I am a mother of 4 adult sons, 3 married. I have 6 grandsons and a new granddaughter. I enjoy most crafts, from sewing, to knitting, to scrapbooking and card making. The sewing involves all forms, dressmaking, patchwork & quilting, embroidery, cross stitch and smocking. Now that I have a granddaughter, I am keen to get back into smocking as it is something I enjoyed from the day my mother-in-law taught me some 24 years ago. I knit more than ... Read Full Bio »

I am a mother of 4 adult sons, 3 married. I have 6 grandsons and a new granddaughter. I enjoy most crafts, from sewing, to knitting, to scrapbooking and card making. The sewing involves all forms, dressmaking, patchwork & quilting, embroidery, cross stitch and smocking. Now that I have a granddaughter, I am keen to get back into smocking as it is something I enjoyed from the day my mother-in-law taught me some 24 years ago. I knit more than anything as it is easy to pick up when I am watching TV at the end of the day, when travelling (as a passenger) or away & at any other time when I have free hands. A number of years ago I learnt knit socks which I love to wear. In the past year, with the help of the Donna Druchanus 'knit sock workshop', I have learnt to knit the socks from the toe up which I love, as I really don't like doing Kitchener stitch. I was very fortunate to have a mum who had learnt to knit and sew as a child and it was rare that she would be without a needle of some sort in her hand at the end of the day. Even today, in her late 70's, mum still is always knitting or sewing although most of her sewing is patchwork & quilting. She, in turn, taught me the basics of knitting and sewing. Most of my knitting and sewing journey is self taught with a few exceptions as it has often been out of necessity that I have learnt new skills in these crafts. I started scrapbooking when the craze started in Australia and I plan to do a scrapbook for myself, each of my boys and for the first 12 months of my grandchildren's lives. I have mine started, along with my 3rd son and his 1st son! A long way to go I think, I have also added cardmaking to the mix as I love the more personalized product at the end of the day regardless of the time it takes. Now I work on whichever craft I wish to at any given time. With a girl in the family at last, I plan to get back into the smocking and dressmaking as I have been assured that Isabella will be dressed as a girl AND her parents are quite happy for me to create some garments for her to wear at any time. What a lovely task! So, that is me in a large nut shell. I will try and add my latest pair of socks to my project list so you can see how they have come up. I am thrilled as I have been able to make them short as I cannot wear long socks, and I find they always slip down.