lovely lemonade

What a nice surprise to be given the Lemonade Award by lovely Dee Beale. If you haven't seen her work Dee makes the most wonderful graphic gocco prints. Her printing technique leaves me in awe!

I was also lucky enough to be given the Lovely Blog Award by newearthsoaps a fellow Dust member who sells her soaps on Etsy. Thanks Karen, and all the other Dusters who have made me feel so welcome.

I'm always discovering new blogs which I can't live without. I'm a blog addict! And though I subscribe to some of the big design blogs I find its the small personal blogs that I really enjoy and look out for. Here are some of my favourites, old and new. Its nice to have an excuse to share them.

Red Pepper Quilts
Rita makes the most beautiful quilts, her colour choices and meticulous sewing really helped inspire me to start my own. On top of that, Rita is also the loveliest person, quick and generous with advice. I think I read her blog from top to bottom while making my first quilt.

Gardenmama
Nicole's blog Gardenmama is a new find for me. I was immediately drawn to her beautiful vintage finds, and her wonderful photography. She's also a lovely person, and that shines through her blog.

Four Leaves
Julie's blog is such a peaceful, thoughtful place which celebrates the poetry of everyday. She captures the magical moments and images of domestic life.

Mizu Designs
One of my early Etsy purchases was a dragonfly card from Mizu. A very thoughtful artist, I love to see her posts about her process, which involves Japanese woodcutting.

Lupin
Laura's lovely blog is another must read for me. She is always busy making wonderful pieces from her colourful felt or whipping up some other crafty masterpiece with her great eye for design.

dearfii
Fi's blog is a very new one to me, I discovered it recently when she bought some Ruby and Gold slippers :-) Such a lovely colourful world full of beautiful clever things. I always like visiting. She's had some wonderful and well deserved press recently.

and being greedy I'm going to post just one more!

Colour and Sound
It was Anna's beautiful quilt which really inspired me and made me finally decide to take the quilting plunge. I love her simple collages with their perfect balance and subtlety.

Thanks all these bloggers for the daily inspiration you give. Please feel welcome to take one or both award and pass them on, or not :-)

The 'rules' for Lemonade awardees (which are very similar to the Lovely award) are:
- Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.
- Comment on the blog that awarded you.
- Copy the award and save to your computer, and then upload it to your blog.
- Link to your nominees within your blog post.
- Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.
- Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.