Hello fellow stitchers,
I am Caroline Seldon and have always lived in Hampshire England, Jane Austen county.
My life has been woven and stitched together with patches of time when my hobbies have been prominent. This started as a child with my Nana and Mum teaching me to embroider, sewing and knitting. I took extra exams at school to study embroidery, then dressmaking, fabric printing and weaving at college with the aim of heading to the London School of Art.
My path in life changed, but I wanted to blend work and hobby so qualified as a teacher. I used this skill to develop workshops around my hobby and share these skills at workshops in the local college. My life collided big style with my hobby again when travelling to Australia, falling in love with their form of quilting, applique and embroidery. I started to take more interest, travelling to events in the USA regularly as well as Europe and Japan.
My stitching friends encouraged me to design and share, Swallick Stitchery was born and my first design was published in 2016 CrossStitch magazine – "Christmas Ornament edition" and I have continued to publish in that magazine. I love Christmas and love creating these small and simple ornaments. For those who wonder where the name came from, Swallick was the farm my grandpa worked for 64 years before he died. Dear to our hearts with lots of memories playing with cousins, what a great playground.
More recently my passion for art and design has sparked and I have started looking at textile art, but I really enjoy creating counted needlework using various techniques and stitches.
Haystack Stitching was born honouring both sides of my family. My grandparents both had backgrounds in farming, one arable and the other bull farming.
Haystack Stitching successfully debuted some of our designs at Nashville Needlework Market in March 2020 and returned in 2023 and 2024.
Haystack Stitching was part of the team that created the first Big Stitch event to the UK in 2024. The next Big Stitch event is being planned for 2026.