Gradually, I come to an opinion that regardless of the hobby you have, it's like a well when you can throw your money and it never comes to an end. As I'm searching the internet from time to time to find fabrics, threads or accessories I can see an endless list of must-haves. One of them (that I already bought and may recommend) is a thread clipper "Kuroha" from Clover brand. It's much more handy than the classic scissors when it comes to cutting threads, so stitching is a little bit faster. And it's really sharp - hopefully it'll be so for a long, long time. Here's the photo of how it looks:

This is about give-aways. No, I'm not going to offer one :(. I will one day I promise. But first I have to get the idea what I'd like to give and then I have to make it. This is about attending give-aways. I took part in a couple - in fact yesterday ended one big give-away party hosted by Sew Mama Sew. The drums are rolling now and I'm awaiting who is this lucky one (would it be me, please?). I don't know what's your rules in attending such events and if you have any at all, but as I was searching through the sites I realised I have a few.

First of all I only take part in those give-aways that I find interesting. Everyone has its own style and taste; what I find gorgeous others may dislike, what others love may be not so cool to me. I feel that if I took part in something I just don't adore for 100% I would only lessen the others' chances to win and in case I won it would not give me so much pleasure as for others.

Secondly, as I try more and more I see it's not so much about winning. It's more about sharing knowledge of each other. I know about lot more blogs and people than yesterday and it's so many more places for me to see somebody's talent, ideas and thoughts that may inspire me somehow. I've noted down a couple of blogs from around a crafty world and I guess it takes me some time to dig through them. It's a bunch of good lecture for evenings.

Thirdly will be about what give-aways I like. There are two types: in ones you may just write hello in the comment and you have a ticket to lottery. In others - and these are my favourite - you have to write something particular. It's much more joy for me if I can answer a question or give some adivce. In one of the give-aways a blogger was asking about some advice to occupy the time of three kids in an airplane (yes, that's tough). I answered with my first thought about some board games - that wasn't maybe brilliant, but I got email back a day later. I received a personal email!(wow that was nice) - she was saying that's a great idea. Most likely it was out of courtesy, but somebody took its time to answer me thanking for the advice.

Ok, that's it for give-aways. They are cool, they have positive energy so I'm going to take a look at them whenever I have a chance. And I will prepare one some day - after all it's not only about getting but also about giving, isn't it!

Stitch magazine

Some time ago I was searching for embroidery magazines that could be a source of various embroidery projects and designs. The one that cought my eye was Stitch published by Embroiderers' Guild. It looked very promising on the website so I ordered 3 issues as a trial. The magazine passed the test and recently I ordered the latest one. To give you the idea of what's inside this magazine that I like here are some points:

• a variety of projects for different embroidery types with detailed instructions and list of items needed to make the project
  
• the projects are really stunning - they're beautiful and practical in the same time
  
• each magazine contains books reviews. Books about embroidery of course
  
• there are some ads, what here is in fact a plus for me. They all are about embroidery stuff, so I have even more hints on where to find what I'm looking for
  

If you ever feel you need something more than you can find on the Internet then you can try out Stitch. Or if you just want to stare at all these little, beautiful hande-made thigns then Stitch will be also fine:). Here is the the magazine website if you want to look.

Handmade Holidays - grab the needles to your hands!!!

It's not much about embroidery but every needle&thread addict will love all that can be found on Sew, Mama, Sew blog. Each day there comes a post plenty with various ideas regarding handmade things. So, if you've had worries about gifts to your dearest ones you can have a deep breath now. Some scraps, a few needles and threads, a bit of sewing skills, but first of all - positive attitude and willingness to spare your time will do wonders. At least this is how it looks like...
After reading first posts about Handmade Holidays I took out the sewing machine with old fabric scraps and started to make a fabric book for my son. And yes, this means I put aside my Hardanger embroidery. But I just cannot help myself. And the more I read these posts my to-do list grows and grows.



Oh, the last but not the least - if you comment the Handmade Holidays posts you have a chance to win great books - every day brings another one. In fact I shouldn't write this as it makes my chances lesser ;).

How the fascination began....

As the "big thing" is still in progress (yes, slowly but steadily the end is coming) I thought of doing some reminiscence. And maybe it's autumn time that makes me think about the past...Anyway here's my first hardanger thing I did: little bags for Go stones. It had to be small & simple, so I could get the grasp of hardanger embroidery. This was my first hardanger lesson and I did it quite well. Not to mention that Hardanger intrigued me so much that I sank deeeeeply in it. I have ongoing plans to try out some other types of emroidery, for example long and short stitch one, I even bought some books about them, but still when I have some free time I always find a new pattern or get a new idea to do it in hardanger.

Bags for Go stones - sounds like I wanted to boast about them. As a matter of fact they can be used to store anything, but in my case I did them exactly for what they're called. More or less in the time when I got a book to learn Hardanger my dear bought this game and we needed something to store the stones used for the game. The reason was perfect, so I took the needle and produced this piece.

Now, some details about the bags. As I wrote above they're quite small: 12cm wide, 15cm long (4,7inch / 6inch accordingly). The square hardanger pattern is about 4,5cm (1,8inch). The pattern consists of woven bars only (some of them are with picots), so it's a very good one to begin with. I also did holes for ribbon in hardanger.

First Big Hardanger Project

After a couple of small projects that I used mostly as a way to learn Hardanger there's come a time to do something big. Tablecloth 217cm long and 146cm wide. I took the pattern from DMC leaflet, however I modified it a bit. The modification though meant simplifying the pattern, otherwise I'd have to spent ages doing it. Either way, It takes me too much time even when I got rid of some patterns.



All the kloster blocks are done, now it's time to do the part that in my opinion requires the most patience - that is cutting the threads and finishing it with needle weaving. There's many of these little squares that need to be cut out and now I doubt if I finish it by the end of this year. On the other hand, now when I see how this tablecloth will look when it's done I have more and more enthusiasm to finish it as quick as possible. I want to have it on my table finally!


Traditionally Hardanger is made on white fabric with white threads as well. However, once I saw the project with two-coloured threads and it made me feel - this is it. This project is a variation about pale and dark violet. And I recommend to anybody that works with Hardanger to play with two colours as the effects are really nice. So far I've always chosen to do the kloster blocks (thicker thread) with the brighter colour and the insides (thinner thread) with the darker one. Though, maybe it would also be interesting in reverse.