More house pictures

I told you I’d be back today with more pictures of my new house. We signed the papers for the house and got the keys on April 14th. A lot has to be done before we can move in but things have taken much less time than anticipated. The following pictures show the state in which the house was once we got the keys. Lets look at the ground floor first. Once you walk into the house you come into an entrance.

This is the front door, in the back you can see where the guest WC is supposed to be. What is missing is the wall into the guest WC and the wall between the entrance and the kitchen.

From the entrance you walk into a small hall, to the left is the stair up to the second floor.

Next to the stairs is the living room, there is a nice little corner ideal for our piano.

This is the other end of my living room. Notice the door that lead into our garden. We plan to build a patio outside this window later.

To the right from the small hall is my kitchen. The kitchen has the two windows in the back.

Looking up the stairs you see the roof. Lets take on the stairs and go to the second floor.

In the back you can see a door leading into a big balcony. The family/tv room is in the corner. The window closest to us is in Johanna’s room. There are still quite a few walls missing at this stage.

The master bedroom is in the left corner (has two windows), then we have the family/tv room in the right corner.

In the other end we have Fridbjorg’s room in the left corner (it has one big window), then we have the big bathroom (with the little window) and finally Hjalmfridur’s room in the right corner.

Here you have Hjalmfridur’s room in the left corner, in the middle comes my laundry room and in the right corner you see the window in the master bedroom.

And finally we have the garage, in the back of the garage there will be a small storage room with a door that leads into the garden (hopefully to the patio before long).

 

So, now you have got the grand tour of my new house. I know it takes a lot of imagination to try to think how it will look in the end. Mind you those pictures were taken a little more than a month ago once we got the house. A lot has been done since then and things have gone more quickly than I had ever hope for. I won’t give you more pictures this time though, but I will be back tomorrow with some more. 🙂

Hope you have a wonderful day, take care.

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Blowing the dust off my blog

Hello everybody.

Remember me? I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to my blog. I used to enjoy posting a lot but I went into hibernation with a lot of things when my father got sick. Now I feel the urge again to start posting to my blog again. Maybe some people are still here reading….maybe not.

A lot has happened since I wrote something the last time. More than a year has passed. The girls are all doing great at school. Hjalmfridur Briet is finishing 8th class, her confirmation is getting closer – the date is set for June 12th. Lots of preparation going of for that special day. Fridbjorg Lilja is finishing 5th class and our little baby girl Johanna Brynja is already 5 years old and doing well at day care. Looking at her makes me wonder where the time has gone?! I´m adding some pictures of the girls so you can see them…………I’m so proud of my girls.

This is Hjalmfridur Briet

This is Fridbjorg Lilja

This is Johanna Brynja

Craftwise I have not been doing such a lot. I’ve been trying to find my stitching mojo but it seems nowhere to be found. I’ve been doing some knitting for my family, but apart from that nothing at all.

We have big changes ahead of us. We have bought a new house and are working hard to get it ready for our move in August. We bought it in a building state, only the house had been built and everything else needed to be done.

The front of the house

The back of the house

Plans for the ground floor

Plans for the second floor

I’ll show you more pictures in my next post. Like I said we are planning to move around the middle of August if everything goes as planned. We have put our flat up for sale but it hasn’t been sold yet. The new house is in a town called Hafnarfjordur which is where I lived when I was a little girl. My mother and two brothers live in Hafnarfjordur and I really like the idea of living closer to my mother. When we move I need to change my job so I have already given my resignation from my current job. My last day at my job will be on July 15th. I’m not looking forward to that day as I really love my current job, my workmates are just great and I feel great at work. But like they say, when one door closes another one opens up. I have already got another job. It is at a day care center only 5-10 minutes walk from my new home. It is a big day care center combined to a big school so we will all be walking together in the mornings. This is a great advantage and I’ll have the chance of meeting all my girls during the day. 🙂

Well, I’ll sign off for now but I’ll be back tomorrow with some more pictures of our house. Until then take care and hope you have a wonderful day.

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Some progress made

I have been working on some new fresh ideas for my stitching routine and I have something new that I’d like to try. I have been working on Nature’s Home Afghan for what seems like ages and I would like to get things moving as I really love this project and would like to see it finished sooner than later. So, I have come up with a new plan. I am going to make Nature’s Home my focus piece in my routine. I am going to keep it simple.

1. Nature’s Home Afghan (5 hours slot or more if needed).
2. WIPs list (whaterver project that is next on my list).
3. Small projects, SALs, exchanges or whatever I’d like to do.

This sounds pretty flexible, each slot has an estimated 5 hours work, more if needed. I’ll try out this rotation for a while and see how it goes. I did work on Nature’s Home Afghan yesterday and was able to finish another block. Here is a picture.

I really love working on it like I said before and I want to give it more attention. I’ll try to get a decent view from the whole afghan later today but won’t promise a nice one as the weather is a little bit grey and dull.

I worked on the next slot in my routine yesterday and stitched about 4 hours on “Under the Friendship Tree”. I’ll post a picture of that one when I am done working on it this time. And then I have to decide what I am going to work on during my “free slot”. Pretty exciting isn’t it. 🙂

I have got some exciting things to share with you. I have my 40th birthday coming up on October 11th. I’ve been tossing and turning over whether to have a big party or just do something special with my husband. Well, we finally decided, the flight and hotel is booked and we are going to London for 6 days, just the 2 of us. We haven’t had a holiday together just the two of us since I turned 35 years old – yes, that is 5 years ago. It is high time to do something special together. I am so excited about this trip. My mother will move into our flat and take care of the girls for us. That is a perfect solution as both the older girls have school during our holiday and the youngest one will go to her day care centre. Anyway, we have some pretty nice things planned for our holiday. Apart from just enjoying ourselves and enjoying each other’s company, we are planning to visit a market (either Greenwhich or Portobello), have an “Afternoon Tea” somewhere nice (I have always wanted to try this but never made it happen), go for walks in St. James Park (our favourite one). And guess what, I found out that “The Knitting & Stitching Show” is on at Alexandra Palace while we are in London so I am spending friday the 9th October at the show. I have always wanted to go but the timing was never right. I am pretty excited about the show and my husband is even going with me (and no need to twist his arm to go). 🙂

Well, that’s a lot of news for one post so I guess I’ll leave you here. I’ve got a nasty bug (fever, cough, headache) that has kept me home from work since monday but I am getting better and will probably be able to go back to work tomorrow. Thanks to those who are still reading, I really appreciate your visits. Have a wonderful day!

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Summer is over and I am back into routine.

What a great feeling it is too to have everything back into routine. I loved the summer and we were very busy travelling around visiting family and just having fun.

I started working again on August 10th as my summer holiday ended then. Things have been crazy at work as we have a lot of children starting day care and the adjusting period has been difficult for some of them. Things will get a bit quieter at work after about 2 weeks.

The girls started school again this week so we are adjusting to the routine that we will keep during the school year.

I haven’t been stitching a lot during the summer but I have been knitting like crazy which I really love.

At the moment I am working on children garments made of the Icelandic wool. I have finished the knitting on one pullover and am working on the next one. I will use the weekend to do the finishing. Weave in the ends and I need to put a zipper in the front of both pullovers. This will be a challenge for me as I have never done this before. Here are pictures of the pullovers.

I also want to show  you a picture of a pullover that I made for Guðrún María and we gave it to her for her birthday. I am so proud of this pullover. This is the first time that I crochet the buttonholes at the front and they came out just perfect.

I am working on a routine for my stitching and knitting that I am starting at the beginning of September. I am eager to start stitching again as I really miss it. I am looking forward to my quiet evenings of crafting and making nice things this autumn and winter.

Until I see you again which will be quickly I think. Hope you have a wonderful day.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Photoheavy post

The heading says it all.  I haven’t had much time to blog lately but I’ve been doing a lot of things. There are quite a few photos that I would like to show you.

First let me start off with my stitching happy dances. The first one is a part of my rotation. I had quite a few projects in my WIP/UFO pile that only needed a few stitches to be finished, I include those into my rotation every second slot so I am finishing quite a few WIP/UFO’s as I go. On saturday I finished one of those projects. This one is a Ozark SAL from 2007. It is stitched on a piece of evenweave which was handdyed by Jayne at Jayne’s Attic and all the threads used are dyed by Mary at Ozark Sampler. I really enjoyed working on this piece and I don’t really know why it became an UFO for me. But here it is all finished up.

With the Ozark SAL 2007 slot finished in my rotation it is time to move to the next slot. Now I am stitching on Under the Friendship Tree which is a Mirabilia design. I had started this some months ago and really love this piece. I did manage to stitch on it for 2 hours before I had to put it down. But it will be back in my hands on wednesday when I’ll continue stitching on it. I wanted to show you a picture of it as it was before I started working on it again.

I have another stitching happy dance that happened just today. I’ve been taking part in the Oakhaven Design SAL and I quite enjoy it. We can send a picture to Tonia at Oakhaven Designs when we have finished a part of the SAL and she will then send us the next part. So we get to choose how fast/slow we stitch each part. I really love her designs so it is difficult not to fly through the parts. I finished the March part today and will be sending a picture to Tonia tonight asking April. Anyway, here is a picture of March finished.

Today I finished off a biscornu that I can’t show you a picture of just yet. This is for the HOE biscornu exchange. It is all packed up and ready to be taken to the post office tomorrow. It hasn’t got very far to travel so I might have a picture for you soon. Tomorrow I’ll be working on the Monthly Challenge on Jayne’s Attic Message Board. I’m looking forward to working on it.

I’ve spent a big part of this weekend helping my girls with their homework. Hjálmfríður Bríet had a project that she had to finish and hand in tomorrow morning that was really time consuming. I think I told you in a previous blog entry that I like to have my knitting needles with me when I help the girls out when it is possible. Over the weekend I managed to finish 3 projects knitting. All of those had been started and only needed a minimum work to finish. Here are pictures.

First there is a “Kiss Me Dishcloth”. I did join a group on yahoo where they have a Discloth KAL. You get a pattern of a discloth sent to you in 7 parts – one part each day. I have never knitted a discloth before but I thought it was a lot of fun and quite an easy task as I only did a small part daily. I must warn you the photo isn’t very good, the wording doesn’t show well. It says Kiss Me and there is a picture of lips below.

The next project was a pair of mittens that I had started for Hjálmfríður Bríet. I finally finished knitting the second thumb. This is an icelandic pattern and I used some Lopi light wool for it. I simply love this pattern and I might make some more mittens using the same pattern. Hjálmfríður Bríet did choose the colours herself and I think it looks very pretty.

And I finished a pair of socks for Friðbjörg Lilja. I had knitted the first sock ages ago and then had the second sock missing. But it knitted up quite quickly. Those are made with Regia sock yarn and she hasn’t taken off her socks since they were finished.

Well, I think that’s it for now. This post has been quite long and you deserve a medal to be still reading. I really hope you will all have a nice week ahead of you. I am looking foward to talking to you all again, hopefully soon. At least I’ll have an update for you on tuesday on my Nature’s Home Afghan.

Until then, take care, hugs and kisses.

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Tuesday update

Last night I kept on stitching on my Nature’s Home Afghan. Lots more colours added this time. I did stitch some more this morning as I am staying home from work today with a sick little girl. I’ll make it quick this time and just post the pictures so you can see my progress.

First a picture from last week

And a picture from last night

Still a long way to go with this block as it is more than half way filled with stitches but I am looking forward to stitching on it again as it has a lot of fun colours to stitch. But I’ve put it away for now.

Moving on to my rotation stitching again. Next in line is the 2007 Ozark Sampler SAL. Not much left to stitch on it so we will again see a finish. I am not unhappy with that but it leaves me with a dilemma of what to put into all those empty slots in my rotation for my next round. 😉

Hope you have a lovely day, take care and I’ll write more later.

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