My wee helper and a birthday present...

If I am to sew during the day, this is how you'll most often find me.... With Susie on my lap, helping me. Susie's job is to take the pins out of whatever I'm sewing and put them in the pin cushion (if you look closely, you can see that I'm using my new pin cushion... the one I won). It takes... eh... a bit... longer with this help, but at least I get to sew. Right?

And I must admit, it is kind of cozy having her there on my lap showing an interest in what I'm doing. Here, she's helping me sew a wee drawstring bag.
I (we) finished the drawstring bag and a travel tissue holder yesterday. Maja's friend from school had her birthday party last night, and Maja needed a present for her. I hope she likes it.

Every little girl should have a pretty bag, and when Maja realized I was making a drawstring bag for her friend, she wanted one too. So when I spotted this lovely fabric in the shop yesterday (had to go and get a string for the drawstring....), I thought of Maja's wish for a pretty bag.

Look, it even sparkles...

Maja was over the moon by the thought of getting a bag in this pretty fabric. Don't know when I'll get the time though. I have to drag my sewing machine and everything I need downstairs and use the kitchen table for sewing. My sewing room is still just a mess with boxes from the move....

I won! I won!!

Look what I found in my mail box yesterday... no, the day before yesterday (time flies too fast sometimes...) I feel soooo lucky. I was one of the winners of Vickie's giveaway over at her blog "Mid-Ohio Knitter". And look what she sent me... A cute little purse, a box of buttons, a lovely pin cushion and a bunch of gorgeous 3" fabric charms... and even the card matched... wow.

The pin cushion had a different fabric on each side. I can't decide which side I like the best.... which side will be the top and which will be the bottom. I might have to alternate between the two... well, both my girls loves to play with my pins, so I'm sure they'll be happy to help me transfer the pins from one side to the other...

Look at all the beautiful fabric squares... Oh, I can't wait to make something nice out of them. I need a new runner for my kitchen table, but also one for my living room table...

This was the firs time I won a giveaway (and I've entered a LOT...) so I'm over the moon! Thanks a lot Vickie!

Slippers... again... and the pattern for them

Maja has been nagging me about getting slippers like mine ever since I knitted mine. So I guess it was about time I made her some. PINK! No other colour would do... I made them the same way I made the adult ones, but with fewer increases and they fit perfectly. She was really pleased with them.A couple of weeks ago, Maja had her class' mascot lion home with her. Each pupil gets to have Lissi the lion home one weekend each. The only item of clothing Lissi had was a knitted hat, and Maja thought maybe Lissi would like some slippers to warm her paws... How can you say no? So I let Maja choose the colour... and guess what colour she chose...?? Yup! Pink!

I think Lissi looked really cute in her new pink slippers. She looks pleased... Some of the girls in Maja's class was sooooo excited when Maja brought Lissi back to school that Monday.... "Look Lissi has got ballet shoes!!!" to which Maja replied "NO! They're slippers...." I had to laugh.

I've had so many requests for the pattern for the slippers, that I thought I'd put it here for all of you that want to try it out. This is really easy knitting! And quick. I don't know where this pattern originated, but after I got mine from Tofo, I've seen it several times in other blogs (only in Norwegian though), so I guess it's OK to put it here as well.... I've translated it to english, but I'm not that into english knitting lingo... so if there's any problems/questions let me know. (I'll add the Norwegian version of the pattern at the end.)

This is the pattern for the adult version (these slippers are very stretchy and should fit most people, but if you've got big feet, it might be a good idea to increase a few more stitches.):

POCKET SLIPPERS:

Use yarn that goes with needles 4mm.
The whole thing is knitted back and forth.
CO 5 st, K 6 rows
Continue by increasing one stitch at the beginning of each row until you have 22 stitches.
On the next row, increase in every stitch (front and back loop of every st)= 44 st on needle.
Continue knitting a 15 cm ribbed border (k2,p2)
Next row; k 2 tog until you have 22 st again (all stitches)
Then, decrease 1 st in the beginning of each row until there is 5 st left on the needle.
Knit 6 rows and BO

Fold your slipper in half and sew the two narrow bits together and the sides of the ribbed border together. Now it looks a bit like a small purse… but the slipper is very stretchy.
Decorate it with a crocheted flower, a button or whatever you want.

Og så på norsk:

LOMMETØFLER:

Det er brukt garn som passer til pinne nr. 4.

Hele arbeidet strikkes fram og tilbake.

Legg opp 5 masker, strikk 6 pinner.

Fortsett, men øk 1 maske i begynnelsen av hver pinne til det er 22 masker.

På neste pinne økes det i hver maske (fremste og bakerste maskeledd) = 44 masker.

Strikk videre 15 cm vrangbordstrikk med 2r, 2vr.

Strikk så 2 og 2 masker sammen til det er 22 masker.

Fortsett med å felle 1 maske i begynnelsen av hver pinnne til det er igjen 5 masker.

Strikk 6 pinner og fell av.

Brett arbeidet og sy sammen de smale remsene og sidene på vrangbordstrikken. Det ser nå ut som en liten veske, men den er veldig tøyelig og passer godt på foten.
Pyntes etter smak og behag!!

Hope this can be of some use to someone. It would be fun to know if you find the pattern here and use it... I'd love to se a picture of your slippers....

Maja relly wanted to make Lissi's slippers herself, but since she's never knitted anything before, it took too long.... They would have been blue/turquoise if we went with Maja's own knitting...

Award

I got this award from Matja. I've got it before as well, but I'm just so glad that someone likes my blog enough to give me awards that I'm going to accept it anyway....
This is the text that comes with this award (it's in Norwegian... se my other post for english version):

Denne bloggen investerer i og tror på NÆRHET - nærhet i rom,tid og forhold.Disse bloggerne er usedvanlige, sjarmerende og søte,og formålet er å finne og å være venner. De er ikke opptatt av utmerkelser og selvhevdelse. Vårt håp er at når båndene på disse utmerkelser er kuttet, vil enda flere vennskap ha forplantet seg.Vær vennlig å gi litt ekstra oppmerksomhet til disse!Gi denne utmerkelsen til seks bloggere,som igjen må velge seg seks nye. Inkluder denne teksten på utmerkelsen deres.

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The six people I want to pass it on to is... oh, this is soooo hard... So many of you have it from before, so I'm only going to give it to Therese just now...

This year's, or rather, last year's handmade Christmas presents

Well... Christmas is over and a new year has begun... I guess I'm safe to put up pictures of some of the things I made for Christmas presents last year (it feels so funny to say last year about this Christmas...)
I made my mum and dad a quilted Christmas tree skirt. Well, that was what it was intended for... but I think my mum wanted to use it as a table cloth as well.... I guess it has many uses, so I'm happy for her to do as she wishes with it.

It was hard to catch the colours correctly, but you get an idea.

For my hubby's family (sister, brother, nieces, nephews, all with family) I made egg warmer hens. Some of them has been pictured before, so I'm not going to show them again.

For his brother and his sister I also added a bread basket with a quilted cloth that matched the egg warmer hens (I didn't make the basket though...or the egg cups...)

The blue and striped pin wheel basket cloth was for Per's sister and her hubby, and the red and blue flying geese cloth, for hubby's brother and his wife.

Here are the hens that went with the flying geese....!;)

I gave some other handmade things as well, but most of it has been picrued on my blog before, so I'll just leave it here...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year to all my readers.

2008 has been an exciting year with the move to Norway and with getting to know so many new people through blogging. I hope 2009 will be a good year too, and I'm looking forward to continuing reading your blogs and getting to know my new "friends" in bloglandia a bit better.

Decorating Gingerbread

Sorry for the lack of postings lately. I've got the flu, and my eyes really hurt when I look at the monitor.... I just hope I can manage to get everything ready for christmas... Most of all I just want to lay down in a dark, quiet room....
Here are a couple of pictures of the girls and my mum decorating gingerbread a couple of weeks back....

Challenges and an award...

I've been challenged by Monica S. I have to write 7 random things about myself, and then send the challenge on to 7 people I would like to know some more about.


Ok, here goes.....


1. We don't have a television. The plan is to buy one, but now we've gotten so used to not having one that there's no rush to get one. When we first moved to Scotland, 9 years ago, we lived without a telly for over two years before we got one.... so this is not a new thing for me. We do have a projector though... so we can watch dvds straight on the wall... which is almost like having a cinema in your own livingroom.... (here you can see the projector in the bottom of the picture.... and the film is on the wall...)
2. I love coffee... mmmm.... I wish my espresso machine would work properly again... I drink my coffe black.... which made most people in Scotland look at me with a very strange look... "are you sure you don't want just a little bit of milk and sugar in it??" Oh... and I loooove cake with my coffee (or without). 3. I've only ever had one boyfriend... he is now my husband. We've been married for 9 1/2 years and we were together for 10 years before we got married! Does that make me sound really old...?? (Photograph by Fotograf Dvergsnes, Kristiansand. You'll have to excuse the bad scan... the photo is not like that in real life) 4. I'm allergic to cats...

5. When we lived in Inverness, Scotland, I used to work in a Fun Factory in a restaurant... This was a kind of indoor play ground where children could play while their parents were having a meal in the restaurant. We also did children's birthday parties, face painting and I was the balloon model expert (you know, making balloon animals and things with those looong balloons)... I worked there for several years even though I had to wear this to work.... (photo: Ramon Stoppelenburg) The uniform was very comfy though... I used to cycle to work wearing this, and sometimes I would go shopping after work wearing this... People would look at me... or rather stare at me, and I didn't understand why... until I realized what I was wearing...

6. I used to play the flute. I played for 19 years, but I haven't playd it the last 9... maybe I should take it up again?? The first 15 years I played in Tveit Musikkorps ,TM (later Tveit Union Musikkorps, TUM). This was a really fun band to play in. I especially enjoyed the Tattoos. I played the piccolo flute when we were doing Tattoos or when we were out marching and the long flute for concerts... I had to stop playing with them when I moved to Oslo.... where I joined Stabekk Janitsjarorkester. I completely stopped playing when we moved to Scotland.

I thought I'd show you a really old photo of me marching with TM... I'm the little one on the left and the photo is from 1986 (don't know who took it... I found it on TUM's homepage)

7. Last one... phew... (this was harder than I thought it would be).... I used to be quite sporty in my younger days... I used to participate in slalom competitions... I've done rock climbing and I've tried diving... I don't do any of these anymore... why? Hmmm.... I don't really know... I enjoyed doing all of them... maybe having small children has anything to do with it...?

This is me diving in Rhodes on my honeymoon...
I want to give this challenge to: Linda, Anne Marie, Ruth, Sipusa, Emily, Lappequri og mamma.

I've got a couple of things from Tofo as well... first this awardThere's a text with this award as well

"The blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearnessin space, time and realationship! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prices or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prices are cut,even more friendship are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eightmore and include this cleverly written text into the body of their awards."

"Denne bloggen investerer i og tror på NÆRHET- nærhet i rom, tid og forhold!"Disse bloggerne er usedvanlig sjarmerende og søte, og formålet er å finne og å være venner.De er ikke opptatt av utmerkelser og selvhevdelse.Vårt håp er at når båndene på disse utmerkelser er kuttet, vil enda flere vennskap ha forplantet seg. Vær vennlig å gi litt ekstra oppmerksomhet til disse!

I'm supposed to give this to eight people, but it's past my bedtime already, and I can't decide to whom I want to give it... so I'll give it to all of my "followers".

Tofo also sent me another award/challenge...

I have to write about 5 things I can't live without...

1. My sewing machine, knitting needles, crochet hooks, stamps and all my other craft stuff.

2. Mascara!

3. I guess I can't say my family since it had to be things... so I'll say my camera because I love taking photos of my girls.

4. Coffee...

5. My alarm clock. I would never get out of bed in the morning if it didn't wake me up... with that said... I just remembered that my alarm clock actually is broken... so I don't have one at the moment... I have to use hubby's clock or my mobile...

Thanks for the challenges and awards. I appreciate it!

An angel is here...

Well... we've reached December already. And I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet.... I've made some though.... but this angel is not one of them.... can't show what I've made for presents before Christmas, can I?

This angel is completely my own design... well, maybe not completely since I've used a pattern from a Tilda book for the wings (I just love the shape of the Tilda angel's wings). This is the only one I've made of these so far, but I'm sure there will be many more.

I had so much fun designing and making her. She has a small bag of rice in the bottom of her skirt to help her stand better. And her arms have no stuffing in them at all...

This is where she's gonna live... In my window sill. I haven't decided if she's just for Christmas or a whole year round angel....

The green thing in front of my window is the shawl I've been knitting on since.... uhh... march? It's almost finished now... just a few more rows to go (I think). I'll write a bit more about it when it is finished... it could be a while though....

Stamps and cards...

A few weeks back I bought some stamps from Panduro in Jessheim. They, Panduro that is, were moving to a new location, and was selling some of their stamps really cheap... oh how I love bargains...

And, of course, I had to try out my new stamps... so I made these cards. It was sooo much fun stamping again. I haven't done that in quite a while. And it was sooo much fun having some new stamps to play with...

You can just spot my latest sewing project under this card here... I'll write about that another day...

I guess I should rather be making christmas cards this time of year, but... there is always use for some flower cards as well... isn't there??

Awards

I've gotten a couple of awards lately... Yay! I'm so glad that people read and like my blog enough to give me awards. I'm so honoured. Thank you very much - all of you!

First out is this one that I got from Monica S
Monica wrote:

Så vil eg at Tonje skal få ein slik ein... ho har vore kjekk å ha ein del gongar... då ho har budd i eit engelsk-talande land i 9 år, har eg tydd til ho når eg har stått fast. (om det er noko eg har trengt å oversette) Og så har ho vore så snill å gi meg eit godt julegåvetips
(say no more ;-) )!!
Takk Tonje!

A few days ago I got this one from Tofo:

I got these two from Anne Marie... waaayyy back in July... I'm so sorry, Anne Marie, that I haven't blogged them before... I got them in the middle of moving house and not having access to a computer every day... so they kind of got put aside for a while...

Thanks again. I guess I'm supposed to send these on...?? But it's so hard for me to choose just a few to give them to, and a lot of you already have these, so I'll give them to all of you that follow my blog. You all deserve them.