Mari-Leen van Rooyen

Hi there. I am a 30 year old South African, and I have been living on a farm in the south of Namibia for the last two years. I am also a mom to a gorgeous baby girl and wife to a wonderful husband.

I love the internet, I love interesting blogs about crochet, quilting and fabrics, and I love beautiful patterns!! This blog is about combining all of this. I will try my best to make it more about beautiful pictures and less about text, because showcasing pretty things is really what this blog is about. I will be sharing links to other great blogs and posts, beautiful things made by friends and others, my current projects, and my journey as I begin my own sewing fabric line. I really want my readers to interact with the blog, so please email me pics of pretty crochet and sewing items, or ideas of creative souls you think deserves to be featured. But first, a bit about me.....

After working in the interior industry in Cape Town, and launching my own handbag line, I finally decided to just emerge myself in what I love best.... FABRIC, YARN and whatever other tools needed to create with!!

I never had time to learn crafts like crochet or quilting, but my new lifestyle gave me heaps of freedom to learn about all these things that I always wanted to master. I fell so deeply in love with these crafts that I wanted to explore, create and be part of every facet of it. Thats when the idea was born to start selling my favorite yarn, design and print my own sewing fabrics, and to create my own patterns.

Another dream of mine was to create work for some of the thousands of unemployed Nama women in this town. For most of them there are no prospects when leaving school. Unfortunately they are also not raised in a culture where "reaching for your dreams" is encouraged. Through my work I want to give women the opportunity to learn a valueble new skill, to be in control of their earnings, and to hold something in their hand at the end of the day that they can be proud of.

I hope you enjoy being part of ThePrettyCrafty

x