Guess where..

Packed the car and drove north-east. Wonder where we ended up..?

A Finish!

Once upon a time Anni Downs came to Oslo to hold a course. This was around the same time as her line of small projects called "Little Stitches" (I think..? correct me if I'm wrong) came out in the stores. I think I ended up buying four or five of those little projects (preprinted linen was included) and then I spent some time stitching the designs. Well, fast forward three years, and the stitcheries were rediscovered in a small box. Most of them done, except from one of them, where a couple of details were yet to be stitched.

And a few hours later the first of these projects saw the finishline.

I give you.. Cake Money Purse.

The back. The fabric with the buttons is one of Anni's own.

The front. 

I had an idea as to why I wanted to finish this one - not just finishing it, but giving it a purpose. Well, later this year, I will be going on a trip. Until the day of departure, this little purse will hold the funds for my travel. Quite suitable, isn't it? Although I'm not sure if all the funds will be spent on cake.. some may go for coffee, and some? Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we. 

Where will the journey go..?

***
I've just finished knitting my Marius jacket, and got another project handed to me (more or less) by one of my colleagues. I'm knitting her a jacket - quite gorgeous too - and without a deadline, so everything is (so far) just fun. :-)

A couple of finishes!

These pictures were saved as a draft post for a few weeks, sorry about that.. 

The first is a tablerunner. A couple of years ago Anni Downs came to Oslo and held a few day courses. My mom and I went on a Thursday, and the project for that day was the tablerunner with small houses and trees. 

I ended up making it a few rows shorter, to better fit our tables. 

Lovely colours and a fun project (I just ended up, unfortunetly, keeping it as a UFO for a couple of years before finishing it..) I handquilted stripes diagonally through all the squares. (It has been re-ironed, and looks much better now.. ;-))

The second finished project came from last years Advent Calendar my mom gave me. The stitchery was completed quickly, and thanks to my mom for including already cut and prepared fabric, the piecing went smooth and quick. 

I handquilted this one too, and added buttons and beads for decoration. Now it awaits the colder season, so it can decorate our hallway. :-)

That feeling..

When you really want to get some sewing done, but you end up replacing a button in hubby's shorts.

Enjoy the sunshine, warmth, summer - or the chilly, cozyness - whatever suits you where you are. 

Status from our garden

These pictures are a couple of weeks old by now, the status is overflowing with green - but they do show off Hubby's boxes quite nicely. 

In these three we have salad (tasty, we've been having it for dinner for over a week, not that it shows), cabbage (knot?), yellow plum tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, strawberries, corn, peppers (paprika, two different kinds), sugarsnaps and lavender. 

By our front door hangs a pot of stemorsblomster - which looked rather miserable when I bought them, but they've turned out quite nice. I think they like it there.

And in our kitchen there's still some experiments growing. My ginkoplant is in the transition from stick to plant with green leaves these days. There's another lavender in a pot, and some lemon thyme our neighbour gave us, and some coriander (trying to use it in our cooking, as it seems to be growing into something else..?). And then there's this one. Can you guess what it is?

It's ginger. Yup, we had a piece of ginger root left over from one of the spring colds (lemon tea with ginger and honey is wonderful!) and instead of just leaving it to dry and ending up throwing it out, I planted it in a small pot with dirt, covered it with plastic and left it for forever (or so it seemed). I think it took about 3-4 weeks before we could see a small, green stem of something growing, and after moving it to a bigger pot, it really started to grow. Might plant it outside at some point - we're talking about making or buying another box for plants to have by the front door - mostly for herbs and such, but there's been things to do lately (like painting and life) so that point on our schedule hasn't been crossed out yet.

***

Hope you're having a good summer! 

One of those days..

Some days you do a lot. There's much to do, things to do (and make), and time flies by. 

And then there are days like today. Snuggling sleeping babies in rocking chairs, unable to sleep due to tiny stuffed noses..

It's kinda nice to. 

Forget about the laundry, the plants to be planted and the house which needs cleaning. There are more important things to do right now..

It's a..

Finish!

Yup, I've got a finished project. And believe it or not - it's not knitted. 

A few years ago - before my falling out of love with paper piecing (it's a long story, featuring S. Daley, a BOM and a german quilt magazine) - I wanted to try these apple core shapes, and decided to ser if I'd make a miniature of them. Well, fast forward a couple of years, when the small pieces turned up in the daylight again. 

After framing the pieced piece, handquilting it and finding a matching binding, it is done. 

Quite the miniature, it has found it's place in my office. A little large for a mug rug, but then again, I have room for a big mug. 

Another finished project's awaiting a wash before getting it's pictures taken. 

How to enjoy a peaceful night..

Candles lit, children sleeping, sewing in my lap, some refreshments, projects ready for the next phase - and Call the Midwife on Netflix. 

*sigh*

Exhale..

Guess what I'm doing this afternoon..? 

Have a good day!

Long between updates

The days and weeks go by - and suddenly it's been a month since my last post. It's not that I don't want to post, I have ideas and things happening all the time - but to be honest, after staring at a computor screen (or two, as I have dual screens) all day at work, I really am quite sick of staring at screens. So I knit. I sew a little. I make a huge mess up on the third floor, rediscovering projects and UFO's, giving them new life (or, starting to). And little by little, my crafty self gets satisfied. And I say to my self "I'll get back to blogging more regularly soon..". I knitted a jacket, finished it the evening before going back to work after Easter (say that quickly five times, I dare you). It's not blogged. Not completely registered in Ravelry either. But it's being worn, almost every day, and I love it! (So I started knitting another one. Different pattern, but for me.)

Don't you just love the light in the morning? This is taken around 06:15 (AM). I was waiting for the bus to come, to take me to the office, this morning. 

Thursday is my day home with A. I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but I'm sure the day will fly by like a whirlwind. (Like the one that empties all the cupboards in the kitchen and the drawers of hats and mittens. The whirlwind named A.)

It's one of those mornings..

There are mornings where everything just trots along in a reasonable speed - and there are mornings following nights where the youngest in hour household decided to wake up about five times per hour. Those mornings require large coffees, double shots. And the leftover brownies that hubby asked me to bring to work really seem fit. Today will be a day of caffeine and chocolate. 

Large latte with two shots of coffee.. 

I think (seeing as I don't really remember..) the last time I checked the clock last night, I had about four hours left to sleep until my alarm rang. And by then I hadn't even managed to sleep yet. Which means that it was somewhere around 1:30.. I don't know what was bothering A last night. It could be the vaccines from last week (they can get a reaction up to 7-10 days later) or teeth, but I do hope she'll sleep better tonight.

***

Hubby and I are watching the new season of House of Cards, we're on episode 6 or 7 now, I think. And last night we were discussing how, a few season back, we both agreed that Frank Underwood - the main character - probably was the worst/scariest politician ever. Well, last night we talked about how we both realised that the real life, in fact, is much scarier. I'm not one to comment much about politics, but I'm worried about what's happening - and I sincerely hope there's a better candidate than that big, scary, angry, provocative man who's taking over everything (or so it seems).

Crafty update

My hands may be knitting, but my mind is quilting. 

Flowers of February

I ment to publish this post a few weeks ago, but time has not quite been on my side lately. Starting to work again means early mornings (too early?) and late nights, not much time to get anything done. I miss being home with A, and I hate to miss all the things she's learning and doing and experiencing on this level of her development. She started walking the week before I returned to work, 10 1/2 months old. Now she's basically running (or trotting off in a remarkable speed for her age).

There has been literally no sewing of lately either. If I'm not falling asleep on the couch or going to bed early, I'm knitting on a jacket for myself. It's speeding along quite nicely, considering the lack of time and energy I've had to get anything done lately. 

Anyway, I ment to post these pictures of an abundance of flowers which decorated our house in the beignning of February. 

Hubby and A had met some ladies selling fastelavensris, for decoration, and bought these feathery twigs (which have small green leaves now).

Contained in some tiki mugs hubby ordered from a bar in Las Vegas (Frankie's Tiki Place?).

A vase my grandmother painted some years ago. I love the little goldfish swimming between the water lillies. 

A grand bouquet of roses and such from the company I work through, to express their joy of me coming back to work. Lovely flowers, I really like those purple roses. 

P had decorated some fastelavensris in his kindergarden too, but it seems I forgot to take a picture. Will get one taken soon (they're still around, also with tiny green leaves)!

It's like Christmas allover again!

This morning I showelled snow before going to work. 

I bet the kids in the kindergarden will have a wonderful day today! (I'll be innthe office, dreaming of Christmas..)

Week 8

It's the winter holidays here in Oslo this week. It's a school holiday, and Norway is separated into week 8 or week 9 holidays. Oslo (and Akershus, where we live) is in the week 8-area.

There are a lot of people off from work this week, some have brought their kids in for a couple of shorter days - and others, like me, are working as normal (until next year, anyway, when P's started school). Tomorrow, Friday, the office will be more or less empty. I've heard from about 4-5 others that they will be in, but it will be quiet (usually, we're about 30-40 here). 

Outside the sun is shining. But it's honestly not that bad to sit here, rather quiet and with The Beatles in my ears. 

The weekend is almost here!

Back at the office - and a new view.

My maternity leave ended in January, and I'm back at the office. While I was away, they moved, so my old view of the church has been exchanged to this one, facing the Oslo fjord. Not too bad, I must say (although the sun is quite blinding on nice days). 

Happy Mail!

The other day, when I came home from work, our mailbox was literally glowing  with happiness!

Some background info is required, I think.. Well, a few weeks ago the wonderful and generous Gail Pan wrote about her new book on her blog, and she had a little give-away. And I was one of the very lucky winners!

This is her fourth book in the series Simply Christmas, and I want to make every single one of the eight projects - atleast twice! They are truly adorable! (And I love stitchery projects!)

She even signed it for me! <3 p="">

Oh, but wait? What's this? Two books?

Gail had so generously included a copy for my mom - which I was able to surprice her with yesterday.

Thank you so much, Gail, for such wonderful surprices and your generosity!

5AM me-time?

It's 5:30AM and I can't sleep (for various reasons, little miss A has just been awake too) so what to do..?

Toss and turn in bed? Nah.. 

Try a reboot of the sleep circle? That might work. 

So I got up, changed the thread on my needle and had a little "me-time" before going back to bed. 

10-15 minutes of this, and my head should be relaxed again. 

Therapy in the quiet hours.. 

A feeling of Christmas

Slightly late, one might say, but the feeling of Christmas is spreading a thick blanket over our little part of the world these days.

Not sure what I'm talking about? Well, let's see..  The picture below was taken here on Tårnåsen on December 20th - four short days before Christmas eve. Notice anything not quite Christmas'y?

December 20th, 2015

Aaaah, you noticed the green background too, huh?

Yep.. 

Well, fast-forward to last Tuesday and the park outside the castle in Oslo. In celebration of the King and Queen's 25th coronation anniversary, it was decided to give them some kind of winter park - which is why there's a snow canon blowing snow all over the place. I'm excited to see the end-results.  

Although the pile of snow was growing steadily last week, there was still plenty of green (or brown..) around.

The Castle Park, January 5th, 2016.

But!

Finally!

As last week drew near the end, soft, fluffy flakes of snow finally started falling. And this weekend it piled up! Hubby was outside showelling four times the other day (I guess it's true.. there's no point showelling while it's snowing..) and everything is covered in a soft blanket of white. 

January 10th, 2016. And my orchids are in full bloom!

The temperature has been changing between being slightly cold and freezing! The last couple of days have seen us wrapping up in wool for a chilly 8-10 below zero - but from tomorrow and until the end of the week we'll be getting pretty frozen, with temperatures dropping to between 12 and 19 below zero. Ugh.. Thank goodness there are plenty of wooly clothes around! 

A and I will be spending most of our days inside for the rest of the week. She's too little to be spending too much time outside when temperatures drop that far low. 

The Christmas knitting project.

I'm still knitting on my Christmas project, and the end is near! 40 of 42 points have been knitted, and if I get into some speed knitting, I might have it finished (and ready for a good wash) tonight! Yay! I've run out of yarn (d'oh..) but I've found some purple Holst Supersoft that is almost in the same shade of purple as already in the scarf, so I think I'm good. I already have my next project planned - which is something I've been wanting to start since sometime last fall - but it's a BIG one, so I'm having some stage-fright ideas at the moment.. (What if's are horrible at the moment...)