Lucky me!

Yesterday was my birthday. The most exciting one since school days, because I had so many gifts waiting to be opened. Melanie had appointed Raggedy Andy as security guard to see everything was safe and sealed until the actual day. She even bribed him and his sister with new hats:

This is what they kept hidden from me:

Can you feel my excitement, and it is not like I was going to be 30 or 40  or 50, something to be celebrated big way? Just a simple birthday, getting one year older. How lucky I am to have so many friends who think of me! My daughter assisted me in opening everything, and the first one she gave me was from Anne Marie from Norway. She had made me a sewing folder with the most fashionable fabrics:

There are two zippered pockets, two big pockets and a place for pins and needles in the middle:

In one of the pockets were sweet buttons I only found later. She also sent me two lovely Christmas fabrics in red and gold:

I must think of a special Christmas project to use these. Thank you very much, Anne Marie!

The next package was from Washington, USA. Candace sent something for the whole family:

The fly-fishing magazine was of course for Mr. Kotkarankki, and there was a box of chocolates from her new home town the younger generation enjoyed with us. Look what Candace had been working at:

A string block table runner - for Stephanie's No Strings Attached challenge, but most of all for my coffee table to bring a feeling of spring in the middle of this snow. Isn't it pretty? She called it "Ulla's Spring Fling". Candace had also been busy with a summer embroidery:

It is on a towel so pretty I could use as a table cloth when sitting on the verandah and having strawberries with whipped cream. Thank you, Candace! I love the gifts.

At this point Kaija said that it seems like we made friends in the blog world so we could sew all the lovely things we love to sew and don't need ourselves (maybe because we already made one for home), or just know the other person would like to have it. At least I enjoy making the gifts I send to my friends. Somehow it is more fun to make it for someone else.

The next envelope was from Stephanie , also from the USA. She had wrapped everything in this beautiful fabric, "novo blossom" from The Alexander Henry Collection, in my colours.

Notice that she tied it with a flannel string! This is what was inside:

The folded brown flannel with sewing theme is a pillowcase for my warm sewing dreams. Two scented pouches for my linen drawer, a crocheted soft washcloth made by her own hands. Stephanie also included a package of snap-on grommets she recently demonstrated on her blog, and two packages of elegant coffee napkins from her days in Japan. Thank you, Stephanie! So sweet of you to send me all this.

Next we return to Europe and open Suzie's box. The Little Busy Bee from Germany had been busy sewing all this:

On the left is a protective cover for books, most useful for me because I carry a paperback in my handbag for train rides and waiting rooms, and not everyone needs to know that I read children's books in English! On top of the book cover is a pouch for paper hankies (the books sometimes make me a little sentimental). The curved thing on the right is a neck support with lightweight filling. I love the romantic fabric! It looked so cute last night on Mr. K's neck when he tried to stay awake in front of the TV, and it worked: his head didn't hang to either side and he looked like he was awake when he wasn't. Midsomer Murders with Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby have replaced Mr. Monk on Saturday evenings. Equally difficult to stay awake, and it is not even late. There can hardly be a group of villages with more violent deaths in England! - Back to Suzie's gifts, in the middle there is a goat's milk soap with lavender, and a bag full with chocolate Easter eggs. The ladybirds are also chocolate. Yum! Thank you Suzie, the gifts are lovely and beautiful!

Here I tested the book cover: It is adjustable for thick or thin books as long as the height is not too much to fit in the cover pocket.

Finally the last box to be opened. It was from England from Melanie, who had been sending me "not the proper gifts" before this, like black and white wool from Oxford along with chocolate, a book about the locations of the Swallows and Amazons books we both are reading, and a print of Rima's Väinämöinen sings a Ship which came together with the caps for Ann and Andy.

This is what I found in the box:

Let's have a closer look. There was a house for Mr. K and me:

 

The roof opens, and I can store sewing notions inside, even a small project. This will absolutely make our coffee table tidier!

Melanie also made a scarf for me:

She included the generous scraps of this fabric in the empty corners of the box (she must think my stash must be almost empty after I finish all the projects I have planned!). It is about time to change the winter scarves for lighter ones, even when the thicker coat is still necessary.

There was a collection of sewing notions from toy eyes to pins and needles, angel wings and perle thread:

 

Samples of pellon (I had never seen before) and Heat and bond  (I use all the time and keep forgetting the name in English). A pattern for a Button Autumn Angel, and fragrant stuffing, a thimble with Oxford escutcheon on it.

There were also pencils and a pen with the text Oxford University on it (how cool is that!), fragrant face wipes, some Body Shop Hemp Hand Protection Cream (my winter favourite), and special tissues for a runny nose - I was having a flu at the time some weeks back when she was putting all this together. Thank you, sweet friend for  all the gifts! I can just imagine Melanie appliqueing the house box and thinking of all the things she could pack in it to make me smile and giggle like her. The two coffee towels you can see in the first picture of this set.

I just love to receive things with a thought of me behind the choice. Every one of my blog world gifts was like that, and I'm happy to have found so many good friends from all over the world. If this net spreads wider, I will end up making gifts all year round!

Because it was a birthday, of course there was a cake. Because Kaija was  staying with us for a couple of days, she offered to bake the cake. Because it was for me, it was a chocolate cake. Raspberry Sacher cake, to be exact, with raspberries from FIL's garden (from our freezer). Because it was in our family, more than half of the cake was gone before I took a picture:

 

Kaija is a gifted baker: there are four layers in the cake. At her age and  for some years more I had to bake as many cakes as I needed layers! The cake was delicious, so crab a cup of coffee or tea and share the remaining bit with me. I wish some day I could do this for real!

This post was all about other people's doings. I still need to wait about a week to show my secret projects, so the next post will be about my cultural trip to Helsinki with Kaija.

By George, I've got it!

Big news from the tatting excercises. I think I've got it! The double stitch was like this when I asked my sewing class teacher for help:

My red crochet yarn is the dark green one in the book, so it should be covered by the blue if the stitches were OK. The blue stitches seem to be made by Anne.

This weekend I took the shuttle out again and paid really good attention to the tension of the left hand thread, this time a thinner, white thread I bought with the book. Look:

   

I would call them perfect little stitches! And making them made me no longer twist and turn and drop the shuttle. At this point Mr. K. said that I seemed to be doing the same moves as he does for his flies. I immediately remembered how I taught him to use two silk threads in different colours, and a small crochet hook, to make his fishing fly have a dark back and light underside. They just have the row of caps on both sides.

My success made me rush to lesson 2 this morning, and like I thought, the next step was not that difficult:

My first attempt to make a ring, and I think I've really got it! It tightened without difficulty, and now I can start learning to follow a pattern, to make picots, make rows of rings ...

Yesterday I had mail from Ireland. Some time ago I won a consolation prize for Heckecty's doggerel poetry challenge, and now the prize arrived.

A big bag of Jelly Babies, a crocheted brooch with a sweet little yo-yo and a flower shaped button, and a bookmark. I was happy to notice that the delicious jelly babies were not sticky at all, so I could have my share of them in spite of the brackets on my teeth. (I'm going to see the orthodontist again today, with no damage to the wires this time.) Thank you, Heather, it was a very nice prize for scribbling a few rhyming lines. The purple of the brooch matches some of my shirts just perfectly.

Hesitating spring

This time of the year seems to be a fight between winter and spring. The nights can be very cold, but during the day - longer every day -the sun sometimes wins and starts melting the snow. Cloudy days bring new snow, and again it evaporates in the air. Let me show you:

March 2nd, new snow

The squirrel, jay and titmouse share a breakfast.

Then came sunny days, all snow was gone from the trees. You can see the paths of hares on our front lawn on March 11th:

In the early hours of March 12th there was again new snow, a squirrel run by the front steps:

The apple tree was like lace:

That morning I heard the first shy song of the blackbird. No matter how cold the weather is or how much snow, when there is more light, the spring is coming and they must start thinking about nesting things.

I had a late Christmas present, and look how organized by sewing threads are now:

Of course I had to move them to the right of the sewing machine, so they are not in the way of my sewings. After my secret projects were sent away I could concentrate of the big wall hanging project again. Nothing much compared to what I have shown earlier, but I unpicked the row of houses, used Heat and bond for a nicer result, and now I have stitched the shadow wall of each house to make it look more real. I'm working on stitching the front area to make it look like a pavement, and then I need to think about windows and doors to make the coloured areas look like houses.

I have downloaded some basics of perspective drawing to help me with the windows and pavement stitching. (Would have been useful already with the houses!)

VTT 9 - Silver Kalevala jewelry

This week my blog seems to celebrate the Finnish Kalevala Jewelry, as I'm showing you the rest of my old pieces. I saved the silver ones for this week, and don't worry, I don't have any golden Kalevala jewelry so there will be something else here next time!

Let's start with three thin bracelets:

I like the simple, geometric patterns and the patina they came with - it's not that I forgot to polish them!

This other bracelet I had as a gift after confirmation school at age 15. It suits a young girl as well as someone older, and the simple decoration feels timeless. The bracelet is no longer produced, but the ring with this pattern is still on the list. The prototype for this pattern has been found in archaeological digs in Western Finland.

The last piece is a brooch my mother gave me when I was already grown up, it was hers a long time before that:

Again, the brooch is no longer produced but a similar pattern is used for earrings. The manufacturer's website gives no information of the origin of the pattern, but it is obviously an old symbol.

This was my story for today's Vintage Thingies Thursday. Suzanne is hosting, and I hope her link list is getting longer!

Happy VTT!

String Quilt progress, and more Kalevala jewelry

I have been busy with my String Quilt, and all 88 blocks are now joined, the borders cut from dark blue but not yet from the foundation fabric. I'm going to make the borders double layer, like the blocks are, because my border fabric is very light. I bought the batting and found the backing in my stash. This quilt participates in Stephanie's challenge, but especially my own: Use your stash - sew more so you can soon buy new fabrics!

This week I have a meeting so I can't go to class, but I will work on this later at home. I have some secret projects to finish first. They are so much fun, too bad I can't show you anything (yet).

In my last post I showed some of my old Kalevala jewelry. I often wear a new one, too, and it comes with a story.

The name of this pendant is Talon sydän, the heart of the house. This is a modern design, in the spirit of the ancient brooches and pendants. The little heart hanging inside the big one represents at the people of the house/home. I won this silver pendant as a second prize for a tactile book in a challenge by a Finnish sewing magazine Suuri Käsityölehti, and the Celia library for the blind. Unfortunately I have no pictures of my book, because I have misplaced the CD they were on. The name of the book was given, A Book of Secrets, and I wrote my own story and made the pictures for it. The book was donated to the Celia library.

This made me think of another challenge by that magazine where I was also lucky. The challenge was to make your own family tree using any method of textile handicraft. I didn't win this time either, but was one of the 2nd to 6th, together with my daughter Kaija. We all had the same prize, garden tools by Fiskars. The first prize was a golden Kalevala jewelry necklace, but I already had it in bronze, so the secateurs were welcome too! Here is our tree, with the three-dimensional leaves by Kaija:

I have embellished the tree with all kinds of things representing us, like the scissors for Kaija (she was very keen on sewing her own clothes at that time), the fishing fly for Mr. K (tied by him, of course) and the bicycle for his father and grandfather. I guess the laundry on the line is for all the women, with home-sewn clothes. Of course, all materials were from stash even then.  I hope my handicraft skills have improved a little during the years.

The weather today is sunny, it is getting really warm in the sun even when the temperature is in the freezing figures all day. The nights are still cold so the snow will stay for weeks. New snow in the forecast for the weekend! I will not be needing my garden tools in months!

VTT 8 - Bronze Kalevala jewelry

Thursday again, and time to dig up the vintage treasures. Sometimes I think there can't be anything worth showing any more, because I'm not an active collector, I don't go to places and buy new to me vintage thingies. Then I look around and see that practically everything here is vintage, because I'm old enough. Even our wedding presents are very soon to be counted as vintage.

This week I'm showing you some of my oldest bronze Kalevala jewelry, just because we celebrated the 175 years of  Kalevala on the 28th of February. Kalevala jewelry was originally based on archeological finds from around the 11th century and newer also. They are not exact copies, but always true to the spirit of the old finds. Usually they are made in bronze, silver and gold, often the gold version being smaller. Here is a video about the production.

This heart pendant is still produced, but mine is from my school days in the 60's. 1960's I mean.

The little brooch represents the sun.

And finally a bracelet, really dark now but this one is also bronze:

I just now remembered I also have another bronze bracelet, you can see the picture and the story here. Bracelets are not so easy to wear when you are doing something with your hands, so I keep forgetting about them. The pendants and brooches look not too festive in everyday use because the material is bronze. It is my favourite material for this kind of jewelry.

I hope I didn't bore you to death with all this history info, I sometimes get a little carried away. More fun finds are listed at Suzanne's blog Coloradolady. Happy VTT!

Stash use report of February

The short month of February is over and it is time to look back and see what happened with my stash. First of course I confess my sins: I bought 8.1 m new fabrics. Stash was also added by donated fabrics, but they don't count. Only when they are used! This is my challenge and I get to make the rules!

How much stash did I use during February? First, two more pillowcases for Jackie's challenge, 2.8 m, and 4 little ninepatch blocks for Illene's quilt. So little fabric that I can't add it.

One bedsheet for DS2, 2 m.

For Stephanie's No Strings Attached challenge, the remaining 60 string blocks, using 3 m for the foundation fabrics and when you think of the amount of seam allowances, at least 4 m for the strings. At least. Now I have 88 blocks, and I can start sewing the top together.

For the wallhanging project - too much unpicking to show any progress - I used 1 m from my stash for the foundation under the houses. The main project fabrics are not my stash.

For a secret project I have used another 1 m.

That makes a total of  13.8 m fabrics used from the stash, and even with the big 8.1 m shopping, the stash is 5.7 m smaller than last month. (I'm still not counting the donated fabrics, because I didn't buy them!) I think it is a good result, considering that all I could finish was two more pillowcases and a sheet.

My tatting excercises are waiting for a clearer head - I still feel dizzy after last week's flu. I have been knitting, too, on smaller needles after the felted mittens.

With March we start waiting for the spring. During the weekend we finally had above zero temperatures, and the snow started to slide from the roofs. This was our garage early this morning:

 

On the left you can see where Mr. K. has showeled snow away, from the higher roof it came down last night except for the corner bit trying to look like a curtain.

To celebrate the first month of Spring I changed the snowman panel for the bird panel on this cushion sweet Melanie sent me for Christmas. It has a new panel for every season of the year.

 

It will be quite a while before the apple trees bear blossoms, or even the bird cherries. In fact, this weekend was the first snowman weather since December! But the light is here already, a promise of spring and summer.

EDIT: I forgot the draught stopper, 1.5 m fabric from stash, making total February stash fabric use 15.3 m!