Finally, I’m unpacking my studio. Amongst the many boxes of fabrics and threads, there is a box of notebooks from my last few years teaching in the UK. Each is filled with teaching ideas and sketches of projects for the year ahead, notes on meetings, dates of house duties etc… Every single one of them has comments such as: “I have to go and live in Castiglione”…..”What can I do to get to Italy?”…. “Is it just a silly dream? Have I left it too late?”….. And here I am, in Castiglione, surrounded by the books I’ve had for decades, embroidery needles I’ve had since I was a student… The day before my Mum died I asked if she’d enjoyed her life. Her whispered answer: “I’ve had a wonderful life!” and she urged me to “Live YOUR life, nobody else’s”…..And here I am…..
