Wildflower Fox Crafts - Suzie Lee Henderson

Suzie is a multidisciplinary artist and educator specializing in fiber and glass arts. As a lifelong creator, she enjoys helping others discover the joy of making beautiful things. Suzie and her husband, Jesse, live on a farm in North Dakota, just west of Fargo. In addition to creating art, Suzie loves animals, spending time in nature, and reading fantasy fiction.

I love being creative and bringing my ideas to life with color. I've never been able to settle on just one creative medium. I enjoy working with fabric and thread, but I'm open to exploring everything in the crafting world. I also have a passion for stained glass and will occasionally pick up a paintbrush, crochet hook, or tatting shuttle.

There are three themes I love to incorporate into my work: animals, nature, and magic. I enjoy a cottagecore, witchy aesthetic. Imagine a little cabin in the woods filled with books, plants everywhere, a crackling fire, and a few dark shadows lurking in the corners. A place that is on the edge of spooky but so warm and inviting, even the forest creatures can’t stay away. That’s my kind of vibe!

For me, embroidery is not just a creative outlet but a form of storytelling. Each piece I make holds a little bit of joy and wonder, and I love being able to share that feeling with others.

Hand embroidery is a slow process, no matter what style you choose, but it's also a very meditative and rewarding craft. Mentally, it feels a lot like taking a quiet walk in the woods. After some stitch time, you feel refreshed, and when a project is finished, you have something beautiful you created by hand.

I also like that it is budget-friendly and portable. You can take items you already own and dress them up with just one needle and a little thread.

My favorite project is the Painted Florals. It's very special to me because it reminds me of my mom. She and I ran a small business together, creating custom-made hand- and machine-embroidered items. She passed away in the winter of 2018, after which I shut down our Etsy shop. I covered my embroidery machine with a sheet and didn’t pick up a needle and thread for months. I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to do embroidery again.

Fast-forward to late spring, early summer 2019. I had a friend make my mom's headstone, and the weather was finally warm enough to set it. My husband and I decided to save some money and set the small headstone ourselves. I live on the east edge of North Dakota, but my mom's final resting place is on the west edge of the state, where I grew up. It’s about a six-hour drive from here to there. Since my husband would be driving, I decided at the last minute to bring something along to keep my hands and mind busy. I hooped a piece of blank white fabric and grabbed a very disheveled gallon zip-lock bag of assorted embroidery floss. I didn’t have a plan or a pattern in mind, so for the first few miles, I just closed my eyes. But in my mind's eye, I kept seeing a painting, a print of a loose oil painting of flowers in a vase that hung by the door in my mom’s favorite restaurant.

With nothing else coming to mind, I decided to sketch out the painted floral vase design. After many hours of stitching in the car and a few more at home, I finished the piece. Then, I added a date. This is the only piece I have ever added a date to, and I can’t say for sure why I did that.

That one embroidery project was the inspiration I needed to keep stitching. I knew then I didn’t want to stitch just for myself. I wanted to share my love of embroidery and show others how rewarding and healing hand embroidery can be. I started fresh with a new name: Wildflower Fox (the name is another story), and began teaching others everything I knew about hand embroidery. I eventually went back to that restaurant and took a picture of the inspirational painting. It’s in the gallery below.

My website is wildflowerfox.com but my social media is @suzieleehenderson