Still here but very busy

I think it is time to say “Hello” again. Time has really flown over here. A lot of things have been going on, everything good I am pleased to say. Work has been kind of crazy lately, lots to do to prepare for next school year, etc. The 2 older girls have started their school holidays, they have been spending quite a lot of time with their grandparents (my mum and dad) which is great. We have started our camping trips again, already went on two trips in June which we like a lot. The first one was a weekend trip and the second one was a family trip with Runar’s family where we celebrated the 85th birthday of my father-in-law. We spent 6 days together with them and had a wonderful time. It was good to see everybody and it was so wonderful to have some days off on a holiday. Now I’ll be working for 2 more weekend and then I’ll be on holidays for 4 weeks. It will be so great. We have got a lot of camping planned for the summer holidays so I don’t know how much you will see me blogging but I’ll try to pop in every now and then with some pictures.

I have been knitting a lot lately. I have also been stitching some but most of it is secret stitching that will be shown later on. I finished knitting a vest for Hjalmfridur Briet – I’ll enclose a picture of her. And I have finished a sweater for Fridbjorg Lilja – I still have to rinse it and let it dry before you see a photo. I have started yet another knitting project but that one will have to remain a secret for a little while. But here is a photo of Hjalmfridur Briet in her new vest.

I received a beautiful return exchange from Pascale in Belgium last week. It is so beautifully done and words really can’t describe who much I like it and I think the pictures that I took don’t do it justice at all. Thank you ever so much Pascale, I will cherish this stitchers wallet, it is wonderful. Pascale also enclosed 2 patterns from my wishlist and the thread the patterns call for. Here are some pictures.

This is the outside of the stitchers wallet
Here is the inside, look at all the details, it is so beautifully finished and every detail is so very well thought of.
And finally here is a picture of the whole exchange. Again thank you so much Pascale – I really love everything.

Well, I guess it is high time for me to stop now. Thanks to everybody who still come around for a visit to my blog. I will post on and off during the summer but it won’t be regular. Hope you are all having a great summer and will be having a lot of fun during your holidays.

Take care, hugs and kisses to you all.

Another block for Nature’s Home Afghan finished

I have been stitching on Nature’s Home Afghan once again and I have finished another block. This block was a fairly quick stitch and an enjoyable one. Here is a picture of the finished block.

I don’t know how much time I’ll have to stitch over the weekend but hope to get some stitching time though as I feel I really need it.

Take care and stay safe over the weekend.

An exchange and some knitting

Whow! Every day seems just so buy at work those days. I am longing for holiday right now but still have about a month to wait for it.

I heard that Pascale in Belgium received the crazy exchange that I sent to her so I can show you some pictures. This was a march challenge piece at Stitch and Stash forum (Jayne’s Attic). I really loved making this little hedgehog. And immedialy thought of Pascale to send it off to, I am happy to say that she enjoyed it. I made this into a needlebook. Here are some pictures.

And this is inside the needlebook

This chart is called the Hedgehog Quaker and comes from the Workbasket.
The free chart can be found here.
The facric and thread are some scraps from my stash.

Lately I have been knitting quite a lot. I have managed to finish off a dress for my youngest daughter Jóhanna Brynja and a vest for my middle daughter Friðbjörg Lilja. Here are some pictures of them showing off their new clothes.

Here is Friðbjörg Lilja wearing her new vest. The pattern can be found in English on the net for free. Please, click here. If you would like to find out more about icelandic knitting and for more free patterns please check out http://istex.is

Here is Jóhanna Brynja modeling her new dress, she just loves it.

Here they are both showing off their new clothes. The spinning wheel that stands between them is an heirloom from my husbands side. It was handmade by his grandfather and is a beautiful work.

I’ll leave you here. Currently I have started knitting another vest, the same pattern as I knitted before but in different colours for my oldest daughter Hjálmfríður Bríet. I am also working on my Nature’s Home afghan. I have started another block and have been stitching on tuesday evenings just not posting a picture recently. I will post a picture on tuesday of the block and also of the whole afghan, it has changed a bit since I posted a overview picture the last time.

Until next time, hope you have a wonderful day. Take care.

Update on Nature’s Home

I took Nature’s Home Afghan with me to our holiday in the cottage at Easter. I managed to work quite a lot on it, in between doing some knitting. While I have no knitting pictures to show just yet I do have pictures of Nature’s Home to show you.

I managed to finish the blog with the bunny. There was a lot of confetti stitching on the flowers and I loved seeing this block appear. I am very fond of this project and love working on it every tuesday. Here is a picture of the bunny block.

And I started yet another block during the holiday and managed to finish that one as well. I think I have accomplished quite a lot at Easter.   Here is a picture of the second block that I finished.

Now I have to decide which block I am going to start stitching on tuesday. Still a bit undecided but keep visiting me and I’ll post an update on wendesday.

All the best to you.

Exchange from Stephanie

Before Easter I received a wonderful return exchange from Stephanie in UK. Stephanie and I are both members of the group Crazy Exchange. I had sent her an exchange and this is what she sent to me. Words can’t describe the wonderful finishing Stephanie has done on this project and the pictures don’t do this piece any justice. Stephanie made me this beautiful box. Her finishing is so beautiful. It is just perfect. Here are some pictures.

Inside the box

The side of the box

The box top

The whole exchange

Thank you ever so much for this beautiful exchange Stephanie, you have really spoiled me. I will treasure this piece – I just love it.

Back to blogging

Hope there is someone still visiting my blog. I have been away for a long time. Things have been very hectic at work and I have brought home some work for the evenings. And I have been knitting and cross stitching in between so I do have some pictures to show you, I guess I’ll do that in a seperate blog entry.

We went away for the Easter weekend. We rented a cottage out in the country and stayed there. The weather was chilly but wonderful. The girls enjoyed themselves and so did Runar and I. Jóhanna Brynja caught the flu while we were in the cottage and ran a high temperature so she stayed inside most of the time. But in spite of that Easter was lovely. I only took one cross stitch project with me to the cottage, The Nature’s Home Afghan and managed to finish two blocks.

Yesterday we had election day here in Iceland where we chose members of the Parliament. I stayed up into the night to watch the results. I’m not much into politics.

Well, I’m going to leave you all here but I will post seperate posts with some pictures in a moment.

Hope you all have a great sunday. I’ve missed you all.

Another good mail day….

I had been wondering about the HOE Biscornu Exchange during the week and then it appeared in my mail on Thursday. I received a beautiful biscornu made by Leigh in USA. It is so beautifully stitched and stitched together with some beads. It is in beautiful pink colour which I really love. And I also received some threads in lovely pink colours and powder to make hot chocolate. Anyway, here is a picture.

And a closeup picture of the front of the biscornu.

I found out that Julie has received my RAK and I was very happy that she liked my gift. I knitted her a pair of sock and was a bit afraid they wouldn’t fit but she assured me they did. Here is a picture of the socks.

Healthwise I am slowly getting better. I went to the doctor on Thursday and as I thought I had developed a sinus infection. So I left with a dosage of antibiotics which seem to be doing the trick slowly. I really hope this is the last sickness that we have here. I really long for warmer and sunnier weather to be able to spend more time outside.

Stitchingwise, I didn’t stitch much on Thursday and Friday as Jóhanna Brynja stayed at home being sick as well. She in on the mend too. I have managed to stitch a little more on 4 wishes but not enough to take a picture. I’ve been thinking a lot about my rotation. I really love the way it works but I am thinking of making the slots for each piece last 5 hours instead of 10 hours. I think it might suit me better. I am giving this a lot of thought those days. I’ll let you know if this changes. LOL 

Well, I think it is time to stop now. Hope you are having a great weekend. All the best until we meet again.

Nature’s Home Afghan

Well, yesterday was Tuesday and I did stitch on my afghan. I decided to keep it up on the table and did stitch on it until lunch today. So, I’ve got quite a bit stitched this time. I think I might have about half of this block finished by now. The sweet little rabbit is almost all done and I did add some flowers and green grass.

First a picture of where I started yesterday.

And this is how far I had gotten when I stopped today

I am still staying at home sick. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so I hope I can get something for the infection. I think the flue might have emerged into sinus infection – we´ll see about that.

Anyway, hope you have a wonderful day!

Look what the postman brought me……

I know, I know, I have just recently posted but I had to give an update. The mailman has just been here and look what I found inside my mailbox when I went to look.

I received my HOE Winter Quaker Exchange from Melissa E. in Canada. She sent me the most beautiful pinkeep. She designed the pattern herself and it is so beautifully stitched and finished into a pinkeep. The fabric is dark bottlegreen and the pins and ribbons matches perfectly. And in addition to the stitched project Melissa also sent me, not only 1 but 2 charts from my wishlist. Now I have “It’s Cold Outside” by Blue Ribbon Designs and “My Needle’s Work” by Little House Needleworks. Thank you ever so much for this wonderful exchange Melissa. Here are pictures for you to admire.

I’ll have to get those charts kitted up and ready to go as they are definately going to filling up empty slots in my rotation.

Well, I’ll leave you again today. Have a wonderful day!

Time for an update don’t you think.

It’s been a long time since my blogging again. I am sitting here at some sick, staying home from work. I’ve got the flu, a sore throat, stuffy nose, bad caugh and am running a fever. I have a feeling that the flu has developed into an infection in the sinuses, I’ve got a doctors appointment lined up for Thursday, so we’ll see about that.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about stitchy update. I have got some pictures to show you and some updates to tell you about. First let’s start by Nature’s Home Afghan. The picture from last week is here below. I will be stitching on this today so I’ll have another update for you tonight/tomorrow (not sure when). I am still working on the bottom right block with the rabbit, still have got quite some stitching on that block before it is finished.

I have been working on my rotation. I finished stitching on my slot for “Under the Friendship Tree” by Mirabilia. I really love this pattern and it reminds me of my lifelong friendship with my friend Árný. We have known each other since we were 2 and 3 years old. Stitching on this brings on many fond memories of our friendship. Well, this is where I left it after finishing the slot in my rotation.

I have got a new start in my roation now. It is something that I have wanted to start for ages. I have already done a hour stitching on it and hope to finish the slot this week to make a move on my rotation. The new start is “4 Wishes” by Just Nan. I love her designs and learning some new speciality stitches is so much fun. I will not show you a picture until I have finished the 10 hours on 4 Wishes so you’ll have to wait a bit longer. I really love the way the rotation is working this time. I am cutting a huge dent into my UFO pile, I can see it vanish in front of my eyes and I think it is unbelieveable how little work I’ve got left on some of the projects. They really shouldn’t have found their way into my UFO pile. And I love the guilt free new starts that I have been making too along the way.   It is such a joy.

Remember back in January I did the Monthly Challenge at Jayne’s Attic message board. I haven’t posted a picture of it on my blog yet as it got sent away as an exchange for the Crazy Exchange group. It has been received by the recipient a while ago but I always forgot to post a picture. So here it goes.

This is “The Three Emblems” a freebie by Papillon Creations
Stitched on scrap fabric that I found in my stash.
Can’t remember what thread I used.
Finished as a bourse – my very first bourse.

I wanted to participate actively in the Montly Challenge this year but I failed to do February. I did finish the March challenge yesterday (will post a picture later) and I think I might go ahead and do the February challenge even though it is March already. It can’t hurt anyone. LOL 

I did a couple of HOE Exchanges in February and March. The HOE Biscornu Exchange has been received by Jayne in the UK. Here is a picture of the biscornu I made for her for this exchange.

The pattern is “French Biscornu Chart” by Papillon Creation.
The pattern was published in Gift of Stitching Issue 27, April 2008.
Again stitched on scrap fabric found in my stash.
Threads are Carrie’s Thread from a Grab bag that I bought long time ago.

I am waiting for the HOE Winter Quaker Exchange to reach it’s destination. It is probably on route across the Atlantic Ocean as I write this. Of course I forgot to take a picture of this exchange before I sent it away so I’ll have to ask for a picture from the dear recipient when she has received it.

Yesterday, I did finish the stitching on another Crazy Exchange, I can’t show you a picture yet. I’ll probably do the finishing today. We’ll see about it. I will show you a picture once it has been received.

What else can I tell you. I have a secret gift flying across the pond to UK where it will land in the hands of a very dear online blogging friend. She was so kind as to send me a pattern off my wish list when she had finished stitching it. Thank you so much dear Julie – I know you read my blog. The CCN pattern “The Tearoom” will find its’ way to my rotation thanks to you.

I think this really is all for now. I’ll be back with an update on Nature’s Home after today and will continue with my rotation tomorrow. Until next time, hope you are having a great day! Thanks to those who are still reading my blog, thank you for staying around reading even though sometimes it is long time between my posts.