house

I like this house.

by the water

Lazy warm summer days ... Well, maybe not so much. I'm working during the day, but the evenings by the water next to our house, oh my. We've lived here for three months now and I love love love being that close to both the lake (photo) and the sea.

Here I go the evening walk with Zam:


And guess what I'll be doing this summer ...

thrifting

Lovely weekend and lovely early summer days. Eating fruit in the garden, delicious icecream in city and walking by the water. Yesterday I went to a flea market and I did find some great stuff. But on my way from the market to a shop I passed by a small yard sale. Most of the things had belonged to an old lady it I found really good things for a really good price. I'm seldom lucky when it comes to flea markets, but this time I was.

earrings

Tomorrow's my friend's birthday and I made her some earrings.
The photos are quite bad, but, well, here they are ...

wip again

Last weekend was the baptise of my nephew Lukas and this weekend ... I've just been relaxing ... Or, hm, rather the opposite: I've been working in the garden. However, that is kind of relaxing for me. Just me and my dog at home, everything calm and quite and in our own pace. I have been crafting a bit, but, as before, it's my WIP and I still have no finished results to show you. I was crocheting a bit yesterday evening and today I continued this:




To see photos from my garden, you can go here.

vegetables

It's not that I don't do anything, not that I don't craft. It's just ... that I haven't finished anything ... yet. Everything is a WIP (work in progress).

Like this one:


Or this one (we'll grow vegetables):

Spring weather and book reading

Spring is in the air, flowers in bloom.

In a book swap I got those wonderful things from my friend Fillan:


And this is what I sent her:

another WIP

Work in progress, a slow progress ;-)
Sewing, sewing, sewing.

atc

Yesterday evening I sat down and made some atcs (since I had, earlier that day, found alphabetstamps and wanted to try them in some way). Earlier (before my time on flickr) I used to make a lot of atcs, but now I haven't made any for a very very long time. It seems I've lost it a bit ... lost my ability ... or how to say. But if I keep doing some more, I'm sure it'll come back. In any case, I had a good time making those.

I wasn't sure what would be the best, to scan them or to use my camera. In the scanner some shimmering and subtile effects of the paper and stamps was lost or almost lost. I tried to capture that on a photo instead. But ... the scanned atcs look more bright and happy, I think. Which one do you prefer, scanned och photographed?

Scan:


Photo:

like a summer day

It's been a wonderful weekend with summer temperatures, sunshine, flowers in bloom, long walks in the forest and by the water ... Not so much crafting, not any organizing in the house at all ... but who cares ... I'm crocheting a bit and I washed some fabric that I'll turn into a baby blanket, but when the sun is shining and the birds are singing, I prefer being outside, in the garden, working, photographing, being lazy.

Here's a frog I met today:


He, or she, doesn't live in our garden. But in our garden we have birds and butterflies and quite often two deers are visiting us.

some more yarn

Yesterday I visited a new shop ... and came out with some more yarn. Did I need any? No? Yes! I always need yarn! Of course ;-)
I love this organic cotton.

Now I have to crochet. Really really have to. The yarn is crying "Maria, coooome, coooome". So, I have to go.

spring is coming, is here

I really like it here in our new place. It's so close to Stockholm (not more than 20 minutes by bus), but still out in the nature, surrounded by trees and water. I have been knitting a bit, crocheting and I've made some cards. But I can't remember where I saved those photos.

Spring is here, however they say cold weather will come tomorrow ... :( But next weekend, it'll be even more sunny and warm than it's been lately! I hope they're right.

I have created a blog which is about enjoying the small things in my every day life. You can visit it here.

My little nephew, Lukas.

I'm back!

I finally have the internet again! Hurray!!

in our new house ...

... everything is just fine. except that we don't have the internet yet. it seems it'll take a while :-( i can check my email and so from work, but it's not so good to write on my blog here. so i'll only write this.

i'll be back with a lot of things to show you. but it may take a little while.

oh, and yesterday evening i got a little nephew. i don't know his name yet. :-)

good or not

There's no secret I love crafting, creating, making things. Like many other crafters I also like giving away some of the things I make. And I think I'm not the only one asking myself questions like "is it good?", "is it good enough?", "do I think it's cute just because it took me so long making it, or because it is cute?" etc. I don't ask that for every single thing I make, no no, and for the things I make for myself I don't even care whether it's good or nice or ... quite ugly, as long as I'm happy with it. The problem comes when I'm about to give someone something I've made.

Not everything I make is nice, or beautiful, or good, or cute. That's a fact, and it's not so strange. Some things does turn out better than other. Sometimes I make mistakes. Sometimes an idea seemed much better in my thoughts than in reality. However, sometimes it takes time to judge your own things, like you have to put it away for ... a year? at least! Sometimes I ask Magnus, but to be honest he isn't the best to judge either. I tend to appreciate handmade things - to recieve too - so much that I sometimes wonder whether I like them not only because I find them beautiful, but much because I know how much work and time there is behind them. When giving away something I want it to be something ... nice. Of course. But sometimes it's hard to tell whether the thing I just made is cute, or it just seems so to me but when I think of it I made something similar when I was ten and I didn't like it then but my grandparents did because I was ten and not ... almost 27.
I do know that some things I make are appreciated gifts by some people. Still, I'm sometimes afraid of giving away something I made. Afraid that they wont like it and either put it away where no one can see it or use it just to be nice to me. I can't blame them, not everyone loves handmade stuff, but sometimes I'd like to know will this little creature or this necklace be happy in its new home?. (Otherwise perhaps it could stay here with me.) If I put a lot of time and love and money in making something for someone, then I don't want them to hide it in their deepest wardrobe.
I guess the solution is to give things to people I know will appreciate it (but how will I know that?) and to give away only my best things (but then, again, how can I tell?). I'm sure I'm not the only one struggling with this from time to time, or are you all confident with everything you make, and that the ones you give it to will love it? Then, please, tell me the secret ;-)

link link

Since I'm not crafting so much at the moment, I'll give you some links instead. And by the way, not being able to craft as much as I want to always give me so many ideas. When putting all my craft stuff in boxes I find things that I haven't used for a while, or had almost forgotten about. I want to try this, do that, ... I have to be patient ;-)
Now, links. I'll begin with
Photos
*Have you met Eva? This blog is in Swedish, with photos of the nature and of her daily life in Bromölla (southern Sweden). Since she's a good writer, too, I guess this blog is more interesting for those of you who understand Swedish. But go check out it anyway ;-)
*More Swedish photos here: Annelito's photo diary, more Swedish photos and more cats and Monkeygirl's photoblog.
*Gregory Colbert makes beautiful photos of people and animals. That was a boring description, but I think you too will fall in love with the little boy reading to the elephant.
*If you haven't seen Tisha McCuiston's photon yet, you should do it now ;-)
*This group at Flickr, Íslenskir ljósmyndarar - Icelandic photographer, is a treasure.

No more photolinks today, now we need some crafty stuff, right?
*Gunnels blog. She's a quilter and an embroider.
*Sigga Sif, rndnrnd we knit :-D
*Izabella's Tattered Letters.
*Sparrowgoods' journal.
*angry chicken.
*Norththreads.

from his point of view

Today I'm feeling a little bit better, but this week I've been too tired even for crafting. All I've done is a little bit of crochet, in bed! I've been drinking tea, and tea, and tea ... Outside it's cold and every day it's been snowing. Zam, who loves snow, must think I'm the most boring person ever now, not wanting to play with him for hours in the snow ... Look how bored he is!

But we have looked out through the window together, I don't know what is so interesting, but interesting it is (if you ask Zam).

being at home

I'm home from work with a sore throat, fever and everything. Did I have time for this? No. But well, there's not so much to do about it, except resting in the sofa with hot tea + honey and a cozy dog (who, by the way, stole my pillow while I was making myself some soup for lunch). I'm reading a little bit, sleeping a bit, not doing so much else. Yesterday afternoon I had a bit more energy and painted/collaged a "sign". Today it's been snowing and quite dark so the photo is a bit dark and since I'm using my laptop ... well, Photoshop and this computer, they don't get along very well. So to say. Anyway, this painting-collage-kind of thing is a bit messy, but it was fun making it. It's an old saying written on it, a kind of rhyme, that my grandma used to have (and still has? I don't remember) over the entrance door of their house. I'm not good at translating, but it's saying something like "Be a friend of the house when you enter, and be in the same [state of mind?] when you leave" (sorry, my English isn't the best ...). I really like it and for many years I have had this message on my door (although I'm not sure anyone noticed). Now I made a big sign instead ;-)


I'm not feeling a bit better now than in the morning - actually it's getting worse for each day - so I'll have to stay at home from work tomorrow too. Today I've been too tired to craft, but maybe tomorrow I can knit a bit? I hope so. Zam is still on my pillow, dreaming 'cause his legs are moving. It's not fun going out in the snow for a dog walk when having the fever, but it's worth it because he's the best company when I'm home and tired all day.

how to bake

1. Mix all the ingredients. Try not to step on or fall over your dog when you move around in the kitchen. Ignore the dog eyes that say "I soooo want to taste". Ask the dog to move a bit while you put the muffins in the oven.

2. Make the frosting. Taste it. Ignore that your dog thinks you are unfair not giving him anything. Tell him to walk on four legs, not on two. Tell him to keep his tongue in his mounth.

3. Okay, okay.

the mess in here

Busy busy ... our flat looks like a ... complete mess. Boxes, bags, things, things and more things ... everywhere. I have a lot of crafty ideas and projects, for me and for you, hopefully in springtime there will be time for it.