I was delighted to be invited by the prestigious ‘CELC’ - The European Confederation of Flax and Hemp - whose magnificent headquarter’s are based in Paris, to be an ambassador for their ‘I LOVE LINEN’ campaign, 2021. Firstly it was lovely to be found and have recognition for my work, appreciation, promotion and designs in linen. They promote European linen that has very strict standards and two of the places that I go to for my most upmarket range of Irish Linen fabrics, ‘Stoker Mills’ and ‘Fergusons of Banbridge’ are both certified by their ‘Masters of Linen’, a registered mark and sign of excellence for linen 100% Made in EUROPE, from field to yarn to fabric. As part of our partnership they have kindly supplied me with flax seed sachets to share with my customers, to encourage growing this wonderful plant at home. It will take a little bit more time for me myself as I am currently renovating a heritage home. Reviving the neglected rose garden is nearly done and the next step is to sew my flax seeds and I can’t wait. I’ve been watching the garden all seasons for a complete year now to identify the best spot to do this in, and I think I’ve finally found my patch. There’s nothing more I love than visiting a local flax field in the summer months to enjoy and take snaps in the flowering crop and it will be so nice to finally have own little harvest underway. I always take some mementos back home to experiment with in my product shots, whether it be the delicate blue flax flower for my flower press, gorgeous little seed pods or dried straw.