Ravenhill

Going away for a sewing weekend!

Well, I found out on my last post that when it comes to sunshine and spring weather, there aren't too many who are willing to share. I grudgingly have to admit I understand. I had a ball reading all the funny comments, thanks so much for making these chilly days more fun!

I am going away tomorrow for a sewing course and weekend!

I am practically giddy and don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight. My husband said at dinner: "Well, it has only been a decade since you have gone off on your own for a night away from the family." He is nice to encourage me to enjoy myself. I hope he is still just as supportive when I arrive home on Saturday evening after leaving him alone with the children for nearly two days and he sees me laden down with bags and bags of fabrics.

I finally opened an on-line shop in Norway! It was something I have considered for ages but just got around to it now. My shop there is called Ravenhill, I know, really original. The site is called Epla, meaning apple. I think it might be fun for my non-Norwegian readers to see what creative people are making in Norway.

Should you ever want anything from my Epla shop don't hesitate to ask me, I can easily transfer it to Etsy instead.

While I am gone you might enjoy this fabulous blog I recently found and fell in love with.

Knitting on the journey

We just arrived home this evening, 4 weary travelers after a little trip to Belgium! I don't know what happens but both times we have taken this journey we have forgotten to bring the camera along, and I had been so determined to remember it this time! I did snap this photo of my knitting project before our trip and it is what I brought along to keep me busy when not coloring or playing cards with the family on the journey.

I am making socks, once again with another recycled cashmere that I purchased on ebay. The yarn isn't very kinky despite it's past life and it is so soft. My black pants did get a bit furry looking though after the plane ride.

Lately I make two socks pretty much simulaneously, it seems to go faster that way. I take the yarn for one sock from the center of the ball and yarn from the outside of the ball for the other. I do the casting on and the ribbing on one, then the other. Then I get down to the heel on one, put that aside until I get to the same place on the other. When I do it this way I can easily ensure that I have done the same number of rows on each one, and that they will be just the same size. I find it easier to see that then when I did one sock at a time. I am still not sure if these are going to be a gift of for me. They are really looking like just what I need...

Back to our trip, and the never-ending topic of the weather... When we left Oslo it was -17 C and it was +10 C in Belgium! Wow, that was a delightful change for us! It certainly felt like spring with the soft rain that fell most of our visit. Upon our return the newspapers here tell us that we can expect 3 more weeks of bitter cold! I guess I should keep on knitting! 

No color...

Where are the bright colors??? Don't go! You haven't come to the wrong place! Please give me a minute to explain.

First, I want to say how fun it was to see everyone’s kind words this morning welcoming me back from my vacation at my family's home in the beautiful countryside (photo below) and helping to ease my guilty conscience of taking my 4^th grader out of school for vacation. THANK YOU!

I thought I would share a few of the details of our time away. Like how we got a tummy bug but didn’t throw up. Well, mom did, a few days after proudly stating how strong she is now after so many years of exposure to the little pre-schoolers at her Waldorf aftercare job.

On a much more positive note, my dad took me off one day to take photos together.

And he turned me on to black and white photography. I hope you won’t mind that I will likely be snapping some B&W’s and sharing them here. I know that like me, you love color, but I have found now a fascination with the drama of the lights and darks…

Thank you dad for sharing some of your photography talents and pleasure with me. It was one of the loveliest evenings I have ever spent, delighting in your company in the peace and warmth of the summer sunset on the beach with your kind attention and patience in explaining various principles of photography to me.

I had time for a bit of knitting on my break, here are mittens in progress for me using Jared Flood's Druid Mitten pattern. You can click here to see Jared's. I got the pattern from Vogue Knitting. I'll show you what color mine are soon! They are fairly slow going with all the bobbles and cables...

A fantastic break

It is delightful to be back! Oh, how I have missed you and blogging! Please forgive me my long abscence. I had intended to blog more, but I really did need a break and it turned into the nicest of breaks as we spent it with my family in Maine! YES! We took a vacation, taking the children out of school for three weeks. For years my family has been advising us to consider a late summer visit. They have said things like, “You know, the end of summer is really the best time of year in Maine.” Or “Not only is it sunny and warm but also bug free in early fall.” Neither my husband nor my children had ever been there this time of year so at long last we took heed of their suggestion. We found that everything they said was true! The bad thing is that my son’s teacher made it very clear in her pre-boarding phone call to me that she didn’t think he should go.

Well, the magnificently sunny bug-free days were pure bliss and although we won’t take him out of school for three weeks again it is hard to have any regrets.

 We couldn’t have timed our vacation better as family and friends all moaned about the miserably rainy weather they had had to endure for months on end prior to our visit. We enjoyed beachcombing, swimming in Damariscotta Lake, picnics by the sea, family gatherings, etc.

The beauty of our surroundings and the quality of the time spent relaxing and visiting with our loved ones has allowed us to return filled up with good memories and joy. Hopefully these along with the stored up rays of late summer sun will sustain us through the upcoming winter.

I am already busy listing a few new items (Fru Bøler is now in the shop So sorry, she is already sold!) and looking forward to making some new things with my renewed energy and enthusiasm after my lovely break. Thank you so much to all of my wonderful buyers who have given me such great encouragement by nearly clearing out my shop before and after my break. A huge thanks to all of my faithful readers and those of you who are so kind to take the time to write me a few words so I know you have been by. It means so much to me to hear from you!

An exciting week...

This week has been so wonderful! The highlight of this week: MOM IS HERE VISITING!

We picked her up at the nearby bus stop and walked her home.

On the way home we dawdled to pick raspberries.

Nearly every day on her visit we have gone out berry picking! Here is Lilly sporting a sweater and PANTS that I made for her! This is the first pair of pants that I have ever made! The cotton fabric is sweet as can be with little rosebuds on them. I should show you more of it because the pants would give you a good laugh. I sewed the wrong seams together! I didn't notice until they were entirely done. They look funny as can be flat on the table but when Lilly wears them you don't notice...

All this berry picking has led to the most scrumptious concoctions.

Our dishes were filled with strawberries, goose berries, blueberries, raspberries, red currants, and black currants. Our bellies were full and our freezer is slowly but surely filling up too with summer's bounty.

Both Camilla and Jennifer have received their give away packages so it is now safe to share this bundle of fabrics with you which I sent off to Camilla. Below you can catch a glimpse of some dolls I am working on in some new fabrics.

I said there was lots of excitement for me this week! Well, Méri was kind enough to let me know that she had spotted my mamas and babies on Whip up! Then I found out that some other dolls had made an appearance on Cuteable!

 

I am saving some really exciting news for last! My dear friend Michele had the grand opening of her boutique! You can see her really cute invitation above, and she is selling my dolls in her shop! I haven't heard yet how the opening went and I am dying to hear all about it!

These new happy faces, Idona, Valda, and Hulda are my latest additions to my shop.

Perhaps you can tell by nearly a week of no-blogging that I am wholeheartedly enjoying my mother's visit and wonderful company. I will try to do better on the rest of her visit- there is just too much to share with you to be gone so much!

Hope you are having a good weekend!

Hexagons, past and present

When visiting home in March Mom and I photographed this family heirloom:

This was made by my Grandmother Louise's grandmother.

It is very old, and both sides are quite faded except for a few very well preserved hexagons made with fade resistant dyes: indigo.

This quilt is so special!

This is the note that my Grandmother Louise lovingly pinned to the quilt so that its history wouldn't be forgotten.

You can understand how this quilt has inspired me to get started with hexagons myself! I purchased these English paper pieces at Katrine's and found it so quick and easy to do. Please forgive me that I have become a bit stuck on red, white and pink lately...

(If you should care to see the first in this Quilts From Home series then click here.)

There's some knitting going on and my first interview!

My little one is going to have warm and cozy feet in her winter boots next year! My mother, my great Aunt and I spent a few hours browsing the yarn store. I bought beautiful sock yarn in the US to make soft and non-scratchy socks to keep my little children's tootsies warm come next winter.

This first pair of silk and alpaca socks are completely finished. Lilly loves to try them on! There will be no problem getting them to wear warm footgear next winter! I had given up making them socks as they hated wool due to the itchiness. Mom took me to a wonderful yarn store in Belfast, ME which I am afraid I don't recall the name of. They had a delightful sale on sock yarn and I decided then and there to make socks my kids would want to wear!

This second pair is a Lorna's Laces yarn. It has my favorite colors when I was a little girl: pink and orange and reminds me of my favorite flavors of ice cream when I was little too: sherbet! I borrowed my mom's pretty and colorful metal needles to make these. She had extra and I was so grateful to be able to have a project to do on the plane ride home. I am getting rather addicted to making socks - they are so quick and fun to make in such luscious colors.

I was interveiwed by Kat!

My confession...

I have a little confession to make and I hope that you will forgive me.

My posts haven't been showing much activity lately, I haven't added any new photos to Flicr in weeks, my shop was empty for several days, and I have been slow to respond if at all... WHAT IS GOING ON????

Well, ahem, um, hum. I don't quite know how to tell you this. You see... we just returned to Norway from a two week visit to my native home! Yes, my husband, two children and I are now all suffering from jet lag from our journey overseas from Maine. Last night we had 3 fun-filled hours from 9:30 pm til 12:30am when the kids thinking it was time to get up from a little nap: giggled, jumped, teased each other and generally caused a great deal of noise and anguish to their incredibly tired parents.

I have been dying to tell you all about our visit, plus, show you the piles of fabrics and yarns I bought but first I knew I had to break it to you that I have been keeping our spring vacation a secret... I wrote several posts before our departure and scheduled them to publish on assigned days.

You can likely guess why the secrecy: husband's paranoia of home security. With the exception of house guests one weekend our little home was empty for our vacation and my husband didn't want me to announce to the world on Ravenhill: "Hey, everyone, we are going to be out of the country!" Personally I am entirely sure that there is not a single thief among my dear readers but I had to reluctantly agree that it is probably best not to publish info about a vacant home on the internet, just to be on the safe side. I do hope that you will understand.

I took a real break from doll making and blogging. The above photos weren't even taken by me. My husband took them, but I did the editing. Isn't the Maine coast gorgeous?

I had some excitement related to my blog while home in the US. While doing a bit of shopping in midcoast Maine with my mother and 87 year old great aunt who should we meet but Jes, in her new soon-to-be-opened shop! It was a thrill to meet her and to actually get to take a look at her lovely shop. When Jes told me that she would like to have my matryoshkas in her shop I was so surprised and pleased!

Eight dolls have made their way to  Michelle! Quite unexpectedly, she offered to feature my dolls in her also soon-to-open shop in her home and is doing it out of the kindness of her heart!  The dolls above are now in my Etsy shop.

I had been hoping to get to meet with Erin and Iris, but unfortunately ran out of time. I received the prettiest ATC's from Iris who is having an ATC give away! I would show you the ATC's from Iris, but they are momentarily misplaced due to this jetlag fuzzy brain thing.

While visiting with my brother and uncle in Portland my mom and I got a couple of hours to look around the old port. It was delightful to see Amanda's work in person when we happened across the wonderful shop carrying her handmade goodies. While home I sent off the vintage tablecloth above to one of the sweetest people I have had the chance to "meet" via my blog. Jean has been so thoughtful with me that when she jokingly suggested the she would like this tablecloth I decided to mail it off to her. Surprisingly, the stain came out in the wash so it is in mint condition! Jean told me though that she couldn't possibly take the risk of using it as a table cloth and will make beautiful clothing out of it.

This post is now way too long, can you tell I have missed you?!

A Scenic Christmas in Norway

Would you like to see some views from our Christmas visit to Sandefjord where we visited my parents-in-laws? My husband's parents live right by the sea. These are all views from their house. Whenever I am visiting there I find my eyes drawn to the water and the spectacular scenery.

It was crisp and wintery white for several days. Everything had the lightest covering of snow making it so very pretty.

Believe it or not, this is the position of the sun on the horizon at about midday!

Would you care for a dip? My mother-in-law takes daily swims right here nearly all year long!

The children and I spent a good deal of time with our noses to the window in delight watching the birds enjoy their Christmas feast.

We took a walk after breakfast on Christmas eve and were treated to a glorious sunrise. The weather had warmed considerably and the snow cover had turned into ice making our walk hilariously slippery!

Here you can see Sebastian exploring for rocks on the beach keeping snug all the while in the hat and mittens I made him. These are so quick and fun to make with super big needles and soft, thick wool yarn. I just made up the pattern as I went along. Amazingly enough they fit quite well!