Sunshine Award!

Hi everyone!

The amazing Jodie from Lupey Loops blog nominated us for a Sunshine Award!! Thank you so much to Jodie for the nomination - we are honoured to think that our little blog brings you happiness :) Michelle was lucky enough to meet Jodie on her trip to Adelaide in May this year. We love reading Jodie's blog - it is informative and entertaining, and we particularly love all the links to further reading! 


The rules of the Sunshine Award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the questions from the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate a few other bloggers.
4. Write the same amount of questions for the bloggers you nominated.
5. Notify the bloggers on their blog.
6. Put the award button on your blog.

The questions Jodie asked us were:

What energises you?

What is your favourite season?

What is your proudest moment?

What gets you through hard times?

When was the last time you laughed so hard, it hurt?

And here are our answers!

What energises you?

Michelle

Doing things! I absolutely love doing things, and it makes me feel so much better about the world. When I'm feeling fatigued and awful, often the best thing I can do is get up, have a shower, get dressed and go do something, even if it's just replying to some emails or some easy crochet. Of course, with the CFS doing things is sometimes the absolute worst thing to do; but when I was on graded activity therapy, I just about went insane with boredom and misery because my optimum activity level was... not doing much at all. I choose to take the low points, so that I can have the high points as well :)

Anne

Well, it depends. If fatigue hits me, I usually have to take a quick nap. On other days, it is doing things I love and getting engrossed in them. Oh and I recently took up running which seems to give me boosts of energy. I never thought myself as as runner (in fact I hated it) but I am really getting used to it and it brings so much joy to spent the time outside. Unfortunately I am down with a cold at the moment, so I can't run and I am surprised how much I miss it!

What is your favourite season?

Michelle

Winter! I love the cold, and the things that come with it - hot chocolate, warm blankets, snuggly doonas, being inside... Winter is the best!

Anne
Eh, good question? I probably depends on the time of the year really but I think I am incredible fond of autumn with all the changing colors, the storms and the cozy nights. I do like all the other seasons as well though. I love spring for the boost of green and all the flowers, I love summer for the lovely long evenings and I love winter for it brings the christmas season and snow. 

What is your proudest moment?

Michelle

This is a really hard question to answer. I think possibly when I won two ribbons at the Sydney Royal Easter Show this year, and my mum said to me that my nan (who passed away a few years ago, and was a brilliant crafty artist) would have been really proud of what I'd made :) 

Anne
I agree with Mich - a rather hard question to answer and one I am not sure of. There are lots of small moments, I like to remember. Like finished a crochet item, graduating from uni, mastering a new dish... 

What gets you through hard times?

Michelle

My friends and family, and list making. I know that last one sounds silly, but when life is careening out of control, and everything seems like it's out to get me, just sitting down and writing a list helps me organise my thoughts, and tackle the problems :)

Anne
Family and friends as well - talking to them, hugging them and so on. And time for myself with either sports or crochet. My bf calls it my crochet bubble. 

When was the last time you laughed so hard, it hurt?

Michelle

Er, I do this all the time. At least I have wicked abs under all my belly padding, right? We do try to get people who come to the Melbourne Comedy Festival with us at Easter to get some stomach training in before the funnies begin - first aid hasn't been required yet, but it's been a close call a few times.

Anne

Last night I thought? We were watching some tv show, I enjoyed. I love to laugh, it is such a good time to spent one's time. And I agree with Michelle - the Comedy Festival is awesome. I hope I get to go again one day and see Adam Hills on stage again!

Nominations

We nominate the following two bloggers for the Sunshine Award, who bring joy, sunshine and inspiration into our lives:

- Wool and Cats - It is such a wonderful blog about yarn-y life in France. The Friday pictures always bring a smile to my face. They are so special and well taken. It really shows that Geraldine has an eye for the importance of small things. Oh and of course her cats are such beauties!!

- WoollyBlueBells - Reading Helen's blog posts is always a treat, along with the wonderful pictures from her life in England (and her travels). She and her husband owns a delightful little caravan and I love reading about their trips. She recently finished her phd and I hope she finds a job which will bring sunshine into her life every day!

And our questions for them are (stealing some of Jodie's questions):

- What is your favorite season and why?
- Which person(s) bring happiness into your life?
- What is (one of) your happiest memory?
- What makes you smile?
- What is the most important thing in your life?

Success at the Sydney Royal Easter Show!

Hello everyone! 

Just a short blog post tonight, but I'm exploding with excitement that I just have to share with you all!!

Tonight was the Preview Exhibition for the Sydney Royal Easter Show Arts and Crafts Competition. You might remember that I entered a Road Trip Scarf, a candy happypotamus (General Millie, Captain Poprocks' future wife) and my Rainbow Twist and Turn Bargello Afghan into the competition. It was my first time entering, so I wasn't expecting anything - just getting my entries on display would have been amazing.

BUT! I did so much better than that! Not only did all three of my items end up on display...

... I won SECOND PLACE in the Crochet Art section for the Rainbow Twist and Turn Bargello Afghan...

... and FIRST PLACE (BLUE RIBBON!!) FOR GENERAL MILLIE IN THE CROCHETED/KNITTED SOFT TOYS SECTION!!!!

Plus, by the time we got to the exhibition, an hour after it opened, the scarf and happypotamus had already been purchased :D :D :D 

I'm still fizzing about the place several hours later, just so excited and thrilled and beaming like an idiot (see above pictures for proof)!! 

THANK YOU all for your support and appreciation for the crochet work that Anne and I create! It gave me the confidence to enter the Show, and I am just so happy with the results! 

Peace and Harmony Award

Merry Christmas to you all! We hope you had and are still having wonderful days with lots of love from your family and friends. We most certainly are!

Some days ago, our little blog got awarded the Peace and Harmony Award. Wow! Michelle and I agreed that Christmas would be the best time to blog about this award. After all, Christmas should be a time of peace and joy! 

We got the award from Jodi from Lupey Loops (she talkes about the award here)  and we feel very humble to be in included in her list of blogs which foster peace and harmony. Had we been awarded first, Jodi would certainly have been in our list. Like Michelle and me, Jodi battles with chronic autoimmune illness. Her blog is a great resource for people with chronic illness and she has such a positive view on life which shows in and between the lines she writes. :)

The Harmony & Peace Award is an invention of Barbara Mattio (IdealisticRebel). The award aims to "celebrate all those who promote Harmony & Peace, and who add Love & Beauty to the world through their Blogs and through their lives.  Their Positivity makes the world a better place for all of us."

Jodi included a very kind description of our blog: "The story of friendship between Michelle and Anne who live on opposite sides of the globe (Australia & Germany). They describe their friendship here and invite their readers to become a part of their friendship circle as they blog about craft, cooking and good company. Anne and Michelle prove that living in different hemispheres is no barrier to cultivating friendships." Thanks Jodi!! :)

We decided to honor the award by telling you about our Christmases in Germany and Australia. That way we can show you that Christmas on different sides of the world can be very different and same in spirit at once!

Anne

Christmas is a very special time of the year for me. It's the meaning and the whole atmosphere which I hold very close to my heart and every year I can't wait for the first advent; that is, for the start of the christmas season. 

We always have a real Christmas tree. The one at my parents' house is always up to the roof of the room and I remember the Christmas mornings when I woke up and raced down to see the decorated tree (my parents put the decorations up at night). Nowadays, I celebrate Christmas Eve with my boyfriend at home in Dortmund. Our tree is not as big as my parent's tree but still not small (1,65 m this year). We decorate on Christmas Eve and the tree holds a lot of memories as we put up glass globes we brought home from places we visited all over the world. This year the tree included globes from London, Paris, Groningen, Vienna, Sydney, Vancouver and Stockholm!

Christmas Eve (the day Germans celebrate) we go to church. It wouldn't be Christmas without the song "Oh du Fröhliche"! Afterwards we take time to cook and enjoy a good glass of wine. This year we had duck. Yumm! Lucky me - the boyfriend cooked it. He is so much better at cooking than me!

At night, we always take a walk. I love this outside time! It is very quite and peaceful and the windows of the houses are alight. One can see the sparkling Christmas trees and happy faces. What a wonderful and special time!

On the first day of Christmas, we drive up to the boyfriend's family. On the second day of Christmas, we celebrate with my family. Four generations! And the boys are certainly in the lower number: 8 female and 4 male! There has been only girls on this side of the family for a couple of generations!

I love giving gifts! I am usually much more excited about giving gifts than reciving some (I still love them though!). This year, I made sure to include our neighbours. We live in a house with 10 families. The boyfriend and I made chocolate on a stick which can be put in hot chocolate. We made three different kinds: Dark Chocolate with Red Pepper, White Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Vanilla. I hope the liked their gifts! There were also some picture books for the small kids (I couldn't resist!). :) A lot of my gifts were handmade this year. My work ladies got little glasses with Christmas Milk Rice for example and my Granny got the blanket I showed you some weeks ago. I love giving handmade gifts as I hope it shows my love! 

Michelle

Christmas in our house has changed a lot since I was little. Then, all our celebration was on Christmas Day, and we would race down the stairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought us. We weren't allowed to open any presents until after church - lucky there was a 7:30am service! My parents put a lot of effort into making us believe in Santa: chewed carrots and grass in the water bucket we put out for the reindeer, and Santa always polished off the milk and cookies we left out for him! After church, we had a lovely breakfast and opened presents. The big celebration was for lunch, and we always ate very very well.

One thing that hasn't changed about Christmas is that we have our extended family parties beforehand - sometimes in November! This meant that we (and everyone else) didn't have to rush around on Christmas to see everyone. Now we visit Kiah's family a few days after Christmas for a delicious lunch :)

Since we had the house at Lake Macquarie, we have come up here for the two weeks including Christmas and New Years. We have also started celebrating on Christmas Eve with a big dinner with friends and our immediate family. 

Then on Christmas Day we go to church up here, and then usually everyone has a nap! For lunch we have slow roasted pork belly with apple jam and lots of vegies. In the afternoon everyone relaxes and maybe has more naps!

Our family doesn't get very excited about Christmas decorations. We have a plastic tree which lights up itself, and a few things hanging around the house that Mum has made. Maybe when we have little ones again we will get more into decorations :)

The Harmony & Peace Award Rules are:

1. Give this award to seven bloggers who have added Harmony & Peace, Love & Beauty and Positivity to the world you live in.
2. Let them know that you nominated them.
3. Acknowledge the blogger from whom you received this award.
4. Display your award on your blog, because  you have earned it!
5. Continue to live in Harmony & Peace.

Phew, it is pretty hard to choose seven blogs only! I love reading every blog on my reading list because the tales from all over the world brighten my day and make me smile! So in our hearts all of them are nominated!

Anyway, here are our 7 nominees:

1. Funky Crochet: Ingrid is originally from Germany, used to live in the UK and now lives in Belgium. She is a great example how one can become part of a new world no matter where one originally comes from! She is a very kind lady and this year both Michelle and I received handmade Christmas cards from her! Thanks Ingrid for making our Christmas more colourful!

2. Mias Landliv: Mia blogs about her life in Norway and always includes wonderful and peaceful pictures. Whenever I read her blog, I feel at peace. It is as if her photos carry one to a different world!

3. Wool and Cats: Géraldine makes the world a better place though her amazing pictures. Every Friday she posts a weekend still and the pic is always amazing and full of harmony. She reminds one how important it is to notice the small things in life and the beauty of nature.  

4. The Little Bee: Alia's page isn't exactly a blog but she collects wonderful things on Instagram. Her Sunday Shawl is a wonderful example how a crochet pattern can bring together people from all different kind of cultures and countries. People from all over the world have crocheted the shawl and each one is loved. Crochet is such a wonderful and harmonious way to bring people together!

5. Vacuuming on Holidays: Bernie's blog is very new but holds a wonderful idea. Bernie says about herself that she is on her way to happiness and she documents her way on the blog. Each week she blogs about the things which made her smile. What a great idea! It is so important for all of us that peace and harmony can be all around is and a smile is the best way to show it! Smiling makes the world a better place (which is why I try to make sure to smile at as many people as possible!).

6. Woollybluebells: Helen is a wanderer between worlds like us. She blogs about special things from the UK and Germany - cultures she holds very dear in her heart. In German there is a word for her: Weltbürger. This means "world citizen". If there were more Weltbürger on the world, that is people who don't care about borders and enjoy different cultures instead, the world would be a way more peaceful place! Thanks Helen for being a Weltbürger!

7. Jet Georgette: Our lovely friend Alex from Perth blogs about clothes, fashion and style. The tagline for her blog is "self-esteem isn't a size tag", which pretty much sums up her philosophy! I love reading through her blog to get ideas for fashion and style for those of us who aren't a perfect size 8 :) What a great message to the world! We should all learn to be so accepting and at peace with our own bodies. 

Liebster Blog Award

Hello!

First of all: Welcome to our new followers! Good to see you here!

This week something really exciting happened. Géraldine from the lovely blog Wool and Cats nominated us for the Liebster Blog Award! Wow!

The Liebster Blog Award has been around blog world for some time and it works like a kind of chain mail. The Award is awarded from one blog owner to up to 11 of his/her favorite blogs (hence the Liebster which means favorite in Germany). He/she asks the awarded blog owner 11 questions which have to be answered.
 

Géraldine asked for the answers to the questions she answered herself. I translated them to English from French and hope I got them right... Since it's a shared blog, Michelle and I decided to both answer the questions... Enjoy!

1. What is the name of your blog? And what does the name mean?

Crochet Between Worlds - crochetbetweenworlds.blogspot.com.au

This blog is shared by us, that is Michelle and Anne. The name is meant to reflect this and also the fact that we are connected through crochet even though we live on different continents.

2. How much time per week do you spend on your blog?

Michelle - about 4 hours all up, depending on what kind of post I'm doing. If it's a pattern with lots of photos, it takes longer!

Anne - About 4-5 hours too. As Michelle said: It really depends on the kind of post. I like to take my time with the pictures and edit them (most of the time) before I put them on the blog. That is fun but it also takes quite some time. Plus it takes more time if I do layout changes and such.

3. What is your favourite colour?

Michelle - If it's not related to crochet, I love teal and indigo. For crochet, I adore rainbows and variegated yarns - hard to pick just one favourite colour!

Anne - Red. Navy Blue is a close second though. If you ask for yarn colours though: Pomegranate  from Stylecraft Special DK. I could spent hours drooling over this colour.

 
4. What is your favourite craft activity?

Michelle - I think crochet is my favourite, but I also love doing cross-stitch and patchwork.

Anne - Without any doubt: Crochet! I like to work with paper too though (be prepared to see some of my current paper projects on the blog soonish!)

5. How many blogs do you follow?

Michelle - I'm not sure! There are about 20 that I read semi-regularly, but I am terrible at keeping up :P

Anne - Uh, good question? I follow between 40 and 50 regularly and quite a few more semi-regularly. Woah. That is quite a huge number. I didn't realize it were thhhatt many. Still, every single one is worth the reading time!

6. Have you a creative soul?

Michelle - Until recently I would have said no, but I think I do! I love to make things that are useful, practical, and above all, actually used!

Anne - I mused about that topic a couple of weeks ago in this post. I do indeed consider myself a creative being but it took some time to realize that.

7. Do you have a specific material that you like to work with?

Michelle - I usually stick to acrylic yarns as I get terribly itchy when working with pure wool. For my animals, I particularly like an acrylic/nylon blend (lovely and smooth), but for scarves and slippers, 100% acrylic or 50/50 wool acrylic blend is my favourite :)

Anne - I adore Merino Blend yarns. Like Cotton Merino or Acrylic/Merino. I really like the feel of Merino yarn (and also the sound of the word... I am such a word-lady).

8. Yarn and you ....

Michelle - It's accumulating at an alarming rate, along with my dream project list. I'm going to have to live a very long time!

Anne - ... are in love! Other women buy shoes, I buy yarn!

9. At what age did you learn to crochet or knit?

Michelle - I learned to crochet at 4 or 5 years old, and had to learn to knit for school when I was 8. However, I never really enjoyed knitting - it took too long to get anything done and crochet is much faster.

Anne - I learned to crochet in primary school, so I must have been around 7-8 years old. I only got back into it when I was 23. As for knitting, I was taught when I was 24 but never really got into it.

10. Who taught you?

Michelle - my Nan taught me how to do most crafts - she was a dressmaker and always had a houseful of projects and fabric and yarn and ideas!

Anne - my mum. Apparently she was really into crochet when she was a teenager. She doesn't crochet anymore though (which is sad)

11. What are your future projects?

Michelle - In the short term, I have a whole zoo-ful of animals to finish for Christmas. After that, I am hoping to have time to build up some stock for my market stall next June! 

Anne - Well, I need to finish  a whole basket of crochet fruit and veggies til christmas. Plus there is a beanie on my hook. I would also like to make some christmas decorations. Oh and I need more time... My head is full of ideas and I could easily crochet every day for about two years and wouldn't be finished. 

Now, on with the nominations!

Lucie from Vivre au Crochet

 Alison from Farmhouse Traditions

Angela from Get Knotted

Andrea from Kokopelli Design

Michaela from crochet. reading. travels. stories. life. love. me.

Zelna from Zooty Owl's Crafty Blog

Helen from Woollybluebells

Ingrid from FunkyCrochet

Jodi from Lupey Loops

Viola from Colour Crochet Love

Darrah from Button Buffalo

And we would love to have the following questions answered...

1. What is the name of your blog? And what does the name mean?

2. How many blogs do you follow?

3. Do you have a creative soul? 

4. At what age did you learn to crochet or knit?

5. What are your future projects?

6. Why do you blog?

7. What will your Christmas look like this year?

8. What are your plans for 2015?

9. If you could travel anywhere, which 3 places would you visit and why? 

10.What made you smile today?

11. What do you do on a rainy Sunday?

Looking forward to read your answers!

Take care! 

P.S. Pictures were taken at the Zeche Zollern (Old Coal Mining Plant)