Raggedy Friends Quilt, and Spring news

The Darling Buds of May - I have been watching a re-run of the life of the Larkin family based on the stories of H. E. Bates. It is a very nice series, no wicked persons who get away without consequenses, just a story of a large and loud family. Our newest buds of the month are these lilies of the valley, and with the temperatures around +10 C they will remain buds for a long time. While spending time with the Larkin family, I have also been hand sewing...

... finally the binding on the Raggedy and Friends quilt, and Andy posed for the block 11:

Here are the last three blocks, this one is 11:

And Annie is on block 10:

Both dolls are shown in the final block.

Here is the finished quilt, picture was taken in today's cloudy weather after the rain had stopped.

Thank you Kaaren, this was a fun project and I managed to finish it using only fabrics from my stash, many of them recycled. It was sometimes difficult to choose "my colours" for the ones given by Kaaren, but I think I can be pleased with the result. There are 5 ninepatches included, so I think this will qualify for Anne Marie's 9-patch challenge as my third finish as well.

For the first time in my life I have been growing tomatoes from seeds. These were sent to us by Candace and Mr. Squash as a Christmas present. Now I heard from experts that I should have started growing them indoors in March already instead of the beginning of April, but I hope that my little greenhouse cupboard will keep them warm and they will grow big and strong and happy and make lovely tomatoes.

Today I made sure we will get at least some tomatoes from our own garden: I'm making an exchange with a greenhouse-owner friend and get one of her plants agains two of my tiny ones. We will not have space for all these when they need bigger pots, so we will be giving some away to other friends as well. I couldn't imagine there would be a plant from every single seed I put in the pots! Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Squash! Mr. K. is wearing his Jersey Tomato t-shirt when he is gardening. It was a perfect fit, which is very unusual.

Raggedy & Friends, Block 3, and a challenge

Between apple sauce and laundry I have been stitching on September's Raggedy & Friends BOM, and last night it was ready.

Two stitcheries, a nine-patch and a row of two triangle squares, and the two rows of 2" squares at the top. I'm already waiting for the next block!

Today my Ann posed for the stitchery. She is a normal healthy doll so she looks a little plump compared to the model in Kaaren's drawing. We didn't have any watermelon at home so we used a wedge of cabbage instead. The little bird posing on it is a Christmas gift from Eileen, who also made my Raggedy Ann and Andy.

I couldn't let Ann sit too long on the concrete steps - the weather is a cool +8 C (46 F) - so I sent her in to tell Andy about the photo shoot. While still wearing my jacket and shoes I took some pictures of the new colours outdoors.

Blueberries get read leaves before they drop, but the lingonberries (middle front of the picture) keep their thick green leaves all winter.

The aspens often get yellow leaves, they are like golden coins. Some trees turn red, like in the first picture on the left of my quilt block.

The chilly weather and wind have brought me a cold, so I'm taking it easy and sneezing today. September is almost over, and I have used only very little fabric. I hope to finish something before the end of the week to make my statistics look nice! Maybe I'll make a little softie for the Softies for Mirabel campaign. You can read more about it on Pip's blog Meet me at Mike's.

Why don't you join me here? All kinds of soft toys are welcome, and they will be delivered to the kids for Christmas. Before that, Pip will show them all together in her shop window in Melbourne.

Raggedy Ann learns new skills

While waiting for the next Raggedy & Friends BOM by Kaaren next week, I have been working on an earlier pattern by her.  The Stitching Annie is one of Kaaren's First Friday Freebies. This generous lady publishes a free pattern on every first Friday of the month.

My Raggedy Ann doll had a fun time sitting in a small basket with a quilt and sewing notions, posing for the stitchery  

pattern. The basket I used was too small so it can't be seen at all under the quilt.

Annie had a laugh when I tried to pose her like the other Annie in the stitchery. I think I will use the stitchery for a ring folder where I can keep all my stitchery patterns I'm planning to use. Annie also wanted me to write here her greetings to Auntie Eileen, who made her for me. Eileen has not been blogging for a while, but she noticed my previous post with Andy, and she just might need some pushing to get her back to the blog world.

Have a safe journey, Makena!

A funny thing happened: One of my Unicef kids has already found a new home, but not through the shop. One of my VTT blogging friends, Keetha in USA, wanted to adopt Makena! Yesterday I made another trip to Villa Cooper and paid Makena's adoption fee, and today she started her long journey across the big ocean. Here she is sitting on the post office desk while I was filling in the papers for her emigration.

Raggedy Ann told her all about the trip. She knows, because she and Andy have travelled the other way, from Ohio to Finland. Ann felt a little sad after saying goodbye to Makena for the second time.

But today means the beginning of a fun project for Raggedy Ann and her friends. Kaaren at the Painted Quilt is hosting a free BOM called Raggedy & Friends, and today I downloaded the instructions of Block 1. Ann and Andy are posing here for the stitchery, but I will be using Kaaren's drawing!

When I was taking that picture of my dolls on the sofa I suddenly remembered that I have not shown you Melanie's Summer cushion cover. I had the cushion as a Christmas present from her, with four panels to change for every season. This summer has been such a big building and renovation project that it wasn't until after Midsummer  when we started taking furniture back to our living room. The cool greens and blue flowers help me cope with the heat!

The heat is taking all my energy so there are no crafty pictures this time. Today there are some grey clouds on the sky, so I'm hoping for some rain and lower temperatures.

Weekend trip and wild dolls

Today Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy wanted to play outdoors with two new Unicef kids, who are still waiting for their identity cards at our house. They went to see the raised vegetable bed.

Naturally the little rascal Andy had to show his new friends how clever he is, and started climbing up the willow trellis I had made for the peas.

The new boy was easily tempted to play along, although his limbs are not as flexible as Andy's.

The always sensible Ann told them to get down from there immediately or else ... she would come and tell me!

That worked! But Ann noticed how round and red and delicious the radishes looked, and they all decided to make a harvest feast.

They also brought in some lettuce for their salad, and dill for the fresh potatoes. It is nice to have such sweet little helpers around! I'll be sad to see the two of them leave as soon as their papers are OK, and I have their friends' wardrobe finished so they cann all go together to new homes.  But I have plans for some Unicef dolls to keep for myself, when the time is right.

On Saturday we made our annual trip to the Old literature fair in Sastamala (it used to be Vammala last year, but they took an old name for that region when some towns were put together at the beginning of this year). We took a scenic route because it was such a beautiful day. 

This is the Sääksmäki bridge.

Here we are again at the school, where the seminars and lectures are held, and many antiquarian and second-hand bookshops have their  stalls.

There were lots of people looking at the books, but not as many sellers as in previous years.

The most interesting books were again in the big tent. This year there were hardly any old handicaraft books, no nice old magazines, and really very many second hand books only a few years old.

During the first centuries of written Finnish language the literature was concentrated of religious and scientific texts. Novels in Finnish only began to exist around the middle of the 19th century, so there are hardly any really old books by Finnish authors. What we are looking for are books from the first decades of the 20th century, which are often very affordable. Here is what we bought: my two parts of Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, for 1 € each, and DH's six books about Lapland, fishing and such things. I need to keep my eyes open for the last part of Undset's trilogy, which I think will not be too difficult to find. This is a Finnish translation of a Norwegian author's books.

Next time I hope to show some crafty progress, but the hot weather makes me very tired so I can't promise any great results in the nearest future.

Launching the Summer String Collection

Raggedy Ann and I decided to have a photo shoot session when I was getting things ready to be taken to Villa Cooper for the Summer season. She was more than eager to pose for me. Here is one last time my big string quilt, all from my stash and for the No Strings Attached Challenge. I still have lots of blues left!

The next quilt doesn't really go with the string theme, but the fresh red and white, polka dotty, pepperminty loveliness matches Ann's stockings and would make any baby happy, don't you think?

Back to the Summer string theme again, the linen and scrappy string bag in feminine colours. You have seen this one too, but we wanted to show a collection!

And here finally comes the newest creation, full of string blocks in amazingly bright and lovely colours. Almost all the strings are for the donated plastic bagful I used for the first bag as well. Notice how Ann learned to catch the sunlight on her face. (We used to watch some Next Top Model episodes together when Mr. K was fishing, and picked up some hints.)

The collection naturally includes the tissue holders I have shown and delivered earlier. With the new shopping bag I'm up to 15 string projects now, and there is still time and strings to make more. If you go to Loft Creations, you will find a long list of names on her sidebar, with  a number of string challenge finishes after the name. If you need new ideas for string projects, visit the ones with a number to see their results. Stephanie has shown many of the non-bloggers quilts on her blog.

I took a couple of pictures in the garden of Villa Cooper, my craft club's shop.

It was a lovely, warm day for a change, but rain and colder weather are expected for the weekend.

Advertising, Ann and Andy, and Amazon mail

You may have seen this sign on some of your favourite blogs, but I wanted to do some advertising as well. The Quilt Shoppe is organizing a Spring Fever Bingo for everyone to join. You have a couple of days to make it, as it starts on Monday and you must email your "coupon" before that. I have never been in a bingo, so I thought this will be my last chance!

Ann and Andy were playing again. Parents should be careful with what they tell their kids from their own childhood. We are having a new fireplace installed next week, and Mr. K made a concrete foundation for it. I remembered how my big sisters and brothers jumped in the wet concrete when our house was being built. I was too young to join them, I couldn't climb over the edge of that big wooden container. All I remember from the incident is a) mother was giving her LOOKS, b) father was not too pleased, and c) all their legs got scratched, red and infected, and mother had to put Medidryl cream on them, lots of it. I told this aloud, and of course the little ones have the biggest ears, and here  is what happened:

They were sitting on the cement bags to wait for the fun to begin.

They even tried how deep they could sink in the bucket.

Andy was curious and wanted  to watch Mr. K. mix the concrete in a wheelbarrow.

And finally he really was trying to climb into the bucket, but his arm was stuck (luckily!), and I sent him in.

He even dared to mutter something about his aunts and uncles, but I can give the LOOK as well, and he stopped muttering. Good for him.

Today I picked up a BIG LETTER from the post office. I usually call them parcels, but of course a box is big for a letter and can't be delivered to the mailbox. Melanie sent me a surprise. We have been reading Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome since Christmas, and the books inspired Melanie to put together all this for me:

Her letter was all in semaphore ABC, and it took me some time to decipher it. The Swallows and Amazons communicate fluently using the signs in all books. The  Frank Cooper's Original Oxford Marmalade appears in the book I'm currently reading, The Ovaltine and the Kendal chocolate bar are standard provisions of our heroes. Christmas pudding was bought and served by some younger heroes and members of the Coot Club, who protected birds on their lake - see the bird panel Melanie sewed on the tea towel! Some "parrot" (budgie) feathers were included for Mr. K.'s fly-tying. No birds were harmed. Thank you so much, Melanie! Playing with you has made me decades younger. We don't need to grow up just yet.

Raggedy Ann and Andy had a picnic

Hi everyone, this is Ann and Andy. We want to tell you about our lovely day out yesterday. The Summer came to Finland suddenly, without much warning the temperature went up more than 10 degrees to 27 C (80F).  That is about from cool to hot. The trees burst into leaves and the first daffodils opened in the new place. We wanted to have a picnic!

Mom said the ground is still too cold, but luckily we had the granny blanket to sit on, and some hot tea and gingerbread. After tea Ann wanted to get some tan on her face, arms and legs, so she lay down while I went for a little excursion in the nature.

   

I climbed a little rowan tree to see the neighbourhood better.

This was the hill we used for our playing in the snow last winter. I'm about half way up.

     

There was an empty tree climber's house, and Dad said I could be a tree climber too (but only with my head up!) and check it out. You see there are two entrances, the light comes through just a little so you can see there are two of them.

I walked a little in the woods and found some pretty white flowers. I picked only five, because Mom has said you can't pick all the flowers away, if you want to see some next year as well.

      

Then I brought the flowers to Ann. She had been sleeping, and she was happy to have flowers  from me. Those were the first ones she ever had. Mom said they were called anemones.

We talked about our friends Dot and Martha who went abroad in March. It would have been lovely to have a picnic like this with them. Maybe their new Moms read this and show the girls our pictures and tell them we miss them. Then it was time for us to go back in. Our Mom had been working on a new quilt. She is almost desperate trying to reduce her fabric stash. Well, we think she just ought to sew more!

Just as we were going in the house, we saw the big Mr. Pheasant dancing for his lady like this:

He sure looked big, and we were glad they were not very close to us. He can make such scary noises, too. Well, this is all from us this time. Take care of your kids and give them gingerbread.

Ann and Andy

(Mom typed this for us)