Travelling by trawler to Iceland on regular holiday visits to her relations, Jona Sparey became increasingly influenced throughout her childhood by the rich artistic heritage of this unique country. At school in London her most hated subject was embroidery, but when confronted by the beautiful exhibits at the National Museum, Reykjavik, she fell completely in love with the rich and colorful traditional designs. She began translating the photographs she had taken onto graph paper, painstakingly reproducing and adapting the original patterns and working them into stunning canvaswork embroideries. Students first attended Jona's classes in 1984, and her natural ability to teach, encourage, and entertain, as well as the kits she supplies and the many features on her work which have appeared in national magazines, have resulted in many hundreds of British embroiderers stitching thousands of Icelandic designs.