Hoop-La! Feature | 20 Facts About Me

I am in the latest issue of Hoop-La magazine with my 'Love Without Reason' embroidery! Hoop-La is a new UK magazine with a focus on contemporary embroidery, and a sister publication to Mollie Makes. If you haven't come across it yet, keep an eye out for it. It's packed to the brim with stitchy goodness!

My inspiration behind this embroidery was 'Mother's Love' so the timing of this feature is perfect with Mother's Day approaching here in Australia. The design itself is very simple, so even beginner stitchers should have little trouble with it.

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Recently I got tagged on Instagram to share 20 facts about myself . Since I don't talk about myself much on the blog, I thought it may be fun to share them here too! So without further ado, here are some random facts you may not  know about me. The version I had on Instagram was the abridged version, I have added some more detail here.

1. I'm 42 and married with two kids, aged two (Alice) and four (Alexander).

2. My name (Sedef) is Turkish and means 'mother of pearl'. I love my name! Though I don't love having to spell it all the time.

3. Alice's middle name is Pearl, there was really never any other choice when it came to picking out a middle name for her (see point 2)

4. I was born in Turkey so Turkish is my first language. Though I rarely use it these days.

5. I moved to England for university and lived in London for almost 20 years before moving to Australia in 2009.

6. My husband is English, we have been together 11 years, married for 6.

7.  We decided to move to Australia after we fell in love with this country during our trip from London to Sydney, on bicycles. We cycled almost 25,000 km, raised over £10,000 for charity, and spent a year on the road during 2004/5. More info and pics can be found on our blog, Nuts on Bents.

8. I am not and have never been a cyclist, except that year of my life.

9. I am a qualified Chartered Accountant and in my previous life in London I was a Director at a big investment bank in the City (JP Morgan Chase), and a management consultant at Deloitte prior to that. I was a stereotypical City / finance career girl, living in high heels and sharp suits, permanently attached to my Blackberry and working 80 hour weeks. I am still working similar hours, but in my jim-jams from the comfort of my own home.

10. I am a self-taught sewing rookie. Bought my first sewing machine 3 years ago and learned to crochet 2 years ago. I love learning new techniques and trying out different stuff!

11. I can't eat raw butter, it makes me gag.

12. I am a closet computer game geek. I especially love point-and-click style adventure games, but enjoy shoot-em-ups too, which I am told I am pretty good at!

13. I hate insects, especially spiders, but don't mind snakes.

14. I am a bit of an OCD neat and clean freak, I can't stand mess around the house. So imagine how much fun I have every day, constantly tidying after two messy pre-schoolers.

15. My husband and I collect Lego. We have a large Lego city including all different types of buildings, and intend to start exhibiting next year.

16. I am not a morning person, so often stay up till early hours designing and sewing. Feel like a zombie the next morning. Repeat.

17. I leave everything till the last minute, I am a big believer in 'work expands to take up the time available'.

18. I watch TV in the background as I sew and go through full seasons of TV series in a few days. We just got Netflix and am currently on a Gilmore Girls marathon.

19. I am a Star Trek fan, especially Voyager. Even if my husband says it's the series where they let the woman drive the spaceship and they end up lost in the delta quadrant! Captain Janeway is my ultimate role model.

20. My biggest dream right  now is to get a craft book published, followed closely by designing my own fabric line.

And there you have my facts! Hope they weren't too boring!