Just a few stitches more..

Before Plutt wakes up from his nap. ^.^

Back home - and spoiled..

Well, we're back home again after a few days in Trysil. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and my sister, our niece and my grandparents, and I think none of us were prepared for the huge piles of presents under the tree! I think my mom was right, we could just as well have thrown out the tree and just placed a star on top of the pile of presents. ^-^

But, we drove down to Oslo again yesterday- Left the cool, clean whiteness of Trysil behind - to.. a wet, green, snowless Oslo.. Just look at the tree in the picture above. Before we left (on December 23rd) there was atleast a little snow around the yard, but now? Nothing. Absolutely nothing..


Luckily, I can sit and admire the gorgeous gifts I received in this year's SSCS! (Thank you, hhttp://chookyblue.blogspot.com, for arranging this again!) This year I was so lucky, I got to send two parcels to two (to me) new bloggers out there. I love the planning and preparations of the SSCS - I think it's even more fun than receiving a parcel (although, that's really exciting and fun too, don't get me wrong). My mom and I both placed our parcels under the Christmas tree, and opened them together with the rest of the family on Christmas Eve (after dinner and dessert).

Look at the gorgeous organiser Narelle made me! It fits perfectly over the side of the couch or the armchair, and included amongst other things, gorgeous embrodery floss and a measuring tape in the shape of a frog. Also in the parcel was a 2012 calendar featuring Australian wildlife and a lovely piece of fabric with both Australian scenery and animals. Thank you so much, Narelle!

The second SSCS parcel I received was from Fiona. She sent me a gorgeous bag, with so many pockets inside I instantly thought that this has to become my quilt guild meeting bag! I think I can fit most anything possibly needed for a meeting the quilt guild in this bag (it's bigger on the inside, I think we might say - one of mye favourite quotes from a brilliant TV-series, btw). And do you see the little guy with the red ears standing in the back there with his nose in the air?

Yes! This cute guy sat in one of the pockets of the bag! I don't have the heart to use him as a pincushion, but he seems to like the Santa next to him, so perhaps he can become his companion? Thank you so much, Fiona!

I took a picture in the mirror so that you can see the size of the bag. I love the colours!

Just before we left for Trysil, a third parcel arrived from Australia. This one took me completely by surprice - it was from Donna! Inside, Donna had included a 2012 calendar with pictures of Australian scenery, some of her own postcards and a notepad (yes, those are her pictures on the cards and the notepad - she is a wonderful photographer!). Thank you so much, Donna!

Christmas just wouldn't be the same without the Secret Santa Christmas Swap. This has been my fifth year participating - and I absolutely love it!

From all of us to all of you..

A Very Merry Christmas!

The Murder before Christmas

Dear Mister (or Miss) Caterpilar, who seemingly lived in our tiny tree..

I am very sorry for flushing you, but 1) this is Norway, in December - e.g. not a very happy place to be for a caterpilar - and 2) we're going away for most of Christmas, so there wouldn't be any one to look after you (or much for you to eat, unless you know how to open the fridge and make yourself a sandwich or something..).

Once again, I am very sorry for flushing you down the toilet - I hope where you end up will be some place better. Hey, look on the bright side, atleast you weren't eaten!


Sincerely,
The Caterpilar Flusher.

Saturday night's knitting

Some Norwegian favourites

Tonight I thought I'd post a couple of my favourite Norwegian (or Scandinavian) Christmas songs. Some you might have heard before - and some might be new for you. It'd be fun if you'd leave a comment if one of the songs/melodies are used for a different song in your country.

First off is a song called Det Lyser i Stille Grender (meaning something like "light shining in silent places"). This is one of my absolute favorites at Christmas times!

And then comes Julekveldsvisa (the Christmas Eve song). It's written by a writer/songwriter who's very known for his tales and songs for children (you might've heard about Mrs Pepperpot?).

Let's see.. Luciasangen (the song for St. Lucia) is also a very pretty one. I'm not quite sure if I prefer it in swedish or norwegian, though - both are beautiful! (But they definetly celebrate St Lucia's day the best in Sweden!)

Let's see.. hmm.. Deilig er Jorden (earth is good?) is also a very pretty song.

***

I'll leave you with another one of my English favourites, one that I (embarrasingly enough) forgot all about when posting my other favourite English Christmas songs. Who's not heard Jiminy Cricket sing When You Wish Upon a Star? It's just not Christmas without it..

Some more favourites..

The third weekend of advent is upon us, and tonight I'd like to share some of my favourite Christmas-y movies. These are (basically) the ones I watch (atleast..) once every year before Christmas. It's a tradition BF and I have, and that I think we'd like to transfer to Plutt (when he's older).

The first movie is one we usually watch some time between Halloween/end of October and Christmas - it's the brilliant masterwork of Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas. A wonderful stop-motion animated musical.

The second one is one of my all-time favourites (you might remember the title and the song from last week's list of Christmas songs?). If you haven't already seen it, the classic from 1952, then I urge you to do so. White Christmas is just as charming as it would've been back in the days (and the music is spectacular!). Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, do I really need to say more?

The third one is one I think most have seen. I mean, Home Alone, every one's seen it, right? (But it's still hilarious!)

The next one is one of my mom's favourites (well, movies, anyway). I know, I know, Die Hard might not fit the Christmas movie category precisely - but, it's set on Christmas Eve.. that still counts, doesn't it?

Let's see.. there's also National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Hilarious! And I hope none will ever have to experience a Christmas quite like the one in the movie - but, it's a good example to use if things go a little wrong (and you can say well, atleast it didn't go as bad as it did when the Griswalds celebrated Christmas). ;)

The Snowman is another animated Christmas movie that's just incredible well made - and definetly worth seeing, if you should stumble over it.

And finally, it's Shrek the Halls - where Shrek and Fiona are back for a short Christmas adventure. It's entertaining and it's got a few memorable quotes. I really like the Shrek-saga. Gotta love the extended use of references to other movies, music, the cast, etc.

***

I hope you have a wonderful third weekend of Advent, and that you're all getting ready for Christmas. Remember to enjoy yourself, and if everything's not done it'll still be OK. Christmas will come, regardless. ;)

I'm going back to knitting a bolero while watching a concert Linkin Park performed in Russia. The boys are sleeping, so it's mostly quiet here (exect for the neighbours, that is..). Not the worst way to spend a Friday night. :)

Finally!

It's here! ^-^

(Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, cell phone camera + dark..)

The mailman

The mailman certainly did a good job this week - as in, look at these beautiful and adorable ornaments my Secret Santas sent me for this year's SSCS:

Fiona's adorable ornament.

Narelle's beautiful ornament.

Currently, they are both hanging in our tiny IKEA Christmas tree-bush (about 30 cm/12 inces tall) but some day I'd like to have a "real" (as in bigger) tree again (just, not right now, with young mister Iwannaclimbthat running around the living room, if you know what I mean..).

***

The second Sunday of Advent is tomorrow. Presents are being crossed off the list as we speak (more or less) but I'm still lacking some ideas for some people.. Atleast the gingerbread cookies are done.. 4 pounds/2kg dough. A bit too much, maybe, but they are really yummy! (And a bit untraditional, as we have both cars, santas, gingy's, ninjas, pirate ships and swords, and hedgehodges. Who said you only had to use the traditional cutters?) :D

Some of my favorites..

It's the beginning of the second weekend of Advent, and I've been thinking about Christmas music for some time now. So I decided to take a quick youtube-search and see if I couldn't find some of my favourite Christmas songs (in English today, perhaps I'll find some in Swedish and Norwegian some other time).

So here goes..

Do you remember this one? I was very young when the whole Band Aid first came around, but I remember that this song - and video - was played alot on the TV and on the radio when I was little, and although it's a sad song with an important message, it's just not Christmas without it (apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so, seeing as it always seem to be on the new Christmas albums coming out every year).

Sticking to the 80's you just cannot get around Wham! Well, this is another one of those songs you just cannot seem to get away from - but it's sweet, and the video is nice (LOTS of snow!). I think every one I know knows the lyrics for this one.

I - to put it simply - absolutely love this song! (Did you ever watch the movie P.S. I love you? If not, watch it! The most hilarious memorial service - with the most unlikely, yet so loved by so many, Christmas-y song ever!

And, last but not least.. What's a list of Christmas songs without Bing Crosby? I've got two favourites.. I couldn't chose one over the other, so I'm just going to list them both.

Another movie you just have to see - if you haven't already seen it.. This man had the most wonderful voice..

And, finally, this one. Two unlikely partners in a duet that's simply out-of-this-world.

***

So, there you have it. These are some of my favourite Christmas songs (in English). What's your favourite Christmas song? Or do you, as I have, have too many to chose from?

1st Sunday in Advent

We're keeping it simple this year - candle holders from IKEA, mushrooms and trees from Søstrene Grene, and an old placemat from Stoff og Stil.

Only three more weeks till Christmas.. well, ok, almost 4. Our Christmas cards are ordered, hopefully they will arrive in a couple of days. Christmas presents? A couple done - several more seem to be a little more complicated this year, but I'm sure we'll think of something.

Still no snow in Oslo.. and about 5 degrees celsius. Strange..

Quiet Sunday

The boys are napping, and I'm cutting gift tags. I think we're going for a walk later on, there are at leser two Christmas fairs om the area - not to mention, the churros-guy is back in town.. ;)

Oh, what do you think of my new piggy bank? Owly bank would perhaps be a better name. :)

I...

..should be in bed - or, atleast on the say there - but I needed a few minutes to calm my mind after this evening's meeting in Tåsen Quiltelag..
My mind is literally buzzing, on the edge of painful, to be honest.
Lucky for me, knitting is quite calming. The knowledge that this project is nearly finished helps too.
A few more minutes, and I think that'll do the trick.

Halloween-venn

In norwegian only..

Happy Halloween, alle sammen! (Selv om det teknisk sett er i morgen..)

Hva synes dere om gresskar-lykten jeg lagde i går? How do you like my pumpkin lantern?

 

Sambo lagde en også, men den var dessverre ikke ferdig da jeg tok bildet i går kveld.. jeg får forsøkte å ta et bilde av begge lyktene i løpet av et par dager. ^.^  

Jeg var til og med så heldig at jeg fikk lov til å åpne en pakke i dag! Via forumet Uformelt var jeg med i en runde hemmelig halloween-venn, og jeg var så utrolig heldig! Bare se på bildet her:

Yup, mobilbilde.. beklager..

 Jeg fikk masse superdeilig luktende te (mmm.. lakris..), to hesper Hifa Hjertegarn (for meg, ukjent, men i en herlig mørkegrønn fage), artige lilla knapper (prøvesmakt - og godkjente - av Plutt), og en hel flokk med halloweenutkledde sjokoladefolk (som lever litt i fare.. de var veldig gode!). 

Nå har jeg litt av et detektivarbeid foran meg, for forutenom at avsenderadressa er i Eikangerfjord og kortet som fulgte med er skrevet på nynorsk, så har jeg ikke så mange hintene å gå ut i fra for å finne riktig person å takke. ;)

Gleder meg til å teste garnet - må bare bestemme meg for om jeg skal smugkikke på mønstre til meg selv eller til Plutt'en.. Hmmm.. *funderer*

Today in pictures, #3

After a nice cup of hot chocolate, sitting by the fire, we walked in the fog and fallen leaves down to Holmenkollen.

Today in pictures, #2

After breakfast, we took a stroll downtown, and took the T-bane up to Frognerseteren. Look at the fog! It was like entering a scary movie - hearing noises around you, but unable to see more than a few meters ahead..

Today in pictures, #1

Breakfast at The Nighthawk Diner.

Pitch Black

Well, it's not exactly a colourful and exciting view, this work-in-progress, but there are more colourful things waiting on my list. ;)

Til Gunn

In Norwegian only..




Hei Gunn!

Takk for sist! (Lenge lenge siden, første søndagen i September og Søndagsmarkedet på Blå.)

Jeg ville bare vise deg at vi er superhappyüberfornøyde med smokkesnoren jeg kjøpte til Plutt (selv om han ser alt annet enn fornøyd ut på bildet her.. men han er bare litt trøtt)!

Og så ville jeg vise deg hvor perfekt den matcher sengesettet jeg brukte da jeg var liten (og som Plutt har brukt når vi har vært på besøk hos moimo):

Håper å få muligheten til å hilse på deg igjen ved en annen anledning!


Hilsen Tonje. ^.^

There's room on the shelf

For some time now - taking babysteps every now and then - we've been, slowly, cleaning up a bit in our gigantic collection of DVDs. (No, still not taken the full step over to BlueRay, but we've got about three - yes, THREE - BR's in the collection.. I'll get back to which ones these are in a little while.) Seriously, we've got a collection of about 1.000 DVDs, everything from drama to sci-fi - and everything in between. (Yes, even sports, although I do believe that one's on it's way out..)

If one should group together the different genres I think that sci-fi/fantasy would definetly win - but there's also quite a bit of children's movies and (as of the past couple of years) some dramas too.

We've got our favorites - you know, the ones you can watch over and over again, and never quite seem to get bored (I, for one, really like Master and Commander - the Far Side of the World) - and then there are the ones you watch once, think you like, buy - and then never take down from the shelf again.. Like Cursed. Although it was funny, it's just.. meh.. *shrugs*

So, over the past few weeks - every now and then - we've taken a few titles off the shelf, looked at the cover, read the back - and either put it back up, or simply removed it. Leaving it first in a pile, and then moved the pile into a box marked TSP - auction. (I'm having doubts if there will be any TSP auctions in the not so distant future anymore, but I'm keeping faith that things will work out.) Yesterday we had a look at some of the series we've bought, seen. started watching, forgotten, gotten over, just never gotten the hang of, etc. And now there seems to be a little room to breathe again. Well, the shelves are not quite threatening to collaps is more like it.. I might even be able to move my complete Buffy-collection into it's rightful place again.

During clean-up processes like this, you might stumble upon some long lost treasures - or things you perhaps watched a bit too much of in one go (it can happen.. trust me). Mad Men was a series we watched quite a bit a while back. I think we went through season 1 and 2 pretty quickly, and then came to season 3 - and got a bit bored.. I still can't remember if we're watching season 3 or 4, but after watching an episode yesterday I've got a renewed feeling about this series. Perhaps it's good to take breaks every once in a while?



Mr. Don Draper himself.

What didn't change were my feelings towards Mr. Draper (one of the main characters). He's still the selfish, notoriously unfaithful, slimy, dirtbag as ever - but he's brilliant at it. He's just a guy you love to (partly) dislike.

So, after yesterday's clean-up, Mr. Draper is back in - Ms. Mars is out (I think..), Bonekickers is (definetly) out, and so are a few of the other nowwhytheheckdidIbuythis-titles popping up here and there.

Oh, and for our three BR's? Well, Avatar (of course), Alice in Wonderland (the Tim Burton edition) and Beauty and the Beast (Disney, my all-time favorite). They're all double-disc editions, with both standard DVD and BR included.

A Bit of Crafting in the Morning

It's nice to have a few minutes to spare in the morning. Today (and yesterday) I've done a little knitting in the kitchen before getting ready for work.

Red and white knitting, with tiiiiiny needles.

Why in the kitchen, you may ask? Well, we're getting close to finishing the redecoration of our bedroom, so at the moment, our bed has been moved out - due to painting of the walls, etc - and so I don't want to wake DBF up any more than I have to in the morning. And that's why I'm sitting in the kitchen knitting. :-)

Atleast today I sat on a chair. Yesterday I sat on the floor, but last night DBF moved one of the chairs into the kitchen, so that I didn't have to sit on the floor anymore. (Your legs sure fall asleep fast when you're sitting crosslegged on the floor for some time..)

What I'm knitting on? Well, that's a.. ahem, no, really, that's a secret. ;-) You know, it's that time of the year again (Secrect Santa Christmas Swap, and such) so I really cannot tell you just yet.. Only.. well, OK then, I'll tell you one more thing..

Ready?














It's in red and white! ;-P

Sorry for teasing, but this truly is the time for teasing - and teasers, secrets, planning, conspiracies, cold winds, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, fog, moonlight, candles burning and comfy blankets.

Tonight we're (hopefully) finishing the last of the painting, so I expect there will be little to no crafty time for me tonight - but tomorrow morning I might be able to squeeze in a few stitches (being that knitting or sewing). 

Oh, and if you're wondering why my pictures are a bit strange lately, it's because I've been using my phone instead of my camera lately. It seems to be easier to snap a picture or two when the inspiration comes, instead of remembering to bring or take out the big camera.. Or would you rather that I blogged less frequently - and with better quality pictures?

Sunshine and fog

The view outside work yesterday morning..

It looked so nice, with the fog surrounding the building's skeleton, the sun peering through the support beams.

Two songs from a lovely young lady

Don't you just love her incredible voice?

Adele was only 19 when the first video came - Chasing Pavements - and last year her second album came out, featuring (amongst other wonderful songs) Rolling in the Deep. Definetly two of my favorite songs!

Up at the crack of dawn..

When Plutt awoke around 04:45 this morning, looking for his "motte", I decided to just get up and start my day. The alternative would've been to go back to bed and dozing off for about half an hour until my alarm rang, and I'd get up, drowsy and feeling waaaay too tired to to much except continuing to (more or less) nod off in the bathroom, in the kitchen, manage to get myself into the living room, continuing to doze off until Plutt (I expect) finally wakes up just before 6AM (again..).

Picture borrowed from the Internet.

Instead, I'm sitting in the living room, knitting on a Christmas present, glancing through the window at the complete and utter darkness out there. Nothing like the picture above, no, that would look more like the sunset a couple of days ago. But this morning, there's nothing but darkness out there.

I might go through a couple of extra cups of coffee today.. and perhaps make another attempt at going to bed early (haha..).

Notice something..

Strange in our hall? ;)

Yep, there's a tiny shoe hanging from the sleeve of my jacket.. 

Shocking, or what?

Yea, I know! It's quite shocking, but I have been getting some sewing done this summer (and these are just a couple of the finished items).

Anyway, I had these four blocks from a Cinderberry Stitches Christmas pattern, but I wasn't sure if I wanted (needed, had room for..) another wall hanging, so I decided to try to make a pillow case. It worked out quite well, if I should say so my self. ^.^

I haven't decided if this is a keeper or a gift item yet, if I end up keeping it, I might have to make another one (same size, atleast) since we have two of these huge pillows on our couch..

I really love the way it turned out, though. The stitcheries are adorable, and I think the rhaspberry coloured thread goes well with the colour of the fabric around (which was part of the prize I won from Jordbærstedet once, a few years ago). Nice to make something from stash, and nice to cross something off the (seemingly) endless list of things to do/finish.

A few years ago, my BF designed and printed a couple of pieces of fabric from Spoonflower, but it ended up on a shelf (in our living room, actually) until this summer.  

Now the two previously mentioned pillows are dressed in our own-designed, own-made pillow cases - and they fit right in with the rest of the (well, somewhat) wonky items in our living room (let's see, there's the Dalek-tin, my TARDIS piggy bank, a couple of Willow Tree-figurines, a viking head candle holder, and too many other things..).

Funny thing, when Plutt sees the pillow cases, he points to them and says "Moo!". Not quite sure where the cow comes in, seeing as there are skulls on them.. Atleast he's learned to say "Bomme!" when he sees the back side (as in blomst/flower).

I'll be back a bit later to post some pictures of finished things (both sewing and knitting). Hopefully, it won't take as much time as posting these ones. o.O

21. August 2011

 

There are days when words just aren't able to say what you'd want them to say. Today has been a memorial day here in Norway. A day of thought, a day of memories - a day of candles burning in rememberance.

 ***

In lack of words, I chose to share one of my all-time favorite songs (actually two) - Somewhere (Over the Rainbow) / What a Wonderful World. 

***

Light a candle. Hug a loved one.

Tonight ends with..

Knitting on the veranda, with a candle burning in the summer night. Very very cozy indeed.

Keeping those needles flying..

Not quite in a mood for sewing, but knitting's OK.

These little angels are carrying the results from the past evenings. Van you guess what they are? :)

We're OK

Just a quick note to say that we're all OK.

From CNN's pages describing the horrendous events this afternoon.

And our thoughts go out to those who are touched, wounded or missed deeply by their loved ones..

Og vinneren er..

Yay! Gratulerer så mye til Heidi!

Send meg en epost (tonjekarlsmoen*snabel-a*gmail.com) med detaljene dine (adresse, etc) så får du ganske så snart pakke i posten! :D



Tusen takk til alle som ville være med på denne lille gi-bort'n min - superhyggelig og snilt av dere!

I morgon, i morgon..

Er siste mulighet til å melde seg på Gi-Bort'n.

:)

Lykke til!

Oh come on, already!

Did you ever start something crafty, and things just didn't work? Well, this past weekend has been that kind of weekend..




Picture from Pickles


I've been planning for so long (well, atleast since around April or so) to knit Plutt a sweater in a really nice and squishy yarn I bought at Pickles, and finally decided to start this weekend (I think it was Thursday, actually, but since I didn't have the right needles I had to go by the LYS on Friday).

So, Friday afternoon I pulled out the yarn and the needles, browsed the pattern and cast on. Started to knit. Hang on? This doesn't look right.. *frogged it* Cast on again, using a different technique. What the? *frogged again* Found a pair of smaller needles and cast on, again.. Better. Knitted a while before going to bed.

Saturday I brought the knitting outside when Plutt slept in his stroller (I think he was quite exhausted after a long day, in addition to both not feeling well for a couple of days and possible getting some new teeth). I knitted happily along for a while, and continued when we ventured inside after Plutt woke up. Later that night I looked at the pattern again, and at my knitting.. and back to the pictures in the pattern.. Hmm.. And! *frogged* down to the elastic stitches, switched to bigger needles and started knitting again.

Sunday my mom and Emma came by. We talked about crafting while Emma and Plutt played (well, Emma played, Plutt threw his Duplo blocks all over the floor) and I showed mom my knitting. Oh, this is going to be too small, she said. It might fit him just, but you better knit it fast. Hm. Bummer.. I put it back in the basket as we were going out for a walk with the little ones. Later that evening, after Plutt went to bed, I picked up the knitting once more, looked at it - looked at the pattern, and, guess what? *frogged it*

So now I'm back at the beginning, with bigger needles (once more) and double yarn. It's definetly a bigger size (now I'm worried it's going to be a huge sweater, and not a squishy, soft, cuddly thing he can wear over his t-shirt) but I think I'm done frogging it now.. If I have to frog it again, I think I'm dumping the idea of the sweater and rather find something else to knit with the yarn.



Rats! (Pic is of  Igor, one of our late rats)

 Amidst the frogging and frustration, I did cast on for another miniblanket for the NFI (NBICU) and knitted another round on my Peacock Shawlette (4 rounds down - about 140++ left). I'll have to write another post soon, to show that I've actually done some sewing lately! Yea, I know, I can hardly believe it myself. :P

Gi Bort-tid!

En gang rundt påsketider så jeg at det skulle komme ut en ny, norsk sybok (Made by me) - hvor en del av bidragsyterne var blogger jeg fulgte med på. Needless to say, jeg ble kjempeinteressert! En av disse, Vibeke, hadde en give-away på bloggen sin og på facebook, og jeg la igjen kommentar hos henne. Tingenes iboende, og så videre, førte jo selvfølgelig til at jeg kjøpte boken omtrent dagen før jeg fikk mail fra Vibeke om at jeg hadde vunnet en kopi av boken av henne - og dermed endte jeg opp med to. :) Så hva gjør man? Jo, man har en egen liten gi bort-runde!

 Boken det er snakk om, er altså denne:

Made by me - sybloggernes beste oppskrifter

Dette er en herlig bok, med over 40 oppskrifter - på alt fra voksenklær, vesker, barnetøy og babyutstyr. Den inneholder en praktisk liten syskole, og bildene er så lekre at det formelig klør i synålene.. (Dere får bare stole på det jeg sier - eller gå og kikke i den selv. Den er rett og slett herlig!)

Har du lyst til å vinne et eksemplar av denne fullkomment herlige boken, trenger du bare å legge igjen en kommentar under dette innlegget (det eneste jeg krever, er at jeg skal kunne nå deg via epost). Vinneren trekker jeg fredag 15. juli. :) Fin feiring av (i allefall min) siste jobbedag før ferie, ikke sant?

*******

Og Vibeke; Neida, jeg har ikke glemt det jeg lovte - jeg skal lage noe fra boken, jeg bare må bare først. ;)

For my international friends; I'm having a small give-away on a Norwegian sewing book. Now, since this book is in Norwegian, I've decided to run another give-away soon, for something a little more international  - but if you'd like to, you are welcome to enter this one as well. :)

SlåtteVen slår til

In Norwegian only..

Forumet Uformelt har hatt nok en hemmelig venn-runde (kjempegøy å være med på!) og i den anledning fikk jeg en helt utrolig pakke. Bare se her:

Jadda, bildet er oppned..

 

 

 

 

Deilig og squishy DB Sublime, NZ Lammeuld i en herlig farge <3, oppskrift på et lekkert sjal - og yummy ego-lego-sjokolade. :)

Føler meg ganske så bortskjemt nå, jah.. Tusen takk, Blomstermamma!

It's so nice to start the weekend with fresh flowers.. :)

A cozy evening

Strawberries, whipped creme, pepsi max, CSI and handsewing.. does it get much better?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I felt it was time to make a few changes on my blog - so I've changed the colours to a more purple shade, and think I'm going to leave it like this for a while. See how (and if) I like it.

I was in a great sewing mode the other day - too bad Janie (my Janome) wasn't.. Turns out she might've caught a bug or two - so she's on desk rest (haha) until my mom comes down in a week or so, and if she's unable to help me fix her, she's going to have to go to the sewing machine doctor..

Guess I'll stick to knitting a little while longer. :)

One for the gift basket!

There's not only been knitting going on lately, there have been some attempts at exercising my sewingmachine (although I think - or, more, feel - that the last months of mainly knitting have made me a bit out of practice when it comes to sewing, so I'm not 100% satisfied with absolutely everything I've made these past few weeks..).

Anyway, I had some stitcheries that I'd prepared and sewn last winter and finally got the fabric picked out and found some time to sew - and the results are shown by Timmy in the picture below:

Two bakecloths (or bakeklede, as we say in Norwegian) - one in brown and one in purple (they are identical, except from the colours - that's why the brown one is folded). The brown one has been tested (works perfectly!) and will remain in our kitchen, but the purple one will go in the gift basket (or the shelf for things that will be given away on suitable occasions, as it is also known as). Fun pattern - and stashbusting!

It's been about two years since my mom and I went to Göteborg, Sweden for the Nordic Quilting Association (or something like that, Nordisk Quiltetreff), where we both bought a folder to keep our sewing equipment from the danish shop Quilt My Design (my mom bought the pattern for a larger folder, while I bought the kit for the small one). Well, I started the appliqué this winter, and then put it away - thinking that it would take forever to finish it.. *haha* I ended up skipping some parts of the original pattern, and ended up spending about 2-2.5 hours finishing it last week (minus the binding, but that was done in a jiffy later that evening).


Here's Timmy showing off the result again - and look! I've even sewn on one of my name tags (not bad, if I may say so - that usually takes a while).


Now, remember, I chose to skip a few steps in the original pattern, and it's the first time I've tried to sew elastic bands on to something like this (and I am not entirely happy with my handsewing on this one) - but, you know what? I'm happy! It's cute, it's done, it's crossed off my list! (And I'm keeping this one all to myself!) Almost two years to the day - but it's done. I think I'm going to finish this post just by repeating that.
It's done! It's done! It's done!


Btw, Timmy is one of Peder's stuffed animals. And when you squeeze his tummy, he baaaah's with delight. (Timmy Time is originally an animated show from Aardman, the people behind Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.)