Thank you Kristie

Kristie and I have been corresponding back and forth through our blogs since last year. She's a dentist and I'm not so we've had loads to chat about. Yesterday, she let me know she was going to give me a Liebster. Very nice I thought but I'm not really into foreign beer. Today, I find out that it's actually a blog award...

 

I'm not sure where this has originated from (please feel free to tell me) but it is essentially 'awarded'  to those crafty blogs with 300 followers or less who are quietly going about doing their own thing and possibly not getting the exposure that some of the larger blogs are. I personally am quite happy with quality over quantity as most of what I write is drivel anyway and I'd hate to take up hundreds of peoples valuable time with some of my warped ramblings.

Thank you Kristie. I'm secretly quite chuffed but don't tell anyone. I also agree with her that the best bit about this is that you get to pay it forward and award it to 3-5 blogs that you really like...so here goes...and in no particular order:

1. http://jednoiglec.blogspot.com/ - this blog popped up on my quilt radar for the first time last year when she emailed me about online quilting bees. She is based in Poland and blogs in Polish and English and produces some really stylish and innovative things. Kudos to her for reaching out to the (mainly) English-speaking quilting world and doing it with such style.
2.  http://sewcraftyjess.blogspot.com/ - Jess is bee mama for the Simply Strings bee I am in. The bee was originally set up by someone else who, just at the point of starting, went awol. Jess stepped in and has been doing a great job since. I love her blog. She doesn't know I love her blog though because I follow it through Google Reader which I suppose is akin to stalking someone on the quiet is it? She provides clear, interesting images and is a good read.
3. http://millionsofthoughtstrappedinmyhead.blogspot.com/ - this was one of the first quilty blogs that I first started following for a completely banal reason - she was living somewhere at the time where she didn't want to live (I presume because of her husband's job) and I completely related to that as I have also been there. However, I also like what she writes about and I like her thoughts about quilting. She's a fellow Canadian Kristie!

Let's have a copy break and I'll insert a random image

It was a double whammy from Kristie who also gave me a

 

It was a bit like being at the end of term prize-giving ceremony and doing a clean sweep. The rules for this one are that you have to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their Blog Award!

Well; I've linked back to Kristie so I should get another award for that shouldn't I?

Share seven things about yourself:

• I struggle to 'give away' any personal details about myself, my family or my life in this blog because I told myself right from the beginning it was a blog about quilting and quilting only
• I'm still thinking that is the best policy
• When you live somewhere as small as I live and want to retain some degree of privacy it is the only policy to follow
• I realise that could make me appear aloof and disinterested
• But I know I'm not
• So I'm comfortable with the decision I have made although...
• I've never had a filling in my teeth in my life and I share the same birth year as this person;-)

If I include the three blogs above I now have to list another 12 blogs for you to go and have a look at. I'm not going to do that because
a) they are well-known to all of us: Red Pepper, Anna Marie Horner et al  and
b) I'd quite like a Saturday evening with my family.

So if you don't mind, I'll just round it up to ten by adding seven more:

Lilysquilts - bee mama of the first bee I joined and does a great job too. Also produces some innovative and stylish quilty stuff
Material Obsession- love her thoughts and love the smorgasbord of visual colourfest that are the photos she shares
Fresh Lemons - fab photos and a good read
Syko - Scandinavian scrumpciousness...although technically Finland isn't in Scandinavia but Nordic scrumpciousness didn't sound so good
Blue Mountain Daisy - who knew the train ride into work could be so interesting
Stitchywitchysisters- doesn't blog that often but when she does, I like what she does
Smittenkitchen - yes, I know, nothing to do with quilting but cooking is a craft none the less and you're probably hungry after wading through all this.

For those of you who took part in my fantabulous giveaway yesterday - spookily,    Kristie was the winner - some of my worst fabric will be on its way to you shortly.

Meanwhile, another random photo from my iphoto file to round this post off.