Corny puns aside, it was neighbour and friend Glenda Sebbens who introduced her to the hobby a dozen years ago.

They went along to the Tomakin Craft Group, which meets every Tuesday at the Tomakin Hall, and she developed a fondness for cross stitch and her fellow craft enthusiasts.

“They are a very nice, very friendly group,” she said. 

“We go out to dinner together from time to time.”

Mrs Birrell said she did not really have a hobby before then, but cross stitch had been part of her life ever since.

“I really love doing it,” she said.

For her, the journey is as good as the destination. 

“I love seeing a pattern grow, a picture coming to life.”

It is a hobby which requires a sharp mind and a steady hand.

“You have different symbols representing different colours and it requires a lot of concentration, which is very good for you,” she said.

“I don’t sleep very well and I sometimes get up and do it.”

Mrs Birrell gets her patterns from a magazine, The Fox Collection, which comes out every two months.

The first work she ever completed, one depicting farm animals, sits proudly on her wall, as does her favourite work, one depicting cattle crossing, which looks like a photo.

It ties in well with her rural upbringing in Cowra.

Plenty of heart, as well as skill, goes into Mrs Birrell’s works.

Her husband Norm is very supportive of her hobby.

“She does it with plenty of class,” he said.

“Everything she does has class.”

Mrs Birrell is not losing any of her enthusiasm for the hobby.

“To do all the patterns I want to do I will have to live to 150,” she said.