Welcome to the world

Here he is, my brand new great nephew:) In a small family, even becoming a great aunt is a big thing. He took his time arriving, and caused his mom and dad a little trouble, but now he is here. Healthy and beautiful.


According to his proud father (my nephew) his eyes are so blue that they shine like something metallic:) And his grandad (my brother) had to swipe away a tear when he met him the first time. My unemotional brother:)

I look forward to get to know this new person as he grows up. And to observe these new things happening among my nearest. Both will be interesting. And fun:) We all so desperately need something good and positive in our family now, after cancer scares, relationship break ups and two counts of dementia - all in this last year. Now we want to concentrate on something small, gorgeous and positive. Our little prince. Welcome to the world:)

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Until Easter

There is a Christmas song here in Scandinavia that tells us Christmas lasts until Easter. And this year it has! My last Christmas gifts (almost) were given away last week. She wanted a black quilt. I found this pattern in a magazine, and just did a little color switch.


I split between three 'color ways'. The grey with black in one corner, pure black in the middle, and then black patterned in the other corner. Hard to see the details, but it turned out pretty good, if I should say it myself:)





Yeah, still snow here. Still very cold, too. In the middle of March. Sigh


I tested out another block before I found the other, but found this to be a little too much work. But it made a nice pillow to go with the quilt.

Looking at the pillow like this, I am amazed at how straight the pattern is. I always struggle with small pieces, but this seemed to have just fallen in place. You can sometimes be amazed at what you can actually produce:)

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Such a long time

I have been working like a busy bee crafting since long before Christmas. Not shown a lot of it, since several of them have still not transferred ownership. However, next week will hopefully see a few of them out of my house!


Here's the smallest ones. I finally broke down and made purses... It was fun. There might be more of these in the future:)

The quilt will be shown next week. Just in case she reads my blog:)

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What ever time that will suit you

My great nephew can arrive any day now. Though, it's still a few weeks left. But the gift to welcome him into this world, is taking over my bed to be blocked. The only thing left is to sew on the backing.



That one.... I am not so sure about... I will have to figure something out. But as the lady who knows these things said, we don't want little fingers to get caught in the threads on the backside. I got the softest grey flannel.

The idea comes from this blogger.

She based it on a pattern for mittens, these ones.

And then she got the designer to expand the pattern, so that it covers a slightly larger area than a mitten:) nice of her:)



I thought it would be harder than it was, to follow a pattern like this, but it was surprisingly easy. Well, a few mistakes here and there, but still:)

Other than that, I am a fourth day of a flu..ish thing. My throat does not feel good. Sigh. Work again on Monday. We shall see how that works out.

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Dark illusions

I just finished a latish Christmas gift. A black and grey striped scarf...


that looks slightly more sinister when you slightly change the angle :)


I think this has been the most fun knitting I have done in a while. The illusion grew as I knitted.


Front

.
Backside.

Not sure if the recipient will ever use it, but he will definitely enjoy it:)

Pattern from Ravelry, Mark's Skull Illusion Scarf

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How I spent November and December

All gifts have now been received, so I can finally share how I spent the last two months. Apart from my job, that is.


A penguin Christmas hanging for my niece.


Two Bridgewater shawls, one for my mom and another one for my SIL.

My goddaughter was born on the second day of Christmas, which here in Norway means 26th of December. This year she turned 18! When do they stop getting older? Sigh. So yesterday I was there for the family celebration. Lovely, as always:) she got her first sewing machine this Christmas. Can't wait to see here creations:)

I had found a lovely Norwegian knitting, Jorid Linvik, and went wild with her mittens.


The text is the snow-song from Winnie the Pooh, in Norwegian.


Angel for an angel:)


I made these for her mom. The moose is the same as we have on out traffic signs, watch out for crossing moose:)

I also made this Leftie scarf for the 18 year old. Yarn bought at Fancy Tiger crafts in Denver. Fun store. Madeleinetosh. Gorgeous yarn.


Colors a little wrong.


This is closer.

So, now it is just three delayed gifts left. No, I am wrong.... Six. Goodness.... I really should start earlier. Or give myself a year off making gifts...

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My Japanese garden

Here is it finally. My Japanese garden. Japanese because all the fabric is Japanese, and garden because these flowers are normally called my grandmothers garden.


1946 hexagons, all hand sewed together into 247 flowers.


I ended up machine quilting it. It was a big and heavy quilt to drag through my sewing machine, but it was all done for love, and with a lot of love:)

My aunt and uncle have been my reserve parents, giving me all the positive backing and feedback I did not get at home, for various reasons. They were also, and still are, the most fun and adventurous people I know. Being the only one in my family who even wanted to travel, and live, outside our little village, I always felt I was strange and weird. Except with aunt and uncle, who always travelled and had exotic stories to tell.

I hope to be as energetic, lively and adventurous as they are when I turn 70. So this quilt is to celebrate 50 years of marriage, and turning 70 years old in a very young way. Congrats, baron and baroness:)


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