Some progress

Handbag is done. Don't know if its just the fabric but it looks a bit odd... And that white so called piping is just horrible, but it is my first attempt at something like that. Didn't really know how to get that one nice and not so twisted. But there you go. First proper handbag done, with zipped inner pocket and nice zip across the top as well.

And this is a bit of progress on my mums bead spread. One star done, two more to go

I've also been for my first 'consultation' with a client..... We did decide on what kind of pattern and colours the girls wanted for their quilts. Next Tuesday we are going to look for fabric and then its just for me to get started! I got an additional request to make a a table runner like the one I made for our table but slightly longer. So from now on  I will be quite busy me thinks!

Lookie!

There is a give away button on the sidebar, if you like to enter click on it and you'll come to Sweet Bee Buzzings where Bethany is having a give away of very nice sewing AND  knitting stuff.

Leaves, apples and sunshine

Yes it was a perfect day to rake up some leaves and take our huge surplus of apples to the tip. Our biggest apple tree has gone nuts this year and is still half full of apples and still we took the car full of the fallen ones to the tip today. But am feeling all he hard work now tonight. Still, it feels good to have it done since they are predicting snow tomorrow and later on in the week.

Not much sewing going on. But I finished the handbag we started on the course pictures later on. Got to get cracking on all my other projects. My mum wants a bead spread, thankfully only for a single bed but still. But that one will be fun to do.

Old times...

I've been sussing out how to get my archived posts to show in this fancy year by year list I've seen other people have and finally figured it out! So now you can all read about me from my early days in blogging. Can't believe though I've been blogging since 2002!

I have actually been reading a few of my old posts and are quite gobbsmacked  about how I wrote then and how I write now. I was much funnier before! Now I just feel old and boring when writing.... sigh

I must be crazy

I've been asked to make two big quilts. I don't know yet how big she wants me to make them but it seems it will be blanket size. I said they cost a lot in material and that I would take an amount for making them but it wasn't a problem. Money is not an issue......

You might wonder if I agreed to make them.

I did.

On a roll again!

I couldn't stop myself so I made 2 more smaller pillowcases.

Got one more small square one to do but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I want to make one with circles but I got to find the little tutorial for them again in my blogroll!

New look

I was getting tired of the pillows we have in the sofa so i fiddled a bit and came up with these

They are not exactly the same due to a cutting error on my part but I like them all the same. Now I just have to come up with something to match for my 3 smaller pillows. I like this!

To bag or not to bag

Today was my quilting course and we did sew a bit more of the handbag. But now when we are going to join the pieces together I think the pattern is a bit silly thinking about how I have been seeing and reading about how to do other handbags. I might actually try and do it differently and if it doesn't work out I'll rip it and do it like the pattern says.

It was the last time of my quilting course as well for this time. We might start up again in November if there are enough people interested . At the moment it is only Mette and me that are interested to continue. A course for two seems a bit silly to me so hopefully there will be others as well. If you are a group you get to see lots of other projects as well and get inspired to do something new.

Now I am off to bed, got an early start tomorrow and a long shift. But it is only a week left now until we go to England and London for a long weekend!

Weekend over! Yay!

Yes I have worked this weekend but it wasn't too bad since I got to work with one of  my favorite persons to work with! It does go so much quicker if you can have a laugh or two while working doesn't it?

I have also been for a quick walk which went very well, not feeling so fatigued like I have been doing the last couple of weeks after walks and general work. The cough seems to be getting better even though it is a bit stubborn yet but much better then last week.

I haven't been sewing much at home, haven't had time or energy for it. I am going to do some buttonholes on the bag we are making at the course though so it is ready for the next step. Will show you it when I have put the pocket lids on so you can see a bit better what I am doing. It is quite a square bag but we likes is!

I also have an idea for how to finish off our new bedspread I am doing. I will use the lighter shades of brown and yellow as fillers and have a a striped border around the center piece. Just got some measurements to figure out in inches instead of cm.... You know these inches are troublesome sometimes when you are used to cm!

October

So today is first of October. It was -5 this morning and now everything has gone in the garden. I will clear it out this weekend after work. All my lovely dahlias went yesterday so they will be dug out of of the ground tomorrow. Got to remember to mark them so I know which colour they are for next year.
The last water butt can be emptied as well, there was a thin sheet of ice on it this morning when I had a look.

I like autumn in general but at the moment I'm a bit meh about everything it seems. I think it has to do with work and that I don't enjoy it as much as I did before. I even had a look at what others jobs are available this morning and there weren't much there that I could apply for. But I will probably send out letters asking for vacancies in places I would like to work. I got to do something different!

Wish me luck!

Cute as a button!

I had to try this one out and look! It is soooo cute I just want to snuggle it!

It's only about 9x4 cm big and got a very nice lining. I can see these made as Christmas presents!

I had to make it this small because my zipper was very short.. But glad I did. It is absolutely doable even though slightly fiddly when doing the corners.

I'm in love with it....!

Meh....

Do you have days when you really really REALLY are tired of your job? Well today was my turn to absolutely hate my job and wonder why I keep at it. First of all the nice flower section I had made before the weekend with the outdoor plants had been messed with during the weekend and looked really really pathetic all because the buckets with rose bouquet  were obscuring some fresh herbs! So instead of moving the buckets over a bit they decided to wreck the whole set up. I was really upset and irritated when I understood why they had done it. It was just a TAD overkill in my opinion! The day just really went downhill from there and got topped off with a super idiot of a customer throwing a tantrum because he wasn't allowed to mix different plastic bags for the super saver special offer we had on ONE kind of bags. He literately threw the boxes at me and demanded a refund indicating I was stupid when mentioning that it was just the one brand of plastic bags that were in the offer. With the new Bosses rules we have to deal with it with a smile and say yes please and just take the abuse.
It is sometimes a very hard pill to swallow but I did it with a fake smile and said yes of course I'll refund these for you. Thinking all the time you idiot you idiot....

Joy of joys working in a supermarket sometimes.

Couldn't help myself

Look what I've found at the market today!

Lovely full width 50cm pieces of fabric, 4 for a 100 kr is a bargain I can tell you. I just love the cute chickens and pigs. And I also go to know about a new fabric shop quite close by as well. Will go there one day and have a look.
It was very cold walking around the market but I got some lovely cheese, home made bread, a new soft shell coat, lovely big carrots and beetroot grown locally and I got to pick a Christmas present! Which I will have forgotten about in December anyway. Now I am going to continue hand quilt that monster of a bedspread I am making for a friend. I'll just hand quilt the middle section since it wouldn't fit in my machine to do it all so I'll do the outer borders with my sewing machine or I might actually do some hand quilting there as well. I like how it is looking at the moment. It's nothing special, just tracing the flowers in the print but I like the look of it all the same.

Local Market

We are going to a local market today. It is held in a little village just outside Borlänge called Solvarbo. I didn't think the weather would improve but it is looking a bit hopeful this morning that we at least wont have any rain. It is a very good little market with all sorts of stalls and not the usual suspects(socks,clothes and sweets) And they usually have a very good craft section where people sell what they've made.

Fingers crossed it wont rain!

Progress

Hmmm, I do not trust the weathermen any more. They said rain and lousy weather for today and nice for tomorrow but now it seems it is okish and warm today and really rainy and horrible tomorrow! So I went out in the garden today and did a bit of tidying up. I turned two veg plots over as well. It is weirdly satisfying doing that and getting rid of the weeds and mulling in some compost. Preparing for next year is always fun. Started to plan what we are going to grow next year as well.

My mum came by and kept on asking what she could do so I made her plant all the tulip bulbs I bought and rake up all the apples from the lawn and still she kept on asking what she could do next! She has a lot more energy then me and she just turned 70! Well usually I do have energy as well but this cough bug I got in Stockholm wont leave me alone. I had to quit after digging two plots simply because I was too tired, that is unheard of for me! Well I took the hint and left mum outside looking for some planks in the shed by herself and went in to take care of the swedes and beans I picked. When mum left I went upstairs and started sewing instead since gardening seemed to be out of the question.

And this is how far the bedspread has come for now.

But now I'm in a bit of a pickle. You see the fabric came from a fat quarter stack and I've almost used up all the lovely dark brown pieces and still got quite a wide border to do around the center piece so what do I do?

It is the weekend it is the weekend it is the weekend!

Well it is weekend for me at least. I do have a lovely schedule every other week when I only need to work Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. To top it off  they have promised crap weather tomorrow but good for the rest of the weekend so can do lots of sewing tomorrow and do the gardening the others days when Jamie can help me!

It is almost too perfect.....

In other news
I've left the Christmas tree rugs for a while and am making good progress on our new bedspread. Only thing is that I wont have enough dark brow fabric to finish it off. I will have to make inquiries to the shop in England where I bought the fat quarter stack and see if they still have some of them in stock and buy a few yards of it. Since it being my birthday soon I might get something else as well since the postage is a flatrate once you get over a certain amount of gods purchased which I'm quite sure I will do quite quickly...
Hmm so what will I get...

Sorted!

Thank Gods for teachers who will reassure you that No it isn't a total disaster and Just do like this and it will be fine. The nice but horribly bubbly Christmas rug is now quilted and looking very... flat actually. The other one will just stay as it is with a nice trimming after I quilt it. No point in getting in a mess about the colours, just live with them and remember for the next time you do a similar pattern what colours and patterns worked and which ones didn't. Contrast people, think contrast!

It was all frosty this morning. It seems most of my flowers coped with this first frost since it was just a light one. I haven't had time to look at my vegetables but presumably my squash has gone straight away being very fussy about temperatures . The cabbages should cope slightly better. I'll have a proper look tomorrow when it is lighter. It was already getting dark when I got home from work this evening. There is no doubt, autumn is about to come around.

Not. Pleased. At. All !

Remember I said I was doing some Christmas tree rugs? Well I am and they are not coming out like I want them to! The first one looks really nice colour wise but is so wonky  I really don't know what to do with it!

 Just look at that center star all bubbly and not AT ALL FLAT!

The other one really doesn't work because of the fabrics I chose but it is a perfectly flat and nice looking center star!

Sigh....

At least the table runner came out looking really really good after the quilting and binding was put on.

I think I will go to Falun tomorrow and show Marina what has happened to the rugs and maybe she will know how to rescue the nice one at least. I am almost crying because of the spoilt fabrics! I suppose if worse came to worse I could always rip it and start over changing some of the fabrics but that would be the very last option since it is cut on the bias.. I can see it now, an even worse wonky star...

Christmas...?

I've been playing around with a pattern I saw at the course last week. This is how it ended up. It needs quilting and binding still but it looks pretty already.

It should have been lovely!

But it was just cough cough cough all weekend. We were set for a lovely weekend away in Stockholm with Jamie and Fredrik running the Stockholm half marathon while me and Rosie cheering them on. We went down on Friday morning and by Friday evening I had a fever and really poorly stomach so went to the hotel early after a pub dinner and just got in bed and tried not to shiver too much. I had to stay in while they went out for the race. But after a nap I went out to the halfway marker and cheered them on for a bit. It was a lovely warm day and I didn't need to walk that far since the hotel was along the race route. Felt better that evening so we had a lovely late dinner at the hotel restaurant . Yesterday I really thought I was doing better but after half the day I wished for an earlier train to get back home but we took it easy so it wasn't too bad in the end. I phoned in sick this morning though since the cough is getting worse just hope it will get better soon. My new boss seems to have got the same bug since he was going home when I got hold of him this morning.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the race. First is Fredrik going out on the second half of the race.

The second one is of Jamie (in the lime green vest) coming round from the second half towards the finish. He liked the picture because of all the different face expressions on the other runners.

Buzzing head

I got loads of ideas tonight what to be doing next. Plus my eye caught this fabric in a corner of the shelf

Excuse my drooling...
This will be turned into a handbag that Marina showed us this evening. A squareish bag with two pleated pockets on the front.

At the moment I am doing my Christmas tree mat and got to use most of my fabric I had with me. I've opted for the red/green/gold colour scheme and since this pattern will give you two I will give one to my mum for Christmas. Pictures later when I've finished sewing all the strips together.

I got pictures of my lattice bag even though it's not completed but you get the idea. Jamie acted bag holder for me

And the other side

Soon ready to take all my goodies with me to the course

Quilting course

Tomorrow I am starting my quilting course again after the summer break. Can't wait to get there and see what new and exciting things Marina has done during the summer to inspire us!

I've been making a handbag during the summer when I've had time to keep all my stuff in when going to the course and I must say my English wasn't really ready for all the technical terms in sewing instructions. I don't know how many times I've read and re read the instructions in the magazine so I would get it right and not do something silly with the lovely fabric. It's called a lattice bag and I'll take a picture tomorrow to show you how far I've come. I think all that is left to do is to topstitch around the edges and sew the handles together at the top. Oh and find a nice big button. Not a gumdrop button but a button of some kind... :)

Poin curse

Yes it is a poin curse as I told Jamie... Sometimes I wonder how my mind works. But of course it is a Coin Purse that I've made from a tutorial by Bethany. I said either there be pictures of a finished purse or there would be cursing. Well it looks alright so there are pictures but there were some cursing when it got tight to put the zipper on. But I at least managed to remember to keep the zipper unzipped before sewing it all together... I made it slightly smaller as well since the zipper I had at home was very short and I wanted to make one today and the Haberdashery shop (just love that word) is closed by now. Even though I could have used a bigger zipper I thought that was a bit of overkill when seeing how chunky it was. Maybe for something else.

A very nice black fabric with silver lines and a crisp white on white lining. Me likes!

Autumn?

Yes, it is looking that way. Temperatures are dropping and is around +7 at night with night frosts in the north of the county. Not any frosts here yet though, thankfully. I still have veg in the garden that needs a bit longer before they are ready! All spuds are out of the ground though and are drying in our storage, going to turn them tomorrow and see if they need a bit longer before putting them in boxes for winter storage in our cellar.

Not so much quilting done for a while. But the quilting course I'm going to is starting up again so will get much more done soon. I would like to make a Christmas tree rug that Marina (teacher) showed us last spring. They made that one at the course previous to the one I joined. It's a big star in all kinds of colours. I have been buying nice Christmas fabrics when I've found some with this in mind. Still can't decide though if I'm doing it red/white/green, red/green/gold or white/blue/silver.... Got to think a bit more about that. I've been getting fabric in all those colours though, just in case you know.
I still have a very pathetic stash since I've really just started collecting quilting fabric. I got loads of other fabric though in my closet! Mainly for curtains and just because the fabric was too nice to walk by without buying a meter or two. Can never have enough fabric...

Cracking cheese Gromit!

I wonder, how many types of cheese do you have in your fridge at the moment?

Me myself have, lets see, Gouda, Edam, spicy seed cheese, oil marinated soft cheese, goats cheese, greek feta cheese in 2 varieties, locally made Brie, parmesan and your bog standard squeeze tube cheese(delicious on sandwiches).

I just wondered because me and my mum went to the local market today and they had an international food market in the square so that is where I got the Gouda and goats cheese from and realized when I got home and put the new cheeses in the fridge that there already were quite a few in there!

Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain

Yes, it is raining.



We went to my sisters today to finish off the wallpapering in her upstairs sitting room and painting the last wall in her stairwell. We've been very busy since Monday but now it is done! Or so we thought. Sister did mention yesterday that it would be nice as well if we painted the actual staircase as well since it is in horrid yellow pine which makes me cringe and isn't my sisters favourite either by the looks of it. So tomorrow we are going back to start sanding it so we can paint it in a light grey. But I don't mind, sister pays me to do all this and she is truly generous since she doesn't have to do it all herself. I still have a few days of my holiday left so why not. Besides it is always nice to visit sister and her bf. We get very nice meals as well.... if we ask politely...

Bread

I am baking a bit of bread today. I've found a most excellent Swedish book about bread making which contains really really nice recipes. What is a bit annoying is that there are some typos in the ingridients list which makes for some very runny dough or very hard dough depending on what they've missed. First time I found out one of the recipes was a bit odd was when I had added half the stated amount of flour and the dough was made alread. You know, the stage when it's gone all nice and soft and has just the right texture and there I was trying to figure out how to put the rest of the flour in. I didnt in the end otherwise it wouldn't have been bread, it would have been brick.

Well the bread I'm making today is called Pain Polka and here it was the amount of liquid that was wrong. I didn't twig either when I read 9dl of water to only 1,4 l of flour. That is way to little flour. Oh well I compensated with adding more flour and now have 2 HUGE round breads cooling on the rail rather then 2 medium sized round bread... Ho hum, the more for Jamie to eat and I am pretty sure he won't complain one bit!

I made a note on the page about the blunder and will try it out with 4 dl of water with the 1 dl of sour cream instead of 8+1.

A Very Good Day

That is what today has been. I have finished my mums overnight bag she asked for earlier. I am making a move on a HUGE bedspread I foolishly promised to make for a friend. I cant see that I will ever manage to quilt it in my machine though. So option two is hand quilt it, which come to think of it might be worse!

Besides finishing the little bag I made  three 6 inch squares of crazy quilt. I've always wanted to try it out and see what its like. And I can tell you, it is very addictive!

Here are some pictures of them all. Jamie very kindly helped me pin the side panels on the BIG beadspread while he was watching the english football premier on telly so he got caught on camera.

The little overnightbag for mum. I made a pocket in this one as well. Me likes to make pockets I think...

And finally my little attempt at crazy quilting. It was so fun I could have used ALL my scraps up if I would have had enough fusible web.

Oh I almost forgot

This is what I have been doing today. My mum wanted me to make a small handbag for a friends grand daughter who just have turned 4 years old. All that is missing is a nice big button for the clasp. I enjoyed doing this one even though I haven't done many handbags, it is 8 inches square so maybe a good size for a little missy? I even made a little pocket inside!

Look what I've found!

Yes this is my very first quilt, still not completed because what doesn't show in this picture is how bubbly it is and not really matching up. So when I had put on the outer border I stashed it away wondering what to do with it. I pulled it out this morning when I was going through my closet where I have all my material and thought I might actually finish it. Since it being sooooo very bubbly I think I might give hand quilting a go rather then try and machine quilt it on my old machine which will probably make it worse. Maybe a wash and stretch while still damp might help crease out some of it but I am doubtful.

Garden looking good

I promised some pictures and since the sun decided to shine almost all day today even though they said it wouldnt i went out  and took some pictures.

This one is of the front side of the new deck with roses and dahlias. I love my pots this year, Zinnias in a dark pink and mums double petunias. Lovely!

This is our vegetable garden showing how well it is doing at the moment with house and new deck

We are growing runner beans along those poles since we didn't manage to fill the bed with flowers i thought it could be nice with some climbing plant and decided on runner beans and some lilac French beans that really have a nice deep lilac coloured flower. The beans themselves are deep lilac but turn green after boiling.

This is our new project along the hedge towards our street. Just a shady spot for various shade lovers. Plan is to do a little wooden pier instead of a grass walkway between the house and hedge. I got a picture in my head you see where ferns and grasses grow over the boards and there are larger bushes to make it a bit like a mini woodland. Am not sure what to do closest to the house though, it has to be something that can manage without extra water so we don't need to water close to the house

Bye bye baby... car

Yes, our Volvo decided to give up and make some loud noise and rattle since it wasn't happy. After a trip to the garage were it really got its death sentence (needs new exhaust, new hand break, and new rear breaks) we decided not to fix it since it is getting old and went hunting for a newish car. We had a little look around but I knew that i wanted a Toyota if possible as our next car. So after test driving a nice little Toyota Auris twice we decided to go ahead and buy it. Next Thursday we're collecting it and leaving our old car in, I am still amazed we got as much as we did for our sorry little car. Btw the Toyota dealers were very good and I'm impressed with their customer service. Didn't have such a good experience from the Volvo dealers and garage I might add.... I will post a picture of it when we get it.

It has been a bit of a stressful start of the week with the car surprisingly breaking. But even with that its been a good week with Jamie's parents visiting. Today we took it easy and cleaned a bit, I even washed all the windows! After a short walk this evening we picked our gooseberries, raspberries and black currants. It's just not possible to do it during the day when all the wasps are about, it is a really bad wasp year here. Just got to wait for the night frosts to come and kill a few off. But hopefully the frosts keep off for at least a month!

All the berries are now cleaned and either frozen or in the fridge waiting to be turned into jam and marmalade tomorrow. All other veg is really growing now when it's turned slightly cooler and is raining more. I am growing 5 different kind of spuds this year and they all taste really nice. The early ones are suffering from some sort of mould on the leaves though so will be eaten first and quickly. The others are keeping better but then they are winter storage ones. This year I am growing Maria and Princess which are early, Amandine which is medium late but keeps very well for winter as well and Asterix and Sava for winter keeping. Dont know if I will do the early ones again though.
Other veg that is groing well now is red and white cabbage, all my squash are setting fruit like crazy, onions are soon ready for harvest, they are really bulking up! Got to remember what kind they are and get the same ones for next year, am very impressed with the sizes I am getting. The carrots are doing well, I am weeding them out by pulling the biggest ones up for eating now. Don't know if we will get any sprouts, they look awfully tiny but I am hopefull. The swedes are starting to look like they actually are there under the soil and not just a bunch of leaves. Just picked a small 2 person portion of sugar snap peas today, they are really lovely to eat raw so the portion got slightly smaller before they got boiled and bagged away in the freezer. All my beans are looking much happier now with more and more flowers showing, I think it must be all the rain and the extra watering that Jamies dad did while trying out the best way of emptying a waterbutt by the far corner of our house using a siphon. It still works!

3 more days

Then it is vacation!!

And I can't wait! It has been very slow and boring at work and actually quite depressing. Makes you wonder what the news will be when I come back in late august....

Never mind that though. Got 4 wonderful weeks of doing whatever I want ahead! And that is something to celebrate. So if you excuse me I'm off!

Cant help myself....

I know I know, I was doing my starry bedspread but I thought I'd cut in with a quick and fun little jelly roll project, and I just love how it is coming together.. I used some Bali pops called Strawberry fields. I tried to coordinate the colours a bit when sewing them together but then for the final layout I put all squares in a big pile and just pulled them out randomly and tried to make sure they were evenly laid out. I managed to sew most of them together before going to work. I will finish it off tomorrow and decide how to quilt it.

Early bird..

One most definite thing I don't like about summer is my grass allergy. It is in full swing and I didn't have any spray at home so woke up EARLY (like 3.30) with a completely stuffed and runny nose and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and watched a bit of TV before heading off into Farmville land. Me a Facebook junkie? Wouldn't have thought it but yes I am hooked!

New project

So this is what I'm up to at the moment quilting wise. It is slow going though. I don't like too much repetetive work at once so I do a few stars and then have to do something else for a while as not to loose interest. I am going to edge the stars with beige fabric in maybe two different tones. And then sew them together with a strip in between. Haven't decided yet if I'm going with the white I have in the stars or if I am going to do something more colorful. Tempted to sew some flying geese as a border around it all, just have to see how the finished size will be before deciding on that.

Gardening is coming along nicely. It just needs watering and some sporadic weeding now untill harvest time. Unless I find some new project to do out there! There is always the chance of that now isn't there when you have a garden just waiting to be developed...

Bruce Forever!

Jamie has managed to get an invite to Spotify and i am bopping along to Bruce Springsteen at the moment and i do LOVE that man and his music. Wished he toured this year here in Europe but alas no. We've managed to see him in concert twice and they were brilliant just wished we had been able to get in on the Seeger sessin our but they were sold out within 1 hour here in Sweden.

I'm singing in the rain...

Yes it has been raining all day long. At times it seemed like pouring rather then raining. But I'm happy, it means I didn't get wet for no reason yesterday when I went around fertilizing everything in our garden. Hopefully it means that when the sun appears again everything will really start growing like crazy.

Other news, hmmmm not much actually, been working a lot and so has Jamie, gardening when there's a chance, not much quilting done, got few more pieces done for or bedspread though so that is coming along.

Will take some new pictures of the garden as to show how the new borders are coming along.

Presenting!

Let's all give them a very warm welcome to our garden. I give you John Cabot, Raubritter, Clair Renaissance, Emelie and Awakening!
Big huge welcoming applause now and lets hope they like it here!

They are our new roses for the new flower beds we dug around the decking. We went out to Bäsna today which is one of the better nurseries we know around here. They've always been very helpful and have a big range of plants, you can also by trees from there which is what we did last year. A little pink flowering paradise apple tree that's just coming into bloom. I was a bit worried about our garden making it through the hard winter we had. My lovely huge Aisha rose died back to where the snow had protected it, so did my elderberry . All other roses seem to have made it in one piece and are sprouting.

Potatoes are in the ground, so are carrots and onions. Bit more to do but cabbages are not big enough to go in yet and the squashes and beans aren't ready either to go in. Besides it is a bit too early still for them. We might still get frosts at night. Have been busy moving flowers from one bed to the new one. Still got a few more to move but are getting there.

Care to lounge a bit...?

Finaly got one thing sorted. Now we are looking for a table and chairs to match the new sofa. It took us ages to decide but when we saw this setup in the shop it clicked straight away that this was IT. We also have to finish off the wall in the background but that will be a doddle since the blokes who built the decking prepared it well so it is just for us to put whatever we want to the wall. Still deciding if we want small or wide striped planks.
Oh and the big green pot is going to get some grass or a bamboo planted in it. There are 2 more big pots as well but we are putting japanese maples in those. It will really look nice when everything is done. Thing is the weather hasnt been very forgiving for planting things, still quite hard frosts at night with -4 at the lowest. And that is a lot for being May. But weather forecasts say that we are getting some russian warmth now and you can relly tell it is getting warmer even though it is pouring down with rain. But rain is good! Makes everything go poof once the heat arrives as well.

Btw, have you ever noticed there arent enough hours in the day for everything you want to do and need to do? I am noticing big time at the moment.

This is the BIG To Do List that is sitting on the fridge at the moment
Got seeds to pregrow, potatoes to plant, onions to plant, dig the compost out, sow the other vegetables, move all the perenials from two flowerbeds made out of doorframes to their new bed along the decking, move strawberries to their new doorbeds, choose roses for the decking, get windowbox for herbs by the kitchen window,  find nice climbing frames for a couple of climbingroses for the decking, split some plants to give me more to bulk out beds, organize the new long flowerbed by the street that we dug last year i think various bushes and rhododenrons will do it, dig and prepare greenhouse made out of old windows, move dried wood into woodshed,.... Plus of course there is everything else to do, cleaning, laundry, doing my walking, working...., sewing is put a bit on hold, that will have to be a winter thing or a rainy day thing.

You see now how it is impossible for me to go to work today and for at least 2 months ahead? Wishful thinking..... I have to go in about 45 minutes and try not to be bored out of my mind. It is really pitiful how slow things are at work since the new refurbished shop next door opened again. Sigh...

We got a new boss as well. He seems very energetic and full of ideas. Hopefully he will last the distance and get us up and running, if not the future looks a bit bleak.

It is snowing!

News

Spring is springing!
I have been busy outside in the garden digging 2 new flowerbeds but had time to finish Jamies grandmas birthday present anyway.
And here they are, a pair of pillows for her new sofa set

I had a totally different color scheme going (pinks and pale greens) but I couldn't get it to work since I really didn't like the colours myself... I know its odd but if I dislike it I just cant make anything nice out of it so I had a change of plans and used some of the stars I'm making for our new bedspread and they turned out much better then I thought. I even ended up using one of the original pink fabrics for the flower border around the star, so it wasn't a total loss.

Also the digging of flowerbeds are progressing. Slowly but surely they are getting done. My mum came over yesterday and helped me plant all the seeds I got from James' dad so they are on the go. It is a wee bit too early to grow my beans and squash, am going to wait with them until middle of may. It has been a very cold spring and it is officially 2 weeks later the normal so everything is put a bit on hold until warmer weather appears. At least I got the potatoes pre sprouting in the utility room. Little knobs of greenery on each potato. Ahh I wish it was warmer!

 Progress at Lasts....

Sniffle

Yes once again i got a cold. And i hate it!
No energy, but still got to go to work and it is mayhem there at the moment since the big supermarket next door is closed for a refurbish and we got a truck load of new customers but no new staff!

Quilting

Yes, the blanket is now ready and I have completed my other project. A multicolored  heart in gold, red and blue. 

It is sitting waiting to be quilted together with the backing. It is a wall hanging and I will put it up in the hall since I think it will do best with a white background.

Talking about white. I do like these trendy and cool white interiors you can see so many of in glossy magazines but I don't think I could live in one. Every time I am to choose what color scheme I am to use I tend to go very colorful instead of smart and cool..... And bland I might add... I go to this quilt course on Tuesday evenings and all the others are very careful in choosing their colors. You know, pastel green and pink together or white on white with a hint of beige... Some times I actually think what the point is when you cant see the actual pattern of the quilt because everything has the same tone and color...And then there is me... I stand there and then come away with bright red and greens with black! Not to mention my last project with 12 colors of red, gold and blue. I am just like a kid in a candy store faced with the wall of fabric in all kinds of color and cant wait to put them together, ALL of them...

So what will I do next?

Decided

Unlike me I have decided almost straight away how to do something instead of ponder away and dither until the ends of time. And this is how i decided to do the quilt. All i got to do now is do the quilting and I've chosen a soft black fleece as the backing. It will be really nice and snug to have it in the sofa on those colder evenings.

Decide or not to decide...

So now it is all stitched together but I will have to think about finishing it off. Big border around it? Little one? Add some of the colour that I've used in the blocks or just a black one? All things considered I am quite proud of it. It is made of 80 blocks and I have kept at it and done it in one go instead of losing interest and going on to make something else. Decisions decisions... Me will ponder about it for a while, any suggestions?

Half way there...

This is why

I am busy!

Atchooo!!!!

Yes I know. Not a pretty picture when you sneeze on your screen without holding a hand in front of your mouth. But I didn't have time ok! *wiping screen*grumble*grumble*
I hate having a cold! No, I hate even more to have a fever. You dream really weirdly all night and cant get comfy because either you're too hot or too cold. At least you can take some aspirin. Sigh...
What do you do with yourself when you are too perky to go to bed again but don't have any energy to do anything in particular and there is only sport on telly at the moment because the winter Olympics are on?

Well of course you come here and blog a bit and make no sense whatsoever. And you look at property for sale over at
hemnet. And you try to make a fire without the use of starter sticks and give up and try and make some starter sticks of the bigger logs that all have knots in them so the knife gets stuck in EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM when you try to hammer it through! And no I'm not going out to get the ax. I will just make a hole in the floor if I do that in my state!

Thank the gods Jamie will be home soon so I can pester him about cups of tea and water and tissues and and and and. Well you know it is very hard work being sick! I got to lay down now...

Another cup of tea...

I am turning English!
I've never been a big tea drinker but now a days I am actually almost keeping up with Jamie. It is all due to that I have discovered loose tea and all the flavours you can choose from when going into a coffee/tea shop. I mainly like black teas. But not the very oddly flavoured ones. I like Ceylon tea and Assam tea and the spicy chai tea mixes. But don't bother me with the very heavy perfumed flower or fruit teas, yuck! I still got to discover Rooibos and green teas...

We had a bit of a surprise at work today. Our new Lady boss said she will be leaving us. Not straight away but within six months. Well we always knew she was just a short term solution since Mr. A wanted to leave as quickly as possible when he did go but it still feels a bit sad. She is really what our shop needs to get going and now she will leave. I'm sure I don't need to mention that Mr. B had a smile on his face all day. I myself had a feeling of dread, you know what will be coming along, another new young pup will take over with no experience of having had a shop before and look how well we did last time... sigh. But I suppose you never know, it might be a good one that comes along. Just got to keep our fingers crossed eh.

A cup of tea later...

Ahhh... yes i have just had a cup of tea. Been working late tonight so did get home just 20 minutes ago. It is really horrible to work late and then have to get into a cold car and drive home in the ice and snow. Cant spring come soon!?

I am really looking forward to spring so we can plant up the new borders that will go along the new deck. I got loads of plans and am saving money for new plants and roses and bushes and and and and well you know. The garden is really getting there now after soon 5 years of backbreaking digging up the lawn.

I really like my pink border by the outhouse. But some plants needs moving. And i might be able to split a few more. That is very satisfying when you can get more plants of the same to bulk it out or plant somewhere new.

We grew a lot of vegetables last year. We are just getting round to eating the last spuds and beans. I always look forward to planning what we are going to grow for the next year and get to think of what worked and what didnt do so well.

The more it snows..

I am looking out at a veritable snowstorm. The news predicts that 30 cm of snow will fall during the day and night. That is a lot even for Sweden! We have had to postpone James birthday party since the traffic report seemed very ominous and they were telling people to stay home unless there was an emergency and that isn't often they warn about being Sweden and that we are used to driving in snowy conditions.. My sister would have to drive here from Ludvika over the mountains so we called it off. It was apparently bad enough yesterday when she and Hasse was on their way back home from Hasses parents who live in Falun and it had only barely started snowing then. Better to be safe then sorry we thought.

Christmas has been lovely but a bit exhausting for us both since we managed to get a cold, it was me who got it first and then in the spirit of Christmas I shared it with Jamie so he got it as well. Everything seems to be have been done in a bit of a daze and I didn't really feel like doing much more then the absolutely minimum. The big Christmas dinner was a success though and it was a very relaxed and nice evening with lots of laughter and pressies under the tree. I was still reeling from the chock of getting a Kitchen Aid from my sister and Hasse when I opened my present from Jamie. I got half a camera, but what a camera, a Nikon D5000!! It is a shared present whit Jamie but what a present! Uhm...don't know what to say actually, still in chock. Have another chocolate marzipan ball, it might help...

A new start

Yes I know. It seems like this blog has gone on a very long break but there simply haven't been any time left to indulge on writing on here. I've barely been able to keep up reading the few blogs I follow.

It has been a bit stressful since my mum unexpectedly got time for a hip replacement surgery in October instead of the planned one in January and she then came to ours for her first month and a half of convalescence. But it went really smoothly even though James thought it a bit stressful at times having the Mother-in-law here all the time. But we coped very well and she didn't interfere at all but was very good.

Otherwise life is running along ever so quickly. Especially now when it is soon the silly season. It is only two and a half weeks left until Christmas! At least all the Christmas cards are written and ready to be sent off. It is a dwindling pile of cards though, it seems every year there is one lesser to write. Well the pile really went from big to smaller when I decided just to write to people who wrote one back. I did that a couple of years ago and I think it is time to do that again. I like receiving Christmas cards and the thought that someone wants to send one to me. That's why I like sending them as well.

I really miss getting letters in the post. You know these very old fashioned paper letters that people actually write by hand. I used to have pen pals when I was younger but just lost touch when growing up. I know I know, it is so much easier and quicker with emails and sms and all that new stuff. But I still like letter written by hand where you can see how people write, you know.. it makes it more personal then any email.

I had promised new pictures showing the new decking and windows so here they are. Finally..

New view

We didnt need an ark in the end but it was close for a while... Now we have very nice autumn weather instead. Bit warmer then usual but i think this is the new usual weather..

At the moment i am waiting for my lunch to get ready and then i am off to work my evening shift at the shop. And for once i am looking forward to go to work. It has everything to do with that we have a new boss. A Lady Boss, whos is extactly what we need at our place i think. The one we had before was a real donut, sweet and nice but bad for you.

It is also our last chance as a shop. For now it seems we have untill february next year to prove we still have it in us to keep the shop going and improve or else i think we are up for the chop. It seems at least that the new Lady Boss is doing everything she can to get us going and keeping Mr B in check and on a very short leash. Not a minute to late i might add. She is well aware of the amount of money he has squandered away on bad deals and bad pricing so this is a refreshing start and the rest of us are going around smirking at his new position at work, general cleaning and maintance...... We SO do love our new Lady Boss!

An Ark, A kingdom for an Ark?

Yes that is what we need. After a downpour of biblical proportions yesterday i think that is what our new decking is meant for, a mooring place for the boat we will be needing after todays forecasted rain. Yesterdays downpour was just a warning of what to expect and it wasnt nice. We had to go out in it and rescue our house from being surrounded by a mote from all the water gushing out from the drainpipes! We had also a little lake growing on our drive and lawn, i kid you not it was a foot deep! They had to close down all bus services in Borlänge and they closed down several roads as well since the drains couldnt keep up with the volume of water. The drain lids simply floated away south apparently...

What did i say about rain...?

It has been raining for 2 days...
Our little working gnomes haven't turned up today. Either they are busy somewhere else or they thought working in the rain wasn't such a good thing to do today and are hiding in their little gnome houses. They have started to lay down the decking and you can now appreciate it more how the finished deck will look like. I am just impatient now. Want to have it done! But cant stress it I suppose. They weren't meant to come until august anyway so anything done before then is just great!

Eh..what is that thats landed in our garden?

Yes well you see I think we might have been a tad on the cautious side when we discussed the size of our new decking and instead we went ballistic...It is HUGE! It is being constructed as I type and every time I look at it I think it must be shrinking because first when they dug all the holes for the supports it looked like we were building another house but now when the frame is up and the posts are getting there it doesn't really look that big anymore... Until you place our current patio furniture on it and then it looks like a cavernous dancehall with some kiddie furniture in it. So we have been looking at new furniture, obviously, just to make it feel smaller! We might get some this year depending on what the bank (James) says. Also I think wee need to see it completed as to understand just how much space we have.

Summer, you'd think it would be typical Swedish summer, rain, cold and more rain? But no, it is a very balmy +31, light breeze and no clouds after this mornings pitiful little attempt of ruining summer with a bit of rain. It hardly wet the ground for more then 10 minutes before it all had dried up again. Well its my weekend off so Im not complaining the least, I think James might differ but then again he is a penguin and don't approve of hot summer weather. I didn't like it before either but since I shed some weight it doesn't bother me as much and that irritates James no end since it is only him now complaining it is too warm. But I do agree there could be too much sun, we are running out of water for the garden! Well rainwater that is. Somehow I think it is such a waste using drinking water from the tap to water a garden. But don't despair they have actually predicted cooler weather with rain on Sunday onwards. Will do my vegetables some good if it did rain some more.

The garden is looking better and better. Considering we've only lived here for 4 years and all that we started with was a lawn and some apple trees I am amazed at how it looks like now.

Keep on walking

I am just back from my walk this morning. There is something very relaxing and meditative about walking. There is nothing better then walking in nature and mulling things/problems around in your head. Any problem doesn't seem nearly as bad as after you've thought about it during a walk. Me and James have our best discussions during walks. I'm sure there is some scientific explanation to it all but I don't need that to know that a walk is good for you. Not only for your health but also for your mind. I'd like to go on a hike somewhere scenic before the really warm summer sets in. Got to ask James if he wants to do something before we go visit Al in late may.

In other news:
We now got a quote from the window people or rather two, one with windows and one with just the patio door. It is scary but not too bad. We also had a third company come by early this morning to have a look. He did the quote while talking to me so we now know more about what ballpark we are talking about. This guy is a local one that the window person recommended and got in touch with for us. We still have another one coming on Monday but then that's it, we have to make a decision or else we will be really late into autumn before they can start build! At the moment it looks like any of them cant start build until mid July anyway. But it is our own fault, we started looking too late really.

Spring is sprung

Ah what a lovely day! And it is my day off as well. We've had a bit of rain during the night so the air was all fresh and lovely when I went out to pick up the newspaper. Just one of those things you realize you've missed during winter. A fresh spring morning...

Well another thing I haven't missed is just how stressful it is to hire someone to do a job for you. We've had 2 builders here to have a look and give us an estimate of how much our decking plans would cost. I am still not sure who to give it to so we've called a third company and they are coming next Monday to have a look. Also we have a man coming here today to give us an estimate about new windows and a new patio door. There is just so much to think about, what you want, when you want it, how much is the topp end cost we can afford or want to afford. But mostly, who will do a good job?

Let me introduce the contenders. First guy drew a very nice first draft on his computer when here to see what we wanted. He's now come back with a more detailed draft that we said was what we would like so he is going to come back to us this week with a quote. We can call him Baldy (because he was, completely).

Second guy is more of a jack of all trades kind of guy. He came by on Sunday and had a quick measure up and came back with an offer later on same day which we were surprised about since we thought he would be a cheaper option. Maybe he is since we haven't got any others yet to compare with. We can call him Jack.

Third guy was very VERY nice on the phone but we haven't seen him yet. But I got to say that someone who has manners over the phone has an advantage.

I hate talking to builders, plumbers or whoever who cant see past the fact that yes I am a woman and yes it is me you will have to deal with since James thinks his Swedish still is too poor for such contacts. And I will NEVER EVER hire anyone who talks past me or treats me like an imbecile just because of my gender.

I'll keep you posted.

Stalkers...

I've just learned I have a follower.... Yes I haven't been blogging much and I have recently come back to blogger after a short visit to live journal but I have just seen that I have 1 (one) follower. Thank you Eleanor for making my day :o)

At one point this blog had quite few followers but then I got slack and didn't blog much and now most of them have gone away... boohoo.. People today haven't got any staying power! They should have stayed around because I do blog, just not that often anymore... well.. not at all looking at my record of the last 2 years actually... Oh well but there might just be a change in that. Pigs can fly now cant they?

Seriously though, I once took great pleasure in blogging but there is just so much you can talk about when you are a bit limited in the language. I am playing around with the thought of writing in Swedish but then no one of my followers would understand.. erh..follower. I am actually a bit miffed I don't have more followers! Me brilliant young woman(cough yes young) deserve a wider audience then I have at the moment.

My stereo have decided to pack it in. Did you notice the very abrupt change of subjects? Cunning isn't it...Now read on. Its just been to be repaired since it stopped spinning up but the nice man at the shop said there are no replacement parts made to my kind of stereo anymore so all he could do was clean and re-oil the wheel that spins the cd and tell me that when it breaks again it will be the last of it plus he charged me 400kr for looking at it. And it just went. Sigh. I really liked my stereo. The sound was outstanding for being such a cheap one bought at half price at a sale ages ago. And now I suppose I have to look at these space machine looking things they call a stereo today. Me don't like one bit! I like sleek, clean, easy-to-use, very good sound, preferably black stereos if there is a color choice. I DO NOT like these bombastic, gadget filled, blinking both here and there for no purpose kind of stereos whit speakers the size and shape of Gods know what I have been seeing lately. I know there are my kind of stereos out there as well but usually they are way out of my price range. I am going to be grumpy for a while now. Excuse me.

Going wireless

Thanks to Jamie and a little bit of hinting from me we now have a laptop and wireless internet. We went and bought the wireless router today and Jamie started to set it up but got stuck so I helped him out with the few tweaks that was needed so now I am sitting downstairs in our lounge and blogging a bit and surfing just because I can . It is a bit of getting used to having a laptop. But I can see the appeal of being wireless compared to a stationery computer. It still feels like a toy though, the new computer that is. It is small and the keyboard is nice to type with but am not used to the cramped style of the keyboard. Not to talk about the touchpad. I am still finding it hard to make the cursor go where I want it to without opening everything it is hovering over for a bit too long.

The main reason for us going wireless is so we can get rid of the big desk we got upstairs in the little hallway where we got our stationery computer at the moment and free up some space for a nice little reading corner with an armchair a small table and lamp. If I was able to do exactly what I wanted I would take away the little closet as well and make the hall twice its size for a really nice minilounge.And put in a door where the window is now and make a balcony to sit on top of our porch which is directly under the window. But considering the amount of work to be done to do said things I don't think I can convince Jamie that this is a GOOD idea...well maybe not this year since we have decided to get our decking done this year and putting in a double door( depending on cost) from the lounge out onto the decking. We have someone coming in 2 weeks to give us an estimate of what the door would cost and as well what it would cost to replace our windows to new high spec insulating ones. That will probably be a project for next year but it is always good to know how much pain it includes when paying for it.

*cough cough cough*

Oh don't mind me, I'm just covered in grey dust from sandpapering the plastering I did earlier in the upstairs toilet. It is looking nice and smooth but will need a bit of touch up before I paint.

James surprised me the other day by suggesting we should change the carpet as well while we are doing the rest. I was genuinely shocked that it came from him but I did as I was told and went hunting for a fabulous new carpet instead of the a boring bland magnolia one that is sitting there at the moment. And of course the carpet I wanted only came in a 4 meter wide roll which is a bit unnecessary since our toilet is 1,19x1,07. So I asked if they knew anywhere else I could look as well and there was this place that was a bit further up the road that specializes in carpets and they might have off cuts as well that would fit. But when there I was lucky enough the be at the right place at the right time. You see there was a salesperson in showing the new carpet selections for this year and I asked if he had any nice ones in either white, grey or black. So he showed me a very nice one in a tile pattern in dark brow/black which I thought was nice but then he creped up behind me and showed the absolutely most wonderful new one he had just started to sell. It just said click and now we are getting one that twinkles in black. There is an optic illusion in it so it twinkles slightly when you move around looking at it. It might sound a bit tacky but it isn't actually. Its like coin size irregular flecks of glitter that are dark or muted and then shine and sparkle when you move and the light reflects differently on it.

Hopefully they can come and take the old carpet out today and do the underneath plastering because then I can paint and wallpaper this weekend before they come and put the new carpet in next week. And then its just to phone the plumber and the electrician to put the final bits in and it is done.

Spring in the air?

Currently playing Creed - Higher

I'm looking out at a wonderful sunny day where last nights snow is melting ever so slowly away. It is dripping from the roof where the sun has got to it already even though it is early morning. I've started to buy some seeds for this summers flowers and vegetables already, am getting the itch to dig and plant and see things grow and flower. I never used to look forward to spring before but now I am. I wonder if it is because I now have a garden to spend the time in and I really miss it when winter goes on too long.

I am going to get started on redecorating the little upstairs toilet. The electrician is coming later on this afternoon to have a first look and see what it is to be done. Got to phone the plumber and ask as well when he can come and get the sink and cabinet in place as well as change the piping to a nice chrome finished one to match all the new stuff that is going in. We've already decided on a wallpaper for a section and I am going to paint the other walls a soft white. The colour scheme is black and white with chrome. I like to decorate and make it look nice from ugly and scruffy. So now there is only the rest of the house to fix up...

The more it snows a tiddeli pom..

Oh yes! A lovely 30 cm of the fresh white stuff was dumped on us in the last couple of days. And now it has gone cold. Seems we are having a very normal winter this year. But I could have done without the cold though, my hands and now toes are aching even though I try to keep warm. Oh well there is always something isn't there? But never mind that now!

An old friend has re-appeared! Say hello to Mary over there in Personally Me, its been an age but we always look forward to hearing from her. I hope you are serious about taking me up on my challenge in the earlier post, but you know what you need to do... My mind boggles in excitement thinking up something to make for YOU, so go on.... put the post up!

Did I ever tell you that it is because of Mary that me and James met? Well no? It is true and she put on a very lovely party when we met at her place in Dublin for the first time. If I remember correctly it included some wild brats from Wales as well that ended up in the er the first night...

Oh I still have that video snippet you took of us all Mary... and the photos... is that enough to blackmail you into putting the post up? ;of)

Up for it? Go on, I know you want to..

The first six people to respond to this post will get something made by me. It will be about or tailored to each of those six who respond first.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. (Although let me know if you have any allergies)
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a mix CD. It may be a short work of fiction, or a poem. I may draw or paint something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal/blog as well, if you expect me to do something for you!

Idea found at Peel Me a Grape.

Happy feet Happy feet!

Yes Yes Yes!!

I am again going to see Bruce Springsteen in concert! I finaly got through and could book us some tickets for his concerts here in Sweden this summer. They sold out in 90 minutes and i just got in there in the nick of time to grab me some!!

*doing the happy feet dance*

Christmas Spirit

This years tree is a Swedish one and it was a tall one so we had to trim it a bit. But it looks very nice in all its finery. Observe the fake cotton snow... Jamie thought I was weird doing that when he saw it for the first time but it looks nice and is better to use then the fake stuff in a can...

This years gingerbread houses with chocolate snowman who is not expected to last much longer.. we do have someone who decapitated the last one I bought so he could say it was melting, melting..!

Grumble..

You know I told you last time it had snowed? Well now I am looking out at RAIN! All the lovely fluffy stuff has gone and it is now sort of barely covering the ground. They are predicting colder weather though so there still might be a chance of a white Christmas which we haven't had for some years.

Part from the weather being obnoxious everything is set and ready to go for Christmas Eve dinner with the family. I've made it easy by choosing a pre made ham instead of needing to cook the whole thing myself, all that is needed is to roast it in the oven with some sweet mustard and breadcrumbs sprinkled on top before serving and mum is doing the marinating of ribs and we are not having a big spread of dishes anyway this year so a Christmas made easy it is!

We've had a few friends over before Christmas for pressie swaps and pre holiday fun. We attempted to do marzipan gnomes and ended up doing snowmen and pigs as well that we dipped in chocolate. We had a little chocolate dipping frenzy with dried figs and strawberries wrapped in marzipan at the end. Lovely...

White Christmas..?

Currently playing Bing Crosby - Silver Bells

It has come about 15 cm of new fresh fluffy white snow. It snowed all day yesterday so now everything is perfectly coated and the sun is shining from a clear blue sky. What else could you wish for? Well maybe that my cold would go away. I've been home the last couple of days with a very thick head and nose. At least it is showing signs of clearing up. So it is back to work for me tomorrow.

I've sent Jamie off shopping for some gingerbread house dough. I spent the morning making a layout of the gingerbread house I am going to attempt to build this evening. I hope he remembers the smarties to decorate the roof with! We have a tradition of building gingerbread houses for Christmas. Mum used to make a whole village with houses in different sizes and decorate the landscape with fake snow(cotton wool)and use our plastic farm animal toys. We usually got to help out with the decorating and the icing and smarties. Somehow you ended up eating most of the smarties though..

I am really starting to get a hang of how to get a relaxed Christmas by just doing the things I really enjoy and cut out most of the must-do's that really no one needs or miss if they are not there or done. It is mainly in your head actually these must-do's. I did a bit of decorating yesterday when I was home from work and it is now looking Christmassy in the Last residence. Only thing missing is the Christmas tree which we will probably get sometime next week. I've also sorted through the decorations, did that actually last year, so now I only got the stuff up that I like (Jamie don't mind whatever is up as long as it isn't too tacky..)We have hyacinths blooming and spreading their lovely scent all over the house. My deep red Amaryllis is just starting to open and we got Christmas lights wrapped around the 2 small conifers beside the front porch.

Ahhh sigh...now for a lovely cup of tea with some honey for my sore throat.

The more it snows a tiddeli pom..

Currently listening to Joan Baez - Sweet Sir Galahad

It is snowing. Gentle little fleks falling. I love snow. We went up to celebrate my sister on her 40th birthday this past weekend and it snowed all day so we had perfect snowmen snow. So of course we went out and made a snowman that ended up looking like Mickey Mouse for some unknown reason.I tried to ambush Jamie when he came out to help with the snowmouse but he was already prepared and had four snowballs at the ready against my only one. I also made a snowlantern that we had lit all evening. It was a very relaxing day with lots of good food and laughter. Just as life should be.