Not long! I think I bought my first hoop and did my first design in 2016? But then I set it aside for a long time. Sometime last year my manager treated me to an embroidery class and we went together, and within the 3 hours of the class I was the only student to finish the design. That's when I realised I could make much smaller things in a shorter amount of time just to practice, so since then I've made a little robot,some fish, a Buddha head, and a tapir.

This one's my most ambitious piece so far, and I'm still trying to figure my way through making embroidery designs. I'm not a good visual artist to start with, and being a perfectionist gets in the way. I really would like to be able to do double-sided designs, and lesser-known flowers like this butterfly pea, but I'm not that creative! So just flexing here and there for now. But it's pretty soothing so I think I'll just have to keep it up.