Monday evening update

Step 1 complete.

Step 2 complete.

Maybe I can finish the top tomorrow ?

Goals are dreams with deadlines.  ~Diana Scharf Hunt

Hanne

5 more days this year

Here are 5 unfinished projects :-)
I am not aiming for 5 finishes in 5 days, but I am aiming for a couple of finishes and am carrying the rest of the projects in to 2011 as focus projects for 2011.

The projects are:
* The star quilt lacking binding
* The Christmas Heart table cloth still in pieces - all the stitchery done.
* The Bake Bake Kake baking cloth - the stitchery done, lacking border and backing.
* A tape measure cover - the stitchery done
* A scissors keeper - nearly all the stitchery done.

If you did not discover a pattern in the above projects, I can confirm that I LOVE stitchery! I bet you know that already :-)

These are the 2 first stitchery blocks for Life is Beautiful quilt.
It has been on my Wish To Do list for a long time and I have started now :-)

Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination. Fitzhugh Dodson

Hanne

Merry Christmas

DD2 with her last Christmas gift, finished today :-) She has just learned knitting this autumn, and she is very good!

The Christmas tree is decorated yesterday, according to tradition.
The furball is confused, having her chair moved and all this "stuff" around the house.

The house is decorated according to our traditions too.

This Christmas calendar is a very treasured heirloom in our house, cross stitched by DH's late father.

This is one of my favourite Norwegian Christmas carols, if you want to listen :-)

I am wishing you all a Merry Christmas, wherever you are!

Hugs, Hanne

A Christmas Mouse To Your House

Christmas can come here in my house, and I hope you are ready too, wherever you are.

I am sure you are done with your Christmas gifts, more or less.
This is my Christmas gift to you - A Christmas Mouse from me to you, maybe to enjoy on a quiet evening between Christmas and New Year's Eve :-)

You can find the pattern drawing here - Enjoy!
(I really hope this link will work for you - it is my first try - if not, let me know!)

Some years ago a meme was going around on 5 things I do not want for Christmas.
I chose to turn the meme around and say 5 things I want for Christmas.

They can be repeated:

I wish for all children (of all ages) that no harm will come to you this Christmas. I wish you can feel safe and warm, inside and out!

I wish for all who are in grief that you will be comforted.

I wish for all who are in pain that you will get relief.

I wish for all who need a hand to hold that it will be one there for you.

I wish for all who feel alone that you will have company. I wish you can enjoy a good meal and the flicker of candle lights.

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.  ~Henry Van Dyke

Hanne

Sunday evening update

We light four candles tonight
and let them all burn down.
For longing, joy, hope and peace
but most of all for peace on this little earth
where people live.

4th Advent Sunday - the last Sunday before Christmas - the last gifts on the calendars.

A lovely money pouch and a scratch card from Bente - I have not scratched my card yet, so I do not know if I am a millionaire or not - probably not, but it is exciting nevertheless :-)

A beautiful tin from May Britt. Maybe a place to store my special buttons or my pins ?

Thank you both of you, for brightening the Advent Sundays!

In spite of being under the weather I have got a few gifts done, as hoped and planned! I have also done some tasks around the house.

A gift for a special person :-)

A gift for another special person.
It will start a long journey one of these days, as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) or mailbox joy if you want.
A gift not expected, a gift with no obligations, a gift just because :-)
It will not make its destination before Christmas and that is on purpose from me.

It has been fun to make these drawstring pouches and I have been thinking about making a tutorial. What do you think?

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hanne

Reaching for the stars ?

Setting some high goals is good :-)

I have been down with a virus again. It seems like every bug going around is not passing my house, but is stopping by to bug me.
Oh well - it will pass, eventually.

I am behind on my Christmas goals so I just have to put the pedal to the metal, make a to do list and get at it, one thing at a time.

2 finishes today ?? Time will tell :-)

Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.  ~Les Brown

Hanne

A very happy encounter!

Have you ever tried Transfer-Eze ?
It is a water soluble thin sticky web, designed to go through a copy machine.
My hands are not cooperative with drawing these days, but where there is a will there is a way :-)

I bought this packet of Transfer-Eze at Quiltefryd earlier this winter.
I must admit I had forgot about it, but after having to throw out several drawings due to shaky hands it came to mind that I had a packet of Transfer-Eze so I could start a new small project.

The new project is Life Is Beautiful and the due date is by the end of next year.
Nearly like a BOM for 2011.

I am smiling ear to ear - I love it when I find good solutions to the physical obstacles in my life.
I did mention my new sewing machine is great too, didn't I ? :-)

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hanne

Christmas cards - tutorial

I like to make Christmas cards :-)
These are not really scrapped, but more like sewn and glued.

When moving my things from one room to the other, to move into The Sewing Box, I found a zip lock bag with more card materials.

I make these cards very simple, with one piece of fabric, a sheet of paper, gold thread on the sewing machine, some gold stars and a glue gun.

I do have a tutorial here, in case you want to give it a try yourself - have fun!

PS. Since  I made the tutorial I am not using the darning foot anymore - curved straight stitches or decorative stitches on the machine do the trick, with half the work involved :-)

I used to send dozens of cards every Christmas, but I do not do that anymore. I send cards to the older generation in our family and that is it.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams

Hanne

3rd Advent Sunday

3rd Advent Sunday, 3 Advent candles and the 3rd Advent gifts :-)

Chocolate Non Stop, lovely buttons and a gorgeous fabric from May Britt, and a packet of beautiful sewing room related buttons from Bente.
The Sunday mornings are so nice in Advent time!

I have made a small gift for someone in my family.
I have been working on a secret project I can not tell about, so a small finish was good :-)
This heart was  fun to make!

We light three candles tonight
For longing, hope and joy.
They stands there shining by themselves
and we who present are
We light three candles tonight
for longing, hope and joy.

~ The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. ~ Allan K. Chalmers

Hanne

Taking pleasure in the small things …..

….. like morning candles while the light is slowly increasing outdoors.

The glass jar with candles is a vintage jar that were used to store all kinds of canned food through the winter before freezers came into every household.
The lid is in 2 parts and I have taken the glass part off so I can easily reach the candles inside.
I have used applique glue to glue down the ribbon to the metal lid part and the lovely heart I have bought at Lappemakeriet.
Feel free to use my idea for your own eye candy!

….. like a furry friend keeping track of my work and the tools.

….. like a mug of hot coffee and a new book.

The mug is also from Lappemakeriet - they have it in red too.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.  Mortimer Adler

Wishing you a lovely day -

Hanne

Brrrrrr - it is cold outdoors

I think I keep a candle factory going all by myself through the winter, especially now in the darkest days of the winter.
In only 2 weeks it is Winter Solstice, and the days will slowly be longer and lighter.
Even if it will not be noticeable for a while yet, the knowledge of the sun turning is good.

Even with little daylight there are so many things to be happy about in everyday life.
Now the housework is done, so I can sit down with a cup of tea and some hand work.

These felted wool baubles are so fun to make, and I know I will make more!
This is the front, pattern from Hatched and Patched.

I thought it looked so empty with noting on the other side, so the double heart is my idea - sort of makes it like two fronts.
I can imagine a bowl filled with baubles. Maybe next year :-)

Good books are also nice - to learn from and for eye candy.
If you are in Norway, this Norwegian web shop is great for book purchases.

Happiness often sneaks through a door
you didn't know you left open. John Barrymore

Hanne

A big one and a small one

The quilt inspector has taken her duties very serious these last days - on the sewing table, and on the quilt as the binding progressed.

I think she likes it in the limelight!
I can not remember her posing like this for a photo ever :-)

Finished!
And now I can wait with anticipation on the next BOM from Lappemakeriet, due in the middle of January 2011.
I am going for the multi coloured choice - Sjokolade & sukat = Chocolate & ? (dried, sugared fruit peel, greenish - we have it in baked goods)

And now it is time for some small work.

Felted wool baubles - soft to work with, fairly fast and very fun after 8 meters of binding :-)

It is by tiny steps that we ascend the stars.
-- Jack Leedstrom

Hanne

I have a plan!

And the plan is as follows :
Finish 5 things through this week, deadline Sunday night!

I can probably not tell you about  all I am up to through the week, as this is the secrecy season as you know,
but I can probably give you some glimpses of the secrets - I think.

The 2 projects above are definitively on my 5 things list:

The Seamen quilt. The binding is drying in front of the fireplace as we speak.

The drawstring pouch from this morning.

I think I will start by working on the Seamen binding for an hour.

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Donald Kendall

Hanne