I might need...

...some new books. Yesterday I had a look at several book shops, and there were so many new and interesting books which will become available in near future.

The one which made me the most happy, was the one below.

Photo from Renaud-Bray.com

Wenche's book about making dolls TUSINDFRYD DUKKER, is about to be released in French - POUPÉES CHIFFON is the French title. That's so wonderful for sweet Wenche - I really hope her book will be available for even more people.

Photo from Decitre.fr

I have a crush on sweaters knitted with short rows. The shape is flattering and beautiful, and working on a knit using that technique is always fun. So the book above looked like something I would like. It's called MON GILET PRÉFÉRÉ is written by Naoko Shimoda, and translated into French by Marie Maurin.

Photo from Letempsapprivvoise.fr

Even though I have a dog, I'm still a big fan of cats and that's exactly the theme for the next book. 

LES CHATS AU POINT DE CROIX is about cats made with X-stitches. No one makes X-stitch books like the French or the Japanese people, in my opinion. So this book is absolutly a good bet for a future book in my bookshelf.

Photo from Amazon.co.uk

Finally I came across COUTURE ORIGAMI by Céline Girardeau. What a great idea to combine sewing clothes with origami! I'm very excited to see more about the topic, and I wonder whether the patterns will look as elegant through all of the pages, or whether I think that it becomes a bit too much with the origami. The patterns are to be made from 2 years to 12 years.

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...nogle nye bøger. I går kiggede jeg på forskellige bog shops, og der var så mange nye og interessante bøger, der bliver tilgængelige i den nærmeste fremtid.

Den der gjorde mig allermest glad, var den herunder.

Wenches bog om at lave dukker TUSINDFRYD DUKKER bliver mest snart udgivet på fransk. POUPÉES CHIFFON er den franske titel. Det er bare dejligt for søde Wenche - jeg håber at virkelig at mange flere får glæde af hendes bog.

Jeg har et blødt hjerte for trøjer strikket med vendestrik. Formen er flatterende og smuk, og at strikke med den teknik er altid sjovt. Så bogen ovenfor så ud som noget jeg vil kunne lide. Den hedder MON GILET PRÉFÉRÉ er skrevet af Naoko Shimoda og overst til fransk af Marie Maurin.

Selvom jeg har en hund, kan jeg nu stadig godt lide katte, og netop det er temaet i denne bog. LES CHATS AU POINT DE CROIX handler om katte syet i korssting. Ingen laver, efter min mening, korsstings bøger som franskmændene og japanerne. Så denne bog er absolut et godt bud på en kommende bog in min bogreol.

Endelig stødte jeg på COUTURE ORIGAMI af Céline Girardeau. Sikke en god idé at kombinere syning af tøj og origami. Jeg er meget spændt på at se mere om emnet, Og jeg er spændt på at se, om mønstrene vil være lige så elegante gennem hele bogen, eller om jeg synes det bliver for meget meget origami delen. Mønstrene kan laves fra størrelse 2 år til 12 år.

Miss Marple is more than an old female detective

I strømmen af mønstre på smukke cardigans med retro look, er Miss Marple helt klart en favorit. Den minder mig om min barndoms lange søndage med varm frokost, og udforskende bilture rundt  i landet iført det pæne tøj. 

Det er en cardigan af den slags, som man gerne tog ud over en fin kjole. Allerhelst en som min mor selv havde syet, og hvor jeg selv fik lov til at bestemme farve og stof.

Denne cardigan er tiltænkt til brug på alle ugens dage, og modtageren er vores niece Sarah. Den skal være en del af hendes julegave.

Det er et skønt mønster og jeg blev meget begejstret da designeren Nadia Crétin-Léchenne proklamerede, at et lignende mønster til voksne var undervejs. Og selvfølgelig kunne den ikke hedde andet end Lady Marple.

Et halvt ærme er hvad jeg mangler, så for en gangs skyld ser det ud til at jeg nærmest er på forkant med en hjemmelavet julegave. I hvert tilfælde denne...


Masser af strikke og broderi inspiration var der også at finde i de nye bøger jeg fik forleden. Theresa Maria Jessings fortællinger om stort og småt i den nye bog "Livet på Kastaniegården", Helga Isagers udgivelse på svensk "Finstickat" og "Supersize stitches" af Jacqu Pearce.

Jeg kan varmt anbefale dem alle.

....................

IN ENGLISH

Among the many beautiful patterns for retro look cardigans, Miss marple is definitely a hit. It reminds me of the long Sundays in my childhood, when we had warm lunches and drove around exploring our country wearing our best clothes.

It's the kind of cardigan, which we wore over a fine dress. Preferably one which my mother had sewn herself, and I had chosen the colour and the fabric.

This particular cardigan is meant to be worn on every day of the week, and the recipient is our niece Sarah. It's going to be a part of her Christmas present.

It's a lovely pattern and I were very pleased when the designer announced that a similar pattern for grownups was on it's way. And of course it couldn't have another name than Lady Marple.

Half a sleeve is what I need to knit to finish Miss Marple, so for once it seems as if I'm at the cutting edge of a homemade Christmas present. At least this one...

Lots of knitting and embroidery inspiration are also found in the new books I got the other day. Theresa Maria Jessing's stories about anything and nothing in her new book Livet på Kastaniegården, Helga Isager's publication in Swedish Finstickat and Supersize stitches by Jacqu Pearce.

I can highly recommend them all.

3 som jeg må huske på

Jeg er altid på udkig efter nye spændende bøger - og når der kommer nyt på broderi fronten bliver jeg altid  ovenud lykkelig.

I begyndelsen af juli kom Knot, thread, stitch af Lisa Solomon. En bog som jeg ikke ville have noget imod at have i hænderne.

Og i starten af juni kom endnu en bog fra Katherine Shaughnessy: New crewel - the motif collection. Du kender måske allerede The new crewel - exquisite designs in contemporary embroidery, af samme forfatter.

Endelig er der mere fransk i korssting. Jeg holder meget af det udtryk som hvid og en kontrast farve kan frembringe med de mange små x x x x.
Jeg har ofte korsstings motiver i hovedet og går og funderer over hvorledes de kunne bruges, men får aldrig rigtig ført dem ned på papir. Men nu har jeg købt 2 geniale bøger - i lommestørrelse - en dag Anne-Sophie og mig var i den butik, hvor hun køber sine materialer til studiet (ÅH, en fed butik!!). De er perfekte til at krydse små motiver ned i og faktisk fungerer det for mig, da jeg allerede har udfyldt nogle sider.

Nå, jeg kom ud på et sidespor, så tilbage til den fransk broderi bog der hedder Cross-stitch sampler af Marjorie Massey.

Jeg har netop bestilt 3 nye bøger, så det er ikke lige nu jeg behøver mere kreativt læsestof, men næste gang der skal bestilles bøger, skal denne helt sikkert med...

I told you so . . .

There would be more Djævlehuer/Devil-hats...epidemic. With little yellow x x x'es.

Something old and something new...

The other day Anne-Sophie and I went to our local thrift store. We didn't find any treasures like this one, that day besides an old Christmas curtain. I only bought one of them, because I'm not going to change my curtains for Christmas (!)
I fell in love with it due to the neat and lovely x-stitch pattern on the curtain. Soon, I will write down the positions of each stitch on squared paper, so I can embroider the star (or snowflake) on to a crisp new piece of linen.

The same day my fabric order from the USA arrived. Pieces of cotton with bikes and circles printed on to them.
Somehow I must have a partiality to red-ish patterns at the monent.

Fabrics haven't been on my shoppinglist for a long time now, and that suits me just fine. I need to use some of the many metres from my stash instead.

Lili Points

Through a French blog  I became aware of some funny x-stitch patterns. I don't like them all, but a lot of them were nice, and made in a way I haven't seen before. More modern if you like.

Lili Points is the name, and at their website you can see loads of patterns for all kinds of occasions. I think this one is funny

Photo from Lili Points

Mère poule means mother hen - the kind of mother who takes too good care of her childen and wrap them in cotton! But all beacause of amour as the embroidery says...

I bought the pattern below. I can easily see it on a kitchen towel or perhaps a cool table runner.

Photo from Lili Points

I wouldn't mind making this one sometime. 

Photo from Lili Points

But so far I will keep my hands on the cow and the milk bottles...

Birthday apples

This Saturday our niece Sarah will celebrate her birthday.

She's very fond of paiting in colouring books, so we got her a Mandala book. (If you would like to try out some Mandala colouring for your kids or yourself, you can find a lot for free right here. I love paiting Mandala patterns when I relax or speak on the phone).

We thought that Sarah should have a fun story as well - one she could have her mom read for her. So we bought Per og bette Mads, a wonderful happy story written by the late Danish author Ole Lund Kirkegaard.

I couldn't miss the chance to sew some children's clothes either, so an apple dress is on it's way to Copenhagen too. Sarah can also use it as a tunic if she likes to.

In the front of the dress, I put 2 embroidered buttons. And if you have a closer look at the photo, you can see that the embroideries are 2 tiny apple trees - at least that's what I like to think.

I have a question

Has anyone seen these fluorescent embroidery floss colours here in Denmark? And if you have - where can I buy them?

I have managed to find them in shops abroad but with shipping fees and all, the floss becomes rather expensive.

But I really do want to embroider some cool details with a neon pink and some of the other fabulous shades...

+ 1

5 elephants were not enough. 1 more had to be added in order to make the pacifier holder long enough.

I didn't mind that at all. I adore embroidering those little creatures, and now I find myself trying to find new items to make elephants on...

1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 little elephants

I'm making the preliminary preparations for a little embroidery I have been meaning to sew for months.

So I found all my embroidery floss, tried to pick out some colours and got to change my mind more than 4 times, before I thought that the right mix of colours was there.

5 little elephants are on the pattern I'm going to be making. One in front of the other they will get to walk on the white linen in a long row. In colours which can be used by both boys and girls.

And what is it for you might ask yourself?? 

A kind of chain to hold a pacifier from falling to the floor - eventhough babies at one point in life think, that it's the best kind of fun to throw their pacifier as far away as it can go. I can't help loving that they throw it down over and over, and keep laughing every time. 

I found the pattern in my own copy of the wonderful book Gavebogen - written by Theresa Jessing from Sort Lakrids.

If our little niece Agnes has begun using a pacifier, I will send it to her. And if not, then I simply put it in my box with baby presents...

New inspiration for x-stitches

I'm over the moon about the 2 new books about x-stitches, which I recived today. Well, I actually got 4 books, but the other ones are fiction and not about stitches (it's Berlinerpoplerne and Eremitkrebsene by Norwegian Anne B. Ragde).

I bought the embroidery books in France, and they are both full of inspirational ideas for making logos and pictograms with needle and thread. I'm almost certain, that I will get hooked on sewing edged people and traffic signs.

France really have a whole lot of fantastic books about x-stitching in a new and different way. I would never have discovered it, if it wasn't for the wonderful people I have been so fortunate to get in touch with through flickr, blogs and etsy.

A fine, fine summer market to visit

Do you like beautiful handmade treasures and cool vintage things? And a sweet and happy shop owner who has made the gorgeous crafts? Then you had better go to Tulipaner og Tomater's summer market and find it all...in this address,

 

Sommersalg på Helgenæs

Asgilhøjevej 59

8420 Kongsgårde

 

 

If you can't wait to go, then have a look at their webshop in the meantime and enjoy the many lovely items in the shop.

Mark the dates with a cross in your calender - I'm sure that you will not be dissapointed.

Buttons, buttons, buttons

An item which one can never ever get too many of.
A special and lovely button really makes the difference. Like these from Veronicabuttons on etsy.
Now I try to look for an excuse to buy them all...

Or another fantastic ceramic button like the big, white one you find here on Sort Lakrids.

Embroidered buttons definitely inspire me as well. I'm a huge fan of Birthine's buttons. They are little pieces of art each and everyone. You can also find them on flickr - she actually makes some from ceramic as well.

But I guess that the ones I love the most, are ordinary oldfashioned white linen buttons like the one you see below (from Stofstedet) .
Their simple look make everything look better, and I remember how I used to play with my mother's linen buttons. Maybe that's the reason why I love them so much...

Creative clutter

Somehow I always end up making creative clutter. Especially with floss, books, yarn, needles and patterns.

I need to have them close by, in case I get a thought about someting to make. Otherwise I forget about them. Don't you know the feeling of seing a beautiful mix of colours or a texture in a knitted sweater, which you wan't to try out in the future?

So I always have a notebook with me as well.  It's filled with drawings and little notes which only I know the meaning of - and small torn out pieces of magazines and papers.

No one but me likes my creative clutter. Even though I confine myself to a very limited area, I get the occasional "do you know where your needles are" comment from my husband.
Then I know that it's time to gather - some of - my stuff and take it upstairs to our hobby room.

But after a day or two, I have created a new little pile of creative clutter...I'm hopeless!

I won't mind swinging a deer over my shoulder

This kind of deer, which is made from thread and fabric, mind you....

The lovely bag comes as a kit, so one can embroider and sew it. It's from a gorgeous Danish company called Fru Zippe. And this particular bag is designed by Pelse Asboe, who never fails to surprise and carry my need for embroidery away.

7 talented embroidery designers have made the brand Fru Zippe, and offer all of us, who loves embroidery and lovely design, a whole lot of exciting kits to make.

Take a look at their website and enjoy the diversity in all the various kits. I have spotted at least 3 more to put on my never ending wishlist...

My perpetual guilty conscience

Every single Christmas I have one thing hanging over my head. Something which I have put upon myself.

Actually it was a joy in the beginning, but in recent years it has only become a greater and greater source for guilty conscience.

I have always wanted to embroider a blanket on which we could put our Christmas tree. And 4 or 5 years ago, I found the perfect kit. It's designed by fabulous Pelse Asboe and is called "Skøjtenisser".

And I started to sew lots of x-stitches when the kit had arrived. It was so much fun but soon I found out that the fibres from the burlap made my astma bad.

I tried to continue with the blanket several times, but had to give up.

So now it's in a tin box in my sewing room, and every time for Christmas I go have a look at it, and become annoyed about the fact that I haven't been able to finish it.

Now I just hope that someone has a great trick to keep the fibres out of my throat....

L e f t o v e r s ? ?

All of these things are ongoing projects of mine. I hate having them lying around in my sewingroom and in my knittingbasket. And they give me a guilty conscience, whenever I buy new materials like fabric, floss and yarn.

Besides that, I actually miss some of it. Miss it because I could have used it by now.

That soft, soft scarf from Sortlakrids would have been wonderful to throw around my neck, on a freezing cold day like we had today. And I absolutely need more woodland people from Cathy on my tunics - Ursula needs company.

The POIS embroidery would have given my couch a much needed color touch up, and I wanted to wear the cardigan with faces even before I started knitting it!

But patience is what I need...and in the end I know that slow work will get me there. But wouldn't it be great to wake up one morning and see all one's fabric and yarn leftovers finished and ready for use!?

3 knittings

Well, I can't prove it with photos, but the little brown Norwegian sweater for our niece is done. I finished it this Friday and actually thought that it wasn't that girly.

You see, I believed that we were going to get a nephew - and bets have been lost due to that opinion! - so I thought that the sweater would be fine.
But as it turned out to be a girl, I would have loved to add a tiny cross-stitch heart on the front of the sweater. That I didn't have the time to do, so I sewed on the 4 wooden buttons on the shoulders with pale pink thread.

Now I'm back to knitting the marine cardigan for Anne-Sophie. I hope to get it done soon, so she doesn't have to freeze.

Once in a while I pick up another little knitting, which I started yesterday. A classic Djævlehue for little Agnes - that's what our niece is going to be named.

The pattern is from the magazine Hendes Verden and you find it right here - sadly it's only in Danish. But if you have a look on ravelry there are some patterns for Dvævlehuer (devils' hats) in English.

And don't get scared - you might see real Devil hats too.....

Redcap, Mario and flowers

Yesterday I managed to transfer this embroidery to the Gingham tunic I'm making for myself. It's Little Redcap designed by Cathy Gaubert, and I have been looking so much forward to getting her on a piece of clothes.

Maybe you remember one of Little Redcap's sisters Ursula. Oh, how I love that designer...Cathy has a very special talent.

It was my first try with a blue transfer pen, and I didn't get it as clear as I wanted it to be. But I can see Little Redcap enough to embroider her on to the fabric.

Another embroidery is all the Marios. I have almost finished the bag for Anne-Sophie, and I brought it along when we went to her and Tim's apartement to have supper. The strap needed to be measured to get the right length.

I also took these with me - Anne-Sophie loves to get flowers from our garden. I like how light and summery it looks...

P O I S...again

P O I S, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

The Mario X-stitch is done and I only need to sew on the strap, before the bag for Anne-Sophie is done.

So now it's time to take out the - rather old - project with the peas.

I love all of those green shades and can't wait to start making the many tiny peas above the letters. It's funny how cross stitches carry me away at the moment...