A Stitcher's Garden

It's 2 years now since we moved into The Fiveways area and I started to plan and make a brand new garden with help from my husband.

I had grand ideas from books and magazines that I had been pouring over for months before we had even moved in. I discovered Piet Oudorf and his prairie inspired gardens and the romantic in me wanted to follow that style. But then reality stepped in and the daunting task of designing a new garden began to overwhelm me.

My previous garden had been a 30ft by 90 ft plot behind a granite 100+ year old townhouse.

Over 30 years of trying to get plants to grow in the tired sandy soil had muted my expectations of what sort of gardener I could be.

The number of plants that entered and then promptly disappeared in the night either due to inhospitable weather, lack of nutrients or the onslaught of the healthy hordes of snails was huge. But after perseverance I had managed to work out what would thrive and what I liked. I began to choose plants for colour, shape and ease of growing.

This is how I work with fabric and thread. I use instinct and happenstance to guide me and I'm not afraid to try new things and change things if they don't work.

This new challenge then filled me with excitement to get creative and get started but also apprehension as i didn't know where to start.