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 :)"
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
