I began creating my own embroidery designs early on as there weren’t any patterns for the ideas in my head – and quickly realised others were looking for similarly modern designs. So I began creating PDF patterns, like the ones you’ll find in my shop.

I started selling these patterns while living in London, UK, but now work from my home studio in Cape Town, South Africa. I grew up with needles and thread as my mother's family all stitched, sewed, knitted and crocheted; the hand embroidery bug bit later in life, and it stuck. This love of needlework and a background in media and publishing gave me the skills I needed to create my needlework design business.

In addition to my Etsy shop, I do editorial work for magazines and publishers around the world and have contributed to various books, plus authored my own – Embroidered Home (Kyle Books, UK) / Kirjottu Kissa (Makela, Finland) and Embroidery for Everyone (Quarto, US) – and created two downloadable books to help you learn how to do this style of embroidery, called 120 Embroidery Stitches and Embroidery Tips, Tricks & Techniques.

Stitch formation and structure interest me and I try to use the many surface embroidery stitches available to “build” my designs. So you’ll find a lot of different stitches in my patterns, which I get the sense you’re enjoying learning. Some of them are straightforward, others I’ve unearthed from old stitch books or adapted to get a certain look.

If just one of my designs gets you to pick up a needle and do some hand embroidery, then my work is done. And hopefully I’ve given you a good few hours of embroidering pleasure.

To see my books and some of the editorial projects I've worked on, visit www.kfneedleworkdesign.com.