Australian Bush
This piece was worked for the challenge section of the Ballarat Embroiderer's Guild's Beaches to Bush Exhibition in March 2006. It is worked on a hand dyed habutai silk background with painted mulberry bark applied for the trunk of the tree. The leaves are embroidered in double sided brick stitch and are then applied to wired branches made also of mulberry bark. The Emperor Gum Moth has detached wings of silk highlighted with spangles and coloured purl, a body of purl and antennae made from emu feathers.
The Seadragons
The Seadragons (detail of) were commissioned by Dr Susanna Herd in February 2004. Dr Herd launched the Royal Australian Navy's latest frigate HMAS Ballarat in 2002, and presented the Navy with The Seadragons at the commissioning ceremony of the ship in June 2004. A symbolic piece of embroidery, it was embroidered in goldwork to represent the history of gold in Ballarat (my home town). The Weedy Seadragon is Victoria's marine emblem and so tied our state in with the Navy. The Leafy Seadragon was embroidered to represent Australia. Both Seadragons are indigenous to Australian waters. The background is hand dyed silk and the seaweed is made of machine embroidered yarn.
Bek's Cushion
This is my darling Rebekah and her cushion which she designed herself while a beautiful young girl. After Bek designing the cushion and painting and steaming the silk herself, I stretched the frame for her to work her embroidery. She then made it up into the cushion on my sewing machine. It was then exhibited with the Embroiderers' Guild of America Youth Exhibit and won first place in the children's embroidery section at the Royal Melbourne Show.
Australian Floral Wreath
The Australian Floral Wreath was designed as the major raffle prize for The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria (Australia) annual member exhibition in 2019. The piece features a range of Australian native wildflowers embroidered in dimensional Goldwork embroidery on a background of olive green silk dupion.
Deer Floral
Deer Floral was embroidered as a sample of traditional Stuart period Stumpwork embroidery techniques as an example for my students in the Stumpwork Masterclass. The piece is approximately 20cm x 30cm
The Peacock
The Peacock is a Stumpwork design that also featured mainly traditional Stuart period techniques - I cheated with the felt padding this time rather than a linen slip! This piece was featured in the first A Passion For Needlework book by Inspirations Publications
Through Grandma's Window
Through Grandma's Window was designed by my beautiful Bek on the train on her way to Uni! I don't know how she could draw a perfect circle on the go - but she did! Little Red Riding Hood is sitting in a clearing, talking to the wolf, who is appearing from behind a tree. This was part of a set of three designs - the others were commissioned by me to stitch. Raven's View was the second and I'm yet to embroider the third.
Gentleman's Night Cap
This piece is a faithful representation of a panel from a Gentleman's Night Cap in the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust Museum Collection. It was taught while touring England with Lady Anne's Needlework Tours - the workshop culminating in the museum with the original night cap sitting on the classroom table! The piece is worked in Elizabethan silk and metal techniques on a linen ground.
Butterfly Study
This piece features a highly detailed Stumpwork embroidered butterfly worked in silks on silk and three studies of sections of the wings worked in Goldwork embroidery using gilt and coloured threads.
It was worked for the Butterflies, Bugs and Bees Exhibition at Kozminsky Jewellers, Melbourne in August, 2010.
As yet unsold, it graces my walls. Please contact me if you would like to purchase it
Price $700.00
Wildflowers of Hepburn
Designed for Inspirations Studio's A Passion for Needlework 4 - The Whitehouse Daylesford, this fully three dimensional embroidered soft sculpture features four Australian wildflowers of the Hepburn region. Slender Sun Orchid, Salmon Sun Orchid, Bulbine Lily and Native Flax. The piece is worked in a range of silks to be as botanically accurate as possible.
Tudor Border
This Goldwork Tudor Border was taught on a Lady Anne's Needlework Tour of England in 2019. It is worked in gilt and silver threads on a luscious silk velvet background.
Anne's Butterfly
I just had to put this in my gallery section. I designed this Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly to teach at my first Embroiderers Guild of America Seminar in 2014 - Anne was in that workshop. She finished the piece and entered it in the 2023 Iowa State Fair and won the Blue ribbon. She was then asked to exhibit it (as shown here) at the Smithsonian at a special exhibition highlighting America's history of State Fairs!
A Moment in Time
This is a detail shot of a sampler that I designed and embroidered during covid using the words that I heard on the nightly news. In the style of traditional English schoolgirl samplers, I replaced alphabets with cliches, spot motifs with Emojis and floral borders with Youtube links of my favourite comedians during lockdown. The hem - frayed at the edges - like we all were! This piece won second place at the Australian Textile Art Awards in 2022.
A Moment in Time
The whole sampler hanging on my wall. Stitched in a colourway representing Australia's traffic light system of closures and lockdowns and with a single Omicron tag hanging from the bottom - I fully expected to add more!