The world-renowned embroidery tutor was in Warrnambool on Monday to teach a unique style of embroidery that she created.

Mrs Blomkamp, from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, tutored 22 embroiderers from across the south-west in needle-lace techniques and applying them to the Jacobean crewel style. 

“My techniques tend to be quite different, so people want to know how to do them,” she said.

Mrs Blomkamp, who has published five books, said that it was after buying a book on needle lace by mistake that she decided to incorporate that technique it into her embroidery – something that hadn’t been done before.

“I have often thought about why it hasn’t been done before now. I think I’m a bit of a rebel...I want to do my own thing,” she said. 

It was during a time when Mrs Blomkamp was looking after her ill son that her love for embroidery snowballed.

“My son got very ill with a blood clotting problem and I was just with this kid at home with a helmet on so he didn’t bump his head,” she said. 

A friend, noticing that she needed a break, sent her to an embroidery course.

“It was what I needed at the time. I’m a creative person and since then there hasn’t been a day where I haven’t stitched, and because it came at a time where it gave me an escape from a very stressful time,” she said.

Now that her children have grown up, Mrs Blomkamp travels the world teaching her embroidery techniques. 

“There is nothing better than doing something you love and turning it into a business,” she said. 

“Now I travel more than anyone else I know.”

It has taken her to Canada, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Russia, England and recently on an embroidery cruise through Vietnam and Cambodia.

“This is what I call my adventure before dementia,” she said.

“You don’t get a lot of exercise...because you’re sitting for long hours. But I do think it keeps the brain active.”