Well, now that we're here, where do I begin ?

In England, I suppose...

That's where I was born and where I spent the first 14 years of my life.

Dunstable, a quiet, historic Bedfordshire town that lies North-West of London. It was a lovely place, surrounded by villages with odd names like... Eaton Bray, Leighton Buzzard, Hitchin and Hemel Hempstead.

As kids, my brother and I were taken to the Natural History Museum in nearby Tring, where thousands of stuffed (as in once-living) animals were displayed... or to visit the live animals at Whipsnade Zoo ... or go pick Bluebells in Ashridge. At Christmas-time, we'd cut Holly from the mixed hedges that divided fields that were a short walk away and, in Summer, chomped on juicy Blackberries that grew just a little further down. It was really a great time and place to be a kid.

What's all this got to do with needlework? Not much... so far. But I'm getting to that!

Although it was very traditional in many ways (and Mrs. Harris was a formidable head-mistress!), Primary school held a few interesting surprises. One afternoon a week was spent listening to the above-mentioned Mrs. Harris as she read us a variety of interesting stories... sometimes an exciting MYSTERY, or time-honoured tales like Aesop's Fables, the Just-So Stories and Canterbury Tales. As 11 year olds, we also had great Art classes and one afternoon each week was spent learning needlework.

These lessons were reinforced at home by Mum and Nan.

And, somewhere along the way, I acquired a cast-off, Tartan-painted biscuit tin to keep my embroidery threads.

Nan and Mum were both very good at drawing but neither ever "did anything" with that talent. Mum worked in a number of the needle arts (tapestry, petit-point, crochet, tatting) but it was at knitting that she truly shone. As children, she made all our Fair Isle, Aran and more ordinary sweaters. She also knitted our son's beautiful christening gown from some incredibly fine wool which she brought over from England.

I remember spending hours after school working chain-stitches, lazy-daisies, stem and straight-stitches around outlines Mum or Nan had drawn... or filling in shapes with satin stitches or the Dreaded French Knots!

I now live in with my husband, Guy, and our lovely dog, Ceilidh

Our son, Marc is now living in the beautiful town of Banff, Alberta (near Lake Louise)