New day ahead

The sun has decided to come today as well - not a bad choice at all if you ask me....

After walking the kids to school - just for the cosiness - I saw this georgeus Geranium at our local grocery. I adore the colour and although I already own several Dronning Ingrid Geraniums (which look a lot like this one) I don't mind having a look-alike....they make me smile!

Soon I will be off to buy some tulle for Anne-Sophie's costume for her last day at school on Monday. (I have promised her not to reveal what she is going to be, but later on you will see.....)

They students dress up on this particular day and they all buy loads - really LOADS - of caramels, which they throw into all the classrooms at the school.

Emil and Anne-Sophie have already made a secret agreement for her to throw some caramels in his direction.....(And I know that she wants to go for Oskar's class as well)

I have the shorts waiting for me too - I hope they will be done today.

The day is ahead and it's time for me to start. Otto has woken up.....that leaves no time in quietness!

Return of the Iron Age boy

In my family we are not that good at being apart!!! So I have been looking very much forward to Emil's return from camp.

Christian was one of the parents who had volunteered to drive the children to Hvolris and pick them up again.

Meanwhile I went to the school to wait for Emil when the whole class came back there. I think it's extremely important to be welcomed back in a propper way ;0)

Emil was SO tired when we came home - he just had a bath and went straight to the couch to have a rest. And he hasn't really left if yet!! I baked a whole lot of "Kanelsnegle" (direct translation must be cinnamon snails!!) because I knew how much they would be appriciated by a former Iron Age boy...

The beautiful "Kvindekniv" and the breadtray you see above, is something Emil made at Hvolris. I think the camp was a brilliant oppertunity to try how hard it was to live once. When knives - and a numerous amount of other daily tolls and food - couldn't be bought at a store and you had to make them yourselves....To try the work with your on hands.

This funny woodman Emil found there as well - I just love him. He has a georgeous surprised expression in his face....

This afternoon I have also been going through a bit of my sewing patterns. I'm looking for some shorts' patterns, because I have promised Daniel and Simon - our neighbour boys - to make them some shorts. They picked out the fabrics themselves and with the sunny weather forecast I just saw, I had better move on.....

And it popped!

Popcorn-on-bonfire-day arrived yesterday....the weather was perfect and it was time to try out my birthday present from my sister and her family. Emil and I made all the preparations and brought out the ingredients and stuff needed.

While we waited for the fire to get ready we saw this amazing little fellow in our garden. I think it was very beautiful, sitting on the green leaf. But don't ask me what it's called - it must be some kind of beattle, though!! I just enjoyed the looks of it....

Our 1st attempt to get everything right while popping outdoors, didn't turn out that well.

The lid went of the pan and all of a sudden we had loads of popcorns flying in the air and into the bonfire. We found it so amuzing...

But our 2nd go went much better....

Popcorn poppede over a bonfire is simply so much more delicious than the ones you make inside the kitchen.....just ask Emil!!!

Haberdashery and Emil's Hindbærsnitter

What else can I ask for????

This and that

The eagle has landed - the bag is in my house.......And I'm thrilled about it - it's just as georgeous as i imagined it to be.

But you know what? I practically had to run in and out of the shop, due to the WONDERFUL fabrics I saw at Eva Jessen!!!!! There was fabric in the same colours as the bag - with big and small flowers - and an amazing new one with red, blue and lime.....Oohhhh! Luckily I still have some money left on my gift voucher.....I'll be back soon!

I have been knitting a bit, and a bit, and a bit - when Otto hasn't taken off with my skein of yarn!!! - and the tiny sweater is coming along quietly....

I love the yarn - it's so soft and the colours are just perfect.

To get into more "seroius business", I have to tell a bit about the very last gathering for the 9th grade students and their parents in Anne-Sophie's class. We went there last night.

We all brought food for a big buffet and had a cozy time eating, talking and listening to some of the students playing wonderful jazz music. After supper there was a big ball game (rundbold) - students verses parents. I had to watch due to my back- argh! - but still I had a great time. We laughed and laughed and I bet that some of the fathers will have a really hard time walking today - they ran as fast as h... to impress the young male students!!

It was so strange and a bit sad, to think that this was the last time Anne-Sophie went to a parents gathering with us at this particular school, which she has attended for the last 10 years .....

Flying chips

Next Monday Emil is going on camp with his school for 2 days. His class is going to a wonderful place called "Hvolris" - it's an Iron Age village, where they are going to live like children did in the Iron age. Eat, dress, work, play and sleep like they did.

Emil is looking very much forward to the new and exciting experience. Our family has always been fond of exploring life as it was in the past - we have often been at "Hvolris" which is not far from where we live.

Emil found his pocket knife - everyone in the class is going to bring one to camp - and he started whittling at a piece of wood. He wanted to turn it into a spreading knife....Emil just love whittling and has done so for some years.

Actually he whittled so much that chips was flying around him - one even landed on top of his head!! We just couldn't help laughing as he sat there with a chip of wood on his head....

Later I thought it was time to take some pictures in the garden of a little dress I made.....I like it when clothes are blowing in the wind! It sort of comes alive...

On the back of the dress I put some fabric covered buttons....I'm so fond of that kind of buttons (as you might already know)

The same day these amazing fabrics arrived by mail. I have been searching for so long for the blue one.

And now I found it!!

Bags, bags, bags........

For my birthday I also got a gift voucher for my favourite shop.... I already know what I'm going to buy - if Eva has this bag in her shop (but I think she does!)

Isn't it amazing?? I simply adore it!! Purple and lime together - YES!!

But if that darling bag is gone, then I will go for this one:

Last summer I bought Anne-Sophie a reversible skirt in the same wonderful fabric. Eva Jessen has a sister who is a taylor and she sews such nice things in Marimekko's fabrics. She made the skirt.

Besides the gift voucher my parents gave my money to spend on ME - and some of it is definitely for a new handlebar basket for my retro bike.

And when I have got the handlebar basket there will be some money left, which I easily could use on this bag.

It's made out of leather and I just love the colour. I found it at this shop.

Well, let's see what I end up with!!! Dreams are numerous in my mind.....and I can never have bags enough....

Drying in the sun

Drying in the sun, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

The summertop for my niece Emma is finally done. Now it's laying on the floor full of neddles and all wet. A sunbeam is doing it's job: warming and drying the top...

I decided to put in a puple stripe as well - I think that pale blue and pale purple go well together.

Now I just have to wait and see if Emma likes it...

I have bought some new yarn for a little baby sweater. It's going to be brown with a little row of Norweigan stars running over the chest. The yarn is the softest wool - just perfect for the fine skin on a baby...

When it's done it's going to be a present for my cousin's baby...I know it's going to be a girl. Her sister is pregnant too, and she is having a boy. Mayby i will make her baby one with babyblue stars?!

The pattern I'm going to use is the stripey one in the picture. I like the detail with the buttons (rather hard to see!!!)

I had better start casting on....

Popcorn on fire

Soon the popcorns will be popping in our garden!!! And everyone in my family loves popcorns....nice, salty ones!

I was so lucky to get this set for my birthday...and the popcornmaker (which also is a pancake pan - And I got a whole lot of other wonderful presents).

I am very excited about trying it out, but sadly the weather has been too cold for popcorn making! So now we have put it up in our livingroom to have a closer look at the bonfire set (without the fire underneath it, mind you!!)

Tomorrow is the birthday of another one in my family - Emma (with the broken arm) turns 10 years old....I guess she is having a hard time sleeping right now!

But when tomorrow comes, I know that she will be getting quite different presents than me...

I would love it if I could get this of the neddles by tomorrow, by I'm absolutely not sure about that at all! ( I have knitted some what more than in the picture!!!) Although it would make a soft extra gift for Emma....

Oh my, oh my....

Gardening

Yesterday was a day of gardening. In the back of our garden we used to have some beautiful, tall trees, which sadly had to be cut down due to their far too tall height. Oh, how I felt sad the day they fell to the ground!! (Luckily we still have the marvellous lilacs to be dazzled by...) As the trees took a whole lot of space while they were there, we now have some new areas to "add" to our garden. We have decided to sow grass in it, plant some more fruit tress, build a little shed for our gardentools and lay out a little space where we can sit and enjoy the children make a bonfire. But at first the soil must be digged and that process has taken us a while...we have started, however, and yesterday Otto and I had so much fun (!!) - at least Otto did - pulling up grass, raking and so on..... Every time I digged up a tussock Otto was ready to take it and run away with it, after having given it a good shake....

All of a sudden a tiny toad jumped out of nowhere...I hate any kind of frogs or toads, but at the same time I find them extremely fascinating, so I had to take a picture of it!! Such a suspicious character!

Otto totally ignored it, eventhough it was only 8-10 centimetres from his nose - no wonder (and I have heard that a toad doesn't smell that nice either!)

My garden do have wonderful things too - at least I think so!

A new book perhaps??

Yet another book is on it's way....it could very well be tempting for me to buy! "Hånd i hanke" is by Anne Pia Godske Rasmussen and on the market on May the 15th.

It's about bags, toilets bags and other little bags...If you know her books, you already know her animals, angels and pixies - and according to the publisher there are a few angels in this book too.

A very good old classic - when it comes to sewing childrens' clothes - is being published soon too. It is "Børnetøj du selv kan sy 0-4 år" by Elsebeth Gynther and I guess it is a reprint - hopefully a bit modernized - of the same book she published in 1977.

I already have the old book, but perhaps I need to see which new ideas she has added??

Mugging up

Anne-Sophie is mugging up all her mathematics....tomorrow she has her final tests in that subject at school. It's the School Leaving Excamination. She wants to be as prepared as can be and that I totally understand. So she is working hard these days with a lot of exams ahead. She is lucky to have a father who knows a lot about mathematics and can help her when she thinks that the arithmetical problems are too much!! While they were doing their mathematics, I was trying to finish a little summerdress in red and white Gingham. But all of a sudden I couldn't seem to remember how to thread my overlocker (don't know what it's called in English!!) - or that is: the order of threading the 4 threads! While looking for the manual, I finally found my long gone green, knitted bag with the cake embriodery.

I made it a few years ago and love to use it. The combination of green and pink is also one of my favourites and I actually quite like fabric, embroidery and knitting together.

I need to do some more of that I guess.....

After I finish threading the sewingmachine!!

Grandparents' Day

Along came the day for Grandparents' Day.... Oskar and I had talked about it several times during the last weeks - what should we see and do on the special day.

When I arrived at Oskar's school he met me with the greatest smile and told me that he had run as fast as he could from his class.

Lots of grandparents had already arrived, and I must admit that I felt young for once - not a bad feeling!

Oskar was so fine in his bright trousers and shirt - all dressed for the day. "I put it on for you" he told me, that sweet boy.

Oskar showed me the entire place and carefully told me what everything was. We had lemonade, buns and cakes. Played Monopoly, climbed the big climbing frame, made drawings of fish, took lots of rides on the slide and made a hideout from blankets....

In fact I'm sitting in the hideout in the picture, which Oskar wanted to take...

When the time was close to 14.00 the Grandparents' Day was over.....Oskar thought that I should stay a little longer, but I had to go as the rest of the grandparents left too.

I really had a wonderful day with this lovely, little, clever boy. When I returned home I was filled up with happy smiles and funny experiences.

I'm definitely ready to become a grandparent....in a few years that is ;0)

But I promised my own children, that I will never ever wear synthetic, boring dresses as some of the grandmothers did!!!!

Hippo girl for a sweet, unlucky girl

Yesterday my dear niece Emma broke her arm, while playing at school - unfortunately so bad that she had to go through surgery...I feel so sorry for her.

I thought that she might feel the need for an extra little friend, so I made her this dotty hippopotamus....

I bought her a whole lot of candy too and I know Emil will make Emma a welcome home Makronsiand cake when she returns home from hospital....

Andreas

We all had a wonderful day yesterday, when this beautiful young man was confirmated in the historical Cathedral......

It was a day full of happiness, lots of fun, georgeous food and heartwarming experiences. My sister and her husband had made such nice surroundings - with beauty and lots of love for their boy and his guests.

From left: My children Emil & Anne-Sophie. In front my sister's boy Andreas, behind him my niece Emma, my niece Ida and Ida's boyfriend Runi....

I find it hard to believe that Andreas is at this point in life already......Congratulations, dear Andreas!

I just love Lucinda!!

I have been waiting for this book for quite a while now. I ordered it at Amazon for at least 1 ½ month ago and has been - patiently - waiting...

Lucinda Guy is the designer of the childrens' clothes in the book and her husband has illustrated it with the most georgeous drawings....

The new book is called "Crochet designs for girls + boys". There are so many adorable designs in it, which make my urge to improve my croheting skills even bigger!! Who wouldn't love to have an elephant like Henri??? Or a sweet stripey top like this one?? Lucinda has written 3 books before this one - you can find them all in my shelfari bookshelf at the bottom of the side.

I will have another look at the book while Otto is sleeping on - and warming - my feet!