Inspiring Blogger Award!!

I was very flattered to be nominated for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award by Trish of trishstitched.  She chose to nominate me after seeing my handmade espadrilles and was also really interested in the Morsbags challenge I set myself.  If you haven’t already seen Trish’s blog you should definitely check it out – amongst other things she makes the most beautifully sewn bags and purses. The bag she made for her boyfriend was a masterpiece.   Thank you so much Trish.

The rules of the Award are as follows :

1. Thank the person who nominated you and add a link to their blog
2. Display the award logo in a blog entry
3. List the award guidelines so your nominees will know what to do
4. State seven hidden facts about yourself OR three things that inspire you.
5. Nominate other blogger friends for the award.

The first three things are easy.  Number four was more difficult and it took me a while to come up with seven facts.  Here goes :

• I can’t read the last page of House at Pooh Corner without getting tears in my eyes.

But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.  A A Milne

• I was once on Blue Peter.  I was involved in running a children’s cookery competition sponsored by a well-known supermarket chain and the winners were often invited to appear on the show. We usually just chaperoned them at Broadcasting House but one year I was forced into taking part in the on screen Bring and Buy Sale. For someone who hates even having their photograph taken this was quite an experience!  Sadly I didn’t get a Blue Peter Badge which I was a bit disappointed about!
• I have a number of phobias including pretty much all rodents (although I’m OK with squirrels), clowns, people on stilts and heights (I hyperventilated when W casually leaned against the glass at the top of The Shard in London). I am particularly uncomfortable with those weird human statues. We’ve had one in Chichester recently and I had to employ avoidance tactics every time I walked through the centre of town!
• Apparently I snore EXTREMELY loudly.  I do wake myself up sometimes so it is hard to deny!
• Many years ago when I was just 17,  and well before the days of the internet and mobile phones,  I travelled to Greece for the summer by bus on my own with £40 in my pocket. My mother does have a tendency to worry so I can’t believe she agreed to let me go.  Good job she didn’t see what I got up to while I was there!
• Again many years ago one of my friends was kidnapped by a murderer- really.  He thankfully escaped and survived.
• I have a tendency to anthropomorphise and this has led to me writing a short children’s book based on some small furry animals in my possession (thankfully rabbits are not rodents!). One day I will find someone to illustrate it and then who knows?!

Number five is also difficult.  I have been following and been inspired by a number of blogs (sewing and otherwise) for a long time but many of them are written by people who have become very well-known and successful and I believe the aim of this Award is to recognise and encourage people who are newer to blogging.  Some recipients of the Award seem to have selected a long list of bloggers to nominate, others just two or three so I’m not entirely sure what is expected but here goes.

The first blog I’d like to mention is kyrie_in_kalamityland.  If it wasn’t for Kyrie I would never have started janemakes so she was certainly my original inspiration.  Kyrie works in my office and looks after us all.  Despite that she is always smiling. When I said I was thinking of starting a blog I was signed up to WordPress before I had a chance to change my mind!  Her blog is primarily about gluten free food as her boyfriend has Coeliac disease but having been given a sewing machine for her birthday recently she is now stitching away.  One day last week we were the Tilly Twins, both wearing our Delphine skirts and striped Coco tops!

I’ve recently started following a new blog entitled Diary of a Novice Dressmaker.  I’m not sure of her name but she has thrown herself into the process wholeheartedly and is working hard to create her own basic patterns from scratch!  I’d like to encourage her to stick with it and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.

I love the fabrics chosen by Becky at springystitches who is creating her own vintage inspired wardrobe. Her lovely seaside skirt has inspired me to get on with the Clemence skirt I am planning to make with the Lucienne Day fabric from the Peter Jones sale.  The clincher was her latest creation from bunny fabric!  Do you notice a rabbit-related theme developing here?

These next two bloggers have previously been nominated so don’t need to respond (and nor does anyone else if they don’t want to) but I can’t fail to mention them as being inspirational :

Hila at Saturday Night Stitch is a human dynamo with FIVE children who makes the most amazing clothes and the action shots of her wearing them are masterpieces in their own right.

I also love reading posts by Lesley at I F*king Sewing.  She has what sounds like an amazing job, picks up some fabulous fabrics on her travels and also makes me laugh.

Keep up the good work everyone and thank you again to Trish.