I've been Liebstered (part 2)

As explained in yesterday's post, Christ (Shared Creativity) and Janet (Caribou Crossing Chronicles) nominated me for the Liebster Award.

Here are the rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate
4. Choose 11 blogs with less than 200 followers and link them in your post.

 Yesterday I answered Chris and Janet's eleven questions.

Today I will tell you eleven facts about myself, and then pose my own eleven questions.

1.  I was made in England and born in Australia on ANZAC Day, a holiday unique to Australia and New Zealand -- just to prove that I am really Australian to my Aussie dad and (then) English mum.
2. I am the eldest of three children, married to the eldest of six children.
3. I worked Thursday night and Saturday morning in the delicatessen section of a supermarket for five years (my last two years of high school and my three years of teachers' college) up till the Saturday before I got married.
4. I was a Brownie Leader for five years. I took "leave of absence" thirty-two years ago and haven't been back!
5. As a child, I wanted to be an actress but my father told me I had to get a "real job" so I studied to be a teacher and years later discovered it was a great acting job with a captive audience!
6. In College, I took every drama class I could! English was my major.
7. I was a primary school teacher for a total of eight years in two different state schools then, after a five year gap (as a SAHM with DD), I taught for five years in a private school (which my daughter attended).
8. My husband and I owned a scuba diving shop 50km (21 miles) from the coast for three and a half years (1987-1990) during the "recession we had to have"! I do not scuba dive and would not pass the medical to do so due to a history of bronchial illnesses as a child!
9. At the age of 45 I applied to go to university and was accepted. Over the next three years I completed my Bachelor of Adult Education from one university and earned a Graduate Certificate in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from another.
10.  I love languages and over the years have studied French,  Italian and Japanese. I don't speak any of these well.  I can say thank you in eighteen different languages!
11. My husband and I attended the same primary school and were in the same class in Grade 2.

Here are my eleven questions: (Just for fun, I have answered them for myself)

1. Where were you when Armstrong walked on the moon? (I know, you weren't even born then!)
   I was at school, it was broadcast over the radio into the school quadrangle
2. What colours in decorating, fashion or stitching do you remember without hesitation?
   In decorating, I clearly remember Mission brown, burnt orange and avocado green from the 70s, grey and pink in the 80s.
3. What was your favourite childhood toy?
   My sister and I each had a Sindy doll, my dad built a wardrobe and my mum made clothes. We also had bought clothes for them which was novel because we'd only just started having store-bought clothes ourselves! We definitely had this outfit!

   

   http://www.poorlittlenell.com/bulletin/?attachment_id=324
4. Name one song that you can sing from beginning to end.
   Only one? I've been a singer all my life and I know the words of lots of songs.  Okay, "Yesterday" by the Beatles (and a lot of others since it is one of the most recorded songs ever!)
5. Name one advertising jingle from your pre-adult days that you remember clearly (and then tell me music has no power!)
   The KFC song that goes "the cows and the sheep and the birds and the horses..." -- and, yes, I can sing all the words!
   
   
6. When did you get your first computer?
   I bought WM a John Sands Sega with rubber keys that plugged into the television and used cassette tape for memory! We bought our first "real" computer when we had the shop -- I think in 1989.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. When did you start blogging and why?
   I wrote my first post in January 2007. My friend had a blog and it looked like fun!
8. How many UFOs/WIPs can you name right now?
   Twenty-something!
9. What makes you laugh?
   My grandsons' antics.
10. What's the first thing you think of when you hear/read the word "Australia"?
    Home - the best country in the world!
11. What's for dinner? Who's cooking?
    I have no idea!

The Liebster Award  was designed to introduce "small" blogs (under 200 followers). Here are my nominated eleven.

1. Delighted Hands
2. Hayestackhayes
3. Kate's Arty Bits Blog
4. Life in Pieces
5. Life is a Stitch
6. Quilting and Other Craft Therapy
7. Sew Many Yarns
8. Snippets 'n' Scraps
9. Stitchin' Therapy
10. Tops to Treasures
11. UFOs and UBIs - My Crafty Blog

Why not visit some (or all) of these blogs?

Thanks again, Chris and Janet!

I've been Liebstered!

Two followers of my blog, Chris (Shared Creativity) and Janet (Caribou Crossing Chronicles), have nominated me for the Liebster award. I am deeply honoured.

As part of the award, I have to answer 11 questions posed by the nominators.

Here are Chris's questions with my answers.

1. How did you start crafting?
As a child I was given many gifts of crafting activities -- embroidery cards, weaving, French knitting, basket making, flower making, pattern games, etc so I guess crafting has always been part of my life. As an adult I have had different phases of crafting, including folk art, decoupage, scrap booking, cross stitch, wool embroidery and dressmaking, but knitting has been there almost all my life. A little about my sewing history can be found in this post and the story of how I came to quilting can be read in this post.My knitting history can be found in my very first post (which I found to be an interesting read -- my how things have changed!)

2. What is your favourite hobby?
Only one? You're kidding! I'd have to say knitting if I could have only one! Or would it be reading?

My own design in 63 different yarns!

3. When is your favourite time to quilt/knit/sew/whatever?
I prefer to sew during the day and I knit anytime but usually at night while watching television with my husband or listening to audiobooks or podcasts after he's gone to bed!

4. Do you mostly use a machine or work by hand?
I make quilts by machine, I knit by hand.

5. If you could get on a plane right now with no financial limitations and no strings attached, where would you go?
UK and Ireland -- to walk in the steps of my ancestors in England, Scotland and Ireland. I'd have to visit Wales too - my mother was evacuated there during WWII. I might wait till the weather warms up a little though (if you don't mind!)

6. Do the seasons affect your fabric selection?
No! I work mostly with the fabrics/scraps donated to our quilting group!

7. What is your favorite book, ever?
Seriously? One? Right now it's A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens!

8. What is your favorite comfort food?
Chocolate - preferably Lindor! In times of stress I'll eat milk chocolate --- but never white chocolate which, as we all know, isn't really chocolate at all!

9. What inspires your creativity?
Other people's creativity!

10. Do you plan projects or start them on impulse?
A little bit of both!

11. How many projects do you hope to complete this year?
Twenty-four sewing related, at least that many knitting related!

And the questions from Janet:

1. Who is your favourite author?
Jane Austen. Of modern writers, Kate Morton.

2. If you won the lottery, the first thing you would do?
Question the bearer of the news. I don't buy lottery tickets!

3. Share a childhood memory
Silence at the dinner table while dad listened to the 6:30 news! I was shocked when I went to WM's place the first time, eight people at the table (excluding me) and everyone seemed to be talking at once!

4. Live concert you would like to attend
André Rieu -- it would make my husband so happy!

5. Dream vacation:
An around-the-world-trip (by plane) staying in nice hotels, visiting all the places I've read about and some of my blogging friends as well!

6. Where would you like to live:
On the Australian east coast where I can see the ocean! I have my dream house all planned out!


7. Favourite pet
I have lived with cats most of my life. I can easily live without pets but I can't bear animal cruelty of any kind! When I was a primary school teacher, 10year old boys pulling the wings off flies made me angry!

our current "master" -- Tomodachi (Japanese for "friend")

 8. Favourite ice cream
Chocolate with chocolate chips!
Would you believe there was a time when I didn't eat chocolate?No, I didn't say I didn't like it, just that I didn't eat it! It was believed to be the cause of migraines but it turned out not to be so!

9. What famous person/fictional character would you like to get to know?
Jesus!

10. What would you like your biographer to say about you?
That I am/was loyal, generous and creative.

11. What was your first car?
A 1963 Ford Cortina that I bought for $200 and sold eighteen months later for $200!

Come back tomorrow for the second part of this award!

Thanks Chris and Janet for nominating me!

Blog Award again!

Earlier this month, Anne sent me this pretty blog award. Her blog translates and defines it thus:

“This blog invests and believes in ‘proximity’
[meaning that blogging makes us 'close' - being close through proxy].”

Since I had only recently awarded some of the blogs I love, I was intending not to do this again. But that would have been churlish of me. Therefore, I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of this award and thank Anne most sincerely. I was honestly stunned at getting a second award, especially since it followed so closely on the heels of the previous one.

In keeping with the spirit of the award, I am to nominate eight bloggers who in turn 'pay it forward' to eight more.

Random Knits - she started the Aussie and New Zealand Knitters' blogring which has led me to blogs here and overseas. I have met Donna in person and her knitting is as good as it looks on her blog.

I Heart Knitting - a Tasmanian teacher and knitter

Rose Red - a 'local' blogger who loves red and shoes as well as knitting

Knitting Linguist - an US knitter and professor of linguistics; what's not to love?

Delighted Hands - a US knitter, quilter and sister in Christ

My recycled bags - while going through chemotherapy, Cindy challenges us all to recycle by turning plastic bags into crochet yarn she calls 'plarn'

Sheepish Annie - a US middle-school teacher, spinner and knitter whose dry wit keeps me coming back for her six-days-a-week blog posts; not to mention the adorable AGK!

and, one of the "big guns":
The Panopticon- the adventures of Franklin, Dolores and Harry keep me amused; but will he even notice that someone gave him an award amongst all those comments?

And the Awards go to...

This has been a very difficult exercise for me. While I am thrilled to have received the Award from Deniasha, I've really struggled with 'passing it forward'. I've had a lengthy email discussion with another blogger and still I hesitate, I procrastinate, I vacillate, I prevaricate.

Now I take a deep breath and honour those who write blogs that I 'leave till last'. [As in, leave the best till last - you know, like eating the cake from the bottom so the icing is last!]

So to all my nominees - these are the rules. Do with them as you please. Just accept my humble thanks for putting your words out there for me to read and for taking the time to comment on my blog too.

1. Please put the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Now, I'll share my list with you [in alphabetical order by blog name]

I've told Bells of Bellsknits privately by email how much I enjoy her blog and now I'm making the declaration public. Bells was also awarded by Deniasha and so may not put this award on her blog. Bells writes well and shares her personal life in such a way that I feel like I'm getting to know her not just her knitting. She never shares intimate details [why should she?] - just enough to let us know how she's feeling as she goes through the ups and downs of her life.

Kate, of Blue Mountains Knits, was the person who introduced me to both blogs and podcasts. She doesn't post as much as I would like but her blog is always interesting: she has a beautiful home and garden in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and works as a technician in our world famous Opera House. Her blog is full of beautiful photos and sometimes her gorgeous knitting [of which we haven't seen much lately, Kate!]

Carol, of Pins and Needles, is a knitter, though I can't remember the last time she showed any knitting [hey, Carol, what's on the needles?]. But she also does the most beautiful digital scrapbooking pages - restrained and elegant without being formal. ['minimalist' perhaps?] She lets the photos tell the story and the journaling is personal. Carol's also been through some ups and downs these past twelve months and many times her journaling has brought me to tears. Between the layouts are stories from her regular life as a woman, wife, step-mother, daughter and friend. Thanks Carol for sharing yourself as well as your gorgeous pages.

I've been reading Sally's blog, PomPoms, since her first post. We come from entirely different perspectives and yet we seem to have many views in common. Sally is not afraid to express her opinions on a wide variety of subjects but she does it in a way that invites comment and doesn't provoke or antagonise those with differing viewpoints [or at least that's true for this reader!] She is both open-minded to other points of view and warm-hearted in her compassion for the under-privileged [or should that be non-privileged, Sally?].

Jodie, of Ric Rac, is one of the few entirely non-knitting blogs on my list. She sews and makes the most amazing creations; sometimes from things people would throw out. Like her amazing dress made entirely from selvages. Sometimes the toys she makes and sells in her Etsy shop take over her blog; and it was one such occasion that won me over!

There are 46 other blogs on my Bloglines - and I like them all; otherwise they wouldn't be on my list. So, to everyone whose blog I read [you know who you are because I comment once in a while!] - thank you for putting your words out there!

I've been awarded!

Thanks to Deniasha I received this lovely surprise. It's my first blog award and I'm so thrilled. Thank you so much Deniasha.
Now I have the unenviable task of nominating four [or more] bloggers whose blogs I love. How can I do that and not insult the others that I read? *sigh*

I claim a few days to mull it over; in the meantime, thanks again Deniasha.