Linnea 'Ea' quilts...

Ever since I got my sewing machine back - oh, yes, I had to get it serviced - I've taken the time to try and come up with projects that would reduce the amount of scrap fabrics that I've collected. So far, I've sewn small purses and simple handbags out of some of it, but there is (actually, now there was) a lot of old clothes I haven't had heart to throw away because the fabric was still good etc. A whole plastic bag, containing mainly scrap fabrics in assorted boring colors. Most of them are old T-shirts. I sewed zippers into all of the covers, since they would be way much easier to wash that way.

Just in case I later on write a blog post about using the things I bought, and to get av overview of the costs. 6 skeins of Garnstudio's Drops Paris (13,50 euros)* 1 free ticket to Billnäs bruks Antiques fair** 1 free ticket to Fiskars Antiques fair*** small silver ring (5 euros)*** Clover rotary cutter (45 mm) (15 euros) Hammer (8,50 euros ) and anvil (16 euros) small bag with random chosen orange beads (2 euros) brown wooden beads (2 euros) 3 sunflower buttons and one metal clasp (1,85 euros) black satin cord (4,50 euros)**** silver wire and tiger-tail wire (last one missing from pic!) *from Lankatalo Tapio, needed to finish a forever-WIP ** thank you, random book dealer *** thank you Bowallen Antique! Lankabaari Omakoru Näpsäkkää Helmisatama random antiques dealer with a suitcase filled with old buttons ****Yes, black! Thank you, Charlotta/Askarelli! Can't wait to get that forever-WIP (a blue shawl) finished, and to try out that Clover quilting tool. I'm sure it...

Browsing through my feeds at Google Reader, I noticed that o h no, someone didn't like their fair  (the post is in Swedish and about "Symässan", the Sewing fair held in Malmö, Sweden). How sad! Although, most of hte things she's written is true about fairs in general (everything about the fair, like tickets and parking, is too expensive, and there's too few vendors with 'good' and 'good-value' products). Good thing I did though. Like the Turku Arts, Crafts and Antiques fair, that is. Only thing I didn't like was the price of the tickets (12 bloody euros!), so it was good that we in the Turku Ravelry group had managed to somewhat (heh! :P ) coordinate us and get in as a group. That way, it was only 8,40 euros. It was fun to walk around with Ulrika and Fredrik - I learnt a lot about 'antique' Finnish handicrafts (mostly glass and silver) that way. They collect (well, I think it's mainly Ulrika's passion, but they're both i...

Last Saturday, I was getting myself ready to go with Micke to Axelbandet's yearly concert. Since it just happened to be Earth hour at the same time... and since I think the concept of reducing the amount of electricity you spend an important one... I showered and put my make up on in candle light . Now I know why traditional 16-18th century make up is so gaudy - it's not easy to apply a subtle amount of make up if you only have candle light. I overdid my rouge. Although no one said anything about it at the concert. And on a more personal note: even though the idea  of reducing you energy consumption is a noble one... the fact that even though the house was dark and I showered, made up and got dressed by candle light.... Micke was still playing World of Warcraft on his computer. Such hypocrisy. And I showered - in warm water. More hypocrisy. That's why it's important to reduce your overall use of energy every day. I'm right, aren't I Tove ? I'm so not...

What can it be? Ah, heart shaped breakfast rolls. What should I decorate them with... eney miney moe! Into the oven they go! Mmmmm... smells delicious! With sunflower seeds. With caraway. Or with linseed. I know I shouldn't bake bread (because of the diet), but I just wanted to do it so badly. And who knows, maybe I've inspired you to use ginger bread cutters while baking ordinary bread?

Turku Ravelry goes to Turun Kädentaitomessut :) To everyone who's interested, we're going this Saturday at 10 a.m. Meet up with us either at the buss that's leaving at 09:40 a.m. from the bus stop outside Turku's Orthodox Church  or at about 10 a.m. by the ticket office inside Turku Congress Center. We'll be happy to have you :) The reduced price for members of a group is 9 euros, instead of 12 euros (full price). Remember to bring a large enough bag with you, if you want to carry your own jacket and not pay 2 euros for cloak room storage.

Argh, to many skeins and bobbles to keep track of! - my original comment about this non-fave I consider myself to be more of a crocheter (a hooker, if put correctly. Yeah, you go ahead and laugh, but apparently it's a word used to describe oneself in crocheting circles) than a knitter.  There's nothing wrong about knitting, but I still like crocheting more. But, there are still a few things that you can't learn to do without resorting to needles. Knitting needles, not the other kind. In light of this non-fave, I decided to try my hand at making the Totoro mittens I've seen knitted at least once on the Nekku and/or Turku Ravelry knit-meets. Riikka made one pair in lovely soft dark merino wool, and she had made a pair in green wool too . And since they were so lovely, I really wanted a pair of my own. So little left! Only a few more rows! This was how far I had gotten on Monday the 15th. I was so proud, and more than a little impatient to loose my "knitted ...

My boyfriend's student association Infå (it's the one for the computer science students) celebrated their 30th year with a grand party at Åbo Akademi University's Student Association's House "Kåren" this weekend. Me, Micke, and about 70 other people attended, dressed to the teeth in formal evening wear. I was 'representing' the student association "Otakt" at this event, which meant that I gave a 'birthday' present from Otakt to Infå. I even held a little gift speech, clutching Otakt's mascot "Odjuret" in one of my hands for mental support. I'm not sure, but it could have been the first time "Odjuret" has been to one these gatherings. As a jaunty ploy, he worked splendidly. The party in itself was great, even though we didn't get any midnight snacks at the nachspiel. That was the first time that has happened, but the organizers had managed to get a live band to play, so I kinda forgave them immediat...

Even more needles, and I can feel them creeping in under my nails! - original comment about this Well... where to start? As mentioned before , I talked with Maria . Thanks to her, I did get to borrow - not one but - two embroidery hoops. The sizes of these actually defined how the embroidery turned out in the end, since I actually didn't have that much  pre-planned for this project. Oh, had made a few sketches in my notebook, and read up on embroidery in the book " Bonniers Stora bok om Broderi" . It's a really  good book, I might add. A summary of the history of embroidery, pictures of different techniques, and example projects - this book is really extensive. I couldn't have done this project without it. One of the embroidery hoops. Well, about the projects. I had made two knitting project-bags (just regular bags that are supposed to hold your knitting when you lay it aside for a while) out of some spare fabric I once bought from IKEA. The hoops fit thes...

In January, I posted a list with all my personal crafts "non-faves". For those of you thinking "huh?", this is an excerpt of what I wrote then: These "non-fave" things are supposed to be things and techniques that you yourself haven't yet wanted to try out , because of lack of time/childhood traumas/other personal reasons etc. The reason for the list is that YOU are supposed to try out these techniques during this year, and see if they were as bad/awful/Armageddon as you imagined them to be. I'll be posting more about my non-faves (see the list here and below) soon, so stay tuned. You'll be able to find them under the tag " the none-faves of '11 ". Fair-isle knitting and Intarsia Doily(-crocheting) Cross stitching Embroidery Cernit-clay sculpting Seed pearl beadwork

On my brother's blog, he posted today a short note on how he definitely should clean up the trash box on his computer more often. While reading this, I glanced on the YLE-widget he has in the right column. Today's print screen. Follow the red arrow. While the people in Japan desperately fight to save peoples lives and stop their nuclear reactors from going into meltdown, and the people of Libya are fighting for their lives, Finland's railway corporation announces that they'll be lowering the prices of 30-day tickets (by 20 %). Oh, the irony of news.

Ah, how a trip of 30 min in the library can turn into a few hours of reading bliss at home. I'll just put them up on my "Borrowed from the Library"-list on LibraryThing, and then I get to see if the same authors have any other interesting books. I so love reading. Especially things of "no great importance", to quote my dear father. Dancing shoes-bag, library books, and all the other things a girl has in her handbag. Above, said things, only wet. Meeh. Crappy photo, I know, but what can you do, when you get home at 20:30 and you're soaked from the slush-rain that decided to prolong winter for a few days more? I'm sorry books, I know you're wet, but I'll dry you right away. Nobody likes crinkly pages.

In January, I posted a list with all my personal crafts "non-faves". For those of you thinking "huh?", this is an excerpt of what I wrote then: These "non-fave" things are supposed to be things and techniques that you yourself haven't yet wanted to try out, because of lack of time/childhood traumas/other personal reasons etc. The reason for the list is that YOU are supposed to try out these techniques during this year, and see if they were as bad/awful/armageddon as you imagined them to be. Well, since spring is on its way soon (I hope, even though it started raining slush as we all walked home from dance practice), and I hope to actually get some of these techniques off my chest, I did some planning regarding the non-fave list.  Tove, remember our 'talk' (more like write :P) about lists ? Mom's embroidery book (which I gratefully borrowed). Do note the amount of micro-post its' on the pages. I like to make my "research...

Oh dear, oh dear. This is a true challenge. And, since I've so far missed/bummed out on nr 2 (wool), and nr 4 (lace), I simply MUST find something to do for this one. The theme this time is "The colors of spring". See the picture below. The colors of spring. Truly, really, absolutely not the colors I would normally use (more like never!) for a project, but... We'll see. Will post more after some brainstorming.

I've just realized that there's no way at all all for me to participate with the fourth MaMa-challenge. Since this is the last day for that particular challenge, and bit too late for me to finally "find" something to contribute with, I must simply throw in the metaphorical towel and fold. You see, this time I 'failed' because of 3 things: I didn't get my sewing machine back until today. I could have gotten it back last week, but I got the flu last Tuesday. And I just couldn't ask Micke to go and fetch it for me, no no no, that would have been too degrading. I can actually picture such a scenario: " Honey, could you get my sewing machine from the shop 8 blocks form our house? It weighs a ton. And btw you're not allowed to put it down on the ground while you walk home, because I don't want it to get dirty. Oh, and it will cost you 95 euros. "  If only I had cleaned up my stash of fabrics before today. That way, I would have found th...