About your Hosts

Jenny Henry

As I sat down to draft up my mission statement for why I wanted to organize a UK stitching retreat I had to ask myself 2 questions. Why England and why stitching? I will answer the second question, “Why stitching?” in a roundabout way. I am an accidental stitcher. It was completely a fated path that led me into the world of needlepoint 27 years ago. At 23 years old I had just arrived in San Francisco with my friend. The ink was still drying on my fine arts degree and all I knew was that I wanted a job that was creative. My ambition was (is) to be a fine art painter. I had planned to work a day job to support my art and bohemian lifestyle. I accepted a job at Needlepoint Inc. in San Francisco as a needlepoint painter. I knew nothing about needlepoint or painting or designing needlepoint but learned on the job. I did paint my own work some evenings and belonged to a cooperative pottery studio where I would throw pots in the evenings and on weekends. The bohemian lifestyle was strong back then. But after I got married, bought a house and had kids I found myself focusing on how to pay the bills and dedicated long hours painting, designing and selling my needlepoint designs. It was always my job and never my hobby and that is how I approached it. About 10 years ago my anxiety got really bad and I realized I needed to change my lifestyle. One of the lifestyle changes I made was that I switched my business model from focusing on handpainted needlepoint canvases sold to the trade to needlepoint kits and beginner projects focusing on the mindfulness and the meditative qualities of the stitch sold directly to the customer. It was also then that I truly became a stitcher.

Why England? About 10 years ago, at the same time kits were at the top of my business agenda, I decided to make a trip to England and get to know their needlepoint (tapestry) kit based stitching culture better. My Dad who was born and raised in London and my 8 year old son were my travel companions. It was on this trip that I met one of our hosts, Emily Peacock and ironically I did also meet Emma Homent on that same trip (other host) but more in a sliding doors kind of way. My formal introduction to Emma would come a few years later. It was then that I was introduced to the printed canvas but it would take years for it to catch on in the states and transform my business. Stitching aside, England felt like home in a way I could not explain except that perhaps part of my DNA was recognizing this as a part of me. I would go back 3 more times before Covid hit. My Dad came on each of those trips with me. He is not well enough to travel anymore and I am very sad at the idea of traveling there without him. For me, England is part of my relationship with my Dad. That is why it is so dear to me.

I started talking with Michele a couple years ago about Mindfulness and my desire to create retreats using needlepoint as a vehicle to inspire community and healing. I struggle with anxiety and started to say so out loud in my Instagram posts. I started the Mindfulness Collection, a needlepoint series of canvases printed in the UK designed simplistically to evoke mindfulness and with imagery that would be broad enough to connect with a variety of people and circumstances. In the past couple of years Michele and I have struck up a friendship and business relationship. We agreed last year to launch Stitch Break to bring to life some of these visions. One of these visions is to create retreats that embody values that are important to us, like building community and using stitching to improve our mental health. These values will be woven into every aspect of our retreats.

This UK retreat is going to be very special in a bucket list kind of way. In planning the retreat we focused on building community, wellness, education and celebrating British culture and history.

Michele Kay-Greene

 

For me, life has been a series of curve balls and the colors of my dreams have changed so dramatically over time. I tend fall into things before I realize that this is a good thing for me. My studies in school were leading me elsewhere and with no jobs available, I switched gears repeatedly.

To own a shop was never a dream, it was never a vision, in fact, it was the opposite. But I fell into it, and it has been the best time of my life.

While I was always artsy and crafty, I abandoned art school and found a more practical route (my father would disagree). I applied to grad school and even took my LSATs to perhaps go to Law school. My master’s degree is all about Public Administration and college programming on a global level.  I was going to change the world - at least so I thought.  But life had other plans and even though my dreams have shifted, and I am not changing the world through academics, I am hopefully helping others follow their passion and creating their own master pieces through the needle arts. 

I did not stitch before I bought the store in fact, I did not even know what Needlepoint was. My grandmother had taught me how to hook as a child with the strips of wool and a hook, but I never really got into it. I may have a little later in life but not at 6, 10 or 20 years old. However, 10 years later since I purchased the store, I stitch – It brings me peace. It is a place where I can drift into my own little creative sector and just be.

What is incredibly important to me is inclusivity and community. These two ideas are what I hold near and dear to my heart. It allows me to be authentic and inviting. It allows others to be open and have no fears when it comes to branching out into something that may be unknown.

I always say even though a canvas is painted, the masterpiece comes about with your interpretation. You are the master of your own destiny. We are all unique and the way we see color and design is different – embrace it. It’s a good thing. Enjoy the journey.

Xoxo

Michele

 

Emma Homent 

My Mum taught me to needlepoint when I was about 6 or 7yrs old.
It's the way for a lot of us, learning at the feet of our peers, us all young and full of excitement at something new. And as we're little we're afforded mistakes, mishaps, learning our own way.
But somehow as we get older we get harder on ourselves, beating ourselves up if we don't get things right on the first try, the 'needlepoint police' don't help in this regard. 
We can often be told there is a 'right way' and a 'wrong way' to stitch. Well obviously there are things you want to avoid, like big knots on the back of your work, but really, truly if the front looks good then, it's all good. 
And even when a canvas turns out not exactly how you wanted it to look when it was finished, it's just showing your stages of learning, your journey stitching the piece, and there's value in that.
When I wrote my first needlepoint book I wanted it to be as accessible as possible, colour photographs, clear charts, and simply written steps, but also fun. And isn't fun the whole point, well that and the therapy it gives us. 
So when you join me in my stitch retreat class expect a lot of fun stitching in a relaxed atmosphere, a safe space to ask all the questions, where mistakes are totally allowed; heck they're encouraged, how else are we going to invent new stitches! 

Emily Peacock

My intention with my design work and my teaching is to bring you every gift that needlepoint has brought to me.

I came into this world a Maker and when needlework became my chosen life path, I quickly learned that there was so much possibility in a craft that, in my opinion, had become a little stagnant.
I started designing when I lived in France and, feeling very out of place, started looking for subject matter that could make a good design. I found this quite difficult and ideas would come in fits and starts. It was only when I realized that I needed to look no further than my own taste and life experience, that things really took off.
As a needlepoint designer I try not to fall into the trap of thinking I'm a brand. This is too restrictive and creates a sense of duty and uniformity to what I do. I think of myself as an ever evolving designer who will go where the joy and inspiration takes me.
As well as pouring my love of color, large scale, typography and quirkiness into my designs, I also love to help others discover their own style. Running needlepoint design courses is an absolute joy for me. Needlepoint can be anything you decide to make it and most of the time I find that people only need permission to truly be themselves. It's very much an embodied process - feeling the enthusiasm, loving the shape and scale, getting excited at the color choices, enjoying the rhythmic process of stitching. You are the unique creator and it is all inside you waiting to be unlocked.
Over the years I have been asked to mass produce my designs, but I have never agreed to this. I am devoted to the handmade and the human wherever possible. This is not only a counterbalance to the increasingly technological and homogenized world, but also because needlepoint brings focus, calm and, as I know you know, great personal pleasure