April walk - I've got a stitch

I work weekends but as the Museum of Making was closed on Easter Sunday I went for a stroll, what a treat. Blackthorn blossom, nettle, cleaver, wild garlic, celandine, wood anemone, rain, sun, hale - it was wonderful to walk well loved paths. 

This nettle growing by the side of a cattle trough (built into the wall of St John the Baptist's Chapel, Matlock Bath) has inspired the next embroidery on my 'I've got a stitch' shirt 🌱

i've got a stitch - linen shirt

Beginning in July 2025 I've taken days 'off' here are there to walk familiar routes around Matlock/Cromford in Derbyshire and note sights that stopped me in my tracks in wonder: hoping to catch a felt response before thought kicked in.

Wanting to work with a second hand shirt and embroidery threads I searched charity shops without luck, then 'won' this shirt & a bundle of threads on eBay. So far the wondrous sights are - magpie, raindrops in a puddle, lungwort, alder leaf, harebell, house martin, sherd, apple, hawthorn sprig (attached to my backpack and discovered by surprise), cone with tiny mushroom and sherd with feet!

I'll keep going until I know it's finished.

I've not had a studio space for 3 years now and no means to afford one, so this is how I'm keeping the flame of my practice alive. I keep the shirt hung up so I see it everyday.

In this cost of living crisis how do you keep your practice present, even if it's just a whisper?

Linen shirt

Inspiration for the next embroidery - sherd with feet