Carin from Stitches by Carin

This week's Blogger of the Week is a multi-crafter and a great enabler!  She always takes beautiful photos and has tempted me to stitch designs I would not otherwise have noticed.  She lives in the Netherlands and blogs in both Dutch and English which is a relief as Dutch is yet another language I do not speak!  She is an avid reader too, so if you want a book recommendation do pop over and read her latest reviews.  Please welcome Carin from

Stitches by Carin

1. Please introduce yourself – name, where you are from, family, pets etc.

I’m Carin, 55 years and I’m from the Netherlands.  I’m married and I have a son (33) and daughter (31).  We also have a Jack Russell terrier who sometimes listen to the name Bowy.

Little House Needleworks - Home of a Needleworker (Too!)

2. How long have you been stitching and how did you start?

I learned it myself when I was about 19 years young, so I’m stitching for more than 35 years now.  I saw a cross stitch kit in a local shop and bought it.  I read the description that was in the kit and just started.


3. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start? Is there a story behind your blog title?

I started in 2009 with my blog.  The reason was that I wanted a place where I could post pictures of my work.  I named it Stitches by Carin, because there are many kind of stitches I do, such as cross stitches, quilt stitches, knitted stitches and crochet stitches.

Little House Needleworks - Gingerbread Trio

4. How would you describe your stitching style? Are you a serial starter, a rotator, a OAAT (one at a time), highly organised, random and eclectic, etc.?

I work on many things at the same time. Most are small pieces, such as ornaments or pincushions and they are finished real fast.

Little House Needleworks - Seasons Greetings

5. Do you have a favourite designer or style of design you are drawn to?

My favorite designer is Little House Needleworks.  I think 90% of my work are made with patterns from this designer.

6. Which piece are you most proud of in your collection?

I’m most proud of all my Christmas ornaments.  I made the 2010, 2011 and 2012 ornament series by LHN and every year they are hanging in our Christmas tree and we all enjoy them.  Each year I’m on the look out to see if LHN has new ornament patterns, because there is still room in the tree.

7. What has been your worst stitching disaster?

That still has to come ;-)

8. Do you have a box of finished-but-not-fully-finished pieces? Or is everything FFO'd? What's your favourite way to fully finish a project and what do you do with them?

I still have a few pieces that I need to fully finish, but most things are done.  My favorite way to finish things is making ornaments or pincushions.  I display them in my cubby organizer, in baskets, on trays etc.

9. Which of your projects most represents "you"?

I think that would be the advent animals which I just finished.  They are colorful and positively  funny.  I love colors, love animals and I always try to see the positive things in people.

Brooke's Books - Advent Animals freebies

10. Anything you would like to add?

The thing I want to say is, keep positive and think of the things you CAN do, instead of looking at thing you CAN’T do.  This motto helped me a lot one year ago, when I had my TIA and my right arm went out completely.
For a brief moment there was that thought: What if ...? But right after that thought, I was looking for solutions, just in case ;-)  That same evening I was knitting in the hospital, as good or bad as I could, but I did get some stitches done and knitting helped me a lot during the months after my TIA and it helped with my motor skills.
I couldn't do any cross stitching and quilting for almost three-quarters of a year, but I never have thought on giving up.  I kept on practicing and since a few weeks ago I can do cross stitching and quilting again.