Feature Friday - Hand Stitched with Love

Hello everyone :),

Hope that you have all had a wonderful week. The sun is finally shining HORRAY :) and it has been warm enough to be wearing some summer clothes which is always so exciting. Has been a really great week and looking forwards to the weekend now. I have also managed to blog every day this week which I am proud of, I hope you all have enjoyed the posts I have been putting up and hopefully I can continue to blog a little more frequently. 

This week I have a really exciting Feature Friday lined up for you all. I am super excited to be featuring this shop and it is really nice to be featuring a shop from England on my blog too :). 

This week's featured shop is HandStitchedWithLove which is run by Scholastica Brimley who is from Hertford, England. She sells a range of beautiful hand embroidered cross stitch earrings, cufflinks, rings, pendants and home accessories which are inspired by vintage needlework. 

As you can see from this photograph Scholastica's items are so pretty and delicate and also beautifully photographed. This makes browsing through her shop a really lovely experience. Please click here to take a peak!!

Scholastica opened her Etsy shop after another crafty friend recommended the site to her and she listed her first brooch in early 2012. She says that Etsy has been a great way to meet other crafters who have been really kind and generous to her with help and support in running her shop. Being an Etsy seller myself this is something I too have really gained from being part of Etsy, it is not just a great place to set up a shop and sell but also has a wonderful community. I have learnt so much from others on Etsy and it is fantastic to be able to connect with others all over the world. 

About Scholastica

She says " I owe my strange name (especially for someone who grew up in Hong Kong where many of my teachers struggled to pronounce it) to my parents wanting to give me a name with the same number of letters as my brother's, which is Christopher. I have two beautiful girls, aged 2 and 4, who tend to take over my life somewhat. I work as a pensions actuary 3 days a week, which require me to act very grown-up and business-like :) When I'm not stitching I like knitting and teddy-making, but more commonly I can be found baking or making some paper mache masterpiece with the girls.

Oh and I absolutely can't stitch without chocolates :) and have a habit of making my husband feed me little squares as I work, so that my creations can remain smudge-free :)"

How Scholastica got into embroidery:

Scholastica says "I have always loved embroidery and all forms of hand-stitching/sewing (being completely rubbish with a sewing machine), and I still have the little sheep pin cushion that I made when I was 10! Then in 2011 I got quite ill when I was carrying my second daughter, and I did a lot of cross-stitching to help wind away the long hours of being stuck in bed. It was at the point when we were running out of wall space for my many completed samplers that my husband challenged me to make something "useful" out of my cross-stitching - and I made my first pair of cross-stitch cufflinks :)" 

Vintage Patterns

I was really interested in what Scholastica had to say about being inspired by vintage patterns. She said "I have a great love for vintage cross stitch patterns, especially French ones from the early 1900s. I like them for their simplicity and how the shapes and forms are allowed to take centre stage - this may be my mathematical side talking! One of my favourites is the DMC "Point de Marque" collection - the first of which may have been first published in 1890, but the designs still seem relevant and have such vintage charm. I have been known to spend hours trawling through antique shops and online for old prints!"

Scholastica's favourite item from her shop

"My favourite piece in the shop at the moment is the rabbit brooch - it's a labour of love as for some reason it took a lot longer than expected to get her bottom looking just right! I really like how it has turned out though :)"

I absolutely love her shop especially how all her items are vintage inspired :). Please click this link to have a browse around Hand Stitched With Love and see all the lovely items which Scholastica has for sale :).

Have a great weekend everyone and hope you enjoyed this week's Feature Friday. If you did, please leave a comment in the box below, would be wonderful to hear what your favourite item in Hand Stitched with Love is :) .

The Dorothy Days XXxx

Feature Friday- Laura from Vintage Plus Crafts

Hello everyone.

Hasn't the last few days just been beautiful ?! Everyone seems so much more relaxed and friendly now the sun in shining! To my followers from outside the U.K, what has the weather been like where you are from? Can't believe it is the end of the week already, this week seems to have gone by so quickly. I am really looking forwards to the weekend a on Saturday I am having a BBQ with my friends. There is nothing like BBQ cooked food and this shall be our first BBQ of the summer so I am rather excited.

I am also excited because on Sunday I am going to a vintage fair. I have a stall there so shall be selling lots of lovely vintage items. I have been busy the last few weeks and have lots of new teacups (some have gone up on my Etsy site), some beautiful vintage jewellery and lots of other vintage treasures. Some will be going to the vintage fair and some I have put aside for my Etsy store so be expecting some more treasures to be uploaded soon. Vintage fairs are always so much fun and you meet such a range of people. Last time I went I had a 7 year old who was really interested in vintage items buy a vintage necklace from me which was from the 1950's and the same day had an elderly woman buy a tea set from me as it was one she had when she was younger. There is such a mix of people and its lovely chatting to customers. Lets hope the sunshine stays as it will be lovely if the sun is shining when I do the fair.


Today is Friday which means it is Feature Friday! Last week was a great success. It was lovely featuring Shannon and a massive thank you to everyone who visited her shop and left lovely comments. They really made me smile and I am sure they brought a smile to Shannon's face too.

This week I am featuring Laura from ......

Laura is from Minnesota in the United States and sells a mixture of handmade and handcrafted items as well as vintage hence the name of her shop! Laura says "I love all kinds of vintage items" and she certainly has some beautiful items in her shop. She says that her favourite kind of vintage items are items from the 1970's, hand embroidered linens and aprons.

Here are some of my favourite vintage items in her shop:

 I love this vintage cross stitch sampler from the 1980's. It would be beautiful for a child's nursery or to give as a gift to a friend who is having a baby or has a young child. I always think it is so nice to give a handmade gift as you know that nobody else would have given them the same.

This Vintage tea towel is really fun and reminds me of the summer.

Laura also is a crafter and loves to do hand embroidery. She makes dish/ tea towels, hoop art and samplers. This is a skill she has had since a child and ,now a grandmother, she hopes to pass this skill onto her granddaughter.

Here are some hand embroidered dish towels which Laura has made with different farm yard animals and the days of the week. The country girl in me loves these! They would definitely brighten up washing the dishes!!

Please take a look at Laura's shop she has some wonderful items and her hand embroidery is amazing.

The Dorothy Days