SC 5 and some PIPS finishes

Today is the day which meant end of school and the beginning of three whole months of Summer holidays when I went to school. My first Summer holiday started with my first wristwatch and measles.

Wagtails have returned from the South, marching busily on our lawn and catching insects.

I set myself a goal to finish the Scandinavian Christmas top by the end of May, and so I did. The hearts for the outer border were easy to applique.

The top grew so much bigger with the borders! I will use the greyish brown linen of the inner border for the binding too.

Yesterday I visited my big sister P, and now I can show you what I have been making for her new cabin. First, a tea cosy with the same fabric as in the old big tea cosy from our childhood summer place. I have the original one, and mother had given me the leftover square to make a potholder or something. It was not very big, so I used black cotton for the other side. I hope my sister will remember all the lovely summer outdoors afternoon coffees from back home when she uses this.

Her new basic apron used to be her own kitchen curtain. I made one apron to be a "staff uniform" for the Villa Cooper shop earlier this year using this same fabric,

and here is another of her fabrics I used for an apron then. P asked for covers for guest pillows used on a sofa when not needed for sleeping. Both have a hidden zipper at the back.

That was about everything from the sewing front.  All these have been waiting in my PIPS box for my mood to change so I can get them done. It feels good to see the project bags disappear from the box! I have been knitting baby things for the hospital in the evenings but there is not much to show yet.

Our apple trees are in full bloom now. This was a few days ago, now the petals are falling from the tree in front, but the bigger tree is still getting whiter. I could use the apples again, as last year there were hardly any apples. The weather is not warm now, but I have seen bees around the trees so let's hope for a good harvest. A moderate harvest, please.

The Bag Ladies strike again

Every girl wants a new bag in the Spring. Mine is All About Anna, an easy to follow pattern by Stephanie of Loft Creations. This generous lady gifted her European friends in the Bag Club (very, very unofficial!) with this pattern, and now we finally found time to make our versions. Be sure to check what  Melanie and Simone have made with it.

It took me a long time to pick the perfect fabrics for this bag. These are the fabrics I bought recently at a Handicraft Fair, with the bag in mind.

Here is a picture from four years ago, showing my loot from another Craft Fair. I have only been touching and folding the middle four fabrics, but decided to cut them for the new bag. Just a little nib at the edge, 1½" wide!

I took Melanie's challenge before she even wrote about it here (way at the end of the long post). Your loveliest fabrics are worth a life away from the cupboard! Give them a chance! See here, I needed just tiny bits of the pretty fabrics, and still have lots left for the really, absolutely perfect project for them. I just happened to have the perfect vintage button for the bag too.

Inside pocket.

And finally the back. The main fabric is coffee brown linen.

Thank you Stephanie for this nice pattern, and thank you Bag Ladies for the deadline and for making the bag with me. This time we didn't need each others' help for solving problems, as there weren't any. The bag is perfect size for me, it will hold everything I carry around plus a magazine, a water bottle or even my camera. I can carry it on my shoulder and have both hands free.

In the evenings I have been knitting tiny beanies for preemie babies. I still have some yellow baby wool and I want to try another pattern too. The preemie blanket is knitted using a 100 g ball of baby yarn. I started in one corner and added in the middle of the row so the blanket would be square whenever I ran out of yarn.

Finally a picture of the guy who lost the battle and his tail feathers. He didn't want to show his face, which is quite understandable. The other guy has tail feathers almost 20 inches long, and four ladies. But I like happy ends, and so do you, so we can all be happy that Mr. No Tail has a big, good looking lady of his own. And he will have a perfect tail by the end of the summer.

Secrets revealed and wonders of the nature

It has been a long time since my last post, due to Internet problems. Things are getting better now and I hope to catch up my blog reading soon.
This is what I have been working on in secret:

In February I heard through Simone about the Stained Quilt Along hosted by Sarah at Narcoleptic in a Cupboard. After seeing Simone's blue and grey fabrics I thought my son's shirts would make a lovely stained glass quilt to match the Business Class quilt I made for his birthday.

His long-time girlfriend has her birthday this week and I had a chance to give this to her yesterday

They had invited us and her parents for a very delicious Mother's Day lunch at their home. The quilting is in the ditch as I didn't want to disturb the "glass".  -  I couldn't resist borrowing DD's stained glass angel for the last picture. There is no border in this quilt, just a narrow binding in the same grey as the sashings. Sarah's pattern was for a crib size quilt and I wanted to make a lap size, so I added a row at the bottom and to one size. I forgot to measure the finished quilt but it should be around 55.5" x 66.5".

Marimekko has taken old prints into production again. This one is "Helsinki - Helsingfors" by Per-Olof Nyström from 1952, the year of the Helsinki Olympics. I don't remember this print from my childhood, but my mother used to have summer dresses and skirts in this style. I found this piece of fabric in the local Marimekko shop and used it for a shopping bag for my sister Maija in Germany.

And now some spring feelings. Wood Anemone is one of the first wild spring flowers, usually popping up for Mother's Day.

My daffodils like their new place and are blooming right now. This is their second spring in this spot.

The green finches were courting over lunch. He on the right is showing his nice yellow wing feathers.

Mr. Pheasant has four lovely ladies, here he is watching over two of them having lunch. He is wearing his spring feathers, with brighter colours and much red in the face.

 

I almost forgot to update my Scandinavian Christmas. Here is Block 4 all finished:

And here it is added to the other three. I'm slowly starting work on the border of hearts and snowflakes. If you want to see a finished Scandinavian Christmas, pop over to Melanie. She is being a star pupil!

This is all for today, I hope to come back soon with new finishes.