Change

After a quiet, snowy weekend, I think this little quilt is nearly finished, but it might get a few more buttons and definitely needs a label. (I'm starting to think everything looks better with buttons....) I think it will live in my newly renovated office next to VOTE.

I also finished up these coasters. They're a very belated birthday gift. I'm not sure I know how to make a timely birthday gift! The two color schemes are flag-inspired (this one and this one). I like flags, as you can see here and here and here!

There was a handicraft fair here in Vaasa this weekend and I went a little crazy at the Titityy booth. This Danish yarn is going to become some sort of shawl for my mom later this year. I also started a pair of socks (twice) this weekend, but the intended recipient reads this blog, so no sneak peeks!

Are you sitting down?

I actually sewed today! After a serious post-Christmas (too-early-to-call-it-spring) cleaning this weekend, I sat down at the sewing machine and actually sewed! Back in November, I visited Clare in France while visiting my brother there for his birthday and she was kind enough to share some scraps with me. Here's the work in progress (a late inauguration-inspired piece):

The letters are finished and I think I'll surround them with some of these lovely plaids. Thanks, Clare! Hope the cleaning and organizing is a sign of change in my sewing and posting habits in the month ahead!

Just Checking In...

How is it the last day of January already?! It is getting lighter and lighter here each day, so I suppose it must be true. It's been pretty quiet here on my blog of late. I haven't been doing much in the quilting department, but the sewing room is almost (re-) organized, so I hope to spend some time there as soon as tomorrow!

I have been finishing up a few Dec/Jan/Feb knitted birthday gifts, though.

I've purchased a few knitted things at local charity shops over the past month in order to try reusing the yarn (I've also picked up a bunch of vintage pillowcases - I'll have to take a photo of them soon). One attempt at rescuing the yarn was a disaster, but these two worked out pretty well:

See that cute brown fabric underneath the brown socks and the recycled yarn? I have a plan for it...

Happy 2009!!

When I posted a few weeks ago I had a sneaky suspicion that it might be a while until I posted again. The holidays were nice and peaceful and snowy, but my whole family ended up coming down with the flu, so we didn't get out to do much! Plus I got a new camera for Christmas and it's taken me some time to get around to figuring out how it works and installing the new software on my computer, but I'm excited to start playing with it now!

I participated in Barbara's angel swap and Barbara sent the most amazing angel to me - she's filled with sand at the bottom and stands up so nicely! She took good care of us all while we were under the weather. Right now she's taking care of my straw goat under the tree - he seems to have come down with the flu, too! I've decided I'm never going to take the tree down - it's so beautiful!!

I haven't done any sewing to speak of, but I did receive some great decorator weight fabric, lots of thread, buttons, rickrack, etc., so stay tuned! There has been quite a bit of knitting while lying around on the couch watching movies - mostly not-quite-finished-yet holiday and birthday gifts for this year. Here are a few photos of the ones that are for folks who don't read my blog (more information on Ravelry, if you're interested).

Boogie Boogie Hedgehog

Anyone out there know how to get more hours in the day or more days in the week? Any help very much appreciated. ;) This is going to be a long post, as I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to post again this month! I'm sure most people are in the same state of chaos preparing for the holidays. My family's homemade/thrifted/recycled pledge means that many of my gifts will be going out in time for Valentine's Day, but in addition to last minute sewing and knitting and all that pesky grading, I'm trying to enjoy the seasons with friends and family, cookie baking, birthday parties, and favorite films, as well. My family arrives this week from the US and France to celebrate with me here in Finland!

My brother sent me this link and I just had to share:



I received a very cute winter quilt from the Doll Quilt 5 swap this week from Sandi in the US. She visited Finland several years ago and said thought about her trip while making the quilt. I especially love the striped binding! Thanks so much!! Sandi generously included some goodies, too, and wrapped the quilt in this gorgeous tree fabric that I promptly added to my own Doll Quilt as a border before sending it on its way!

If you're waiting to receive a swap quilt from me and want to be surprise, DON'T scroll down any further! Here's what I've been up to:

For the November WORDS themed 6-12" mini quilt swap, sent to Kim in the US. I was inspired by the song "Words" by the Swedish a cappella group The REAL Group.




For Doll Quilt 5, sent to Imagingermonkey in England. When I started, I didn't intend for it to be so wintry. (Inspired by Marimekko's Mökki (cottage/cabin) fabric.)

For Barbara's angel swap, sent to Weronica in Sweden.

There has also been a lot of knitting going on. Here's a pair of socks for a friend one time zone east of here... (Pattern available here - thanks to Barbara for the tip!)

Happy Holidays everyone! (The photo is from a dark, but beautifully lit Helsinki this week; I was there for work, but found time for a little Christmas market browsing and yarn shopping, too!)

Grün, grün, grün ist alles, was ich hab!

I just closed my December 3rd Give-Away day post to comments a few hours after the promised time of 8pm Finnish time with 292 comments! Holy cow! I can't believe how many comments this Sew, Mama, Sew event inspired, not only on my blog, but around the blogosphere! One thing I noticed that was strange, though, is that several comments didn't show up in my inbox. Did this happen to anyone else?

I'm going to wait until the morning to wade through all the comments, but one thing I noticed was that the most common favorite color mentioned was green. If you ask me my favorite color, I'll say I don't have one. If you push me, or if you've visited my living room, I'd have to say green. It's been a theme lately. (No favoritism to the green-lovers in the drawing, though!)

Here are the two minis I made for the 6-12" swap in October:

The one with the buttons will be my inspiration for the give-away quilt I hope to make in the next day or two. The second was for the 'out of the box' category for non-rectangular minis.

Speaking of green, here's the simple hat (a k3p3 rib) I recently finished for my brother as an early Christmas gift. I had to rip out the whole thing and start again with fewer stitches cast-on during my 36 hour odyssey from Köln to Vaasa last week and by the time the ripping happened, I'd met up with a friend at Arlanda and we were so tired and giddy that the yarn started talking to us and he gave the project its name: the Feed-Me-Seymour hat. I hope it doesn't get hungry and eat my brother. (The yarn is Phildar Giboulées, chosen by my brother and purchased last month in Paris.) Along with the hat, you can see my all-time favorite book, which just happens to have a holiday theme. The English title is Of Course Polly Can Do Almost Everything. I love the Ilon Wikland illustrations.

And sticking with the green theme, here's a sneak peek at my quilt for the Doll Quilt 5 swap - on its way Saturday (a few days late, but I hope the recipient will be understanding) to a European destination. This quilt also includes red, yellow, and brown - it's not easy being green all the time!

Give-Away Day!

I've decided to participate in the Sew, Mama, Sew December 3rd Give-Away day, despite the million other projects I should be working on for the holidays. You can check out the master list of participants here. Hope I can find time to make the rounds later today!

I'll be giving away a mini quilt (about 6"x6"), along with some Finnish holiday chocolate.

Just comment on this post by tomorrow (Thursday December 4th) 8pm Finnish time (GMT+2) and I'll choose a name randomly. Be sure to include your favorite color in your comment!

I have some crafty things to post, but will save those for tomorrow. In the meantime, here are just a few photos from my recent trip to France!