Pastry, stitcheries and some Boobs

Yesterday was the birthday of our national poet J L Runeberg (1804 - 1877), and we get to eat his favourite pastry. Yum!

I have been stitching the Raggedy  & Friends January blocks with golf and snooker on the TV, a perfect combination as those sports are not loud and noisy. Today I made the first nine blocks to rows:

This is a detail of the block 7:

and 8:

and 9:

Three big blocks still to come, and the top will be finished in May, I hope. Kaaren of The Painted Quilt has designed the quilt.

Do you remember Mrs. Moen's Boob appeal for breast cancer patients?

I have finally picked up a CD disc and some test blocks and other scraps, and made six Boobs for Mrs. Moen's project. They are plain ones and treasured ones for her workshops, where they will be decorated with lace and ribbons and threads, beads and all kinds of lovely stuff you can also send for this project by the end of March. This lot will be mailed tomorrow. If you are interested, just follow the links and you will find instructions how to make the Boobs and where to send them.

The Boobs will end up at the Make a Boob Art exhibition at the end of the year, or the participants may keep the boob they decorated at the workshop.

The Poet's Birthday

Last Thursday, when I was busy showing pictures of old plates, I also remembered to celebrate the birthday of the Finnish national poet J. L. Runeberg (who wrote in Swedish!). The celebrating was emphasized on the material side and included noticing it was that special day, and eating a tart named after him. Runeberg's tart is baked with biscuit crumbs and raspberry jam, and you never know whether you get a moist, soft, delicious one or something like what I happened to choose this year:





It looks just perfect, but the cake was heavy and almost dry. The taste wasn't too bad, but I have eaten better ones. I wasn't in the mood of reading any 19th century poetry, so I just had my private celebration at the waxcloth covered kitchen table.


I have been arranging my handicraft books and magazines. Last week my daughter Kaija was here for two nights, and I wanted her to find her bed easily. My newer sewing machine is in her old room, and so are my handicraft books and magazines. For some reason they tend to gather on the bed instead of the shelves.




But now they have found their way back where they belong. Above are the old books and some magazines.

Here are the quilting books, and on the lower shelf some old magazines: the Australian Handmade from the 90's and British Inspirations from about the same time. Plus all kinds of British, German and US quilting magazines.

On the same day I had some lovely mail. Melanie sent me two magazines/books about Claude Monet and his wonderful house and garden in Giverney. Thank you, Melanie, you are such a sweet friend!

The other mail was from Japan. I bought these fabrics and pinch pouch frames from good-ness Etsy shop. I just wanted to have the mushrooms, and I think of using the sewing machine fabric for my sewing group bag I'm going to start planning someday. It is so good to have the materials ready when the inspiration hits!

Next week there will be little or no blogging, just some quick blog reading in the evenings. I will be volunteering at the children's hospital in Helsinki for several days. I have some hand sewing projects reserved for the moments when the little patients sleep, and some reading for the commuter train. Have a good week everyone!