JOY, BLOOM, THRIVE.

Could this be the new and improved alternative to live, laugh, love?

I’m not sure that I’ve ever said this to anyone beyond my close circle of friends, but I’m really not a fan of the phrase ‘live, laugh love’.

Maybe it’s because it is so overused now that it has kind of lost its meaning? Or maybe it’s just that I’ve seen a few too many versions of it crafted from questionable fonts on a variety of random objects? Who knows?! All I know is that it’s never really worked for me as a motivational phrase. It’s a quote that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

Despite this, it’s true that I do love a motivational quote! I use them in my work all the time, because the process of sewing them is joyful, and then they’re on display as beautiful reminders too. I know that a quote isn’t going to fix everything, but I do believe that there are times when the right words can really give you a boost. So in theory, you’d think I should be more in tune with the old live, laugh, love, but I can’t do it.

Just out of interest, I Googled the phrase to find out about the origins and discovered this article on elephant.art which sums it up brilliantly. The original quote is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, when in fact it’s actually adapted from a poem called Success by Bessie Anderson Stanley. The poem opens as follows:

“He has achieved success / who has lived well, / laughed often, and loved much.”

Bessie Anderson Stanley (1904) cited in Pollard (2022)

It was really interesting to read about this, because the phrase has become so commercialised over the past two decades. Its origins weren’t in selling, but like many things it has become a symbol of commercialism in lots of ways. A short, snappy phrase that gets us through hard times. It has become a helpful phrase that you can whack on everything.

When I started working on my second book, The Modern Embroidery Handbook, the first project that I designed was my BLOOM hoop. It was the follow-up to JOY for Workshop Week in 2022, and I realised that I wanted to make a trilogy of hoops in this series. I mentioned the idea to my friends Louise and Daria, and we joked that this could be my new live, laugh, love. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that this wasn’t such a bad idea after all!

Originally, I had the idea to stitch the word ‘FLOURISH’ because I wanted to reflect the idea of sustained growth and development alongside JOY and BLOOM. But when it came to designing the hoop, it just didn’t work. I couldn’t ignore that fact that I kept reading it as ‘FLOUR-ISH’, as in ‘a little bit like flour’ - and that really wasn’t what I was going for! After a bit of consideration, I decided to change it to THRIVE and the trilogy felt complete.

So what does JOY, BLOOM, THRIVE mean to me?

These three words have come to represent how I want to live my life, and I want them to shape my perspective. Inspired by the brilliant Clare Venus fromSparkle on Substack I decided to write some journal prompts to really get into what they actually represent for me:

JOY - finding happiness in the small, everyday things, and creating more space for joyful moments. Taking time to make sure I’m not pouring from an empty cup in order to appreciate these moments. Finding time for creativity which always brings me happiness.

BLOOM - giving myself space and permission to grow, so that I can be the best possible version of myself. Knowing that setting boundaries to protect my peace enables me to bloom.

THRIVE - flourishing, being resilient and acknowledging that I can still be my best without being perfect. Also knowing that the long-term work that I’ve done on myself can take time to come to fruition, so it’s accepting that thriving is a long-term goal rather than a short-term one.

Having settled on these three words, I knew that this would become a really positive project for me. I never envisaged it developing like this when I originally stitched JOY, but that’s one of the things I love about the creative process. Being open to change, mistakes and learning over the past few years has meant I’ve learnt to trust myself more. When you really lean into that, that’s where the magic happens.

The subtitle of this post is ‘Could this be the new live, laugh, love?’ and I think it’s my personal version of it, but I’m not planning to stick it on everything I can think of - I promise! I realise there’s irony in me selling the pattern for this project having spoken about the commercial nature of live, laugh love 😂 but I have to concede that this is my job and that’s okay! Keeping some projects for myself is important, but it makes sense to make the trilogy of patterns complete for you to stitch too.

The design process

The design for this hoop didn’t come to me straight away; I had another period of feeling stuck with my creativity during the summer of 2023. It’s hard to trust the creative process during these times, and I felt really stuck. I didn’t know where I was going or what the next focus would be for me, and after everything that happened with my old studio (see this post) I think I just needed time to work out what that was. Just because I know I need to lean into trusting the process, it doesn’t mean I get it right every time.

Despite a number of difficult life things happening in 2023, I think I produced some really great work under pressure and that was a surprise to me. And I don’t big myself up usually! I finished my second book, went through the editing process, and worked on numerous commissions for Love Embroidery magazine. I just didn’t feel like I knew what the next big thing was going to be. It made me realise that I’ve always had something to be working on during the many different stages of my working life so far. It felt weird not to have that.

That next big thing turned out to be my embroidery subscription! One of the things I learnt in 2023 was that taking time out and giving myself space to just be, to sit with that space and lean into it, because it’s where I do my best thinking. That’s when creativity often strikes, when I’ve rested and given myself space. It isn’t easy when there’s so much life stuff to juggle, but trying to prioritise it is important. JOY, BLOOM, THRIVE is the outcome when I actually do this 🩷

Come and join the membership!

Be a part of this new and growing stitching community, and stitch the THRIVE hoop with us! It’s more than a pdf pattern; it’s an interactive space right here on Substack where you can chat with other stitchers, ask me questions and develop your hand embroidery skills through tutorial videos and more.

My embroidery membership is launching on 30th January, but you can pledge to join today and payment won’t be taken until then.

The membership will cost £10 per month (or £8 per month if you pay annually). Come and join us - I can’t wait to stitch with you!

Click here to pledge your subscription 👇