Creative Influence

Today’s blog prompt: Tell your blog readers about someone who has been a creative influence in your life -- a crafty mum, aunt or grandparent, an influential school teacher or a friend who brought out your creative side, perhaps.

There have been a number of people over the years who have had some creative influence in my life.

My Mum - though she may not believe this. I remember her having to make my school uniforms when I started school - she sewed my dresses and knitted my cardigans.

My Dad - whose love of photography I'm sure I inherited. I started taking photos quite early on and have always loved keeping albums. Dad was also very talented at building scale model boats.

Perhaps one of the most influential people was my Mum's friend, Lois Edwards. My younger brother, Robin, and I used to go round to the Edwards house after school sometimes and Lois was the one who started me crocheting. By the time I was about 10 I was crocheting baby matinee jackets and selling them to the teachers at school. I think she was also the one who taught me to knit.

When I went to High School I took Housekeeping to matric and that was where I really learnt to sew. I had to make a three piece suit and blouse for my matric exam. I continued sewing, making clothes, when Hugh and Claire were little.

When we came to England making clothes didn't make as much sense because you could buy everything quite inexpensively and material was more expensive, so I stopped sewing. I took it up again a few years ago when I joined a patchwork class. Jennie Lewis was my teacher and had a huge influence on me. I still enjoy patchwork and quilting but haven't done any for a while. It's certainly something I will go back to.

Mum and I did a few card making classes at Sussex Crafts in Cuckfield and the teacher, Fiona, was inspiring. I made cards from time to time and was asked to teach a few classes at Creative Pastimes after giving one to Theresa for her birthday.

When on holiday in Chicago, my sister-in-law, Liz, told me about scrapbooking and I read the book by the founders of Creative Memories. I bought some supplies and brought them back with me and that's how I started scrapbooking. I love the Simple Scrapbook magazines as my style is very simple. I'm not a big one for adding embelishments and I've learnt that that's ok.

I love that we are surrounded by creative people and hope I can continue to learn from them.

xx