KATE TAYLOR My name is Kate Taylor and I have always made things. I learnt dress-making at my mother’s knee and had my first sewing machine when I was about 10. Apart from making the occasional ball dress my creative skills lay dormant during my teens and early twenties. I only got back into crafting whilst helping to make things for my daughter’s nursery Christmas fair. This time my interest was patchwork and quilting, but soon evolved to textiles in general. . To this end I did my City and Guilds in patchwork and quilting, both part 1 and 2. When my children were small I taught crafts at the family workshop in Totnes before returning to nursing, and also gained the City and Guilds qualification in teaching adults. I am a member of a textile group called Textile 901 and we often have exhibitions. A few years ago we decided to hold an outdoor exhibition. Initially I was going to make a piece of work out of carrier bags, but then for some reason decided to knit flowers in wire. I loved working with wire and started thinking about other things that could be done and so moved over to making jewellery. Thus an addiction was born! My textile group friends and being very supportive considering I have hardly sat at a sewing machine since, and have converted one of the other members to beading. I am thrilled that my daughter Polly is starting a textile degree in September. I live in Dartington with my long suffering husband Charlie, daughters Rosie and Polly, and son Freddie. I also have a “day job” as a practice nurse.