“Tapestries are so old fashioned”

well, they can be, but not if you buy a Fernsby Hall tapestry

I have known Catriona Hall since she was five. She was a gangly thin child with an infectious giggle, a unique dress sense and a huge artistic talent. I watched her grow into a tall, unusually dressed young woman with a talent to amuse as well as paint.

Her paintings have always been ‘primitive’ and were done originally to amuse her two young daughters. She doesn’t use the normal pastel colours though, but strong terracottas, browns, rusts, greys, yellows, greens and blues.

Having stitched since I was very young, I soon realised that they would make wonderful tapestry designs. Luckily Catriona thought so too, so Fernsby Hall tapestry kits was born.

I use the basic tent stitch, called needlepoint in America, but some times the designs need topstitching. I then use cross stitch, open chain stitch and more. Each kit has its own instruction leaflet explaining all the detail. There is also a photograph showing how the finished work will look.

Catriona is hugely helpful and always paints new pictures if I have ideas for her so Fernsby Hall tapestries are definitely not old fashioned! They can also be seen on Catriona’s web site catabox.co.uk where you can also see her stunning larger commissions.