2nd Anniversary Giveaway

Today is the day. Two years ago I wrote my first blog post, and soon I noticed that I had entered a whole new world full of nice people, brilliant ideas, beautiful pictures, inspiration, challenges, treasures and great friends. (If you are curious to know about the name of my blog, it is explained in the second half of that first post.) To celebrate the two first years I'm having a giveaway. Like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I wanted the giveaway be like me and my blog. Therefore I'm giving away an apron,
A) because I wear aprons every day,
B) because it is vintage from the 60's
C) because it was an UFO I inherited from my mother
D) because it is recycled: my mother started making it from a summer dress she had sewn for my grandmother

I finished it last night, and here it is:

What is even more typical of me is that I misplaced the second item I was going to give away, the Stitchers' Angels rose string bag. If I find it during the weekend, it will go to someone as well.

To replace the missing gift I pulled some Marimekko scraps from my endless stash. I will give two sets, and the first winner to answer my e-mail gets to choose. The one set is blue:

The other set is green:

I will be away in a meeting almost all day, so you have all day to participate. I will draw the winners tomorrow  and contact them by e-mail for the mailing address. You have one ticket for every post you have commented on since the beginning of my Advent Calender. No-reply comments don't count.

Thank you for being there.

New Projects

This year I'm starting my Christmas preparations early. I have already packed the Christmas ornaments and lights in such a way that they can easily be taken to use when the time comes. I suppose vacuuming the house doesn't count, at this time of the year, as a Christmas preparation. But I have started a stitching project I admired on many blogs last year, A Christmas Wish by Gail Pan Designs. I altered the pattern a little, translating the words into Finnish. The first block is Love:

And the second one is Merry:

Believe it or not, but I have finished a third one too (there is SO much snooker for Mr. K on Eurosport!), the original word is Joy:

This is a perfect project for TV programs you don't need to see at all, just listen and when it sounds intresting, you can look up and see what is going on. Crocheting and knitting are better for watching Grey's Anatomy or CSI or Rebus. Spooks is too exciting to do anything else but watch. America's Next Top Model is my ironing program only.

Yesterday was my first sewing class of the year, and I stitched the binding and sleeve on my Country Calendar quilt. Hand sewing the binding will be my evening project of the weekend. I also cut some pillowcases and tested the 20 Minutes Pillowcase pattern. Stephanie of Loft Creations gave here a challenge for this project for the Hole in The Wall Gang. Jackie of Canton Village Quilts is organizing a giant donation of pillowcases for all the kids who go to the Summer Camp. Follow the links to read more and see if you could make a pillowcase for them as well. It would be a nice way to use up your stash, at least I see it that way. I have not yet finished my pillowcase, but there will be pictures later!

Come by tomorrow and see what my 2nd Annniversary Giveaway is about. The winners will be drawn and announced on Sunday 17th.

Winter Views and Giveaway Plans

Yesterday we had an amazing day. The temperature climbed up some 15 degrees to -7 C (20 F), which is most pleasant. It was not snowing, but the humidity in the air formed ice crystals everywhere.

Thick frost covered every tree. The wind had blown snow away from the oaks and birches at the station, but now they were dressed in white again.

A closeup of their lace pattern:

And finally a look across the tracks to the other side.

You may remember that in December I promised a giveaway for my blog's second anniversary. That will be on Saturday the 16th. I will be giving away a string bag with rose embroidery, and after some hard thinking I found another gift which very much represents me and my blog. It is a vintage, recycled apron which is still in UFO state! Like this one I made for myself:

The one to be given away will have a different bib and pockets, but the fabric is the same, recycled from my Grandmother's summer dress. I'd better get started with the sewing! I mean to give it away completed and ready to use.

The winners will be drawn from the comments from the beginning of my Advent Calendar posts up to Saturday 16th of January at 18.00 my time. Each comment counts as long as it is not a no-reply one.

Contry Calendar BOM Quilt, with borders now

Thank you everyone for your opinions about the sashings for this quilt. I looked again at the fabrics in good daylight and decided to use the oatmeal colour B. Every colour was voted for, but B looked best with the  dark olive floral print of the corner stones and the yellow-brown-black of the border.

It took me two days to finish the quilt top. First I ironed the seam allowances of the corner squares the wrong way and the corners didn't meet with the sashings. Rip off and do it again. Then I noticed that I had sewn three rows of four blocks instead of four rows of three, and had to rip again. And sew again. It is not always easy being so stupid.

This white azalea is the last one to show of my Christmas flowers. I'm glad I took the photo, because my usual thing happened: I couldn't keep it alive. I always water too little or too much, and to be honest I don't even know what went wrong this time. The  blossoms have withered, the green leaves fall on the table and all I can do is take it to the compost.

Luckily the beauty lasted over two weeks, and most of the buds opened.

Did you notice the new button in my sidebar? Stephanie has issued a challenge No strings attached on her blog. You only have until the 15th to sign in, all the rules are in that link. The idea is to use up your stash for a string block project to be completed by June 30th. It is not a swap, you sew for your own use, and your project can be any size from table runner to big quilts. If you are interested, follow the link and sign in! I think this is a nice way to help us all get rid of our little scraps of fabric and reduce our stash.

VTT 1 - Lace Shuttle

Welcome to the new year of VTT! Suzanne has created a new badge for us. My older Vintage Thingies Thursday posts will remain listed under the old badge, and a new list will be started under this button on my sidebar.

I will start the year by showing the most wonderful Christmas gift I received from big sister P. She handed forward some family heirlooms she has received from our mother years ago, and I will leave them someday for my daughter. The goodies came in this box:

This is what was inside:

Great Aunt Saima's tatting shuttle, with some lace she has tatted, a tiny hook with a ring for your finger, and a small pair os scissors. I have posted about this lace before, and I thought I had a shuttle I couldn't find. I still think I may have one, because I'm thinking of a slightly different shuttle. This one is silver, with Saima's nick name engraved. I'm so happy to have this set. Thank you, P. Big hugs!

To help me use the shuttle, P gave me also a book about women's own handicrafts:

     

There is a chapter about tatting lace:

All I need now is to take the book and the shuttle, and start working.

By the end of the day I should have something like this finished:

Only kidding! I have never tried this, and I think it would take me weeks to make a simple lace like in the first picture.

Suzanne is showing some vintage Christmas ornaments, and the list of links to other VTT blogs.

We have a real winter

Here are some pictures I took on Monday on my walk to the station. The clouds promised more snow, and there has been  so much of it, always in the early morning hours. For many years we have not had a real winter like this, and usually the most snow comes in January and February.

 

The sun can already make icicles, when the temperature is not too low.

 

On a little market square in Järvenpää they had not yet removed the snow plowed from  the pedestrian area, so the children had a lovely mountain to climb and slide down.

This is something I have sewn for Christmas presents. The pattern is from Helen, Hugs n' Kisses, the first project in her Stitcher's Angels 2009 project. I didn't participate, but I loved the pattern. The yellow and purple ones were given as Christmas presents, and the middle one will be in my blog's 2nd anniversary giveaway on January 16th.

Today was the traditional day to take out the tree, and as you can see, it was time to do it!

Usually I take a bin bag and my garden secateurs, cut the tree in the living room and bring it out in the bag. No needles on the floor on the way out. This year we wanted to put the tree in the back yard so the birds can have a shelter closer to the feeder. The temperatures have been low for a long period, the coldest morning this week was -26C  or -14.8F

My Christmas amaryllis, a newcomer in the Christmas flower selection, is a lovely white one. These are the first flowers to open.

Help me with the sashings

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm still in holiday mood, but trying to get started with this year's projects. First I want to share with you some pictures of our Christmas flowers. Poinsettias are nowadays still one of the most popular Christmas flowers. They are even called  joulutähti, which means Christmas Star in Finnish.

   

  

What I really needed to show today is my Country Calendar quilt blocks. I need to choose sashings for the quilt to go on with the project, and I would appreciate your help here. The block borders will be only 1 cm wide, like the strip between the picture and the name of the month. The sashings will be 3 cm, with corner stones. I placed my blocks on three candidate fabrics, but you can suggest anything else as well. This is alternative A, a light blue solid:

B is a greyish beige with a stripy print:

And C is a greenish brownish print with a very small pattern:

The corner stones could be in one fabric or different ones. Ellie's Photo Gallery shows some finished quilts but they have not used so many colours for the block borders as I have.

Hyacinths were the Christmas flowers from my childhood, and their scent still means Christmas for me. I planted some bulbs in honey jars for our staircase. Every time I climb the stairs I get to smell a bit of childhood.

So what do you say, A) blue, B) beige, C) green/brown or D) your own suggestion?