Ravenhill

Wednesdays

I love Wednesdays. My little chickie is home with me all day.

She is so often running and giggling, so somehow it is easier to catch her on the camera when she is engrossed in something. Here she was helping me make our afternoon snack.

As usual she is barefoot and today she is wearing the new pants which I made her. They seem to be a favorite already. I really love the William Morris fabric. The previous pairs I made for her with the same Onion pattern she complained that the waist wasn't so comfortable. I had used 1" elastic. For these I used 1/4" elastic that is much slacker. She likes them comfy.

Good things

Ripening berries.

Even better, picking the ripe ones.

Little hands and bigger ones.

Those berry pictures were all taken on that wonderful day at Oldemor's house (my children's great-grandmothers' house).

More bounty! This is a delightful win from Grace at Whimsyloft:

I am crazy about the sparkly glass beads she sent me.

Here are all the goodies.

Besides the beads, there was flowery felt which is completely new to me, sticker tapes which my kids adore, a pretty handmade bracelet, laces and fabrics! Thank you so much!

This was the last weekend before school and nursery school starts and it was a real treat since the weather was so nice. Sebastian was dribbling his soccer ball tonight. I really have to buy him another basketball. He doesn't really care for soccer much, has 3 or 4 soccer balls, but the basketball he had was lost.

I did a bit of knitting outside in my bikini today. Does anyone else knit while they are working on their tans?
  

Funky retro crochet

A couple of months ago I told you I was going to do some crochet.

Since promising to show you what I have completed, it is about time I show these to you.

I used baby yarn of several different types, mostly leftovers from previous projects.

I would love to have a stash of yarn in every color possible...

One of the little crochet flowers ended up on this mushroom. I like the retro funky look it has. I just listed a few mushrooms in my shop today.

Before I dash off to get ready for the day I wanted to share a nice feature with you. Rasa let me know that she had included my bird bag in her blog post. It is rather dreary here today with rain and clouds. The last week of summer vacation is proving disappointing weather-wise. I am cutting out new dolls and that will keep me busy and happy.

More fabric...

I want to thank you all for all the kindness and encouragement. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me. Reading your comments makes me smile and help me to feel like what I do matters in some small way.

Some time back I contacted Randi to ask about ordering some fabric from her Etsy shop: Freshsqueezed. We chatted a bit and we ended up agreeing on a swap. I got a marvelous stack of her gorgeous fabrics and she got a dollie from me.

We had agreed on exactly what we would send eachother, but she cheated!!! She was so generous! This stack in the front is an extra surprise she snuck into the package! Thank you ever so much for this wonderful swap!

Fru Lillevik in aqua and orange and red is my latest creation made with some of Randi's fabrics.

I haven't done much sewing this weekend, the weather has been too good for that! The glorious sunshine has been shining its late summer rays on us this lovely weekend. I have done a bit of weeding in the garden too.

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend too and will be starting the week with fresh energy and enthusiasm.

They fuzzed up

Summer seems to be on the retreat here in Oslo. The warm, sunny days have become replaced by rainy cooler ones.  School and nursery school are starting in a little over a week and I am excited about the opportunity to get busy making more things and blogging more again.

I have decided that I will always show you my completed projects. You must think that I rarely actually finish anything because I never get around to snapping photos of the project when it is done?  There are many reasons for that, mainly though that the photo taking can be quite a task and I am particular about how it turns out. For instance, I finished this sweater last summer. I wasn't completely happy with the fit and hemmed and hawed trying to decide whether or not to, gulp, frog it. Come winter it got cold and I found myself needing it, gave it a try and found it wearable. I will try to post a photo sometime soon. Other projects, like this quilt, are in a stack of my Un-Finished-Objects.

Anyway, Keeping with my promise. Here is my latest completed project. They shrank, fuzzed up and they fit my son!

At 60 degrees cecius in my front load washing machine, my third attempt at felting them properly did the trick.

They turned out quite fuzzy and thick so that should keep my 9 year old, soon to be 5th grader´s, hands toasty this winter.

You can really see how soft and muted the colors are next to the vibrantly bright green summer leaves.

 
Wishing you a productive and happy weekend! You probably don't have a pile of uncompleted projects cluttering up the place like I do, do you?

Mail to cheer me up

Sarah was sweet to write me to let me know that her dollie had arrived safe and sound. She seemed to be getting along chummily with her new pal, the very cute bunny. I really love that, seeing my matryoshka dolls at home in their new surroundings.

And it was my turn to win a give away! I am mad about my new sewing helpers.

  

Look at how it even has matching glass head pins! These pretty creations are made by Theresia. Thank yo so much for brightening up my day. I really needed a boost after saying farwell to my dear Mom yesterday. Dad wrote me early this morning happy to have Mom home again safe and sound. My children though are asking why we can't move to the US. Grandparents really are special.

I finished these mittens up while Mom was here. This is the before photo. They are pretty big but as I type they are whirling around the washing machine felting away. I thought this handspun yarn might felt more than the others I have used before so I tried it on 40 degrees Celcius first. They were starting to get fluffy but weren't really felted. So in they went again on 40. (I am a bit of a chicken. I really don't want them tiny sized... They are supposed to fit my 9 year old or me.) Twice on 40 didn't do the trick either so in they are again this time on 60. The suspense is killing me... Stay tuned! 

Oh, what a wonderful visit it was with my mother! I made these while she was here and they were very much inspired by the visit to my husband's grandmother's and her beautiful gardens.

Everywhere you looked there was somthing magical to see.

Or something sweet.

Here Lilly and Gramma were peering at some treasures.

Nothing in the garden seems left to chance, even the birds are well cared for.

 

Every year she and her gardens appear in magazines, newspapers and tv programs. Here is a spread in Hjemmet from this summer.

And the gardener herself, our beloved "Oldemor" meaning great-grandmother in Norwegian looking marveous for her age of 87. The photo above was taken by Lars Lindberg.

 

Dating

I met the most handsome man downtown...

Mom offered to babysit so my husband and I could have a date. It has been nearly a year since our last time out alone. 

We strolled around town hand in hand and ended up at Oslo's oldest restaurant, Engebret.

How lovely to sit outside with my honey to a meal that I didn't make and not think about doing the dishes.

The evening was warm and pleasant with the sun shining through the leaves.

And the food was marvelous.

The wait staff supplies were all around the old statue here which made for an interesting combination.

We got home from our date fairly early which gave me time to knit and chat with mom. And now you can see what I am doing with the green yarn. I decided to pair the pretty soft green handspun yarn that we had wound into skeins the other day with brown handspun. The yarn is very special to me. As I said it is handspun, by mom's good friend Helen who passed away some years ago. She made beautiful yarn as well as gorgeous lace shawls. When she died I think she gave her entire stash of handspun yarn to my mother and she has been so kind in sharing some with me. For too long I have just had it on the shelf, waiting for a project special enough. There probably isn't ever a project that will be special enough for this beautiful yarn, but these humble mittens that I am going to felt will have to do. I am crazy about the pale green with the brown.

Surprise in the mail

Oh, you will need to hurry. There is only a short time left...  Whitney of Whisker Graphics is hosting a give away of one of my matryoshkas! Please go on over to join in. Her give away closes on Monday, August 2nd.

You aren't going to belive it, I have the nicest tale of a true blogging friendship. A short while back Melissa, one of my readers who frequently has left me kind words of encouragement or thoughtful comments wrote me an email to tell me she was putting together a little package for me.  That started it all off, the delicious anticipation of this mystery package coming from far away.

Then it arrived! The most marvelous package of goodies of the finest kind has arrived. I don't know how I can begin to thank you Melissa for the treats! The excitement and pleasure I had in opening up this pretty package is difficult to describe. Above you can see two patterns from Melissa. They look like great fun to make. 

What gorgeous bold and bright fabrics, and so many of them! Plus, something new to me, velvet rick rack. Oh, this is so pretty and soft. I had never even seen this line by Jane Sassaman before and it is so fun and colorful.

The fabrics called to me and I wanted to make some wonderful new dolls to match the delight I felt in this kind and generous gesture. 

Here is Fru Strandenes, a sweet and sleepy little decorative charmer. Thank you ever so much Melissa for all this fun!