Giveaway...

I just thought I'd let you all know about this giveaway... I know it's a bit late, but I didn't know about it until now... and I get an extra entry in the giveaway if I link back to it.

I've never won any of the giveaways I've entered, so I'll do anything to up my chances... lol...

It's all gone....

...well... not all, but most of our belongings are now gone on a journey to Norway. We were up till 2.15 last night packing boxes and loading them into the van we'd rented. The trouble we had renting the van is a completely different story... let's just say it wasn't as easy as one would have liked...

The last week has just been crazy... packing, packing, packing and... some more packing. Hubby left with the van early this morning, so today the house is a complete mess, all the stuff we couldn't fit in the van is just sitting on the floor, bits of cardboard boxes and tape everywhere... I'm not sure what we will do with the rest of our stuff... maybe try to sell some. I've still got the sofas, telly (with no aerial...), all our chests of drawers, bedside tables, bikes and a few other bits and bobs here. The computer is gone though, so this is written on an old laptop. I don't have any photos on the laptop, and I don't have any way to get my photos from the camera onto the laptop, so I guess the next few posts will be photoless...

I still haven't decided when I will take the girls with me and go to Norway. The place we're going to rent isn't free until August. I'm planning to go before that though. We'll just stay with my parents for a wee while... the girls will love that.

Moving is just too stressful.... and the worst part is that we're just going to rent for a year or so (while we look for something to buy) and then... we will have to move again... urgh...

Yesterday was Maja's last day at school by the way... It was a bit sad leaving... both the school, which we are very pleased with, and her friends. Especially her friends... I wonder what the Norwegian school will be like?? I don't suppose they do long days (9 - 3.20) like here... so that will be a big change having Maja home more. And no uniform! Will she still get lots of homework? Will she get bored since she has to start first grade again (they start school when they are 6 in Norway, and here they start before they're 5)? Questions, questions... I guess I should stop worrying about the school stuff... I'm sure it will work out fine as soon as we get used to it... but I do worry still....

To Switzerland and back

Last weekend I was in Switzerland with my family, to attend Pirmin and Angelas wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful old church set in even more beauiful surroundings. Even the place cards were beautiful... decorated cookies... wow!
We didn't understand much of anything anyone said in their speeches (or in the church)... If they only had spoken "normal" german instead of "Käse Deutsch" (as my hubby calls it...) we might have stood a chance... but it didn't really matter because all the people at our table during dinner spoke english very well and we all had lots of fun.


The girls had a ball of a time. Maja was so lucky as to be allowed to hold the brides bouquet at the party... she was sooo thrilled... and they both loved the table decorations as it was big bowls filled with water, candles and rose petals... why are children always so attracted to water??


This was just a short trip, going there on Friday and coming back on Monday. But we had a great time, we even managed to squeeze in a short hike up in the mountains behind the hotel.

As for the present... the place mats... I only managed to get four of them done in time. I was up past midnight two days in a row sewing, but... I really struggled with the quilting (the thread kept breaking), so things took much longer than expected. I will finish the last two asap, and send them in the post though...
I just had to add this photo of Susie...

Wedding present

I'm working on another set of these flower place mats. I'm making six of them this time. Some friends of ours in Switzerland are getting married, and I thought this might be a nice gift for them.

I hope I will finish them in time...

For my bum...

I made this scrappy star block ages ago. The block seemed fun to make and I just wanted to try it out. I just grabbed some fabric that was heading for the bin (and some from my scrap box) and threw it together. My curiosity was satisfied... it was fun to make. I didn't have anything in mind for it, it was just a trial... so it was just put aside. It's been lying with my fabrics for a couple of months now. (Do you recognize the fabric from my previous post??)
I found it again the other day, and decided I could use it for my garden chair. I added a couple of borders and some wadding and voila! A new cushion to sit on when I'm in the garden.
It's quite amazing what a border can do to a (not so useful) block... I think this look rather nice, if I may say so myself... hehe...
The cushion ties in the back to secure it to the chair.

A new dress for the princess...

I've made Maja another dress from an old shirt. I started this dress ages ago but it was put aside with only the hem left to do... hemming is my least favourite part of dressmaking... it's sooo boring, and I was struggling a bit to get it to look nice on that other dress I made back in... March?? Well... not really struggling... but... I just wanted it to look perfect... and it didn't.... So to get this dress done, I decided to skip the whole hemming thing and put some ruffles on instead. I don't know if it was any quicker, but it was more fun! And I think it turned out quite well.

Since I put ruffles at the bottom, I thought it would look nice with some at the top as well. I should have sewn the ruffles on when I made the top, but since I hadn't thought about ruffles at that point, the top edge was already done so the ruffles here are just sewn on the back (instead of inbetween the two layers of fabric). Looks ok.
The back of the dress has buttons down the middle. This used to be the shirt front, so it wasn't any hassle involved making button holes etc...
I still got the sleeves from this shirt, so I might make some matching trousers/leggings to go with it.

17. May

Since my mum has been visiting me for the last week and a half, I haven't got much to show you craft wise. I have been working on Maja's poncho (whilst chatting with mum) but I haven't got a photo of it yet... Instead I'll show you some photos from the 17th of May celebration (Norway's national/ constitution day) in Edinburgh...

We got quite a bit of attention on the train in to Edinburgh, wearing our national costume (Nordlands bunad)... especially the girls... But then again, they looked soooo cute!
I counted 6 people in Nordlands bunad (same as mine)... yay!! But there was a lot of people in other bunad (Norwegian national costume) in Edinburgh this year. The weather wasn't "all that", but at least it wasn't raining... which is good for Scotland...

There were even celebrities in Edinburgh that day... Gok Wan from "How to look good naked" He didn't have anything to do with the Norwegian parade though....
Back home again... time for a photo shoot and some snacks...

Visitor

My mum is coming to stay with us for the next week and a half, so I might not be blogging much the next few days... just thought I'd let you know.

I'm really looking forward to seeing my mum again, but I don't think you can even compare that to how much Maja is looking forward to have "Morm" coming to see us.... She's been counting days for weeks now... she even wrote a note to her teacher telling her that she had to leave school on time today so we can go pick mum up...

(Dear Mrs Eccles. I have to leave school quarter to 4 cos I have to pick up my granny. Love hearts from Maja)

Which one??

HELP!!! I'm going to make a cushion (to sit on) for my garden chair. I've decided to use a Depression block, and I've sewn all the pieces for it... BUT... I can't choose how to put all the pieces together... I've laid them out in different combinations but I can't make up my mind which one works best or just... which one I like best.... I would appreciate some of your thoughts on which block to make... which one would you make??

Ps. Picture 1 and 2 were taken with flash so they look a wee bit brighter than the rest....

Another beautiful day

We've had almost a week with glorious weather here... It's so nice spending the days outside in the garden and out in the street playing with the children. Not much time for sewing and making things though...

Today while Maja was at school, Susie and I met up with a couple of the girls from my ante natal group and their "babies". We try to meet up regularly... although that isn't always easy... I think it's great that we've stayed in touch after we had the babies though.

Since the weather was so nice, we decided to have a picnic in the park. The girls had a great time running around and sharing each others food and drinks. The mums enjoyed themselves in the sun too.

Of course after such an important meeting, it's time for a wee snooze...

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Back at home, Maja has got hold of my camera and she's taken a few snaps... This is one of them:

Don't you just love it when you find out hours after the event (by looking at photos taken by your 5 yr old) that your smallest one has taken her garden toys (i.e. DIRTY bucket) inside and put it in your white sofa...??

Moving on...

...but not too far... I'm still making small quilted bags, just a different design.
I got the pattern for this lovely make up bag (and for a larger one) from Elna in Norway. Thank you very much! The bag was really easy to sew, but I think maybe I did something wrong with the lining, because it seems to be a bit... not big... but it doesn't really fit... it's all crumpled up, if you know what I mean.... no?? But I'm not giving up... I will try to make another one soon, and maybe do the lining part a bit different.

This is the other side of it. The fabric I used was something I found in a charity shop... I really like the brightness of the colours on this fabric.

Finished!!

Here they are! All 7 of them! The quilted bags are now done and ready to leave me for their new owner... Hope she'll be as pleased with them as I am.

The fronts:
And a view of the back of them as well...

Two dishcloths

I haven't got much to show you at the moment... I spend the little time I have "off" from children finishing those pink quilted bags (They are almost done now though). I thought I'd break up my posts about those bags with a photo of some dishcloths I knitted before easter. I couldn't show you them at the time I made them as they were going to be presents in my familys annual easter game... where we roll dice and fight over presents.... It's a game my mum invented and it's quite silly... but it is FUN!

The dishcloths are called 4 corners dishcloth, and they are easy and fun to knit! Knitted in 100% cotton.
It was hard to get a decent photo of them, because Susie kept running away with them. I think she wanted them for herself... she kept stroking them and cuddling them...

More pink...

The quilted bags are finally starting to look like something...
This is what they looked like last night:
The "only" thing left now is to put on the top border and zippers... better get on with it...

Status report...

Sorry I've been a bit slow on the blogging front lately... Had hubby home in the weekend, and then I've been busy getting my house ready for putting it up for sale.

Anyhoo... here's a wee update on my bag order. All the fabrics are cut and I'm in the process of quilting the bags now.
I'm almost done with the quilting, but I ran out of white fabric for the lining, so I need to get some more of that. I went to the quilt shop in Linlithgow today, but they closed at 2pm on wednesdays... I didn't know, so I was there about 10 past.... that meant I had an hour to kill in Linlithgow before I had to pick Maja up from school... went to the textile shop to see if they had some white cotton. But guess what... They were closed too!! I'll try again tomorrow or maybe friday.