Here's what I did

I'll start with an action shot :) Me in our kitchen cutting pine twigs.



Here are the results. I made pine twig balls and hung them on our balcony. I poked the twigs into the green thing you see hanging in the first picture (it's a thing you use to make floral arrangements with, in Finnish we call it "oasis brick"). The thing you see hanging on the wall (below) was inspired by this post.



I had extra twigs left over, so I covered a small table we have on our balcony with them and put pots of moss on it. This was inspired by someone's blog, but I can't remember whose. If you know, let me know too so I can give credit to the right place.



I also tied up a bunch of the reeds and other twigs, some with tiny cones, to make up an autumnal bouquet. I'm so happy to have gotten our balcony decorated for the autumn and winter with no money at all!



The final thing I did, was to put the pine cones into a jar.

City dwellers in the forest

This Saturday DH and I drove to the west coast of Finland to help his parents clear their little plot of wilderness. They are thinking of building a summer cottage there.



The day was grey and dark, but luckily it didn't really rain. I walked and enjoyed the scenery. And admired the contrast between the rough stones and freshly cut trunks and branches and these willowy and soft reeds. I was told someone had recently seen a seal in the bay. I didn't see it but I did hear and see a big splash. I like to think it was the seal.



While I was going about enjoying the fresh air and the nature around me and taking lots of pictures, DH was busy actually doing something. He said he really enjoyed hacking away with the clearing saw.



Well, I did do something else besides just loitering around. I filled our trunk with pine twigs and all sorts of branches and reeds and pine cones. I'll show you tomorrow what I did with all of them.

And the chart goes to...

Two people let me know that they would like to have Beneath the Sunlit Sky. I so wish I could send it to both of you, but I only have one chart :( I wrote the names down and tossed the pieces of paper around for a while and the name I picked up was Lee. I've sent you an email and as soon as I get your address, I'll be mailing it to you!

Collections

Early this summer I found myself telling a friend how I always admired people's collections. Even if I didn't particularly like the thing they were collecting, just the idea of having a collection somehow appealed to me. And I was complaining that I didn't really have any. Sure, I have a quite sizeable collection of cross stitch charts (and decorating magazines) but I don't really see them as a collection. They weren't bought because they were charts, they were bought because I liked them and wanted to do them someday.

But a few weeks ago, it hit me. I DO have a collection! Small, but growing. I collect vintage and antique magazines. Preferable craft or women's magazines.



Here is my collection in it's entirety. Some are Finnish, some are British. The newest ones are from 1953 and most are from the 30's.



This and it's friend are my treasures. They are from 1897.



I also really like this Finnish women's magazine, Kotiliesi. I've got issues from the 20's and 30's and my favourites are those from the 20's. They are full of interesting and fascinating things to read. A real insight into what life was like. And a good reminder of how things never really change. There are articles in here reminiscing about the good old days, how Christmases used to be so much better and how there used to be much more snow during winters. And about how to find the time to do everything you want to and need to do.

Blackbird Designs

Sharon responded to my post about my unsuccessful chart purchase and she was so super kind that she sent me the chart I was looking for, Blackbird Designs Awake the Dawning Day. I received it today. Thank you so much Sharon!

I think it'll look great with Strawberry Garden which I already have up on the wall!



Sharon didn't want the chart I mistakenly got and since I was so touched and inspired by her kindness and generosity, I thought I'd give the chart to someone who wants it. So, if you want to have the chart for Beneath the Sunlit Sky by Blackbird Designs, leave a comment saying so. If there's more than one, I'll put the names in a hat and do a draw :) I'll do this on Friday around noon, my time. If you've never commented, it doesn't matter. If I don't know your email, or it isn't on your profile or blog, leave that too so I can contact you.

Update

I wasn't able to participate on the Winter's Eve SAL this Monday. I have had problems with my right shoulder for two months now. Initally the doctor I saw just ordered rest and painkillers (tablets and gel) and icepacks. Well, it helped but the pain didn't go away completely. After x-rays and ultrasound, he tought it best to give me a cortisone injection. And he did that on Monday. By evening, the anesthetic had worn off and the whole of my right arm was really really sore (from the shot). I couldn't do anything. Moving it was so painful I almost cried, but at the same time, I couldn't help laughing. I felt so silly not being able to turn the pages of a magazine or dry my face in a towel -everyday things really that don't even require strenght! Now I'm feeling MUCH better and I'm fairly optimistic that by the end of the week, the shoulder will finally feel normal.



Before that, though, I had a sudden urge to stitch something small for fall / Halloween. So, I stitched up the small ornament you see here on the left. I sewed it up today along with the needleroll (which I stitched last October). The ornament was a freebie on the Homespun Elegance website some years back and the Spooky Time is by Lavender Wings (also a free pattern). I just reread the post where I had just finished it and where I mention that "I think I'll sew it up into an ornament tomorrow." Well, that didn't quite happen! Lol, the best of intention...



And here's where I got to in my autumn needleroll last week.


And finally, here's a picture of my knitting project. The back is finished and the left front is started. This is taking a bit longer than I expected, but I'm enjoying it very much! The pattern is called Breezy Cables and it's from Interweave Knits Spring 2006.

Kitchen

Thanks for all the comments on the new look!

You've seen the bedroom and the hallway and today I want to show you my kitchen. Having lived with white walls for years and years in our previous apartments (rental, so we couldn't paint or wallpaper), we decided to paint the kitchen with color. During those white walls years, I'd read and reread a huge pile of decorating magazines and daydreamed about what colors to use when I'd finally have a chance to use paint. I'd settled on a green kitchen, so we went and searched for the perfect color. This wasn't the exact shade I had in mind, but I love it and I'm so happy with it!



Here is the view from the door.



And moving in a clock-wise direction, here is the kitchen from the next corner. The stove and oven are behind me.



Here's a view from the window-side of the room. Through the doorway, you can see across the hall and into the living room.



Here you can see the cabinets. They and the tiles are a lovely soft grey color (were here when we bought the apartment) and I think they go really well with the green on the walls. Other colors in the kitchen are white and pale wood.



I took an extra photo of this shelf-cabinet thing, because it's my favourite thing in the kitchen. It was made by my father's grandfather. My parents moved and redecorated a few years ago and suddenly didn't have a place for this. I volunteered to take it and my dad was happy to keep it in the family :) It holds many things that are dear to me: my small collection of Moomintroll mugs (I don't like the newer ones, so that's why it's so small), things picked up on our travels or gifted to us, along with a few photographs. To mention a few things, on the table top you see one of my first cross stitch pieces (Teresa Wenzler's Tempest) and a cookie jar my grand aunt made for me.

So, that's my kitchen. Compared to a lot of other kitchens, it's small, but it's the largest one I've had yet and at the moment, it's working for us just fine :)

New look

I decided it was finally time to change the look of my blog. It's been the same since I started it, almost two years ago! I also updated my blogroll and my other links to include links to all the SALs etc. that I'm taking part in.

Progress on Titania

Last week I made some progress on Titania. I also particiapted on my Monday SAL with Nicki. I did a whole bunch more of the eyelets on part 5, but it doesn't look much different than last week, so I didn't take a picture. This week I'll work on the autumn needleroll.

Candles

I have always loved candles and every autumn and winter I go through lots of them in our home. But this autumn, I'm really utterly in love with them :) Here are pictures from our living room yesterday evening.



This chandelier was a gift from my mom. We were shopping together for Christmas presents and I saw this one (it was on sale, too) and she said she'd buy it for me instead of getting us some flowers (she was coming to our house for dinner afterwards). I happily accepted. It wasn't hung in our previous appartment since we didn't have a proper place for it, but now it's in our living room and I love it! We went to Ikea last night to buy candles and came home with 150 of them :) !



These two lanterns were also a gift. A friend gave them to me when we moved here. They are on our balcony and you can see them through the living room window.



These two are on top of the cabinet that holds our TV. It's nice to light the candles when watching TV. They provide such a nice light and make the glare of the TV less hard on your eyes.



Candles really give out a lot of light. Something I didn't really realize until I started using the chandelier. DH's comment to this was: "Did you think they burned candles just for ambience 200 years ago?" :)

Things

Here's a picture of my progress on Monday's SAL with Nicki. Nicki is working on Mystery VIII at the moment and once I'm done with part 5 we'll do part 6 together and then continue our SAL with us both working on Mystery VIII. So I thought I'd show you what mine looks like at the moment:



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Last week while on a walk, I collected some pretty leaves from the ground. I put them between the pages of a heavy book to dry them out. On Monday I took them out and made them into a small garland and hung it on our living room door.