My Liebster Post

 The lovely ladies over at Frances Suzanne nominated me for a Liebster Award.  How fun for me!  And the fact that the award is a German word, double fun!

Check out their post in 'acceptance' of their nomination.  They are truly 2 talented sisters and make me wish I lived closer to my sisters.  How fun would it be to sew and create with your sisters (or sisters-in-law)?

You probably want to know what a Liebster Award is.  Here is the run down:

"The Liebster Blog Award is an award given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers, most of whom have less than 200 followers (or have been blogging for less than 6 months). It is to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. It was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to “dearest” (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award."

It's been fun to get to know some bloggers better and a great way to pass on the love.

There are some rules though:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2.  Answer the 11 questions given by the nominator.

3.  Create 11 new questions for those you nominate.

4.  Choose 11 new blogs and link to them in your post.

So here it goes:

11 Random Facts

(Since I finally got the 'about' page up on my blog I thought about just duplicating those, but I'll try to come up with some new things)--In no particular order.

1. The reason I like the award title is because I speak German.  I learned it mostly as an exchange student in Germany.  The funny thing is I didn't want to go to Germany.  I wanted to go to Sweden, but the people in charge thought I was too naive and decided Germany would be a better fit.  Good thing I still went, because I met my husband in a German literature class in college a few years later.

2. I love cheese and would pick a good cheese over chocolate any day.

3. I am one of those weird people that loves black licorice and black olives.

4. I grew up in a house that was used as a hospital after Pickett's charge during the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War.  My parents love to tell how it is haunted...especially during 8 year old birthday parties with 10 girls sleeping over.

5. I am one of 10 children and therefore have 24 nieces and nephews on that side alone.

6. I hate shopping and my husband has to force me to go and get new clothes.  It's not that I don't like new clothes, I just hate the act of shopping. However, that does not apply to fabric.

7. I was born on Memorial Day during the annual Memorial Day parade (big deal in Gettysburg) and to this day love going to the parade and miss it the years we haven't been able to make it.

8. I love doing jigsaw puzzles.

9. One thing that makes me smile more than anything else is to see my children curled up on our ugly orange chair reading.  I am a very avid reader...I have memories of me sneaking out of bed to the hall, where my parents kept a light on all night, to read at 1 in the morning.  I am glad I've passed it on to my kids and have a really hard time getting mad at them when their light is on past their bedtime because they can't put a good book down.

10. My favorite color is green followed by yellow and I chose to paint my room those 2 colors when I was 8.  Pretty much my blog background would have fit right in.  That room is still painted those colors in my parents house.

11. I love to travel and have been to 44 states.  I wish I could say I've been to that many countries, but I haven't. Some day, however, I will.

Now to answer the questions they posed:

1. What are you 5 must read blogs?

Design Mom--She has great ideas and I slightly covet the life they are living in France.

Design Seeds--I just love color.

No Big Dill--Love her style of writing and sewing

One Good Thing by Jillee--So many great ideas in one spot!

Purl Bee--Such great patterns and ideas and I love their simple, yet oh so lovely, photographs

2. Do you have a phobia? If so, what is it? 

I don't know if it's a phobia, as in the sweaty palms and racing heart and can't move from the spot phobia, but I really, really, really don't like snakes.  When I was about 7, I was standing on an old stump and slipped off so that the bark gave way.  Inside was a black snake that proceeded to wrap around my ankle once and slither away.  I did not like this at all.  Now that I have kids, I don't want to pass on my fear so I let them know that I don't like snakes, but I will touch them at the nature center and say how cool they look at the zoo. However, I decline to put a picture up of this one.

3. What is your favorite fabric?

(picture from designmom.com)

I love linen.  I'm drawn to linen clothing.  I love the look of old linen napkins and table cloths.  It's terribly impractical since it wrinkles so easily, but I just love the look and feel of it.

4. What is your tried and true pattern?

There is a pattern that I have used so many times and created so many variations of and taught a bunch of people to sew by, but it's out of print.  It's McCall's 3417, but if you google it, an even older pattern comes up, so I couldn't even find it on the web to get a picture of the cover.

5. What is your dream job?

A photographer for National Geographic.  I would love to be paid to travel the world and take pictures of beautiful or interesting things.  I love taking pictures of nature but never quite know what to do with them.  This way I would feel like I was putting the urge to good use, plus I'd get to travel.

6. Share a tradition that you and your family enjoy. 

Since both my husband and I speak German and my heritage is almost completely German (I even had great grandparents that still spoke Pennsylvania Dutch--which was really German, they just took the German word for German, 'Deutsch' and thought they were saying Dutch), we celebrate December 6th, St Niklaus Tag(Day), which is almost as big of a deal in Germany as Christmas.  However, we decided to celebrate it our way and make gingerbread houses on that day.  We always invite one or two families over (never the same families) and decorate the houses.  While we are decorating, St. Niklaus makes a visit and puts some candy in the shoes left out.

7.  Name one thing, sewing related, you would like to try.

Heirloom sewing class.  I just love the look of those heirloom pieces...the simple ones, not over the top ones and of course the ones made from linen.

8.  What is your favorite month and why?

May--first it's my birthday month, second, it's stone is emerald which is green, my favorite color and I love that Spring is in full bloom with a hint of Summer thrown in.

9. If you had the opportunity to do a guest post, what series would you want to participate in….or, on which site would you like to guest post?

I tried to think of a sewing one, but the first that came to mind actually had nothing to do with sewing. I would love to have a home worthy of the series 'Living with Kids' at designmom.  It's not that I want an immaculate home, but that I would love to be able to have my home "put together" so to say.

10. Where do you get your sewing inspiration (be specific – for example: a particular pinterest board, blog, children’s retail, etc.)? 

Sorry to not be specific, but I really get it from all over.  I guess the biggest inspiration are my 2 daughters, their needs and desires.  With 4 kids ranging from high school to pre-school, I find that I don't have a ton of time to browse the web in search of the latest trend or neatest tutorial.  I do flip through the Land's End for kids catalog with my daughter for ideas and if I have time I'll browse on pinterest for ideas as well, but that is rare. Wish I could point you to some wonderful place, but I'm not the person for that:)

11. What has been your greatest “sewing find” to date?

         

The one thing that was a true find and still brings a smile to my face is a pile of 60+ vintage handkerchiefs found in a chest of my grandmother's things.  They ranged from the simple beginner's embroidery mother's day gift to fancy tatted ones; commercially printed to elaborate embroidery and lace.  My mom said I could have them. So I took them home and carefully cleaned them.  Some were beyond repair and not usable.  Some have made their way into projects (seen above--click on the pictures). Some have been given to my daughters to use as baby doll blankets.  And some are still in my stash waiting for me to be inspired.

  

11 New or small blogs I follow:

Party of Eight:Our Story

Replicate Then Diviate

Stephanie's Beautiful Creations

Sewing Mama Raeanna

Scary from Shaffer Sisters

Goldenbear80

Major Moma from Without Directions

Sewing the Littleheart Collection

The Land of K.A.

Just Stuff

Kid Approved

And now their 11 Questions:

1. What's your go to place when you are stumped and need a solution when it comes to sewing/crafting?

2. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

3. Who taught you how to sew and what do you wish you could ask them now?

4. If you were able to pass on your love of sewing to someone, what is the first thing you would tell them/teach them?

5. What is the must have by your sewing machine/craft table when it comes to snacks?

6. What is one time period you wished you lived in, if only for the clothes they wore?

7. Favorite thing to do/favorite hobby, non sewing related?

8. If you could indulge yourself in something sewing related, what would it be and why?

9. Milk or Dark Chocolate? Why?

10. What is the funniest thing you have seen or heard lately?

11. Sunrise or sunset?  What is your favorite time of day?