About

Hello! I'm Clare Bray, and I run Climbing Goat Designs. I love what I do - sharing designs with others, and seeing people stitch them and make them their own, is incredibly special.

Clare Bray of Climbing Goat Designs in the woods with her dog Jessie

I live near Christchurch on the south coast of England, in a beautiful area close to the sea and the New Forest. I've had several severe autoimmune diseases since childhood so am very restricted in what I can do, but through Climbing Goat I feel I travel the world. You can see many of my favourite things reflected in patterns in the shop - I love animals (hence the shop name!), nature, bright colours, rainbows and astronomy, amongst many other things.

I got into cross stitching through volunteering for the charity Love Quilts UK. I find it relaxing and meditative, as well as being easy to pick up and put down so you can fit in a few stitches here and there. I enjoy seeing the final piece come together and having produced something beautiful for someone else or myself. I soon wanted to start making my own patterns, and so Climbing Goat Designs began.

I have a degree in Physics and have been passionate about astronomy from a young age, and Climbing Goat Designs features a growing range of detailed astronomy patterns and stitchalongs. The astronomy patterns are stitched by people around the world ranging from professional astronomers to total newbies - everyone is welcome. I write detailed articles on all the images featured in current and previous astronomy stitchalongs, which are included with the patterns, so you can read about the universe as you stitch it! My astronomy patterns have been featured in an article on Physics and Embroidery in the Institute of Physics online magazine, in NASA's social media pages, and in BBC Sky at Night magazine.

Clare Bray with her National Needlecraft Award in London

My Antarctica Penguins pattern, one of my original Animals at Home Collection, won Best Original Cross Stitch Design in the National Needlecraft Awards 2019. The picture above shows me receiving the award in London.

I have designed patterns for Just Cross Stitch Magazine, XStitch Magazine and Anchor Stitch Life Magazine, and my patterns have been featured in The World of Cross Stitching, Cross Stitch Collection, Cross Stitch Crazy and the Telegraph.

I love getting to know all Climbing Goat Designs stitchers - do come and join our busy and fun Facebook group, say hello on Instagram, and join the mailing list for occasional updates. It would be great to see you!