Summer girls

Three little girls in their new summer frocks had their identity card photos taken and we decided to take some more photos of them together before they leave this house.

Noora needs love and rules, maybe more than an average child, but she can be really, really good if she really, really tries. I think she would love a hobby like ice hockey or horse riding.

This is Helena. She is a very well behaved girl who likes reading and drawing and coloring books and friends and sausages.

Emilia is a little dreamer. She likes flowers and butterflies and carrots and pancakes. I think she will find a family in no time.

Tuulikki is a trickier one. She is clearly older than the other girls, and finding a family may prove difficult. But on the other hand, she might just be the right one for someone looking for a good friend for going to the gym and other hobbies.

Here all four new UNICEF dolls are together, waiting to be taken to Villa Cooper tomorrow. Our special Summer exhibition this year is old dolls from club members, so visitors may be interested in adopting a doll and supporting a  good cause at the same time. The adoption fee of each doll will enable UNICEF to give six essential vaccinations for one child in need.

 

One hundred

Since 2003 I have been sewing dolls for Unicef, not every year, but often enough to remember the tips I have learned from making mistakes. This year has been a very productive one, and my readers must be bored of seeing doll news over and over again instead of more interesting projects. With this doll I have reached the goal I have set a few years ago, she is my Unicef doll number 100!

My first cyclist doll found a home with my sister, and one of her friends liked the idea so much that she wanted to adopt a doll with road rush and tan lines as well. Or maybe she knew someone who would adopt her. Anyway, she asked if I could make such a doll before Christmas, and so I did.

It makes sense to work on more than one doll at a time, so I made this little tonttu girl as well. She will look less Christmas like without her hat, so she can wear the rest of her outfit all year round.

She will soon be at Villa Cooper with the other dolls I have made. I hope many of them will find new homes for Christmas!

 

The quilt show that didn't show

At the beginning of March our club put up a quilt show at Villa Cooper. The town was full of quilt events, as the annual FinnQuilt meeting was going to take place there over a weekend. Yes, and then everything was cancelled and closed and postponed due to the pandemia. We had an opening, and some visitors during the first few opening days, but after that the quilts have been waiting alone in the closed villa.

I'm showing you a little tour around the room with the quilts. This one is mine:

Beautiful purple shades by another member. Only a few of the quilts are for sale, most of them are borrowed for the show. 

We have limited possibilities to hang the quilts for show, so many are just draped on chairs

or folded and stacked. 

Like these two here.

This beauty was spread on the dining table.

The framed quilt was borrowed from another quilt show near our Villa Cooper, sadly also closed.

Our exhibition closet was this time too small for the show, but smaller items found their place there.

My Raggedy & Friends quilt finishes the round. I have not managed to get a good photo of the quilt, but in the link you can see some closeups of the stitcheries that are just a blur here.

I hope this tour cheered your day a little, especially if you are told to stay at home. Well, we all have a great hobby to keep us busy with our quilts, knittings and blog visits.

I'm a Kipper?

Yesterday was the World Wide Knit in Public Day, KIP. I was organizing it at the Villa Cooper like last year and the year before. So, does it make me a kipper? I do like to eat fish, but smoked herrings are not a favourite.
Anyway we were knitting in the lovely garden on Villa Cooper, and this year seemed to be a success. The famous knitting café and yarn shop Lentävä Lapanen you might remember by its translation Flying Mitten was with us and brought loads of their delicious yarns for sale.

We placed the tables in the shadow, but soon they were in full sunshine. These ladies found a great place in the shadow:

The weather was beautiful, but almost too hot in the sun. Luckily we had a pop up café inside the Villa Cooper, with coffee, tea and cold refreshments to go with the delicious treats baked by two of the club members. The balcony on the garden side of the house was a perfect place for a cuppa, and the lawn in the garden could have offered excellent places for picnic if there had been even more visitors.

Skeins of yarn need to be wound into balls so helping hands make the job easy.

We had an exchange point (on the left) for materials no longer needed. I brought some fine crocheting yarns I  knew I'm not going to use ever, and found two almost untouched balls of baby wool I will use for knitting baby hats or booties for charity.

On this little table in the center was my  (Villa) Cooper's Test point. Ladies who took the test had to show their ability to read knitting instructions and show the basic skills by knitting a 14 stitches by 14 rows sample with knits, purls, yo's and k2tog's. Timing was voluntary but everyone wanted to time their performance. The majority of the test group (which was only 7 persons) finished the test in an amazing time of less than 12 minutes, a result never achieved in the official Cooper's Test that requires running. My ladies managed this in hot weather and sitting down! Isn't that lovely! They received the result card with their name and time, and a shiny heart sticker of their choice.

I have been knitting in my spare time too. In the middle is the pair I showed you earlier when it was half done, on the right a pair with the rest of that hand dyed yarn in broken seeds stitch with a dark purple yarn rest, and of the left a simple pair of cotton mix socks in a self striping yarn in lemon and lime colours from the Flying Mitten.

Rosa pimpinellifolia or the Finnish Midsummer rose was already opening its buds in the garden of Villa Cooper, two weeks before Midsummer.

Just knitting ...

 ... is all I have been doing as my faithful Husqvarna sewing machine is having her irregular check-up with the service and we need to wait for a spare part. This time without her seems so long, and it feels like I right now would have so many interesting and fun projects to work on. Luckily I have a collection of knitting needles and wool yarns, and Christmas is a big time for hand knitted wool socks at the Villa Cooper, so I have been knitting these in pine tree colours

and these small ones in graphite and old rose

and these in jeans blue with stripes with lighter and darker blue rest yarns.

And those two other pairs as well.

Frosty mornings, even days now. Mr K. has blown and raked all leaves away and the garden is getting ready for the first snow to come. Other parts of the country have already had their first snow, but we may expect some less cold days next week. This week I saw the local whooper swan family swimming peacefully on the pond by the school in the darkness at nine in the evening.The six cygnets are about as big as the white parents but still grey until they are adults. The young ones still need to practice their take-up and landing and build up some muscles for their flight southwards for open waters.

Knit in Public Day at Villa Cooper

Today was the day when knitters in 560 events in 53 countries gathered in parks, shops and other public places to knit together and to make the world a better place. We knitted at Villa Cooper, in the lovely big garden.

We had received lots of yarns ad other crafty materials as a donation, and auctioned them as the main attraction of our KIP Day.

We will pay it forward and give the money for local mental health work.

As you can see, the weather was sunny and so warm that we could sit and knit in the garden. Many knitters came to attend the day. I was able to give them different patterns for knitted bunnies and baby sweaters, and the address where to send the finished items.

I hope we can do this again next year, with more ideas and more knitters!

December 16 - Once more Villa Cooper

 When I made the camera tour in Villa Cooper about a week ago, we didn't have much snow and it was early afternoon, so the lights in the garden didn't look like much to see either.

Now we have snow, and this Wednesday when we had our Christmas coffee and glögi party for the members, the place looked magic:

A last glimpse before saying goodbye for now!

December 14 - Knit knit knit

Now we have entered the wool room of Villa Cooper. As you can see, many of the members are knitters, and wool socks and stockings are one of our big hit articles especially for Christmas.

On this wall are the larger sizes, so the colours are more masculine.

Not just socks but also hats and beanies and scarfs, cowls and shawls are there. Mittens too, but my camera seems to have missed them.

December 13 - Kitchen

This is the kitchen of Villa Cooper, and kitchen things are displayed here. Handmade ceramics and hand painted china on these shelves.

A potholder tree!

A closet is filled with sauna things: washcloths and scrubbers, soap and soap trays, handwoven towels, sauna hats and anything you might need for a lovely bath.

December 11 - More of Villa Cooper

We have come to the other end of the dining room. The beautiful cupboard is filled with angels.

Blue wreaths - our theme is Blue and White Christmas this year.

More of the blue and white things. Many of these participated in our "My gift for Finland" competition.

Little Christmas trees for the tree or table.

Fabric hearts in many colours.

To be continued ...

December 10 - Villa Cooper revisited

Welcome again to Villa Cooper! These wreaths hang by the entrance, where they will keep fresh. They are perfect for welcoming guests at your door.

The dining table was covered with handmade candles is all sizes and colours.

Wreaths for indoor use, and tonttu elves in many sizes and materials.

Modern versions of himmeli. This link is in Finnish but the photos show the basic construction of any himmeli. You need straw, linen thread and a needle and scissors!

Come again tomorrow and I will show you some more!