Saturday 26 February 2011

A week of very small accomplishments

Weather report: the winter is still very much the same, cold and long and snowy. The temperatures keep around -20 to -25C (-4F to -13F) in the mornings but warm up to about -10 C /+14F by early afternoon. The sun must be working a little on the snow, because in the morning the trees are often covered with frost as the humidity in the air concentrates on any surface. It has not been snowing in over a week.



I had more cupcake mail from Melanie:


She used up her cupcake fabric rests to make me a mushroom mat for autumn. We have had long correspondence about the use of mushrooms in the kitchen and for dyeing yarns and fabrics. Melanie knows so much about history and old methods in handicrafts.

I have been sewing some more QAYG blocks for Oz Comfort Quilts, satin stitching the shoes I showed in my last post, and using little scraps of fabric for a needle book for my friend P who is desperately waiting for the wallhanging to be finished:


She started in my sewing class last autumn, and for her new hobby I equipped her needle book with small scissors and a seam ripper


and some machine needles so she can continue sewing at home when school is out.


At the moment I'm working with some silk threads I have inherited from my Great Auntie Saima. My regular readers know a lot about her, she was like a young grandmother for us and lived many years with our real grandmother, her elder sister, so she was always there for us.




If you want to see a picture of Saima, you should visit my daughter Kaija's blog here. My mother has given her a photo album with pictures by Saima's husband. Now Kaija has started a new blog, Emil's, to show the contents of this great amateur photographer's work. We have very little information about the people and places in the photos, but they are great pictures from the early decades of the 20th century. Enjoy!

10 comments:

  1. I think your student will be thrilled with the personalized and very useful gift. What a very pretty bunch of silk threads. Stay warm.

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  2. Your frosty trees are gorgeous. We call that kind of frost hoar frost. Don't know where that term came from.

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  3. Hej Ulla hoppas att du har det bra så mycket fint du gjort sedan sist...........trevlig helg!

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  4. I see it is still winter with you. Our days are starting to look a bit like spring every now and then.
    Cute needle book.

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  5. i love your header - the little bird resting near the chimney, that says a lot.

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  6. Hi Ulla.. I have missed out a bit, sorry! You have made the most perfect gift for your sewing friend and you string quilt is wonderful..
    You are having a very cold winther.. WE have a lot snow too but the temp is around zero and the humidity is high, read fogg.
    Soon we are through with february and spring is around the corner, yes let us hope so...

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  7. Oh what gorgeous threads!

    What a nice gift for a student...bet she'll really appreciate it.

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  8. What a lovely needlebook/ sewing companion. That was so kind of you.

    I have left a comment on Kaija's blog. It is good to "meet" Great Aunt Saima. Have fun with the silks. I know I can't work with delicate threads in Summer as my hands get rough from the garden. :-) Yo know how it is you walk past not wearing gloves and yank a weed out here and there, and before you know it you are on your knees dealing with the whole bed.

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  9. Winter's beauty certainly hides how cold it must feel in your photo, Ulla. Lovely needle case, and the silk threads are still so colorful! I had a wonderful time looking at all of the photos Kaija posted - I wish I knew the story behind each of them! Auntie Saima looked like a young woman full of life and vigor!
    Cheers!

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  10. How are the silk threads to work with? I like the needlebook - it's a handy item to have in one's possession.

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