Ravenhill

Toes

As it has been much cooler lately I have taken a keener interest in knitting. The winter is approaching and I would so like to have warm and pretty handknits for fingers, toes, ears and necks. Right now I am concentrating on the toes. Maybe it is best to work from the bottom up?

I showed you a few balls of yarn and half started projects quite awhile ago. I just wanted to show that I finished some of them! There was enough of this candy colored yarn to whip up simple pairs of socks for both of my little chicks.

There wasn't quite enough of this yarn to make the entire socks so I grabbed a matching wool from my stash for the toes.

This little lass does have two completed, matching socks to warm her toes this winter but only had one of them on for this shot. Thank you again Mervi for this most gorgeous yarn! Funny because she is knitting socks now too. Must be a Scandinavian thing. We always have the upcoming winter on our minds and how best to prepare for it.

My shop has a distinctive summery feel to it, despite my winter preparations, with the lastest crop of hand appliquéd blossoms decking out my dolls.

Today we all went to a delightful birthday party! Lilly can still wear the beautiful dress mom made her last year.

 

Good things

So many good things are happening right now. I barely know where to start...

I made this garland for a truly delightful customer:

 

She requested I use these pretty mostly Japanese fabrics as a background instead of the linen I have used previously. I love when someone gives me great ideas on what to make. Garlands make me think about having a party! Things are so fun lately I feel like throwing one...

 

I am in a book! I can hardly beleive it. It must have been about a year ago when I was first asked. I didn't really dare to tell about it for fear that it might not be true. Maybe they would edit me out I thought. When Monica and Mary Ann wrote me to congratulate me for being in it then I started to believe! Wait until you hear who else is featured in Blogging Bliss: Alicia Paulson (Posie Gets Cozy), Gabreial Wyatt (Vintage Indie), Emily Martin (Inside A Black Apple), Lidy Baars (Little French Garden House), Heather Bullard (Vintage Inspired Living), and Serena Thompson and Teri Edwards (The Farm Chicks).

Not only that, but MOM is HERE! We are just having a wonderful time together and that is why I haven't been blogging. We have been knitting together, chatting together, and enjoying the children together. 

 

The extra set of competent hands and extra snuggly lap in the house mean that I have more time to sew!

 

Little bits of Liberty of London fabric make the most colorful and cheerful garlands! This one is freshly made and in my shop.

I hope you are having a wonderful day! With so many good things now I think I will deck the entire house with garlands... Let every day be a celebration!

Creative clutter

The visit with my brother zoomed by and he is already back home. I think the kids tired him out a bit. He actually teased me because he said my sewing room didn't look as neat and tidy in real life as it does on my blog. So I thought I would expose my messy side!

Isn't this a delightful array of fabrics spread out all over?

I fail to see how this jumble of ribbons could be considered messy...

So they spilled out a little...

Do you have some lovely creative messes too? Please join me then on my brand new flickr pool: Creative Clutter. I hope that Müriel will post her photos on the group! She got right to work on the fabrics she won on my blog give away. Take a look at what she made! Another place to get a sneak peek at creative spaces is here.

I would like to thank Cassandra for the great interview about my dollmaking! Sarah, of the new website Sewn has me blushing: she features my dolls on the front page heading up her favorites.

This is getting embarrassing... so many features! I really couldn't fail to thank Sharie for another very nice feature too! I am really overwhelmed by all these write ups!

Thank you for the encouragement! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend creating messes too!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is having a great day! I made these dolls recently with the patriotic 4th of July colors in mind.

Fru Larsen and Fru Bryhn are in my shop.

I have to tell you we have been HOT! Yes, the heat wave continues. We are keeping cool as best we can.

 

Here the children are trearing down to the beach at full speed ready to plunge into the cooling fjord waters.

 

Actully the early mornings are quite nice as temps do go down considerably at night. We were one of the first to arrive and Lilly paused to look at the birds. I love this hat on her. Mom made it for her to go with a dress that she adored to wear but has outgrown. I am delighted that she can still squeeze into the cute sunhat though.

We are so fortunate to be able to celebrate the 4th with my brother who is visiting this week! He is a great Uncle and the kids adore him. He let the kids douse him with water again and again. He got them back good when he found a large bucket... We all had a ball and cooled down nicely.

These aren't such patriotic colors but they are the dolls I made after my recent shopping spree at Katrine's fabric shop. I am so loving the Japanese prints I bought and used on these dolls. (The dolls are in my shop).

I was happy to find my matryoshka featured on Anna's For the Love of Cute blog here. Thank you Anna, it is sure a treat to have my matryoshka mamas and babies turn up in such good company. I am positively bursting because I have been asked if my dolls could be featured on another very prominent blog. The problem is that I shouldn't let the cat out of the bag yet.