Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

‘ The Timelessness of Stitch’ was an invitational group exhibition at Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle NSW , 1 April  – 10 May 2026   ….  Across generations and cultures, the act of stitching has woven together stories, traditions and identities. Each thread carries not only aesthetic value but also the memories and emotions of those who crafted it, demonstrating how this simple act transcends time and place. I was honoured and humbled to be amongst the twenty-three artists (national and international) participating in this exhibition. My small installation took some time to develop…. Although I knew about this exhibition for some time, I kept procrastinating, going from one idea to another and not settling on any. Recently, I came across the word “mercator” and while a vague notion of maps was recalled, I really needed to research. Besides the modern commercial connections, Mercator has its origins in cartography, which Is often a source of inspiration for my ...

"How does your garden grow with stitch?" is an update on a post I published way back in 2015, when I stitched my first "impressionist garden" for a course I was studying at the Embroiderers' Guild.  Gardens are my constant inspiration for my artwork, and I create gardens in cloth  and stitch repetitively, using many different techniques. I am particularly fond of this heavily stitched embroidered "impressionist" garden.  In 2016, I stitched two small gardens in this style for an exhibition and they included photos of  my husband's grandmother and her brother and sister as children. Although the collector who bought these two works did not know our family, the children reminded him of his own family from England of about the same era. These two 'gardens'   have become my "stitch" reference and images which best showcase the technique although I don't have the originals any more.   Since then,  quite a few other gardens have gro...

  Since 2 August, I have dedicated  about 30 minutes to an hour each day to complete a stitching meditation. I have been focussing on the colours in my garden.... yellow has been predominant. So many plants in our garden have yellow flowers and with Spring and the coming Summer, these are eye catching.  Yellow is just one of those colours that shouts brightness, sunshine, and positivity - it is puzzling that it has also has such negative connotations.   Image below from  https://www.color-meanings.com/yellow-color-meaning-the-color-yellow/ Do you wear yellow?  . ..  yellow is well and truly the ultimate fashion trend when it comes to color of the year. As they do every year,  Pantone  met with the creative industries last December to decide on the star shade for the next 12 months. And, for the very first time, it was not one but two colours that the American color chart settled on. In 2020, in a desire to appease and a with certain need to b...