Introduction

      I have been sewing and creating for as long as I can remember. I have wonderful early memories of my lovely mum making toys for the school fete at the dining-room table. There was always a large bowl filled with dolls’ eyes and animal noses, needles and threads, buttons and lace, fur and fabric, bits of stuffing and pattern remnants. Famous for her rag dolls and their beautifully embroidered faces, she always let me have first pick of her creations before donating the rest. I loved our regular trips to the shop with the glass-fronted drawers where she would buy me a tray cloth and threads to embroider it with, and I still have those early efforts today.

      I don’t really remember mum teaching me to sew; it was just always part of our everyday life, and sewing seemed such a natural thing for me to do. So when I became a mother, I adorned my four beautiful children with homemade toys, hand-sewn clothes and fancy dress costumes, and brought them up in the same environment as my mother had with me. Consequently, they are all very creative and able to occupy themselves for hours with a needle, thread and a scrap of fabric. Recently my eleven-year-old son astonished me with the gorgeous blanket stitch he had sewn on a Christmas decoration he had made for his sister. When I asked him who had taught him such a neat stitch, he replied, ‘No one, I just watched you’.

      My aim in this book is to encourage you to pick up a needle and thread; stitch something, make something – use it, give it, love it. Discover what a really great feeling it can be. The 20 project ideas featured are all quick-and-easy to make to allow you time to focus on embroidering the wonderful designs using just 11 simple stitches. There are eight great motif chapters to get you stitching, from bunnies to buttons and cooking to Christmas. I have chosen a classic colour scheme of taupe, cream and red so that your precious ‘makes’ will look just as good in ten years’ time as they do today. Begin by reading through Get Ready to Stitch, then pick up your needle and thread and get started. And always remember my motto:

      Sew what you like, like what you sew.