About Kay and Michael
When Kay was 4 her parents were moving house and decided that little fingers (who were unpacking things faster than her parents could pack them!) should be packed off to stay with two Aunts living on the south coast. Little did anyone know that those few days would start two passions that would follow Kay through her life, namely embroidery and the love of animals and especially birds. Kay's Aunt taught her the very basic steps of embroidery and from that school lessons in stitching came a major part of her life.
In the late sixties Kay attended a textile course and as part of that course studied the basic techniques of needlelace. Although running a home and having a full time job took over for several years, the kindling interest of needlelace remained.
In 1983 she had the opportunity to attend a specialised needlelace class. For the following two years Kay made very little else other than needlelace and started teaching the craft to local groups. As time went on, and her reputation grew, groups around the country started to book her to teach their groups.
It was through needlelace that she first came across stumpwork in 1989. Stumpwork embroidery enables Kay to put embroidery and needlelace together. After studying stumpwork in depth she started to teach this beautiful and fascinating form of embroidery.
In 1997 after taking redundancy from employment, stumpwork embroidery became her full time occupation. In that same year Michael excepted early retirement from his full time employment and became a professional Woodturner.
Kay and Michael, live and work in a leafy suburb of London on the edge of the Hertfordshire and Middlesex countryside which is where the inspiration for many of her embroideries originate from.
Each of her embroideries is unique. Although she works in a traditional style, with the use of needlelace, embroidery, sometimes machine embroidery and modern day materials, they have the appearance of a 21st century design.
Kay now teaches at private groups around the country including branches of the Embroiderers Guild. She also works for Adult Colleges, including Knuston Hall and Missenden Abbey, and at Hampton Court. In 1997 she began teaching the City & Guilds 7822 Stumpwork syllabus at Missenden Abbey. The following year Kay wrote the syllabus for the Level 1 (the old 7722 syllabus) and in the following year wrote the Level 3 Syllabus (formally 7922). Kay continued to teach all levels of City & Guilds stumpwork until recently when the syllabus changed. Two of her students have, from the 7822 courses, gained their Medals for Excellence from City & Guilds.
Kay has written articles for textile related magazines and in 2001/02 was featured in "Stitch with the Embroiderers Guild" followed by an article on stumpwork.
Her first book "Stumpwork for Beginners" was published by Search Press in 2001.
In 2003/4 Michael began to suffer from the effects of wood dust created during the turning process and despite trying all forms of filtration systems the problem continued. This led to him giving up woodturning but he kept the equipment in case he wanted to turn the odd project.
In 2004, due to an increase in my workload, Michael joined her in a partnership to help out. Apart from driving her, helping out at those classes where there was a lot of travelling and assisting to give talks on stumpwork, he has been instrumental in the provision of drawings for the books and now writes a number of student notes.
Our second book "Stumpwork Figures" was published in the Spring of 2006. This has been followed by a third book entitled "Stumpwork Seasons" published in October 2007.
In September of 2005 we started a company entitled KAY DENNIS STUMPWORK. Between 2005 and 2010 we sold supplies for stumpwork, kits, books, booklets and notelets.
In 2006 Michael realised that he was probably not ever going to turn again and disposed of all his woodturning equipment. This was replaced by some professional Frame making equipment to enable him to offer a specialised framing service to embroiderers. (See Framing page)
In 2010 Michael decided, having reached the grand old age of 65, that he wanted to retire from the business and concentrate on his hobbies of gardening and photography. We no longer sell the supplies but we do have kits, booklets, our books and notelets for sale.(See the kits page) Michael continues to help Kay where needed.
At the end of 2009 Kay was asked by the National Trust in Wiltshire to reproduce 6 motifs from two mirror frames held at Lytes Carey Manor House in Somerton. The N.T. not only wanted the motifs but also asked if story boards could be made showing the public how the motifs were made - all before the Manor House opened in March 2010, just 4 months away. It was a huge undertaking as the N.T. wanted the motifs to be made as near to traditional as possible. 5 were completed on time and the fifth was sent a couple of weeks later. The response by the public was enormous so Kay was asked if she would put on two study days in September, overall teaching 33 students the delights of stumpwork.
Following a request to teach a class Elizabethan Embroidery and Goldwork, Kay has now added both of these forms of embroidery to her repertoire.
Kay continues to evolve, developing 3D embroidery, using 'forgotten stitches' and combining stumpwork and goldwork, but remains passionate about traditional Stumpwork.