Still alive - and SSCS arrived and opened

It's December 29th - and we're still alive. :)

We had decided to celebrate Christmas Eve just the two of us this year - but because of things happening, we ended up celebrating the afternoon with BF's family at his aunt's house, and then took a second celebration in our apartment later that night. But it was a nice day. BF's brothers came by and spent some time with us earlier in the day. Our internet connection was repaired (it took over an hour, the poor lad fixing it being on his cell and poking our cables at the same time) after being broken for about five or six days (and that's alot, when you think of how much you depend on having everything available to you at all times - like mail and bank services).

I was a good girl and saved my SSCS gift until Christmas Eve. :) And I was a very lucky girl too. Cathy was my elf this year, and she sent me a very full, fun and pretty gift. :)

In the picture below you can see the fabric it was wrapped in, chocolates, a tazzie devil (stuffed, luckily), two patterns, postcards, Christmas decorations (I'm still looking at the tiny tiny stitches - they're so adorable!) and vegemite! (I remember that a friend of my sister went to Australia to study medicine, and he got completely hooked on Vegemite, I still haven't tried it, but I will!)



My "victim" this year was Anita. I received an email from her the other day, and everything was just perfect. :)


After spending the last couple of days with BF's family, I seem to have caught some of the bugs his middle brother's battling, I can just feel my throat getting more and more sore by the minute. Hopefully this can be battled quickly (and not end up in a two week sickleave like the last one).

Today we're going in to town to do some shopping (and looking). My sweet BF got me the new Ipod nano for Christmas and I'm so afraid I'll scratch it I'm going to look for a protective cover for it. It's soo pretty (bright red) and soo tiny and thin (and huge! considering it's about 16Gb space for music, movies and pictures on it).

Hope you're all having wonderful Christmas days!

Today's view

Not very Christmas-y, but atleast white..

Nice view?

Not really.. It's really foggy here today.

SSCS - the arrival of the parcel!

Well, actually, it arrived in the mail last week (the mailman who actually delivers our mail stuffed it really deep into our tiny mailbox - and BF was almost not able to get it out)! I am soo curious!



The envelope had gone through a pretty rough trip, and was torn here and there, so I decided to open it and see if everything was ok with it's contents. Well, I cannot hear any broken sounds from it, and it seems ok, but look at the gorgeous fabric Cathy has used to wrap it! :D

Thank you thank you thank you! Only two and a half more weeks now, and then it's unwrapping-time!

In other news, I've heard that both my "victims" have received their parcels - both Kelli and Anita. :) I am so glad that they both arrived safely and quickly.

I am currently trying to find some inspiration and some ideas to make a couple of Christmas presents, but it's soooo hard!!! I really just want to work on my BFG or knitting another pair of.. well, secrets.. *wink* But I need to get these ones done by the weekend after next. And I need to go downtown and do some shopping too - and maybe go to Ikea.. and, and, and.. AND bake! We (BF and I) went through some baking books today and made a list of some of the cookies/yummie things we'd like to make for Christmas. And then comes finding the time to bake. And make. And, see our friends.. We have a "date" with a friend of ours on Thursday, Wedensday is the Christmas meeting in my guild, and then there's work, work, and did I mention work? I have so much to do before Christmas I'm having a hard time finding a place to start!

Atleast we've been able to get some gift tags made today. :) One small step, etc etc etc.

One small step..

Yep! Testing out the blog function on my mobile - and showing the first block for Butterfly Garden. :)


Edit: Works like a charm! Hmm, perhaps it'll help me update a little more often. *blush* Oh, and btw, this was the first block for my BFG - I have now completed all the hearts, and have started on the flowers. No rush, though, this is "comfort sewing". ;) In other news, I have learned how to knit socks!! Yay!

It's beginning to look a lot like..

Well, most people would say Christmas - the decorations are up all over town, and on Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent (so, I guess it's about time to check to see if we still have some purple candles left, and to see if the lightbulb in the star still works). Only thing missing - is snow.. Oslo isn't really much of a snowy place (more gooey melted, brown slushy-snow and ice, really..).

But the preparations are on! Ahem.. well, the planning of the gifts have begun, the thinking of what to do during the days off have not started quite yet (what? there are days off? oh sleep...), but the first couple of presents have been fixed/bought/made/started. ;)


First off, I don't remember if I ever showed a picture of these, but I ordered some fat quarters from Nuno-Plus a few weeks ago, and they're gorgeous, funny, cute (even BF thinks so) and I have no idea what to make of them. I kinda just want to keep them in the plastic wrapping and look at them every now and then. But, alas, I will use them for something - sooner or later. ;)
The first parcel to leave this building (haha - internal geeky joke) were for Donna's amazing Secret Santa Christmas Swap (I joined again - ofcourse). :) See for yourselves.


Just teasing. ;) They're wrapped.


Every single one. ;)

And now you might ask why there are two different papers used for the wrapping? Well, you'll find out - in about 28 days. ;)

In other news - I have officially started on the Butterfly Garden-quilt! Cheating, of course - as I did a little on the Truly Scrumptious.. Yes, I know, I'm a sneaky person.. that's why I play a rogue in World of Warcraft, I guess.. *grins* Anyway, I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about the BG quilt, about the colours and the fabrics, of the way it is designed, and I did some counting. 9 blocks, consisting of 9 blocks. 9 x9 = 81. 9 different types of blocks (according to my counting and grouping) - why not make the blocks of each type similar? So that's what I've done. I kinda like a bit of order and system in my things (although our apartment doesn't really give that impression at the moment) so I decided that I wanted to be able to see a pattern (much more clearly then in the original). Therefore I have now started on the heart blocks, and they will (all 8 of them) be in the same fabrics and more or less identical. And I like that idea. :)

So, to continue on the textmessage I sent to Quiltoholiker and my mom last night - 2 down 79 to go. :)

The cup is full..

Have you ever had a day when you think of something to do, start doing it, thought of something else that needs to be done, started doing that too, done this a couple of times, and then forgotten why you started doing things in the first place? I have. This is one of those days..

I was assigned the baking responsibility at work today - that's the punishment/reward for bringing cake to work (instead of gobbling it all up by yourself and gaining 5000 pounds in the process). Well, I didn't really mind. I like baking (I just don't like to be stuck with the results afterwards.. I prefer it to be eaten - all of it - and preferrably not by me, me and I) - and I like surprising others (my coworker has no idea that we've got a present for her (fixed by me) and cake (again, me). This will be fun! Only thing missing - a card (me again).

Anyway, back to the "one of those days again". I was on my way home from one store (had to buy pumpkin goo, aka canned pumpkin - I've only found this in one store here in Oslo) and I thought I'd better stop by home on my way to the other store to see if I needed anything else. Of course I did. Kinda hard to bake without eggs now, isn't it? And, seeing the almost empty bottle of deee-licious Christmas soda on the floor near the couch (no idea how long it's been there) I figured I could buy another one of those. So I grabbed my wallet and my keys, locked the door, and crossed the street to the store. Went inside, grabbed a basket, found.. sheets for baking (paper-thingys) eggs, hotdogs, hotdog buns, fried onions, looked at a carton of milk (but didn't bother buying it - had enough left) and started to move on to the register.. and figured I'd forgotten something.. hmm... eggs.. a ton of stuff not on my mental list.. Now what had I forgotten? It took me about five minutes before I remembered the soda (which they didn't have in today - all sold out..).

Gee..

Well, the cakes (yep, I did two.. or well something like that) are done. One Swedish chocolate cake - and about 50 small pumpkin cakes/muffins. The apartment smells absolutely divine!


And the reason for this divine smell - not to forget the results from my hectic and chaotic afternoon? Here you go.. Three large boxes with pumpkin cupcakes (actually made the same way as Pumpkin Woopies - but I never bother to make the cream..)...



And, one rather large portion of Swedish chocolate cake (with, as you may see, has absolutely no chocolate in it). :)

On the way home

I was on the way home yesterday afternoon when I thought I saw someone I knew.. and sure thing, the bus passed Abyquilt waiting for the lights to change so that she could cross the road. :)

I wonder if I'll see someone I know today..

Making ends meet

Last Wednesday - October 29th - was, considering that I live in Oslo, a very unusual day. Going to work in the morning, I noticed that the morning misty-rain was, in fact, of a more solid material then usual (it's been misty-rainy in the mornings for the past couple of weeks). Now, this first picture is taken with my mobile, and it's really hard to see, but there, against the streetlight (no, not the moon..) there's actually tiny, tiny snowflakes!

Now, this is kinda unusual in Oslo, at least in October. But there's more! Taking the bus out to work, the snowflakes started to get bigger, and Bigger, and even BIGGER! Now, the snow kept falling, and after about three hours' time, the picture below was taken - the view from my desk wasn't really much to brag about (except, I like snow, so it was all good to me).

Right after this picture was taken, a coworker of mine and myself went out on the office terrace and measured with a ruler. There was approximetly 8.5 cm of snow out there! (That's somewhere around 3-3.5 inches.)

Going to the guild meeting at Lørenskog wasn't quite as much fun. Well, the meeting was ok, kinda interesting, but getting home was like an adventure in it self. Quiltoholic and I left the meeting about fifteen minutes before it was scheduled to end, so that we'd be sure to cach the bus back to Oslo. We stood out there, in the cold and the snow, for quite some time, without a bus, before we figured that the previous bus must have been early. Okay, so we waited some more.. and some more.. and even more.. The next bus didn't show up.. Now, things started to get a litte (very) cold and wet.. After standing there for about an hour, a girl came walking up from the centrum of Lørenskog. She asked us if we were waiting for the bus back to Oslo. "Yea" we answered, increasingly suspicious. "Well, the bus from town just let a bunch of us off near the mall, and the driver said that they wouldn't be driving up the hill tonight due to the conditions." Not much to do, then, except walk down to the mall and see if the next bus came soon. Well, ofcourse we missed the first bus, but after waiting for close to two hours (since leaving the guild meeting) we finally reached home. Cold, hungry, and a little surpriced. I mean, this is Norway, it tends to snow here.. Coming from a family where the winter tires are put on the cars around the middle of or early October, it never stops to puzzle me when people in Oslo are "taken by surprice" of the "sudden" and "unexpected" changes in the weather..

In other news, I decided to test the shipping of goods from Japan to Norway, and ordered the four fabrics from the lovely shop called Nuno-Plus. Now, these little goodies arrived so quickly, I cannot wait to order more. I've fallen in love with the retro prints and cute little critters. :) And I do have plans for a few of them..

Now, work has been so busy and stressful and all that for so long, I sometimes just wish I could go back to this summer - two relaxing weeks in France with my dear BF. But, unfortunelty, I won't have the opertunity to take much needed time off for a while. Hopefully getting two more coworkers will ease the days a little for the rest of us..

In other news, my UFO's are coming along ok. I've finished both "Annie's Calendar Quilt" (as shown in a previous post) and the needlebook (not shown yet). I've also finished another UFO of mine - a white whole cloth quilt (or whatever one should call them) - will post a picture of that soon. And for the last two UFO's needed to be finished in time for Christmas, my mom has helped me with the quilting on "Winter Wonderland", so there's not much left to do there (well, I need to decide if I want to add some details or not), and the last one, the Christmas Mail Holder, is getting closer to completed (finished the beads, decided to drop some of the fancy beady-stuff on it - annoyed me to bits it did).

Oh well, back to work I go..

One down - three to go

October 2nd - and I've completed the first of the four UFO's! Well, actually, it's been more or less finished for over a month now - only missing the sleeve on the back - but seeing Vigdis and mom finish their "Annie's Calendar Quilts" I just had to get the sleeve on my quilt.

Like Vigdis, I have used small buttons in the corners - mine are tiny Tilda mother of pearl-buttons in lime and light pink. I love the black fabric with flowers I've used between each of the blocks, but unfortunetly I have nothing left of it.. Bought it in LA (JoAnne's) the summer of 2007, only a fat quarter, and I think there were about three centimeters (a little more then an inch) left when I was done.

And now for the other three scheduled UFO's. The needle book requires more planning, the one with the deers and the house I have completed the plans, and my Winter Wonderland is more or less on a little break now.. I _so_ wanted to get the borders on, so that I could send it off to get quilted this weekend, but unfortunetly I've been home sick all week - horrible cough, fever and generally feeling poor. The last three days I've spent on the couch - sleeping, reading or thinking of crafts, but with little or no energy to get anything done..

Oh well, hopefully I'll recover soon - the doctor gave me leave this week, and a message saying if I don't feel better by Monday morning to call her. I'm slowly getting my voice back though, and am able to actually say something understandable now - which was more or less impossible a couple of days ago. *grins*

Tonight's big plans include watching this week's episode of "Bones" and getting BF to help me make a couple of cards for my cousin Michael's and my dad's birthdays on Sunday.

September almost over

Well, it's been about a month since my last post - but atleast Blogger seems to be playing nice again (I had some huge problems uploading my pictures last time, but - although it took some time - last night it seemed to work ok).

Fall has arrived in Oslo - and the mornings have become slightly colder for each week. There hasn't been much going on on the crafty side, mostly work, work, and work for me (actual getting paid for work - not fun, crafty-work that is). Hopefully things will calm down a little now, for all of us at work.

Yesterday I went into town and brought my camera. The fall colours have started to appear, and there are some pretty shades of colours all around these days. Give it a couple of more weeks, and the entire world (or so it seems) will have changed colour.


Like this bush - most of the leaves are still green, but I managed to find this cluster of leaves turning deep red.


And if you look up, you'll see lots of green, but also alot of yellow and orange.


Now, there are still some late bloomers on the rosebushes here and there..


And even some red berries amongst the green and yellow. Don't know what these berries are, though, so better not eat them. ;)

For the guild meeting in August I brought with me 4 UFO's to register for the UFO Lottery (it's a kind of challenge, register some of your UFO's and complete them by the last meeting before Christmas, then you get a lottery ticket for each completed no-longer-UFO, and you can win a prize). Well, the four UFO's I brought with me, are pictured below - in very non-good pictures (but I'd rather save the better pictures for when they are done).


The first one is "Annie's Calendar Quilt". All blocks were done, and sewn together, but I'm a little lost regardig the quilting and finishing of the wall hanging. I mean, it's gorgeous and all that, very naïve and pretty, and I like the colours I have chosen in the fabrics, but - yes - a little lost..


Then comes the first Christmas present of 2008. I actually finished the stitching on this piece back in.. what was is.. March? And ever since, it's just been laying there. I still don't really know how to finish it, but I know - sort of - what it's supposed to become, when completed.


And then we have the needle-book. I really need this one - and I have an idea of how I want it to function, when completed. So far, only the stitching on the to-be front has been finished.


And then we have the big one.. my "Winter Wonderland". I had the pattern shrunck to about 70% of the full-size (I seriously do not need another huge quilt) and I'm thinking about skipping
the stars around the edge (again, it gets too big..) but I need to finish this.. It's been "in pieces" - but most of the stitching was complete - since some time back in March-April 2007.


Otherwise, we have been invaded by plushmonsters! Just look at M's bookcase! And these are just a few of the monsters that keep appearing in our - well - rather tiny apartment. There are limbs and teeth and eyes all over the place! Kinda scary, isn't it? ^-^


I've been knitting a little again now - about a year since I started these wrist mittens (they're called pulsvarmere - pulse heaters in Norwegian, to be worn around the wrists, and they actually help keep your hands warm). Not a very good picture, I know, but they are knitted in black yarn, and the beads are bright green.


Following the knitting frenzy, here are a couple of "ladies" who will - if she wants them - be off to a friend of mine when they're done. Again, black yarn and bright green beads (I really like these beads.. as if you didn't get that). So, I think you know who you are - and I hope you like them. ^-^


Oh my, forgot to flip this last picture.. oh well, you see what it is anyway, don't you? It's the October block for the "Sunbonnet Sue Calendar Stitchery" (no, not the official title, but you get it, right?). I'm a little ahead of schedule on this one - October doesn't actually start for another couple of days, but I really like these little stitcheries - I'm making them on slightly yellow fabric, and the thread is a light brown silk thread. I have plans for the borders and finishing fabrics, but I won't show you until it's time. ;p


Another finish this last month is the Crabapple Hills "Halloween Town" block no. 9 (no, I have not completed 9 blocks, I decided to start on block 9). There are a total of 12 of these incredible detailed houses - all done in black - and I _think_ I'd like to finish them all, but for now they are a just-for-fun and not-a-priority project. For some reason, working with black only is a little more boring then working with red only or brown only. But, I do like the design and the effect it has on these houses - and I'm imagining a good excuse for attacking the all mighty box of Halloween fabrics I've been collecting and saving.

Otherwise I'm thinking and planning - and being a naughty Elf - towards the SSCS. I have made some decisions, and I hope the people who receive them will be happy. Yes, people! But I won't say anything - you'll have to wait. ^-^

Toodles! for now - hopefully things will calm down a little, so the next post won't be 24 days away. :)

The long, awaited post..

Yup, finally, after about two days trial and error (me trying - Blogger crying "error error") we've finally come to an agreement, and I've been allowed to upload a couple of pictures. Finally.

So what's been going on for the past few weeks (yes, it's actually been weeks since my last "real" post, believe it or not)? Well, I've been working, yes, real work, like getting up at 5:15AM, getting home somewhere between 4:30PM and 6PM, tried to go to the gym (*gaaah*), tried to get some fun, crafty work done, watched alot of DVD's (we're currently watching season 9 of The -Files and a couple of other shows when the mood says so - completed both season 8 of said series and season 3 of Deadwood) and just tried to enjoy and relax a little.

The picture above is actually taken while waiting in line to get in to the StarWars 3D simulation ride at Disneyland Resort : Paris. I guess it kinda shows how I've been feeling lately (all work and no play). It's so strange, it's only been, what, a month or so - perhaps 6 weeks since we came back from vacation, and already it feels like it's been ages, months..

Like here - outside the Sacre-Couer, watching the sun set, waiting for the fireworks to light up the sky (little did we know at the time, that the fireworks could be seen from the other side of the hill..). Oh well, atleast we got to watch a great sunset, and spend some time with about 1 000 strangers all enjoying themselves. :)

A week later - almost, I think it was 6 days later - we were up in the mountains in Provence, sitting on the terrace of a small restaurant together with my uncle and two younger cousins. The veiw was absolutely magnificent! I'm having some problems understanding that this was only 6 weeks ago.. it feels like an eternity - but at the same time as if it was only yesterday.

On the crafting front, I have finally finished something that's been a part of my life for the last 6 months. Yes! I finally finished Truly Scrumptious!!! And it's gorgeous! It's huge! And we have no room to hang it! :D (Well, the last is sad but true, but! When we move and get a bigger place, this baby is going up on the wall. Def.)

It's so huge you can almost hide our playhouse behind it (see, in the picture - the playhouse was built by my grandfather for my sister to play in when she was little). It's in the middle of my parents' garden, and is now used to store things in. I love the little light my father has put outside the house, though, it was really pretty in the darkness of the nights.

I've loved every stitch, every colour (even the pinks, and I really really do not like pink..) and the way the fabrics and the threads matched so perfectly. My mom - who's very helpful and holds it up for me to get a picture, you can barely see her - was so kind and helped me finished it by stipling/machine quilting it for me. The details in the blocks and the fabrics are so incredible, so both she and I decided that less is better when it came to the quilting.

I didn't tell anyone - or show anyone - besides my mom, one of her friends and my BF (and Natalie, the designer of this gorgeous piece of art) until the guild's first meeting after the summer. For the first time (ever!) I stood up during show and tell and held up something I'd made. (Just for the records, I hated it - I absolutely hate being in the focus like that, and my hands were shaking when I finally sat down..) It was exciting to have so many come over to see it more closely (the quilt, that is, not my shaking hands..) and asking questions.

During said meeting one could register UFO's for the lottery (you register your UFO's, finish them by the last meeting before Christmas, and show them at the meeting). I registered four (4) UFO's and have decided to try to finish them all by December. I'm thinking about making a new post, to kind of present the four, and the work that's left on them - and perhaps a closer follow-up on their process - if (IF IF IF) Blogger wants to play. Anyway, I've updated to UFO-list on the right side of the blog to include the four (a better presentation will come, sooner or later).

Now I'm in a so-called past TS-downtime period. I'm not sure what I want to do next.. but I need (I crave) something to keep my hands busy. I went by Panduro yesterday (a great crafts shop here in Oslo/Norway) and found some things I want to work with - some day. Perhaps I'll start making more stuff for Christmas - like for my SSCS-victim - I really should start soon. Very very soon.. hmm..

Preparing for a new post..

This morning I figured that I could make the preparations for the new post that's been haunting my mind for the past week, so that _maybe_ just maybe I'd actually write it. So I turned on my laptop (the stationary has been plugged out for the past couple of weeks, out of pure lazyness), opened my blog, started a new post, and clicked the button for uploading pictures. 10 minutes later I got an error message saying something like "Lost connection to *somethingsomething*".

So much for thinking ahead of time. :p

Oh well, I guess I'll do a new attempt tonight, when I come home. It all depends on the possibility of overtime actually - if it's a no-show again, I'll go home and blog, if it's a late night, I might just work, go home, eat and go to bed. Time will tell..

August 16th 1975

This is a very special date indeed. And August 16th 2008 will be a special date for my parents' goddaughter, because she's getting married today. On this very special date.

Why it's so special?

Well, on this date, 33 years ago, my parents got married.

Happy 33rd Anniversary, mamma og pappa!

Have you joined?

I have. ;)



We're talking about the Secret Santa Christmas Swap 2008. I joined last year, and I had the most fun ever! planning and sneaking, waiting and, well, feeling a lot like a little kid again - eager to see what my "victim" thought, and (im)patiently waiting for my swap to arrive.

So why don't you hop on over to Chookyblue (or just click on the image above) and sign up too?

Counting down..

Today was an awful day to wake up.. Not because it's a horrible day, lots of stress at work or anything like that - it's more that it's really quiet at work now (everybody's still away, so eventhough things need to be done, none of the engineers are here to do them), it's Friday, I have about a gazillion things in my head I'd like to do, and Oslo Science-Fiction and Fantasy Festival started last night (it's a Thursday - Sunday kind of convention). So needless to say, I'd rather be quite a few places then at work. :p

The last two nights have been brilliant, though, sleepwise. It's been cooler at night, and Tuesday evening there was an enormous thunderstorm over Oslo, lots and lots of lightning, thunder and heavy rain.. It was incredible to listen to whilst in bed trying to sleep - and to see pictures the next day.

Today there's a solar eclipse - and we're all going to go out on the terrace on the fifth floor (where I sit) and watch (I heard that the peak was supposed to be at 11:47 Norwegian time). I think I missed the last one.. so I'm definetly going to see if I can catch this one. Apparently, the next one that they know of, will not be for another 118 years or something like that. I wonder how they predict these things.. *curious*

Not really anything craft-related in this post - I'm just making time pass while waiting for lunch, the eclipse, and going to the OSFF-thing. As I said, things are really quiet around here this week - and probably for most of next week too. Hopefully there will be more to do over the weekend. But for now, it's been a slow and easy start back to work.

Last days of vacation..

And we cannot really say much about the progress these last few days, now can we? *shakes her head*

Anyway, we came back from France (Paris and Nice) on Tuesday, and I spent the night unpacking and cleaning while BF went to a convention-planning-meeting.

Wednesday was spent with my mom and my sister - and BF's parents, aunt and a friend of his mom stopped by to say "Hi".

Thursday I took one of the ratties to the vet.

Friday we went to the movies and saw the new Batman-movie togheter with about 60 others from the TSP-group (the people behind the convention next weekend amongst other things).

Today we've mainly been complaining about the heat (which is why I'm still up, writing, and trying to do something - when it's actually a little cooler then during the day). We did manage to see American Pie : The Wedding and three episodes of The X-Files - season 8, so I guess we accomplished something. :p

When it comes to crafting, I've finished July and August for the sunbonnet sue-bom (internal thing with my mom and a couple of her friends), I've completed the 9th stitchery for Truly Scrumptious, and have started to cut the borderfabric. I've prepared September and October for the ss-bom, but will not start stitching them until the appropriate month arrives (I just needed something to draw/prepare..), also prepared the 10th girl from the Truly Scrumptious (the "secret" one, one might say). I will not be including her in the finished wallhanging, but - thinking into the future - I'm thinking of making a pillowcover of her, perhaps, to keep close to where the quilt will hang (in out future, huge apartment or house.. this apartment is too small....).

It's been two weeks since I last went to work (two weeks with vacation) and I don't feel much relaxed and recharged.. should I? I'm more nervous about getting back on Monday morning, worried about how things are (although they haven't called me, so I guess things are ok) and wether my mailbox is full or not. Oh well, as my mom would say "better to worry alot now, so that you're sure there's really nothing to worry about" (aka take all worries before, and see that things aren't as bad as I think). Well, I'm a pessimist by nature - let's just say that I like to prepare for the worst, and then be pleasantly surpriced. ;)

I'm not working on certain things right now - as I will not complete the TS quite yet - as I am saving them to be registered in an UFO-register. Another and bigger reason for not working much on these projects, is that I'm not quite sure how I want to finish them (details, like how to quilt, etc).. And with this heat, my mind is the only thing really interested in starting new projects (my body is bothered by the heat and the fact that after two weeks off I'm still tired).

I guess it's time for bed now - seeing that the clock is nearly 03:30 - but the temperature's very comfortable right now. Wish it could stay like this all day tomorrow (but I guess it'll be as hot as it was earlier today).

I'm leaving you with a picture taken from one of the restaurants up in the mountains of Provence that my uncle took us last week. Isn't that a good view? And lovely food too. ;)

Greetings from..

Paris!

Yup, we're currently in this rather monstrously big city, trying to find our way around (it's ok as long as the maps in the travel guide are up to date - but we no longer trust the words "you'll see it when leaving the metro").

We set off from Oslo (Norway) Friday afternoon, and were horrified by the lack of control (or the early "we're on vacation"-mood) from some of our fellow countrymen. I mean, seriously, you DO NOT let your children run up and down between the seats on the plane! (Had it been up to me - or if I hadn't been sitting by the window - I'd told both the parents AND the children off, mostly the parents.. seriously..) Anyway, after 2 hours and 20 minutes of being embarrassed by our fellow norwegians, we landed in Paris. Managed to find a bus to take us from Orly to the centrum of Paris, and then find the metro up to Montmartre. And here we are, in a tiny hotelroom - with internet - and an even tinier bathroom (seriously, you almost need to step outside to butten up your pants) and having a great (yet exausting) time. For anyone who hasn't been here, Paris is all about stairs.. and we're not kidding here.. There are stairs everywhere! So glad none of us need a wheelchair or crouches - or gods forbid, we had a babystroller..

Anyway, Friday we ended up spending the rest of the night at the hotel, relaxing and planning a little for the next days. Slept in Saturday (which was kinda hard, considering you can basically hear everything that's going on in this place, and the first guest slams his/her door about 7AM and wake everybody else up) had breakfast in a tiny café (omelets and ice tea - neither of us are very keen on eating hotel breakfast) found the Moulin Rouge, took the metro downtown and found a huge garden! (And I mean HUUUUUGE!) Turns out, this was the garden in front of La Louvre, and so when it started to rain, we went inside (about 3 days ahead of schedule) and spent a couple of hours looking at paintings (yes, even the Mona Lisa) sculptures and the crown from the coronation of King Louis 14th. He, on the other hand, most likely collected boxes/tins. There were tons of them on display in the grand hall, and they were gorgeous!

A trip back at the hotel and a nap later, we went out and found a tiny indian restaurant and had dinner. Also took a trip up to see the Sacre Cæur, which made us both rather humble and wide-eyed - but it was a sight worth walking up all those steps, also listening to the nuns singing and praying. It kinda makes you wonder - where did the norwegians go wrong about religion?

We decided to go looking for markets - it being Sunday and all that - and headed off early. The first market (north of Paris) was a real disappointment though.. It reminded us of something we could've seen back home - fruit, meat, junk.. standard touris-stuff. So after a quick run through, we decided to head south, and to another market. This time it ws jackpot! A HUGE flea market with tons of stalls and tables, and we barely managed to see half of it before they closed.. :(

Sunday night we went to the movies - there's a cinema close to our hotel which shows movies texted in french (with original soundtracks) - and saw Kung Foo Panda (hilaious!!!).

Monday and we were off to see the parades downtown - it being the french national day (the day of the Bastilles). Well, had we set off a couple of hours earlier we might have been able to see a little bit more then hats, tips of flag poles and some planes, but we did see ALOT of people, the bottom of the Eiffel tower (I swear, the line could easily have gone around it - twice!) and ended up spending the entire night in the park near Sacre Cæur (waiting for the fireworks, visible from the other side of the hill..). It was fun, though, watching nearly 1 000 people having fun, tons of nationalities, people sang, danced, laughed and drank. And people of all ages too. :)

Tuesday came, and we slept in (de-lishious, if you ask me..). When we finally headed out, we stopped for a quick bite to eat - crepes with nutella (I think I've had my share of chocolate sticky-stuff for the next month) - before getting lost looking for the train to -- tadaa! Disneyland Paris! No, not really lost, just a litte confusing to find the way between the metro, the train and the buses. Disney was a blast! I even ended up watching the parade (tons of pictures) and took some rides (and I'm the skeptical one, who gets afraid of dark, small places - though M had to go by himself on the biggest ones).

Wednesday and we've just spent the day shopping. New jeans for M, and Dr Martens boots for me! *happy-happy* Went to the movies again today, and saw Wanted - directed by the same guy who did Night Watch and Day Watch (russian movies - truly great and fun, for those who like that sort of movies). Sooo funny that the director had brought one of the guys from his russian movies to star in his first american movie (the guy who plays Anton in the russian movies).

Tomorrow is our last. whole day in Paris, and I think we're going to see the Notre Dame, the catacobs and a quilt shop not far from them. My legs are killing me.. and I have atleast two blisters already.. Will be nice to spend the day on the train from Paris to Nice on Friday.. just relaxing and reading. Which reminds me, I've finished my book (boo... I NEED the sequel... now.. or, make that yesterday..) and I've almost finished my stitchery (which I brought from home). Oh well, maybe I can find something tomorrow.. Kinda strange to know that we've been here for almost an entire week, and we're going back home again on Tuesday.. Just a few more days left.

I bet that this post will have the date of the 13th or something, but that's most likely because I started writing it on the 13th, and have been working on it all week. It doesn't matter though, it's more for remembering what we've been doing. :)

Oh, and a quick note or two about Paris - to sum up the city : STAIRS. You'll know what we mean when you get here. Oh, and one more thing, you can NEVER have too many clean socks. The guides are not always correct (you can, amongst other details, not always see things as you exit the metro) - and the french are pretty ok people and will in most cases try to help you or understand (even when they say they don't speak or understand english). Though, when you speak about as much french as they speak english, things tend to work out anyway.

Toodles from us!

All quiet on the crafts front

Yes, that's basically what's going on in my life these days - not much on the crafts front, but more or less all on the work front. It's a trend these past few months that's not exactly positive, but that's what you get for changing the basic system for the whole company and then have to balance everything between old projects using old systems, new projects using the new system - and also comforting about 50 engineers who panic at the idea of doing something themselves. Apparently, you're only allowed to save up a certain amount of overtime hours a year - during the past couple of months I've saved up about half of that already. Thankfully, we're having Friday off..


On the more fun part of life (haha) the Truly Scrumptious is going great! Block number 5, 6 and 7 are completed - and number 8 started. It's kinda strange to think that soon I have to start looking for fabric for borders.. I'm thinking about a nice brown one, in the same series as the stripes, but have to see if the LQS has it or not..


After this - TS I mean - I'm thinking about starting the Butterfly Garden, but before I do that, I need to do some planning regarding colors and such.


But! I've still got some time before I have to decide on that. I mean, I'd like to get all 9 blocks completed first, sewn together, and atleast ready for quilting before I start another big project. Then again, I might change my mind..


When it comes to Cinderberry Stitches, I've completely fallen for most of the patterns - and I can't seem to not start new ones.. Above - the picture got turned, for some odd reason - are two projects, one almost completed and one just started. I realized I didn't have a needlebook, and since I had the pattern - why not? And the Christmas-thing was started in December last year. Not much left now, so should be able to finish it in good time for next Christmas.


Anne Ida brought her Sylvia's Bridal Sample too show and tell in the last guild meeting before the summer (Hanne brought her Nearly Insane too, but my camera decided to die on me before I managed to take any pictures), and it's absolutely gorgeous! If you ever have the chance to take a closer look at this masterpiece, you'd better take it. ;)

There's a new toy in our apartment!

And this time it is mine. :)


I've been toying with the idea of buying a tiny tiny laptop for quite some time now - I guess ever since I first saw a itty bitty 12.1" some 6 years ago or something like it. And last Friday I could finally pick up my new little toy from the post office. :)


I tried to find something most people out there in the blogiverse could relate to, in comparison to size I mean, and I think that most of you know approximetly the size of a jelly roll. :) This is how it looks like when it's closed - shiny and glossy, the finish is the same kind of finish as on a piano (black, with tiny tiny pieces of silvery glitter) - about the size of two jelly rolls.


Open, it looks a little different (the screen looks strange, most because I still haven't removed the protective sheet yet). Gor-ge-ous! I just have to pat it a little every time I pass by it. :)


These are the latest projects ready to be started - the 6th and final stitchery from Jordbærstedet and block no. 8 of the Truly Scrumptious. Yep, on a roll there - going through one block in about a week and a half or something like it. What can I say? I'm hooked..


These are the latest three swap blocks I've received - now I have 7, but I should've had 8.. Strange.. I hope to receive the last one soon (but I'm not really in a rush, yet, I have no idea how to put the blocks together, or how to make my own..).

Well, I'm off to bed. Got alot of things going on at work these days - spending quite alot of time extra there, overtime, stress, messy things, and whatnots. I hope things calm down soon..

Until next time - take care and have an ice cream. ;)

A short weekend..

Yesterday was the 17th of May - when we celebrate our nation's independence, one might say. It was on that date that the Norwegian constitution was signed, giving us some freedom in 1814, but it wasn't until 1905 that we got our very own King and finally was a free country again. We didn't do much celebration yesterday - to be honest, it was SOOOO cold and nasty outside, it was more tempting to stay inside and watch parades on TV. We did, however, go outside for a little while, meeting BF's parents for dinner, but it was cold and windy - and it rained (it even snowed in the morning and in some places in Norway). *brrr*

Over to more quilt-related things. I've received one May-block from the exchange hosted by Hobbyboden - but I still haven't received the two from April or the last one from May. Now, I know I 'm supposed to make the last two from me really soon, but I don't really feel the rush to finish them. For some odd reason..
I received this block from Lillesnuppa - and I will put the picture up in the forum so that she can see that I have received it.

I've started working on the first Christmas present for 2008 (wow, already..). I'm not going to tell what it will be when it's all done - or who's going to receive it - but here's a little peak. I'm using silk thread for the stitching, and I will use pearls and such for the snow falling. I think it'll give a nice effect. :)


In other news, this is the fifth block from Truly Scrumptious waiting to be started. I finished the borders and the drawing last weekend, but have been busy at work and with the one above so I haven't started the stitching yet. :) I think that these blocks/ladies are so much fun to work on - and I love the colours!

I received an envelope in the mail the other day, from my mom and grandmother. My parents went to see my grandparents last weekend, and they decided to send me some fabric. The two on the top are from my grandmother - gorgeous, don't you think? - and the 7 smaller pieces are from my mother. I really love the one with the butterflies on..


Now, I know that the competition for completing the 5th stitchery from Jordbærstedet was closed some time in April, but I got so sick of working on it, I decided not to rush getting it done. I've completed most of the stitching, I'm considering to use beads on some of the dots, and I've washed the fabric that came with it. But it stopped there.. for now, anyway. I'm waiting for the 6th and last stitchery now - I heard some rumors saying that it was almost ready to be sent, but I'm not exactly holding my breath. :P


It's strange, don't you think, that some things get such a grip on you that you need to work on it 24/7, while other things are OK to work on a little now and then.

I don't know about you out there in the "Blogiverse", but I'm dying to see an update from my mom - she's been moving some things around the house (shhh.. I won't tell exactly what she's been up to) and I'm curious and envious to see how things are looking. ;)