Two Blog Awards!

What an amazing way to start a long weekend - I have received two blog awards!

The first one is this Beautiful Blogger Award, given to me by Cath (Stitching Chicken) and Vinniey (Sometimes I Stitch).
Thank you so much Cath and Vinniey!

Here are the rules of this award:

1) Thank the person who gave it to you

2) Paste the award on your blog

3) Link to the person who gave you the award

4) List 10 interesting things about yourself

5) Pass the award on to 10 blogs and link to them

Here are the 10 things about me:

1) I'm left handed

2) My boyfriend and I have been together for 10 years - we were in the same science class in high school. He is Dutch.

3) I am currently working on my third degree in Medical Science and plan to start work on my PhD next year.

4) I'm of Dutch, German and Italian descent and my home language is Afrikaans, which is derived from Dutch.

5) I am a huge Sci-fi and Fantasy fan. I'm a Star Trek nut job and I enjoy many other sci-fi series. (Stargate Universe starts again next month - yeah!)

6) I have lived in the same house all my life.

7) I did Ballet for 14 years.

8) At work I am privileged enough to work with people from many countries, including South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Australia, The Gambia and Cameroon. We also have collaborations with laboratories in the US, The Netherlands, Norway and France.

9) I enjoy a variety of music, including classical, Gregorian chants, pop, hip hop and lots more. My favourite band is the Black Eyed Peas.

10) I have visited New York twice to visit family and spent a lovely white Christmas there once. They have since moved to California.

Here are the Blogs that I nominate for this award:

1) Edit (Fuggosegeim)

2) Manka (Little Rose Cottage)

3) Lee (Flores no Jardim)

4) Karen (Karen's Handiwork)

5) Olga (Olenka's Stitches Blog)

6) Jackie (Scattered Threads)

7) Ulla (Stickzeit)

8) Margit (Margit's kleines SchokiStubchen in der Blogwelt)

9) The Shabby Stitcher

10) Lonneke (Life with Skipper)

The other award I received is the Sunshine Award and was given to me by Jackie (Scattered Threads).

Thank you so much Jackie - I really appreciate it!

Here are the rules for this award:

1) Put the logo on your blog or within your post

2) Pass the award to 12 bloggers

3) Link the nominees within your post

4) Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

Here are the 12 blogs that I nominate for this award:

1) Cath (The Stitchin' Chicken)

2) Vinniey (Sometimes I Stitch)

3) Babs (Borduurmeisje)

4) Carol (Stitching Dreams)

5) Dani (Black Belt Stitching Wizard)

6) Annie (Annie Bebop's Coloring Book)

7) Barbi (Blissfully Stitching)

8) Sharon (It's DaffyCat)

9) Michelle (Michelle's StitchCraft Place)

10) MBroider

11) Blu (Therapy by Thread)

12) Tatkis (Mouse House)

That's it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend and Happy Stitching!

A Lot to Share!

For a change I have a lot to share! Firstly, here is one of my new starts: It is Feather Fairy by Nora Corbett. I know - it looks really weird with the leg sticking out like that, but I always start at the bottom and the foot was the best starting point for me. (Had I known she would look so dismembered and unbalanced I would have started with the skirt!)
I just love Mirabilia designs - actually I have a little, OK a big problem! I have started a few Mirabilia's before, but I have never finished one! Here is an example:

It is The Kiss and is absolutely gorgeous! I started this about 10 years ago, but never managed to make good progress on it - I hope I will do better with Feather Fairy!

Here is a close up of some of the metallic on The Kiss:

My other start is a Hardanger SAL by Mamen. The end product will be a beautiful bag.

Here is my start on it - I am making two, the Ecru one is for myself and the blue/grey one is for my mom. The pieces for the SAL only come out every second week, so there is enough time to work on other projects.

Since I have two new starts, I decided to make up for my wicked ways by also working on one of my WIPs. This is Book of Ink Circles by Tracey Horner from Ink Circles.

The plan is to finish one block/section each month. My goal is to finish the piece by the end of the year. For this month I have already completed the top, middle block - I still need to fill in the green knot design.

Last, but certainly not least - I received this lovely postcard from Edit. It is detail from the Lion Courtyard at the Alhambra - she sent it to me because I stitched Girl from Alhambra by The Solaria Gallery recently.

Thank you Edit - it is a beautiful postcard and interesting!

Well, that is enough from me for one post. Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

A Finish and a Few Fobs

Hi from a still sweltering Cape Town! Yes, I am still complaining about the heat - it is over 40 degrees Celsius today and has been like that the entire weekend - hopefully it will 'break' soon - there is a massive thunderstorm predicted for this evening.

Here is a small finish I had recently - it is a Primitive Emery by Nicoletta Farruato of Niky's Creations and was featured in the February edition of The Gift of Stitching Magazine. I stitched it on self-dyed 28ct evenweave in the recommended DMC thread. The leaves are made from patchwork fabric and attached with blanket stitch. The blanket stitch is worked 'unevenly' to give a more rustic look. I just love this little piece!
I have been looking for a scissors fob, but there is not much available locally and I couldn't find the colours or combinations of beads that I was looking for online, so what to do? Of course I made some of my own! Here is the first one I made - I love the Jade/Blue tones.

I also made a few other combinations. The round beads on the Rose colour fobs are exquisite hand crafted glass beads with a foil effect and embossed pattern - they are so gorgeous - they each have a unique pattern!

If you are interested in any of these fobs please pop over to my sales blog - there is also a link in the right-hand panel of this blog or send me an email.

I also have a new start, actually two :) I will post about them soon - in my defense - the one is a SAL that only comes out every second week. Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

A Beautiful Gift from Brazil!

I have been so lucky lately - I have received another wonderful stitching gift! Lee Albrecht from Flores no Jardim sent me a package containing two of her beautiful kits. Lee has an embroidery school in Brazil and specializes in Hardanger embroidery and also combines cross stitching with some of her Hardanger designs.

I regularly visit her blog to admire the lovely work of her and her students (wishing I had more time to do some Hardanger embroidery again!) - this year she decided to send a kit to a different country every month and I was chosen for February!
This is the kit I selected, it combines cross stitch and Hardanger to create a stunning rose accented pillow. The kit contains chart, fabric and all the threads.

She also included this Hardanger kit - it is her basic course in Hardanger and contains a full set of instructions, fabric and threads.

You can have a look on her blog for more of her beautiful designs. Thanks again Lee - I will definitely enjoy stitching these lovely pieces!

Furthermore, it is still sweltering here - temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius predicted for the next two weeks and they are already saying it will probably persist for the next month! To top it all off, I woke up with a sore throat today!

Enjoy the rest of the week - I have a small finish that I will share soon :)

Happy Stitching!