Peppermint Candy

Last week I was getting frustrated, I was working on a quilt that can be finished next year in February at the earliest, and knitting a scarf in fingering weight yarn and a simple lace pattern that still requires my full attention. There was no hope to finish any project in the near future. I looked around in my piles and project boxes, and found six red and white blocks with large polka dots. They were left over last year when I made this quilt for my exhibition at the Villa Cooper.

I had a larger quilt in mind but decided to keep it smaller, perfect for a little girl. All the other fabrics were still stored in that box so it didn't take long before I had cut and pieced a twin quilt for this one. Here it is:

There was enough polka dot fabric left for a border just like in the other quilt, and I will make the backing in the same red flannel, and the binding in the same red. This way the two quilts will be the same size and a perfect pair, if someone needs two quilts for two kids.

We had several days of hard rain and chilly weather, so I knitted another pair of socks in two grays.

The sun is out again, and today it will be up for 19 hours. It doesn't really get dark here at all at this time of the year, but naturally in six months we are paying our price for it. Here is a link to a beautiful diagram with the dawn and dusk times.

The warmth and the sun opened the first of my pink peonies

and the wagtail found a perfect watch point to keep an eye on their babies on the lawn.

Have a nice Solstice day!

The little indie artist and her victory of sorts

I'm upset! My daughter's work has been copied and put on sale by Anthropologie. Please visit Kaija's blog Paperiaarre here  and see with your own eyes. Her journals have been copied. She has also given a link to another case of copying by this firm, so it seems to be their habit to look for beautiful things on Etsy, Pinterest etc. and have them made in a cheap labour country. As little as it may mean to them, I have written an e-mail to Anthropologie and given my opinion about this. I can be as biased as I want; they have wronged my daughter! - I didn't have time to finish this blog post last night, and I'm glad to tell you that meanwhile the issue is resolved and the big company has offered to withdraw their copied journals. Naturally they don't admit they have copied anything, so maybe it was their supplier who did it.

 

 On the knitting front, I have been working on a multi-coloured baby blanket. 

 

 

Here it is all finished. Knitting on the circular needle makes it easier for my hands and arms, as the weight on the blanket rests on my lap instead of on the long needles and my hands.

 

 

Speaking of hands and arms, in a week I will start a long break from all things crafty, and also from writing in any form. I will keep reading your blogs, I hope, but can't comment for a while with my good hand immobile in a sling. The sling thing causes a dressing problem I didn't have 8 years ago when my other shoulder was operated on. It was against the Summer, so I just altered a few tops so I could step in through the neckline. This time I need something against the cold as well, so I took another step as a designer and made a poncho:

 

 

The lining is there to protect me from wind, and I even added an interfacing for extra warmth. Now I'm knitting wrist warmers to give a final touch:

 

 

Today is Autumn Equinox and the days are getting shorter so fast that you really notice it: 40 minutes in a week now. The temperature has dropped close to freezing point for the day as well, but at the end of the week we can expect some +15C days. Warmer clothes are needed, summer dresses can be stored away for eight months at least. Enjoy the colours of Autumn, the fresh air, and cosy evenings in the warmth of your home. 

Christmas tree

... but no snow at sight. The little cabins look almost out of place on the market place in Järvenpää, but their Christmas tree is big and beautiful, especially after dark when the lights are shining.

 

Today is the shortest day of the year, Winter solstice. The darkness lasts for 16 hours and 15 minutes here where I live, and we have 58 minutes of dawn and dusk. At the top of Finland the last sunrise for the year was on November 25th, and the next sunrise will be on January 18th next year. This is a long country! But we'll be catching up rapidly, and in three months our day and night are the same as yours, wherever you are.

Scandinavian Christmas - Block 2

Right after I made my last post, I had a sudden burst of energy and finished the block 2 stitching, trimmed it to size and added the Churn Dash blocks to the top.

Here they are, the two first blocks together.I'm ready to start the third one. I have a wonderful light box for tracing patterns, but for the second try with the snowman block I used something I first saw on Hanne's stitchery: Sticky-Fabri-Solvy, a product you can print your pattern on (using an bubble jet printer), and then just finger-press the top layer on your fabric. It is very thin, not sticky on the needle, and it just washes away in water after you finished the stitchery. I recommend making a test stitchery first, just in case.

Guess what we had today? New snow! Mr. Pheasant made a lovely stitching pattern while I was in town.

Tomorrow is Spring Equinox, and we all have about 12 hours sunlight and 12 hours without it. After that, we will be racing towards longer days faster than the ones of you who live further from the North Pole. In a month our day is already 14 hours long, in two months about 17 and a half hours and at Midsummer our daylight time is 19 hours, and it is dark only little over an hour in the night.

December 1st

Two years ago I made an Advent calendar on my blog, posting at least a picture for every day until December 24th. This year I'm trying to do it again, with new pictures.

Here is the big Christmas tree in Järvenpää, photo taken yesterday at 4 in the afternoon when it was dark enough for the lights to show. They lit the lights on it last Saturday when the parade reached this square. The sun is working office hours at this time of the year, rising about at nine and setting at half past three in the afternoon.

Full Moon

Finally I caught the full moon last night after sewing class:

This was half past eight in the evening, and the moon was already small and high up in the sky. We had a last class before Christmas, and everyone brought something to share. We had hot Glögi (spiced black currant juice), blueberry pie and gingerbread with a chat, and only did a little sewing.

The sun is up for about 6 hours and 15 minutes today in Helsinki, so it is about the same here where I live. Up in the north the sun has set on November 25th and will rise again on January 17th for an hour. Around Christmas are the shortest days of the year, and the sun will be up for about 5 hours and 50 minutes. It helps to think that in six months the sun will be down just a little over 4 hours during the night.