Until recently, designing and making bears was for personal pleasure. My bears were given up for adoption but only as presents to my nearest and dearets. Each bear was totally unique and often came with accessories such as bonnets, skirts and waistcoats in colours and designs that refelceting the reciever.

I look back and see my childhood as creative rich. My mother was a wonderful artist. She explored a variety of painting mediums and disciples as I was growing up and focused on fine line watercolour studies in her later years. Nothing commercial, always for pleasure. My mother also made some of her our clothes as children, and her own soft furnishings. She encouraged me to do the same and was a driving force behind my early ability as a seamstress. Consequently, I have always made my own curtains, scatter cushions and other soft furnishings. Soft furnishings continue to be part of my world today, and in so many more ways than just my own home.

My maternal Nana was a knitter. I could show her any pattern, however intricate she could reproduce it either for myself or one of my dolls. What a talent! I have to admit, I can knit very simple things but have never mastered knitting like a pro. Embroidery was the creative outlet for my paternal Nana. She specialised in Goldwork for church furnishings, robes, alter clothes, and banners, which was very handy as a vicar’s wife. As well as using her talents in Goldwork embroidery on commissions for churches in Yorkshire and projects further afield; Nana also gave workshops teaching Whitework, Blackwork, Shadow Work and Crewel. Not to mention a special passions for Beadwork and Patchwork. Many school holidays were spent joining her on workshops and sitting by the fire in her Yorkshire cottage using her scraps and soaking up all her skills and techniques. Directly from the master embroiderer herself, “Embroidery should look as neat on the reverse as it does on the front“, she would frequently tell me. Embroidery continues to be a major part of my life today.