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.

Herringbones...

I finished my Herringbone Neck warmer yesterday. I didn't knit it as long as the pattern said to knit it, because I wanted a quite snug fit around my neck. I've got plenty of scarves and turtle neck jumpers, but they all seems too loose round my neck and therefore let the cold air in...

I'm so pleased with this one. I tried it out on my daily walk, to get Susie to sleep, today. It's nice and soft and warm... just like I wanted it.

I couldn't find any buttons to fit the neck warmer and I didn't have time to wait until I could get to a shop and buy some, so I just made two monkey fist knots in the same yarn as the neck warmer and used them as buttons instead. They are a bit soft, but... so far so good.

I really like the texture of the herring bone stitch.... and the colour of this yarn.... Let it snow!

You are a STAR and a WINNER

I'm sure you are all waiting for the results of my giveaway.... I'm sorry to have kept you waiting the whole day, but I'd promised Maja that she could help me with the draw so we had to do it after she was home from school. But then we had someone over for dinner this afternoon, so when I was gonna do the draw, I was busy preparing for having dinner guests. I hope you understand.

Anyway, after keeping you waiting for so long, I thought I would keep you waiting for a wee while longer... cruel, I know... but I just wanted to show you the hand pieced/ paper pieced star all finished. I ended up making a coaster... as I suggested in my other post. I used two layers from an old flannel nighie after Susie as batting, so it's nice and thick.
I wouldn't look too closely at my quilting... It's awful... it almost looks like the basting is still in... but, hey, it was my first time hand quilting... But then again, the coaster goes quite well with my favourite mug colourwise, don't you think?
Ok, so over to the draw! Here Maja is helping me cut all the entries into separate strips. (Isn't her nightdress cute?? I just love that cow pattern...)

All the entries are in...

Who will be the lucky winner....

Eileen! You won! Congratulations. Please contact me with your address, and I will send you the prize.

Eileen said...
Tonje, these are beautiful prizes. I'm sure you made the adorable slippers! Congratulations on your 100th post. It is a lot to keep up with especially when you are moving all about!thanks always for visiting me and leaving such lovely comments. :-)
07 November, 2008 11:50

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And this is what my wee helper did with all the non- winning entries... she shredded them! I think maybe she enjoys using her new scissors...

I would like to thank all of you who took part in my giveaway. I really appreciate your comments.

Lazy Saturday morning

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Don't forget to enter my 100th post giveaway!

Today we had a really lazy morning. It was cold outside, but we'd lit the fireplace, and while the girls were snuggling on the sofa watching a DVD and being quiet for once (this photo isn't from today, but this is what they looked like. Today's photo was too blurred... I was probably too tired to focus...)...
...I was trying my hand on hand piecing for the first time. Is that what it's called when you tack a piece of fabric around a piece of paper and sew it together by hand...?? This is something I've never done before, it was quite relaxing although a bit repetitive.
Here is the star I pieced, tacking on and everything. I'm quite amazed that the colours are so true in this photo ... I always have a hard time catching the colours correctly. Finished with the piecing. The tacking/basting is out and it's ironed. I'm not really impressed whit my stitching... maybe I should have matched the thread better with the colours?? Or maybe I shouldn't have watched Tintin with the girls at the same time as I was stitching...Well, this was just for fun, just to try it out and see if I liked it, so it doesn't really matter. I'm thinking maybe I would try to hand quilt this as well. That's another thing I've never done before.
The star is quite small, so I guess I'll have a (nice) coaster for my morning coffee when this is finished.

This afternoon I started a new knitting project as well. I guess this was the day for starting new things... I just totally fell for this neck warmer when I saw it. So that's what I'm knitting. I'm not using the same yarn as in the pattern... I'm going a bit cheaper with "Oda" from Trysilgarn (colour 209 if anyone is interested. The colour in the photo isn't quite right though).
The pattern seemed pretty straight forward to start with... only two rows to repeat. That was until I started knitting... It was a bit hard to wrap my head around what the pattern really said, and how to do it practically. But after a couple of (four, five) trials and errors, casting on, ripping it off, casting on... etc... I finally got it. This isn't really a quick knit... well, not for me anyway, even though I use needles 8mm... but, hopefully, I'll have a new neck warmer in a few days... that is if I don't start a new project in between...

100th post giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed!

I have finally reached my 100th post! I guess I'm not the most eager blogger since it has taken me about two and a half years to reach this number.... It has been so much fun all the way from the beginning when I was only blogging about ATCs through family life and now my knitting and sewing. So many of you have been a big inspiration to me... there are so many great blogs and bloggers "out there"...

Anyway... I'd like to celebrate this "milestone" with a little giveaway. I really appreciate all of your comments, questions and support, and I'm happy that you take time to visit me. I think you all deserve a present... but, that would probably ruin me... so one lucky(??) reader will get a little something from me. I've put together a little "winter care packet" (handmade by me) consisting of:

One pair of pocket slippers. To keep your feet warm so you (hopefully) avoid the sniffles. These are really stretchy, so they'll fit most people.

If the slippers can't hold the sniffles away, I've added a travel tissue holder (with tissues)... so at least you can have the sniffles with a bit more style... hmmm....I've also added a couple of small fabric hearts on a string to cheer you up. Hang them on a peg on your wall, on your christmas tree, or as I do, on a couple of candles...(or chuck them in a drawer so you don't have to see them...)

All you have to do to be in the drawing for these things, is to leave me a comment on this post. I would love to hear from everybody... the lurkers as well. I think it is so much fun seeing who visits my blog, and to go visit their blog back. You have until midnight next monday (10th November 08). I will do the draw next tuesday. Make sure I have a way of contacting you in case you win.

While we're waiting...

...for my post no 100 (stay tuned... I'll have a giveaway), I thought I'd show you some wintry photos of the snow we've got the last coupla' days, but blogger won't let me upload any... so I guess I'll answer the challenge I got from my mum (Sonjas side) a while back instead then... (I'll do this one in Norwegian since the questions are in Norwegian... can't be bothered to translate them...)

1. Hvilken mat eter du ofte?
Ofte? Hva menes med ofte? Jeg spiser jo brød flere ganger hver dag... ellers har det gått mye i fiskemat (fiskekaker, fiskepudding, fiskeboller) og pølser etter at vi flyttet "hjem" til Norge igjen. Det var noe jeg savnet da jeg bodde utenlands.

2. Når du er i selskap, er du den personen som sitter, eller hjelper du til?
Tjaaa... det kommer vel litt an på det da. Jeg pleier å hjelpe til hvis det passer sånn, men det er jo ikke alltid det er så greit å blande seg inn... kommer an på hva slags selskap.

3. Hvor sitter du helst når du blogger?
Da sitter jeg på roterommet/datarommet (og forhåpentligvis snart syrommet) i øveretasjen.

4. Kjøper du ofte skrapelodd?
Nei! Det tror jeg faktisk aldri jeg har kjøpt. Har jo fått noen i gave da... liker veldig godt å skrape dem og se om jeg vinner... jeg har forresten kanskje kjøpt skrapelodd av gevinsten et par ganger...

5.Hvilket land eller by har vært din beste ferie?
Syria! Uten tvil! Vi besøkte foreldrene mine, som bodde ett år i Damascus, i tre og en halv uke da eldstejenta var 5-6 måneder gammel (2003). Vi var der akkurat da krigen mellom USA og Irak brøt ut, så det var jo litt spesielt (Irak er nabolandet til Syria). Folkene i Syria var helt fantastiske... så gjestfrie og hyggelige. Tror ikke jeg har møtt noe folkeslag som jeg har likt så godt før. Det eneste jeg kan "klage på" var at nærmeste nabo var en moske... og høyttalerne som kalte til bønn flere ganger om dagen var rettet rett mot verandaen vår, men det var jo egentlig litt artig det og.

6. Hvilken TV kanal ser du mest på?
Øhhh... ser ikke på tv. Vi har faktisk ikke tv her i huset. Æres ord! Men jeg ser jo endel på film da. Vi har prosjektør, så det blir som å ha kino i stua (som Maja sier). Greit å ha biblioteket omtrent rett utenfor døra, for der er det gratis å låne dvd'er...

What IS it???

I've been wanting to make some of these for a while now, but I didn't have a pattern and since I've never seen any in real life, I didn't have a clue how to make them. But then Tofo was so kind as to send me a pattern... and here they are;

I even crocheted a wee flower to decorate them with. Cute, ehh??

When my husband first saw these, he said "what IS that??" And when I told him he just laughed. I don't think he was too impressed.... but I like them. They are called "pocket slippers", and are really stretchy and really easy to make (and really cute too).

I'm definately going to make some more of these.