The Picnic Quilt

I finished my picnic quilt this week. I found the backing fabric at a really great price! And I think it looks yummy enough to eat :) As DH said, it'll be a shame to put that on the ground. But I intend to anyway. I made this quilt to be used.

I've always quilted my quilts, but this time I decided to try something else. I used a needle to pull through some thick cotton yarn at intervals and then tied the ends at the back side(several knots and a bow).

This may or may not get in the car with us when we head to France and Germany next week. We've planned on having picnic lunches on the days we drive, but this thing really is quite huge (2 meters per side and quite a thick batting) so we might leave it home to have more room for other things.

Winter's Eve

Here's the latest pic.
A great big thank you to Nicki for helping me out with the Kreinik!

New skirt

I made this skirt today. The fabric is a wonderful soft linen I bought in Shanghai last summer. The pattern is from a Finnish craft/sewing magazine (Suuri Käsityölehti 5/2007). I made it a bit shorter as the original one was to about mid-calf. This one is just below my knees, the photo makes it look longer and it also makes my legs look really short (oh and please please please ignore my scrunched socks!). It was fun to make, except for the hem which I always find so difficult to do. The crinkle things are on the back as well (the pattern had a total of seven per side, but as I shortened it, I decided to leave two of them out).

***

Today I realized that it was already Wednesday, which means that Monday was the day before yesterday and I hadn't noticed it, which in turn means that I missed and forgot about the SAL. I'm so sorry Nicki! I'll try my best to be extra industrious next week.

Crochet rug

I finished this yesterday for our balcony. I really like the texture of it (the first pic is trying to show it), and the coloring. It was quite easy to do, although quite tiring for the hands. I used a 10mm hook. Even so, I think I'll buy a sheet or something from a thrift store and do another one later on.
Here's another pic, with my foot to show the size.

Latest pic of Winter's Eve

Ran out of the braid..

The blue pillow

Christine asked to see a better picture of this pillow (on the bed in the previous post). It's the first part of Pamela Kellogg's Winter Into Spring Mystery. It's a few years old, and I don't know if the pattern is available anymore. It has three more parts, and naturally, I've been meaning to do them ever since I finished this one. One day, one day...

Here's one corner in more detail.

This is where I sleep

I realized, that although I love looking at pictures of other people's homes, I've hardly shown any pictures of mine. You've only properly seen the hallway. The rest of the house has been coming together gradually and it's almost done, so I thought I'd show you some pictures of our bedroom.


The bed is probably the spot that has the highest concentration of things I've made in our home. I've done the bedspread (I hand quilted it; I was crazy!), the nap quilt, some cross-stitched pillows and Bertil. You can also see the stars hanging from the headboard. I'm thinking of taking them down, though, because they seem a bit wintery to me. Oh, and on the nightstand on the right side (my side) you can see a bit of the lovely wedding sampler DH and I got from Christine!
I've also done the crochet doilies that are on the nightstands (and slightly visible in some of the pics).


This photo shows that I do have some framed cross stitching on the walls, too! It's the Bride by Lavender and Lace.


This pic is taken from the window and towards the door, through which you can see the hallway and the blue wall of our study. Oh, and my small teddy bear collection (from around the world). And you might also notice that the chair by the door has some of the wool socks I've done and a cardigan as well (I think it's also time to pack those wool socks away!). The pink knitted shawl is a gift from a friend.


And these are some of my favourite things in our bedroom. Some old lace, my wedding bouquet, the wooden horse and two victorian antique prints.

What I still want to do is get a new carpet/rug to replace the beige one with the stripes. And I want to put more stitching on the walls :)

A bunch of flowers

I can't believe a whole week has gone by since I last blogged! It's been a busy week, though. DH's American friend works on a cruise ship and the ship happened to dock here in Helsinki last week and we got to spend the day with him and his girlfriend. And we got a tour of the huge boat!
My brother graduated last Friday and my mom threw a party for him. And on Saturday we had my cousin's high school graduation party. So it's been fun :)

Today I got a lovely bunch of flowers!


Marc Saastad of Silver Lining had a sale and I ordered some. I'm not really supposed to spend money on (any) craft supplies at the moment, I want to use what I've got, but these were such a bargain I couldn't resist :)
From the top left: Audrey, Paphiopedilum, Queen of Roses, Laura, Summertime Blues and Ingrid

And here's the latest picture of Winter's Eve. It'll be at least one more week with just the gold braid.