Two small persons…

.. sporting their new bags on a trip to the shops.

According to their mother, they want to bring their bags everywhere they go, – even to bed at night.

They both let go of the bags when riding the carousel though.

Eldrid

Two small bags…

… for two small persons.

Very strong and lively colours compared to the black-blue-white winter landscape outside.

Cat bag has fish on the inside, while the fish bag has cats on its inside.

Hmm, – I wonder if the recipients will be able to actually find their things after they have been put into these bags.

Eldrid

Kicksled

In the comments section of my previous post, there was a question about the English term for “sparkstøtting” .

I posted the question in an online quilting forum, and soon received an answer: kicksled.

When knowing what to look for, I also found an article in Wikipedia about kicksleds.

The spelling can also be kick sledge.

Hurray for quilting communities, – they are always very helpful

Eldrid

Winterland

Happy new year to everybody.

We spent a few days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve visiting family members and extended family.  This involved driving through two counties on snowy and icy roads.

We had some snow over Christmas, and on the day we left to return home, it was snowing even more. My husband was driving this time, so I could spend the 170 kilometer long trip, plus two ferry rides, taking photos.

When driving, the scenery shifts all the time, so I filled my memory card with more than 600 photos. Of course, most of them were rubbish since we could not stop for every scene I wanted to shoot, and also the light was not very good most of the time.

However, I found some that I liked, even though most of them were shot through the windscreen or the side window.

We had some spells of heavy snowing, but early in the day there was a bit of light shining through the cracks in the clouds now and then:

For a large part of this journey, the road is winding along the shores of islands and fjords:

…….. and there are also ferry crossings. This is the first of two:

The combination of snowy landscape and water is quite fascinating:

Soon the road winds upward, – we have to cross a mountain pass:

Luckily there is not a lot of snow yet.

At the top there are fences above the side of the road to prevent the snow from forming large drifts on the road when it is blowing.

It is quite calm when we are driving through, but still many signs are covered with snow, – not easy to decipher what kind of danger we are being warned of here.

As it darkens it can be difficult to determine exactly where the edge of the road is. Any kind of  markings, fences, or vegetation is a great help. We have to drive carefully also because there are farms and houses along parts of the road, and people are out and about on their “sparkstøttings”, or skiing:

Some stretches have tall trees lining the roadside:

……… and some trees are bowing under the weight of the snow:

Small amounts of water trickling down the mountain sides close to the road, form large icicles over time, and in the end looks like frozen waterfalls:

Even though we did not stop to take any of these photos, we still missed the early afternoon ferry for our home island, and had to wait two hours for the next departure.  It was dark when we arrived home:

As it had been snowing for three days while we were away, there was some shovelling to be done before we could walk comfortably through to the house.

Eldrid

One or two?

From time to time spruce seedlings find their way into our garden. When we see them, they are uprooted and planted again in a spot where they can hopefully survive, and in time serve as Christmas trees. The survival rate of these uprooted seedlings is not impressive, – in fact, it is much better for the ones that have been left to grow where they first appeared. Two of the latter category have been growing in the middle of our hedge, which, incidentally, has a very low survival rate too, – only a few shrubs left by now. However, we do not want any large spruce trees there either, so last year one of them was elected “Christmas Tree of 2008″. We decided to save the other one for 2009.

We did not count on the number of centimetres the last one was to grow during that year, though.

One evening a few days before Christmas Asbjørn made his way through the snow and cut down the tree. The red spot is part of his jacket, – he is behind the tree, sawing and sawing.

At last he got it down.

Having dragged it onto the front steps, he was almost out of breath, and was having second thoughts. The tree was too tall, and too wide, to make it into the house. Hmmm, – what to do now?

First of all, a lot of centimetres was cut off from both the top and bottom, and the foot came on, – just.

Now, it was possible to press it through the front door, but is was so wide we could not get it any further. Only one thing to do, – find the garden shears and start cutting and pruning.

And no, – the photo is not a double exposure, – it really has two trunks and two tops.

It finally made it into the living room, – still a bit “fat”, but manageable. We had to buy an extra ornament for the extra top, which in the years to come will remind us of this particular tree, – or maybe we should say trees.  It, – they,  – are far from perfect, yet very memorable 

A very Happy Christmas to everyone!

Eldrid

Advent 2

The same view as in the previous post, taken today at 4 pm.

Today it is overcast and it has been snowing a little. Even with the new snow on the ground, it is much darker than yesterday because of the clouds.

Eldrid

Advent

Photo taken through the window today at 4 pm.

The clear weather helps making the darkest days of the year a bit brighter. Four more days till winter solstice.

Eldrid

Apropos silk fabric

Since I am working on some church textiles just now, I have been surrounded by silk fabrics and thread for some weeks.

I also subscribe to a few mailing lists on the topic of church textiles, and a few weeks back, someone posted links to some old out-of-print books about liturgical art. The books have been converted to pdf-files. Below is a page from one of them. It was originally printed in 1939, but the excerp below is from a reprint right after WW2, where the author needed to add the following:

The chapter ends rather abruptly, as there is a mix-up of the book pages in the pdf file, and the next page is lost. You can find the whole document here .

It is hard to think this was written no more than 65 years ago. Just for comparison, -  I wonder how many of today’s quilters who have thought about what it would be like if fabric supply as we know it were to come to an end?

What utter hopelessness.

Eldrid

Frost in November

.. is to be expected, and we had some this year too. Even though I prefer the warmer weather, it is a nice change from all the rain we usually have.

Hoar frost on ground vegetation is also beautiful to watch:

Some interesting shapes:

… and bright contrasts:

The orange plastic rods are lining the roadside, ready for the snow to come:

…which it eventually did, – briefly:

It is almost gone again, but will no doubt return later, – several times.

Eldrid

Nifty gadget

Like most quilters I love trying new gadgets which may (or may not) make the sewing process easier, faster, or more fun. This one is my latest find:

It is called a needle grabber, but it is not one of those small rubber pads used to grab the needle when hand quilting, – this is quite different, and is perfect to use on sewing machine needles.

It is spring loaded, and when the flat end is pushed, a small hook appears at the other end.

You grab the needle with the small hook and then release the spring. The needle stays firmly in the needle grabber, and is easy to remove from and/or insert into the machine.

As my fingers and I are getting on in years, the task of changing the needle has become increasingly difficult. Also, the new machines have lamps positioned right above the needle, which is lovely when you are sewing, but they also get quite hot and may burn the fingers while you are fiddling with the needle. The needle grabber spared me both the fiddling and the burning, and getting the needle out and in again was both easy and very quick.

I saw this gadget described in a newsletter I am receiving, but it was not easy to find online as my search mostly turned up the rubber pads. However, Ute-Barbara at Quilt-Design ordered it especially for me, and I must say I am very happy with it.

It is definitely going to live close to my sewing machine from now on.

Eldrid