A n e m o n e

I couldn't help myself. I had to try whether I could capture the beauty inside this fragile and proud bearing flower with my camera...I didn't succeed in the way that I wanted to. I wish that the tiny details of the stamen were more conspicuous.

But I still love the pale pink Anemone. Oh, how I hope that I can make it thrive in my not so perfect garden...with my not so green  - at all! - fingers.

Anemone, a photo by lille-ursus on Flickr.

o o o o o o o

Circles, circles, circles.... I'm crocheting this.

With the many little circles which are needed for the scarf, I will most certainly get a bit more experinced in this particular kind of handwork. (At least I hope so). And maybe then I can take a wee step ahead in the wolrd of crocheting. But first things first - the scarf must get done.

I have decided to make the scarf 3 circles wide contrary to the recipe, where they have used 4.

The easiness of making the cirles, the size and the convenience of bringing it along, suit me perfectly. Especially in these days, where the warmth has finally hit us.

I like to sit in our little patio in our old garden furniture with Otto runing around. He loves to look for the titbits I hide for him. And since he doesn't possess the patience of an angel, I think he's rather satisfied with the fact, that a half-finished yarn circle can be put at the table in no time...

No rain, please!

Photo of the Skals brooch from Skals Håndarbejdsskole

I can hardly believe that we have reached this point of the year already - tomorrow and on Saturday it's time to enjoy the exhibition on Skals Håndarbejdsskole again. They open at 10 o'clock in the morning and close at 5 o'clock  in the afternoon on both days.

All the many beautiful things made by the students will be neatly and elegantly presented, and in the garden  Det Smukkeste Marked (The Most Beautiful Market) will be held in fine white tents. Some of the most talented artisans in Denmark will bring their work to Skals, so we can admire it and be tempted by it all...and maybe bring home a little something which we couldn't live without.

Photo from Skals Håndarbejsskole

So no rain - or strong winds - the next 2 days, please...


Oh, and by the way.  I finally decided on the kitchen machine. But it was not an easy choice. Because after seing this one which Anne (who is trained as a professinal cook) recommended, I really, really had my doubts.

BUT this one is coming to live with me soon. Along with an ice creme maker to put on it. A horrible and dangerous piece of accessorie which my husband chose - I didn't complain, though.

3 things . . .

. . .which made me smile today.

1.

The lovely and very handy pincushion which sweet Valerie made for me. I have found the perfect place for it. I always need a place to put my needles when I sew.

2.

The little arrangement in our livingroom. I adore the many different trays one can buy in IKEA. This is an old one, but it's a favourite anyway. And the plant remind me of these - I love, love, love those  little round pale pink flowers. I must remind myself to buy some seeds, so I can get them in my garden again.

3.

And finally this amazing dress from a knitting book I recently bought. It's called Mere Feminin Strik (More Feminin Knitting) and it's written by the always clever Lene holme Samsøe.

When I first flicked through the pages of the book,  I immediately fell in love with the dress (or tunic if you like). It's precisely what I would adore wearing to Emil's confirmation, and I have been searching high and low for it ever since!

So, now I hope that one of you out there knows exactly who it has been made by  - and maybe even where I can buy it. Okay, that's probably a bit too optimistic...

Green, green grass

Photo from Pernittengryn

I wouldn't mind spreading some green, green grass couches on the bench in our kitchen. It can actually be a reality if I buy some of the lovely fabric from Pernittengryn.

If you decide to check out their site, then give yourself the pleasure of seing their wonderful fabric altimeter. We have had one for many years now and it's beautiful to look at as well as being very useful.

Photo from Pernittengryn

Dreaming of Holly Hocks

I hope for many more Holly Hocks in our garden this year. We already have some, but not enough.

Having a whole bunch in different pastel colours - like the ones in the mosaic - would make a dream come true.

Ever since I, at the age of 7, saw all of the beautiful Holly Hocks at my grandparents' little farm in the country, I have dreamt of getting an old house with those exact flowers growing along the outer walls.

The old house we already have. Our little white house from 1912 is a suitable background for the tall plants with the delicate corollas - now it's time to go looking for seeds and herbaceous perennials.

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...

An ocean of flowers

...and scents in our livingroom.

I'm extremely lucky that my neighbour is such a sweet woman - and very talented at growing all kinds of flowers her in her garden.

Dorthe's daughter Maria brought me this impressive bunch of different Peonies the other day.

It truely brings beauty in our livingroom, and I think that it's so fun to have a close look at all the flowers, their stamens and other little details.

What a joy!

From garden to table

On my table, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

Don't you just love when loads of flowers can be picked in your garden? (Or did you think that I were about to write about vegetables?)

I certainly do like the possibility to choose and pick. It's wonderful to be able to get some color and beauty from the garden.
It actually doesn't take more than a few flowers and some small vases to make the feeling of summer and the flowers significant in a room.

An idea

Don't you know the feeling of annoyance when the glass breaks in a zinc lantern? And there is no chance of a candle being lid without the wind blowing it out. It has happened to me several times by now...

But then I got a great idea, if I may say so myself.

There is no reason to throw away the lanterns. Instead you take out the remaining glass. Drill a hole in the middle of the bottom and put the lantern on a pole and use it as a bird table.

(The ones that are low and square or rectangular, are probably more suitable for the purpose than the ones which are high and narrow.)

Sadly I came to think of this after my husband had left for the recycling depot, with 2 of my broken zinc laterns!!!

Spiky clothes pegs

Spiky clothes pegs, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

I just had to take this picture.....everything was absolutely beautiful outside today.

Frk. Solhat

Well,I simply have to mention that this lovely blogger - who happens to be my sweet neighbour - is back!! I have really missed her here in blogworld.

So if you love gardening, beautiful photos + words and life in general, you couldn't go to a better place than to Frk. Solhat's blog.

Go check out for yourself - right here....

December at my house

December at my house, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

It was such an extremely beautiful morning today. After weeks of grey and rainy weather, the sun broke through the skies. Oh, that's lovely! I love the light, but who doesn't?

So, I took a few photos of our house and garden - dressed for December...

And as I promised you, kaylovesvintage, here are a few shots from the book JULEBOGEN.

Fabric, flowers and bees

Today in my garden, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

It has been a fine, warm and sunny day. And I spent most of it in our garden.

Doing a bit of gardening - and sitting in a sunny spot, enjoying the sun.

Yesterday I got the beautiful fabric, which you can see on our table in the garden. I adore those flowers on pale pink. I'm sure it will work well on a little summer-something.

We have also got lots of bees in our garden at the moment, and I had to see how that little busy bee flew from one flower to another.

Our 2 bicycle girls are doing very well, by the way! They manged to bike 118 kilometres in one day. Today they enjoy themselves in a sunny beach - and they definitely deserve it.....

In my garden

I love to take a little walk in our garden to see how our flowers are doing. I find it so life-affirming to see plants grow - and watch flowers bloom.

The pale pink rose is rather old, but I have never ever seen it with as many flowers as this year!

So far the purple flower is all by itself, but hopefully many more will join it during warm summer days.

And the blue one - well, that sure is blue!! I have never experienced this exact shade of blue on a flower. And it really surprised me that this "Ridderspore" turned out this way. I simply forgot how the colour would look! Nevertheless it's special and beautiful among the purple and the pink flowers, in the rest of our bed.

I'm no good at remembering all the names of our flowers, so I can't mention them here. I hope you will be content with the looks of them...

A great mix if you ask me

A great mix, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

I have an incredible urge to take my sewing machine outside on our terrace. Then I could sit at our black table and sew and enjoy the sun at the same time.

However, I will not do it - maybe our neighbours wouldn't approve of the noise the machinery makes...(not that our neighbours are grumpy at all - on the contrary!) A little bit of handsewing would probably be better - at least it's less noisy.

But it sure would be nice with that outdoor sewing machine - don't you think so??

Do you remember Persicaria Capitata??

I certainly do.....

I finally found them in a little webshop, which by the way is closing and for that reason sells very cheap seeds.

In order to find them next year too, I have written down the name of the little round flowers in Danish: Hovedpilurt. However I might like the English name better: Pink Bubbles.....it describes them much better, I think.

Snapshots of a Thursday

Yesterday we were here in our garden, Emil and I....

And while Emil was doing this

....I had my eyes on him and my knitting, enjoying every moment.

Flowers by mail

Today I planted some Poppies in our garden - what a wonderful flower - and meanwhile I tried to imagine how all our flowers will look like, when they have grown some more.... Pictures from last spring and summer pop up in my mind.

I got all carried away and had to have more pretty plants. The ones you see above will come to our house by mail. Isn't that smart?

It's a shop called Staudefeen which will send them. I never knew that those kind of shops existed before my sweet neighbour linked to some. She knows SO much about plants and gardening, and used to write about it on her blog Frøken Solhat. Sadly she doesn't blog any more.

I will be prepared to go get the flowers!! They have to be picked up at the post office the same day - or the day after - they arrive.....so they don't dry out.

Colours in front of my house

Colours in front of my house, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

I have a good look at these Tulips every time I walk by them in our front garden.

They look so amazing at the moment. - especially because the blue and purple flowers behind them, bring out their beauty even more.

I can't get myself to take them inside in a vase....I would not enjoy them as much as I do outside.

So they live on in their little group, untill the day the wind blows off their red and mighty heads....