Important embroidery life events and experiences

What’s the most important thing you’ve done or that has happened to you in terms of your embroidery?

I have one of each.

The most important thing I have ever done in terms of my embroidery was to send out a press release to Australian publishers of craft books, when I won the Nordic Needle Annual Hardanger Design Contest, back in 2000. That is how my whole “accidental career” of writing books about embroidery started, as two of them suggested that I should write a book on Hardanger. (I had just thought I could contribute to a book they were working on. It never occurred to me to write one myself!)

The most important thing that happened to me in terms of my embroidery was when I was about 12 years old: my parents gave me a copy of the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlecraft. I used to work my way through it, learning and trying all sorts of different things.

So what’s the most important thing you’ve done or that has happened to you in terms of your embroidery?