pink ants

I had big lunch & coffee latte plans today together with my friend T. Unfortunately her son might have gotten the chicken pocks and they are waiting for an appointment with the doctor to get it confirmed. Instead of fun girl time over an aubergine salad and warm coffee I’ll have fun girl time together with you while I post a photo of another napkin that I made. This one is for Astrid’s third cousin Iris who lives in Oviedo, a beautiful city in the region Asturias in northern Spain.

Since I’m staying at home I should be cleaning what will be Astrid’s room (still my office and craft room). But it is raining outside…and I just feel like baking chocolate buns and sew.

more red on pink

Just a few lines before I head off to my yoga class in an attempt to get back to pre-pregnant shape. This is what I was stitching in between tapas making and christening preparations. I still have two more strips of pink linen to stitch with red thread before I can begin sewing things together. Looking forward to see the quilt in one piece, but I know it will take time because I have a couple of smaller projects I need to do before I can continue on the quilt. Have a wonderful week end everyone!

More headbands & one secret birthday gift

What have you been up to this week? I made three more head bands with the “stitchery” that I did last week. Usually I don’t like to make one thing more than once, just because it bores me. I like new challenges and therefore new projects. But the headbands are fun to make because they let you try different stitch designs. So the head band is “old” but the stitching new. Since so many of you have said you love the cute stitch designs I can reveal that they all come from my new and absolutely favourite stitch book.

It is by Hiroko Isii also known as “Cahier” and it is her first “solo” book (…as far as I know). She has previously made designs for books and magazines like the Japanese Stitch idées books, where I first saw her designs and fell in love. She has just made another book which is on my list of must haves.

These photos are of a project I began this week. It is a birthday present for my friend T’s daughter. We will be going there tomorrow to have lots of delicious cakes and what ever else she has whipped up for her friends. I’ll show you the final result after we have given the present, just in case T should come by to take a sneak peek.

A Lavender Thank You

In my last post I said I had some loose ends still to be tied but that they might be fun to do. I was thinking about the “pay it forward” crafty exchange. Last October I promised to send a home made goodie within 365 days to the first three people leaving a comment on the post. I should of course never have committed to a time limit since I’m hopeless at keeping deadlines. The 365 days came and went. But I will keep my promise of sending a home made goodie together with the saying “better late than never”. These small Thanks giving houses filled with jersey lavender are about to be packed and sent on there way. Thank you for waiting!

Babyteppe nummer 2 - Baby quilt number 2

Jeg er endelig ferdig med mitt andre quiltede babyteppe. Jeg glemte å ta bilder av det ferdige teppet før jeg ga det bort så dere må klare dere med disse ”underveis” bildene. Det virker som om alle rundt meg skal ha barn så jeg har allerede begynt å planlegge teppe nummer tre.

I finally finished my second baby quilt! I actually forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it away so you’ll have to manage with these “in progress” photos. It seems everyone around me is having a baby so I have already begun planning a third quilt.

Por fin he terminado mi segunda manta de bebé. Olvidé sacar fotos de la manta terminada antes de regalarla, así que teneis que conformaros con estas fotos tomadas durante el proceso. Parece que todo el mundo a mi alrededor va tener un bebé, así que ya he empezado a planear una tercera manta.

sakte - slow

Jeg har innsett at jeg er en treg håndarbeider. Jeg blir like imponert hver gang jeg ser at andre slik som Kajsa, Mette og Tanya syr sammen både en, to og tre prosjekt i løpet av en helg. Dette babyteppet begynte jeg på for fire måneder siden, og det burde ha vært ferdig for lenge siden. Heldigvis jobber jeg nå med de siste detaljene… bare et lite korsstingmotiv igjen så er jeg ferdig.

I have come to the realisation that I am a slow crafter. I become so impressed every time I see fellow crafters like Kajsa, Mette or Tanya who whip up one, to or even three things during a week end. This baby quilt I started four months ago and it should have been finished long time ago. The good thing is that I am working on the last details… one more cross stitch detail to go.

Så langt - So far

Jeg er ferdig med paisley motivet og har begynt på neste motiv som jeg ikke helt vet hva jeg skal kalle. La oss si det heter firkant med firkanter. Vi reiser på ferie til Spania i morgen (endeliiiig!), men jeg lar dette håndarbeidet ligge igjen hjemme siden det er et mønster som krever 100% konsentrasjon. Istedet skal jeg ta med meg baby teppet som jeg skal gi til Raquel. Jeg er nesten ferdig, skal bare sy ferdig lukke-kanten rundt teppet. Jeg skal ta med meg noen små prosjekt i tilfelle jeg blir ferdig med teppet. Ingen vil vel slippe opp for håndarbeid?!

I am finished with the paisley motive and have begun the next one which I'm not sure what to call. Let us call it the square with squares. We are leaving for vacation to Spain tomorrow (finallyyyy!), but I will leave this project at home since it is a pattern that requires 100% concentration. Instead I will take with me the baby quilt I am making for Raquel. I am almost finished, the only thing left is the...oh I don't know how to say it in English...the fabric that makes the boarder of the quilt. I'm also going to bring along some other small projects in case I finish the quilt to soon. No one wants to run out of projects now do they?!

Mønsterbok fra Island - Pattern book from Iceland

Dette er den siste boken jeg viser frem for denne gang i serien "mønster bøker jeg har lånt på biblioteket". Det er enda ikke noen som har meldt seg på for å vise bøker de har funnet på biblioteket, så jeg får gå mer direkte til verks og utfordre dere en for en ;-)

Jeg har alltid likt gemoetriske mønster og disse er ikke et unntak.

This is the last book I will show you for now in the series "pattern from books I have borrowed from the library". No one has signed up to show books that they have found in their local library, so I am going to have to use a more direct approach and challenge you one by one ;-)

I have always liked geometric patterns and these are no exceptions.

Den nye symaskinen min! - My new sewing machine!

Etter flere måneders leting, søking og rådgivning fra venner har jeg endelig kjøpt meg symaskin. Det finnes sikkert bedre maskiner og det finnes sikkert verre maskiner, men dette er symaskinen som er perfekt for meg. Har brukt den for første gang i dag og laget ferdig dette bokomslaget som jeg har brodert på tidligere. Gleder meg til å bruke den utover høsten når vi flytter inn i den nye leiligheten vår.

After several months of looking, searching and advising from friends I have finally bought myself a sewing machine. I am sure there are better machines, and I am sure there are worse machines, but this is the sewing machine that is perfect for me. I have used it for the first time today and finished this book cover that I have been stitching on earlier. I'm looking forward to use it this coming autumn when we move in to our new apartment.

Først av alt; Kajsa gjorde meg oppmerksom på at den første korsstingsboken jeg viste dere faktisk er svensk og ikke norsk slik jeg trodde. Jeg måtte se på innsiden av permen og der fant jeg ut at boken er oversatt fra svensk til norsk. Neste gang jeg er på biblioteket blir jeg nødt til å finne en autentisk norsk broderi bok.

Boken jeg viser dere bilder fra denne gangen er også svensk. Jeg falt pladask for den med en gang jeg så forsiden. Gult er en fantastisk fin og frisk farge. Jeg klarer ikke å finne ut når boken ble gitt ut så hvis noen av dere tilfeldigvis vet det blir jeg veldig glad om dere legger igjen en kommentar. Boken har nydelige alfabet og border slik at man kan personliggjøre hva man enn måtte ønske.

First of all; Kajsa has made me aware of the fact that the first craft book I have shown you is actually Swedish and not Norwegian as I thought. I had to look inside the book cover and yes indeed, it is a Norwegian translation of a Swedish book. So next time I'm in the library I have to find and authentic Norwegian craft book.

The book I have posted photos of today is also Swedish. I fell in love it once I saw the book cover. Yellow is such a catchy colour. I can't find the year the book was published so if anyone knows I would love it if you left a comment. The book has lovely alphabets and borders so you can put a personal touch to just about everything.

Ut i verden og like langt - Across the world and back again

Noen ganger må man reise bort for å se hva man har hjemme. Og sånn har det vært med meg og hobby blad. Det siste halvåret har jeg kjøpt en drøss med fine japanske sy & broderi blad. I den siste utgaven av idées er det mer tydelig enn før at vi er midt i en skandinavisk broderi og korssting trend. Enkle mønstre brukes til å lage de søteste zakka-ting. Skandinavia og Norden møter Japan. Så slo det meg plutselig: er jeg virkelig helt nødt til Japan for å oppdage alt det fine vi har her i Norge. Svaret er ja.

Som en konsekvens av denne erkjennelsen dro jeg til biblioteket i dag og fikk den stakkars bibliotekaren til å bære med seg alle bøkene hun maktet opp fra kjelleren. Ja for de ligger bortgjemt i kjelleren! Jeg kunne selvfølgelig ikke ta med meg alle hjem (- du kan tro jeg hadde lyst!), men jeg fant tre bøker som fikk plass i veska og som ble med hjem. Tenkte jeg skulle dele disse bøkene med dere de neste dagene. En er norsk, en annen er svensk og den tredje er islandsk.

Samtidig ønsker jeg å gi dere en utfordring. Hvis disse fine bøkene fantes på mitt bibliotek, tenk da på alle de fine bøkene som kan ligge bortgjemt på ditt bibliotek. De kan ikke ligge der alene og glemt. Utfordringen til dere blir derfor å ta en tur på biblioteket finn 1-3 håndarbeids bøker, ta noen bilder og del bildene med oss. Legg en link til bildene dine (flickr) eller bloggen din på denne siden slik at alle lett kan finne frem til de bøkene du har funnet. Tar du utfordringen?


Sometimes you have to go away to see what’s at home. And that is how it’s been with me and craft magazines. The last six months I have bought tons of nice Japanese craft books and magazines. In last edition of idées it becomes clearer than ever that we are in the middle of Scandinavian embroidery and cross stitch trend. Simple patterns are used to make the sweetest zakka things. Scandinavia and the Nordic countries meet Japan. Then it hit me: do I really have to go all the way to Japan to discover all the nice things we have here in Norway. The answer is yes.

As a consequence of this epiphany I went to the library today and made the poor librarian carry all the books she could manage up from the cellar. Yes, because they are hidden in the cellar! I could of course not bring all of them home (- you better believe I wanted too), but chose three books that fitted in my purse and that came home with me. I thought I should share these three books with you the following days. One is Norwegian, the second one is Swedish and the third one is Icelandic.

At the same time I wish to give you a challenge. If all these nice books were to be found in my library, imagine all the books that can be hidden in your library. They cannot continue to be hidden and forgotten. The challenge I give you is therefore to visit you library, find 1-3 craft books of your choice, take some photos and share them with us. Leave a link to the pictures (flickr) or to your blog so that everyone easily can see the books you have found. Do you take the challenge?

Today came the internet man...

12 dager uten internett "hjemme". Det er ny rekord og en tolmodighetsprøve. 4.juni begynte jeg ny jobb i Oslo. Vi har ikke noe sted å bo i hovedstaden enda så nå bor jeg i et studentkollektiv sammen med tre andre. Det er åtte år siden sist jeg bodde i kollektiv. Jeg hadde glemt hvor sosialt og gøy det kan være... I hvertfall for en kort tid.

Jeg er også uten symaskin så jeg har ikke fått jobbet noe mer med det quiltede baby-teppet til Raquel. Istedet har jeg brodert på Franck Sorbier sjalet som du kan se bildet av her. Det går sakte men sikkert fremover. Håper jeg blir ferdig med det i løpet av sommeren slik at jeg kan bruke det før høsten og vinteren kommer

Samtidig som jeg er i Oslo forsøker vi å selge leiligheten i Ålesund. Jeg lovte jeg skulle dele bildene som megleren tok, så hvis du vil se leiligheten kan du klikke her. Det har vært en visning allerede og vi skal ha en visning til på lørdag. Og denne helgen er jeg tilbake med min kjære.

12 days without internet at home". That's a new record and a test f my patience. The forth of June I began a new job in Oslo. We don't have a place of our own to live in yet so I am currently living in a student house together with three others. I had forgotten how social and fun it can be to live together with so many people... At least for a short period of time.

I am also without a sewing machine so I haven't been able to work on the baby quilt for my friend Raquel. Instead I have worked some more on the Franck Sorbier "echarpe", which you can see a photo of here. The work is progressing slowly but steady. Hopefully I will manage to fiit nsih during the summer so that I can use it before the autumn and winter comes.

At the same time as I am in Oslo we are trying to sell our apartment in Ålesund. I promised I was going to share the photos that the photographer took of the apartment as soon as we got them, so if you want to you can see them here. There has already been a "showing" of the apartment and there will be a second one Saturday. This weekend I will be back with my hubby. I can't wait.

1000 ideér

This is my newest and smallest project at the moment. Perfect to bring along on any trip since I know the pattern by heart. As long as I have a good book or some craft project between my hands airplanes, trains and buses can be as late as they want. I can wait.

This is the beginning of a project that will take time to finnsih. It is a scarf and the design is by Franck Sorbier, one of my favourite designers. I can't wait to see it finnished and try it on with a black dress beige linnen top.

This quilt is for my dear friend Raquel. We have known eachother for ten years now (time flies). She has just become a mom, incredible!

Jeg har tusen prosjekt på gang inne i hodet mitt. Utenfor hodet mitt har jeg tre prosjekt i tillegg til strikketøyet (med andre ord fire prosjekt totalt). Det er flere grunner til at jeg sjeldent klarer å jobbe med kun en ting om gangen. For det første er det en del prosjekt som ikke klarer å la være å begynne med. Men også fordi noen prosjekt er jeg avhengig av å ha en symaskin i nærheten eller at de er vanskelige å ta med seg ut på tur. Siden jeg reiser så mye er det alltid greit å ha et arbeid som er enkelt å ta med seg rundt omkring. Spesielt når det er forsinkelser på flyplassen. Jeg laster opp bilder etter hvert som jeg kommer videre på prosjektene.

I have a thousand of craft projects inside my head. Outside my head I have three in addition to my knitting project (in other words, four projects in total). My lacking capacity for working on one project at a time can be explained in several ways. First, there are some craft projects that I simply cannot wait to begin with, it tingles too much when I think about them. Second, some projects are dependent on me having access to a sewing machine, or they are difficult to bring along for other reasons. Since I travel a bit in relation with my work it is always nice to have a project with me that I easy to bring along. Especially when there are delays at the airport. I’l post new pictures as I advance with the projects.