I've been embroidering since I was very small. My Czech grandmother, probably to keep a bratty, active 2 or 3-year-old out of her hair, started teaching me to embroider so young that I don't remember the process of learning the stitches. I've done most kinds of embroidery, needlepoint and quilting and tried many kinds of laces and macramé, but I'm pretty bad at crochet and hopeless at knitting! I like all kinds of crafts and sewing and my glue bottle and sewing machine are rarely still. In fact, I'm the only person I know who has worn out four sewing machines....

I got into blackwork at about the same time that I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism, a historical re-creation group that researches and re-creates the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I didn't do more than take a class or two at first, being a busy mom (I’ve had six kids) but when I came down with pneumonia in early 1992, I took the time to go over the materials and then I was hooked!

In the Society for Creative Anachronism, I'm a musician and a merchant, and I go by the name of Anja, my nickname from when I was a child.

So now you know who I am and what I do. You can contact me here.

Happy stitching!