Jane Greenoff is largely self-taught, having discovered cross stitch after giving up a 15-year career in nursing to look after her son, James. At that time, in 1982, she and her husband Bill moved to a Cotswold cottage and looked for something appropriate to decorate the walls. A neighbour introduced Jane to counted cross stitch and unaffordable antique samplers, so in 1983 she decided to design and stitch her own. Starting with a borrowed drawing board resting on two house bricks, fine marker pens and plenty of Tippex, Jane designed actually using the symbols straight on to the graph paper. Within six months she was marketing her first commercial kits, having discovered a gap in the market for authentic English designs of local Cotswold buildings. Thus the Inglestone Collection kit company was born, and Jane had to learn rapidly to become a businesswoman as well as a cross-stitch designer. From its early beginnings with only GBP25 in the bank, the company has grown into an internationally successful business - a major factor in this success being the financial acumen and sales talents of ex-banker Bill Greenoff who joined the company full time in 1990. Jane still recalls walking the streets of Cotswold towns, pushing James in his bulging buggy weighed down with kits and samples of chart packs. This practice continued until her financial wizard, Neal Dennis, made the point that a business cannot grow if one person attempts to do it all! He pointed out that if she continued to design and make the kits, wrap and post them and walked the streets selling the ideas, the business would simply fold. Initially, Jane employed agents to sell her products until Bill, her husband became even more involved and after leaving Lloyds Bank, travelled the countryside promoting and selling Inglestone kits and products. Jane's prolific writing career began in 1987 (coinciding with the birth of daughter Louise), the first book being Cross Stitch Castles and Cottages, based on the houses for which Jane was already well known. Jane can recall the life / work balance dilemma very clearly when referring back to this period of her life. The very idea of having a book published meant a great deal to Jane who had never imagined such a thing - and the birth of her second surprise baby girl happened just as she was about to start writing the manuscript. She talks of learning to type whilst feeding a colicky baby with a shudder, but the book was delivered on time and the business still flourished. Jane can remember a carrier arriving at the house and finding her on the floor with the baby in one arm and bubble wrapping stitched pictures in the other whilst fending off the irate midwife who was attempting to get her back to bed. Although twenty years later, Cross Stitch Castles and Cottages is out of print, Jane's publisher David & Charles published The Best of Jane Greenoff's Cross Stitch which includes many of the most popular designs from this and other books in her backlist. The Cross Stitch Guild (now often referred to as the Counted Stitch Guild) Jane Greenoff founded the Cross Stitch Guild in March 1996, in order to provide an organisation specifically for cross stitch and counted thread addicts. Four years later, in 2000, the Cross Stitch Guild published its first book Cross Stitching on Linen: Favourite Flowers and launched its own website. Members receive Stitch That! with Jane Greenoff, with exclusive projects and charts/patterns (5 issues per year), discount on all purchases from the Stitchers' Market (online) and our printed catalogue Itch to Stitch plus special offers and Members' treats. Members have access to the CSG Members Studio by using their membership number as a password where we include our thread colour converter, stitch diagrams, free charts, technical information, articles, and exclusive members' treats to buy. Jane's iStitch cross stitch software is in great demand all over the world and is highly regarded by top designers such
