I’ve experienced some really important mental health benefits from committing to a creative practice:

1. Stitching is meditative for me - and I think the closest I will ever get to actual meditation (I’m pretty terrible at just breathing).

2. I didn’t start out with many ideas, and did lots of embroidery kits. The more I learnt and more I wanted to learn. I found I could challenge myself, and I enjoyed working out how to do something. I became more inspired, and that inspiration bled into other parts of my life - leading to new opportunities at work, as well as leading a local community charity.

3. Nature is my main form of inspiration, and as a consequence of trying to capture it with needle and thread I notice it more. Observing the passing of the seasons brings its own sense of magic to the world, and helps me feel grounded.

4. Now I have something to do with my hands, there’s very little doom scrolling (now none since I got a Brick). That in itself has made a huge difference to how I feel about myself.

If I sound too passionate about this - its because I am! Working with your hands in whichever way is inspiring to you - be that cooking, gardening, sewing can be transformative. I waded through a lot of mental health literature for my masters but I don’t remember if this has been proven by any scientific studies so this is purely my experience. And of course its part of a bigger story - learning to take care of myself, eating properly, running, getting enough sleep, finding practical support, spending more time outside, gazing out over large bodies of water - all these things are part of the tapestry that make up my mental health. For each of us those might be different.

I wanted to finish by saying that my lovely mum is still with us, and I am privileged to watch her play with her grandchildren, enjoy the garden, or craft (she still makes things with her hands too).

What’s Next On The To Make Pile

I’m sewing apple blossom this week on to a linen shirt. This shirt will mark each month with a new embroidery and is an easy project to fit in around a busy work week.

I’m also starting out on designing a sampler - not something I’ve tried before!

And finally, I have the inkling of an idea - and so I’m starting to research applique quilts (and I’m grateful for tips on books that might help me get started).

In My Headphones

I’m listening to the Rest is History podcast - and the series about the Samurai. It’s quite bloodthirsty!

Embroidery Reading

This week I’m loving Mystical Stitches by Christi Johnson - a wonderful, slightly witchy book - with lots of inspiration.

I love the big showy flowers of Spring - the daffodils standing to attention and nodding their heads in the sun. The tulips with all their colours, sizes and shapes. But my favourites are the little flowers - the primroses, muscari, the dog violet, the lungwort and the wood anemone. If there are any flowers that belong to the fairy folk it must be them (and I checked, primroses are definitely fairy flowers, if you eat one you’ll see a fairy….try it).

I’m still new to this putting my art online game, but so far it’s been way more fun, and much less stressful than I imagined. So I offer up to you a little tribute to Spring, a sweet little thread painting of muscari, primrose and the white tailed bumblebee. Stitched in long and short stitch with a bit of back stitch here and there, in the colours of a bright Spring day, like the ones I enjoyed whilst I stitched this.

Things I’m learning from my first few days on Substack…

1) It’s wild how inspiring it is to have an app full of creators:

It’s hugely inspiring to find so many artists and creators sharing their work. To engage with others stitching, painting, drawing and writing. I also feel so seen, for the first time in a long time. It turns out I’m not the only one who was scared to get started, who wanted a corner to share their stuff with others, who has a drive to create things and not just consume.

2) If no one likes your post, you lose nothing:

I thought if I posted something that no one engaged with something bad would happen. But having posted several things that only got a couple of likes, I’ve learnt nothing happens. I’m not going to be an overnight viral success story, but that’s ok - because that’s not why I’m doing this!

3) The Instagram algorithm was doing me absolutely no good!

This Substack is part of a larger effort to be more intentional about the life I live online. I recently bought a Brick and I have blocked Instagram and Facebook on my phone. The freedom I feel having escaped from the algorithm - no one is selling me anything I don’t need, I’m not constantly comparing myself to others. I’m no longer wasting hours of my life doom scrolling. I’m so so much happier!

4) Creating content has made me more productive

Posting my art has made me more productive. My little Spring piece took me four days! Four!! And it was partially because I knew I could document it here. I was excited to share it. I’m stitching with the seasons which I love - I’m committing to stitch what I observe in the moment - which is where I always wanted to be. I’ve decided that I’m going to start working on upcycling an old linen shirt with these seasonal stitches - one a month for a whole year.

5) Being a faceless account has helped me manage the spotlight effect

I’m a massive overthinker, and socially anxious. Making this account faceless has really helped me tackle that. And maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to stop hiding behind the logo!

6) I’m ok with it being little, even if that never changes

Finally, I might be a little account - with only 2 subscribers but I can’t believe I even have 2. That’s life changing. I’ve gone from thinking that no one would ever be interested in my stitches to having 2 people that might! (So THANK YOU for that - it means the world to me!).

What’s Next on ‘To Make’ Pile

I’ve got a long list of potential projects, but next up is upcycling an old sheet, and an even older dress into some beaded envelope evening bags. I’m also starting to build out two big projects that I’m excited to share here when they get closer.

In my headphones

I’m listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir whilst I stitch this week. It’s a great audiobook if you like a sci fi story!

Embroidery reading

This week I’m reading Jane Austen Embroidery by Jennie Batchelor and Alison Larkin which is full of beautiful projects as well as traditional embroidery patterns.

What’s next on your ‘To Make’ pile?

The first piece I created in an embroidery hoop was one from my head. An iridescent green beetle, stitched on rough linen. It’s by no means perfect, but I love it all the same.

I have always wanted to share my work, but felt deeply conflicted about it. It’s a vulnerable thing to put something you made on display. When I was a teenager, I really wanted to be an artist. I was gently told, by many adults that I just wasn’t quite good enough.

‘Not good enough’ is inked on my soul in permanent marker. But in an effort to scrub out the ‘not’ I’m creating this Substack to share everything I love about making embroidery pieces.

There’s no one in real life that I get to talk about this with - but I think there are a lot of people on here that might!

I’ll be writing on here once a week about what I’m making, or about previous project. I’ll also write about creativity, and finding your voice.

For this first post I wanted to share a piece that I most recently made. I started it not long after Christmas, and it feels fitting that I’ve finally completed it when the first peacock butterflies are starting to emerge into the world after a long winter. In fact seeing one with tattered wings sunning itself on a fence post inspired me to take the final few stitches.

I started by edging the wings with wire and attaching them to the fabric using couching stitch. It was deeply laborious and I was very glad to see it done. The wings are worked in long and short stitch, each stitched very carefully to achieve a symmetrical look. I stitched the same section in each wing one after the other so I wouldn’t forget how each one had been done. The body is almost all turkey stitch which I adore, because it looks so gorgeous when its done.

I was guided through the whole process by Megan Zaniewski’s brilliant book Stumpwork Embroidery and Thread Painting. There are lots of beautiful projects to complete in this book, but I created my own pattern – simply because I wanted a British butterfly rather than an American one.

For my next project I want to focus on the little flowers of Spring, the grape hyacinth, primrose, violet and my favourite lungwort – it’s pink and purple flowers singing together in perfect harmony above spotty leaves. I’ve started sketching them out, albeit quite badly – but eventually this will become a pattern I can work from. By the time its done they will probably be a distant memory but I will be very glad to have committed them to stitch.