I love the way I get to travel teaching and exhibiting but being away for 7 weeks means I have to come home and pick up the pieces of life and work. It always feels strange at first, I don’t know whether to take it slow after a few hectic weeks away or to dive into new work as the creative juices have been on the back burner.

Well it is a mixture of both, I try to be logical and do the practical Must Do list first. Unpacking, reframing, catching up on emails and post.

Then finally I can move on to new embroideries, like the December Aurifil challenge! It’s great to be back and to be able to create my own work again.

The brief was a seasonal project. So I opted for an image inspired by a frosty morning in Shropshire. I decided on 5 x 7 inches as the overall size.

First of all a painted background using Deka silk paints and then choosing some threads. Aurifil 50w cotton is my favourite for this way of working.

It’s complete and all with just 2 types of stitches, straight stitch and zigzag. It is great to be home!