Beautiful Blogger Award

Janice at Postcards from Wildwood has passed a Beautiful Blogger award on to me. It never occurred to me that I might get an award at all, still less one so early in my blogging career, still less passed on by a blogger I admire so much. Thank you, Janice, for your encouragement and support when I was still thinking about this project, and your further encouragement and recognition now it is actually underway.

So, here are the rules as Janice passed them on to me:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award. (Thank you again, Janice!)
2. Pass this award along to 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered and whom you think are fantastic!  (Maybe not fifteen, and these aren’t all recent discoveries, but they are all bloggers whose blogs I enjoy visiting)
3. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.
4. Share seven things about yourself (I’ll do this in a separate post).

Now, like Janice, I don’t expect or demand that you display the award or pass
it on. I’m simply taking this opportunity to say thank you for the hours of enjoyment and inspiration you have given me…

Quirky Quest with Lady Fi – I went for the pictures – wonderful, sundrenched winter photos of the countryside and frolicking animals. I’ve stayed because of her use of the English language, spare and poetic, and because of the delight she manages to find in everyday events. Thank you LadyFi!

PinTangle – This is one of the first blogs I subscribed to when I started following any blogs at all. I’ve found a lot of interesting blogs from Sharon’s occasional series listing sewing, art, and embroidery blogs (she’s reached the letter S), and her band sampler posts were largely responsible for the direction I eventually took for the Autumn Leaves Skirt. Thank you Sharon B!

The Embroiderer’s Story – I can’t remember how I landed at The Embroiderer’s Story, but I was instantly fascinated by the research that was going into the reconstruction of the Margaret Laton jacket which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Not only research into stitching techniques, but research into the threads used and how they might be made. Then the challenges of sorting out display and maintenance of the finished piece – if you’ve ever wondered why there aren’t more reconstructions on display, this is why! Thank you Tricia!

Contemporary Embroidery – Karen’s work while I have been visiting has been primarily in white with small colour highlights, and inclusions of vintage textiles. Her subtle use of textural variations, and her beautiful photographs of gorgeously uncrumpled  pieces, are a constant source of inspiration and delight. Thank you Karen!

White Threads – Yvette created The Left handed Embroiderer’s Companion, for which a good proportion of the sewing population should be singing her praises unceasingly (I’m holding out for the Right Handed Version, which is in preparation). Her posts from Ethiopia have been thought-provoking, too –
there is so much more in the world than any of us can be aware of, and it is
good to be reminded of the fact.  Thank you Yvette!

Paris Breakfasts – Nothing at all to do with embroidery, but I find Carol’s blog about Paris and all things Parisian (especially patisserie and fashion!) enchanting and entertaining in almost equal measure. Merci, Carol!