A Gift From Vicki...Dzintars, Songs Of Amber

Coming home last week from the Snowy Mountains I was greeted with a very special package from Vicki containing this gorgeous card and...

this CD...Dzintars...meaning Amber
of which Dzintra is the feminine form...
As you may have read in previous posts I have started to use my Latvian name Dzintra...after being known as Ingrid...
The Dzintars choir was founded in 1947 and has become a highly acclaimed professional artistic group. They are skilled professional singers, and include in their repertoire traditional and modern Latvian songs, and folk songs of other nations...
A very, very special CD...Many Thanks dear Vicki for this!!!
I will thoroughly enjoy the music...as my family will I'm sure♥

While here on the Latvian topic I thought I would post up a few more Latvian items of interest to follow on from a previous post...
Here a great book...Latvian Weaving Techniques by Anita Apinis-Herman...
Anita grew up steeped in the traditions of Latvian weaving, with the beat of her Mother's loom a familiar sound from her earliest years...
Taught the basic techniques by her Mother, and keen to master the art of weaving, Anita bought her first four-shaft loom and began weaving in earnest.
While doing the weaving course at the Melbourne College of Textiles, Anita recognized the need to document her Mother's many years of work and record part of her heritage...
(Text from the book)


Examples of weaving from the book...
I just adore this print from the book Riga...capital of Latvia...Celvedis Guide...
Janis Rozentals~A Princess and a Monkey, 1913~
Janis Rozentals~Princese un pertikis, 1913~

Leather bound wallet and note covers with Latvian designs...

Leather book-cover...

and open with book inside along with a built in bookmark.


Bookmarks...Smiltene is an area in Latvia...and the front one brought back to me from Latvia by my Sister...


and Dzintars/Amber...comes in a few colours, here in a lovely warm rusty colour.

Dzintars/Amber is considered very special among Latvians, worn in necklaces, bracelets, and rings. As a symbol of national identity, it stands for beauty, openness, and freedom (text from above CD booklet)...

Hope you have enjoyed a few more snippets on Latvia...and now it's off to put on that CD and make some Boeuf Bourguignon ...Cheers, Dzintra♥

Patchwork Plus...New Online Store & A Giveaway!!!

I have just found a new on line store...together with a giveaway!!!

If you over to Sarah's at Patchworks Plus you will find that all her patterns have postage for free for the month of June...plus her giveaway. Good Luck and Congratulations in setting up your very own on-line store Sarah...Here's Cheers to you, Dzintra♥

And The Winner Is...

What a chilly Long Weekend we have had...off to the Snowy Mountains for a very special birthday celebration...very cold one day...snow the next day...Then back home for JoJo to draw the lucky winner of my little Giveaway...And the winner of the Bareroots and Hatched and Patched patterns is...Bev C at Kainga Happenings!!! Congratulations Bev!!!

Writing all the names out...

I asked JoJo to choose a coloured basket...and she chose the aqua coloured one...
she was so excited to participate in this....

Here she is scrunching up the names and popping them into the basket...

All the entries are in!!!

And out comes Bev's name!!!

Congratulations Bev on winning my first Giveaway!!!

Then my Hubby says...is there a second prize?

So for a little surprise extra...out came Simone's name!!!

Congratulations Dear Friend Simone♥♥

Many Thank Yous to everybody for entering...this was fun, especially for JoJo so I think I might do this again...perhaps for my 100th post!!!

She just wanted to keep drawing names out!!!

Life should not be measured by what we get in return for our Friendship,

but by what happened because of it~a Thousand Paths to friendship...David Baird~

Enjoy the week Dear Friends as we settle into Winter...as Nature turns up the magic of sunshine in the Northern Hemisphere...Dzintra♥

My Space...My World!!!

Recently my Friend Natima invited me along with other Bloggers to show their workspace...so here 'tis Nat... Folk Art Heart on the door to my world...but first...
come up the stairs with me...this Quilt recently was in my workspace room...done on a Workshop with Yan Pring back in Bathurst...I call it my Tulip Quilt...
I had only done 1 other quilt before...this took a record time (oops, 20 years) to complete which is under Labels further down my blog if you want to take a look...So I am very pleased how this Quilt turned out!!!
See to the back of my head Nat...the little Angel Quilt you gave to me when we moved away from Bathurst...



through the door...


Natima asked if I had a favourite spot in my workspace...
this would have to be it...I spent a lot of time here being Queen of the Armchair re-cuperating...this couch catches a lot of sun so is perfect in the Winter for stitching, reading, contemplating, dreaming!!!

To the right of the couch is a Blanket Box...I love to have soft music on when stitching...and I have a candle also...I love candlelight, I light a candle every night which creates a lovely atmosphere...I always celebrate everything with candle...no matter how small...even cooking dinner often I will light a candle...

This treasure we brought back from Tasmania...it is some sort of sewing cabinet...a good chance for me to pop this in...someone might know something more about it...

Opened...spools for thread on the left...
to me it looks like it might be a 1920's piece...

Couldn't resist putting these threads in...they look so colourful...often I will buy one along the way...

Bookcase holding some fabrics, magazines...

to the right is a table where I do cutting...

One of my favourites...John Wayne!!! He is to the right of my sewing machine...

This is how it looks all together...

The Tulip Quilt was hanging where the calendar is...my Hubby is making me some shelves to put where the Quilt was...

Looking in from the doorway...

JoJo will bring you down the stairs now to...

My Stitching Chair where I currently watch Master Chef and other favourite shows/movies...and stitch!!! See the 3 bags with current projects in them to the left of the chair...Do I really need 3 separate bags...of course I do!!!

And a word on one of my favourite things...Handbags...after all...a gal can never have too many!!!

I find it is vital to have one handbag for each of the ten types of social occasions:

Very Formal; Not So Formal;

Just a Teensy Bit Formal; Informal But Not That Informal;

Every Day; Every Other Day;

Day Travel; Night Travel;

Theatre; and Fling...

~Miss Piggy from the Muppets~

Thank You Natima for inviting me to share my workspace with you...It was fun!!!

And just to finish off...my Sister gave me this orchid at Christmas time...

It is an off shoot off one of my Grandmother's/Vecmamin's orchids...

My Grandmother passed away 20 years ago...and to our surprise it flowered last week...how beautiful is this...it brought back wonderful memories of her tending the orchids!!!

I wish you were here to see it♥

Have a lovely week everybody...Dzintra♥

It's My Turn For a Giveaway!!!

Hi there everyone...recently I entered a giveaway at Micki's which I had the pleasure of winning...so I thought for a bit of fun...it's my turn now!!!

Baby Things pattern by Bareroots

comprising of quilt, pillow, receiving blanket and sleeping pillow

and...2 little patterns from Anni at Hatched and Patched...

It's easy...just leave a comment...I'll put them all in a basket and JoJo can draw out the lucky winner 2 Posts from this one...
For 2 chances tell your friends to come over...or use the stitchery Hearts and Hands Gather Here (above)...

Regular commenters also get 2 chances...