Flower Basket by Gwendolyn Sheppard

We have a very special guest blogger to welcome to Auribuzz today. Gwendolyn Sheppard became an AuriKid about 3 years ago and we’ve just loved watching her progress since then!

Her debut collection, Spool-en-dids, featured 10 delightfully bright colors of our Aurifloss, Gwen’s preferred thread for her stitching, which she’s now been doing for half of her life! Her second collection, Woodland Spool-en-dids, debuted at Fall Market last year and featured 10 small spools of 12wt thread.

Gwen’s mom, Wendy Sheppard is also an Aurifil Designer and they are quite the mother-daughter duo. We can’t say for sure if creativity is genetic, but seeing Wendy and Gwen create together makes us pretty certain that it is. We see wonderful things in the future for this talented young lady!

HUGE thanks to both Gwen and Wendy for making today’s post possible — we’re thrilled to showcase Gwen’s work and to celebrate her dedication to such a wonderful craft.

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Hello Everyone,  my name is Gwendolyn Sheppard.  It has been a little while, and I am happy to be back today to report to you what I have been up to since my last post.

Today, I have exciting news to share with you– my pillow ornament made an appearance in the May 2020 issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine! I hope this design is a fun one to stitch for kids my age.  I embellished my stitching with French wooden buttons to make the design more exciting.

My mom has a project in the same magazine! Her design is inspired by an antique quilt. Most of you know my Mom as a quilter. Did you know she is a needleworker as well? She told me the quilt version is coming – because she needs to add yet another quilt to the quilt stash I get to inherit from her.

I have had great fun working on my own cross stitch designs when my Mom allows me to do so. I have a free Flower Basket design to share with you today!

I love flowers, especially wild ones that come up in the woods behind our house this time of year.  I love to bring wildflowers for my Mom after playing outside. Click HERE to download the pdf.

My Mom turned my stitched pieced into a pillow ornament for my teacher.

You have probably seen my samplers in the past.

This past March, I was able to add a third sampler to my sampler wall in my parents’ house. This one took me about 3 months to stitch. The stitched part is about 13” x 15”. I represented my school in a regional contest in the textile category with this piece, and won first place.

I am looking forward to starting a new sampler after the school year is over.  I am going to stitch this doll house and modify it to fit the theme of my favorite book, A Little Princess.

Because of school, I have only been working on little things. I am currently stitching some fun embroidery designed by Mrs. Ache (Sanctuary SAL by Susan Ache – @yardgrl60 on Instagram). I like to add embellishing touches to the designs.  Here is one of the blocks.

I have had so much fun with the different things I have stitched.

If you are wondering what it takes to start a child in stitching – all you need are a few stitching necessities, and a bit of patience… well, maybe just a little bit more than a bit. My Mom dutifully and patiently cut and separated the strands, and tied off my threads for about two years when I first started.

Here is what I have in my stitching box – threads, a pair of scissors, floss winder, and my needle storage lipstick! I think every girl needs a lipstick for keeping her needles safe. The thread conditioner is optional, but I think it helps my threads from getting knotted up as I stitch.

I am most thankful to the sweetest people at Aurifil who have been cheering me on since I was little, and I am most excited to be an Aurikid.

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THREAD COLLECTION DETAILS
Woodland Spool-en-dids
10 Small Spools, 100% Cotton 12wt
2115, 1104, 2882, 2345, 4241
3910, 2021, 1133, 2145, 5018

To view this info on our website, click here. For purchasing, please contact your local Aurifil Dealer.

GWEN SHEPPARD

Gwen is the daughter of Aurifil Designer Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring. She started stitching with her mom 5 years ago and is already an incredibly skilled cross-stitcher. She stitched a magnificent sampler using threads from her AuriKids collection, a piece that we were honored to showcase in our booth Fall International Quilt Market in 2017. Gwen is just getting started on her creative journey and is turning her attention to quilting.

ABOUT WENDY
Website — Instagram
Originally from Southeast Asia, Wendy came to the US for her tertiary education.  After her degrees in Chemical Engineering, she worked in research in a wind tunnel for a spell.  Nowadays, she is a stay/work-at-home Mom to a 7 year old.  Wendy’s designs have been featured in major quilting publications, both home and abroad.  She is also an author for Landauer Publishing, as well as an online quilting instructor.  She is passionate about encouraging quilters to enjoy their quilting journey.  During her free time, she loves to read history, and indulges in hand needlework.