To have it shabby or not.....

......thats the question!

I can’t decide whether I think shabby chic is overrated or not. When I look at all the web shops and blogs dedicated to shabby chic or French white or Danish white I feel a yearning as well as a light panic attack. Most of the homes are so perfect….everything in its right place and not an object to be seen that doesn’t match the designated theme. It makes me want to scream or secretly go there at night and place an ultra modern chair or

gall green plastic bowl among all the white finery. At the same time I wish that my house could look just like that, pristine, white and clean like a freshly mangled sheet but shabby chic doesn’t go that well with a shoebox shaped terrace house from the 60ies.

Come Christmas time my yearning grows bigger mostly due to all the Christmas magazines that I read. I mean it’s called a white Christmas for crying out loud! Or does that refer to snow? This year I think I will give in and have it both ways. A vintage like Christmas at the country house and a more modern Christmas in town. How is that for defying ambivalence?

Take care
Jeanette

Hard work is the cure for hard work....

I have just had one of those weeks with so much to do that the only thing that keeps you going without actually going insane is to focus on one thing at the time. If you just for one minute let your guard down and start thinking about the enormity of it all your heart starts racing and you end up in frustrated tears. Come Friday night I was speeding fast towards insanity….knowing that I had two more weeks of the same ( or possibly worse) to come before work got back to normal again. I had planed to get some work done during the weekend too but decided that I had to choose between taking a day off or call 911. Well, 112 actually in Sweden.

So I drove down to the country house instead, the sky blue and the sun shining and I could feel my shoulders sinking the closer I got. Hubby was already there building a room on the second floor and I brought him freshly baked bread from the local baker and was greeted with a huge smile and a hug. Life suddenly felt so much better. A feeling that lasted about an hour or so and then the delivery came…..



How could I have forgotten? The firewood we ordered a few weeks ago to take us through the winter and that now had to be stored in the barn. Oh well, I told myself with a cheerful voice (can you hear the irony here?) this beats sitting in front of a computer all weekend….. 3 hours and 26 wheelbarrows later I was done! I was beyond tired but stood and looked with great satisfaction at the two neat piles of firewood in the barn. Do you know what the best of it was? Not once during those three hours did I think about work.

In the evening we drove over to my mothers to celebrate her birthday and I was pampered with a home cooked meal and birthday cake. YUM! And boy did I brag about my firewood !!!!!

Since both my mother and I are crazy about cats I made her one.

In moss.....

Hope you have a great week!
Jeanette


PS Speaking of cats, do you remember Missy`s kittens. Here they are all seven of them in Johannas lap....

7 weeks old but still a bit tiny the Vet said last week so now they are getting cream cheese and kitten food as well as Missy nursing them. Cute aren`t they?

Hearts for Rini

A few days back I got a very nice e:mail from Rini saying that she liked the hearts in my blog photo very much and wondered if they where for sale. Since I much rather give away than sell I said we could do a swap instead. I would make some felted hearts for her and she would make an ATC for me. So here they are Rinis hearts ready to be sent off to the Netherlands.

Oh I like Blogland! Full of nice surprises and new acquaintances!

Take care

Jeanette

Textile Ladies on the road

Yesterday the Textile Ladies went to Jönköpings Länsmuseum to visit the Eco craft exhibition

" The revolution is being Handmade". It’s a 3,5 hour drive and being on the road with my textile friends ment almost constant laughing and some serious amounts of coffee breaks.

There is no end to the multitude of topics four women have time discuss during a long car drive….. On the way back for instance we talked about what kind of book we would write if we where given the opportunity to do just that next year. Lisa wanted to write a cookbook, Monne a crime novel and Anna an interview / photo book with real people instead of celebrities. Me? I wanted to make a DIY book that would make people see that there is nothing to being creative. You just jump right in and do it!

The exhibition was a great inspiration for “just do it”. All kind of recycled art, enormously inspirational. Want a sneak peak?


Oh sorry, not of me but the exhibition of course....

Pimp my ride - knitting on a bike!

Dress made out of recycled plastic straps

Lamp made out of coke cans

Mobile made out of.....glasspinnar ...eh what you call it in english....

the wooden pegs meant for holding your ice cream popcicle ?????

Well as you can see I had a great weekend, hope you had one too!

Jeanette

Do re Do

I never liked hand me downs as a kid. But now I do…or at least if they come from my dear friend B. When I visit her in Stockholm there is more often than not a bag full of her wrong buying’s which happens to be exactly right for me!

A year back I “inherited” her gorgeous knitted tunic which I have now loved to threads. But I just couldn’t make myself throw it away, some of the tunic still being OK and the yarn a beautiful black linen of great quality. So I made it into something else.

Bi bi di .....

Bo bi di .....

......boo

I cut it short, mended a alot of holes and unraveled stitches and then knitted a black lace and sew it to the hem. Hey presto! Something new of something old. Recycling in ít`s most fun way!

Since I had a two pieces left I made a short knitted skirt to wear over a pair of jeans och leggings.
Take care
Jeanette

On my most wanted Christmas list

Dear Santa!
If Santa you read my blog this is what I want for Christmas. Yeah, yeah I know it’s only November but you might have a hard time finding the stuff so I like to give you a fair chance.

1. Mikaela Willers absolutely gorgeous rokoko Vase in white ( seen on the top shelf)


2. A pair of knitted UGG boots



3. A knitting kit for this sweater, replica of a Skånsk Spedetröja

5. Little Miss Missy......or

.....Little Mr Nils, the beige one. He looks just like my beloved Nasse that past away this summer. Or...

.....any of Mrs Missy`s six kittens.

She is my eldest daughters barn cat and the kittens are now five weeks old. At the pictures they are aprox 2 weeks and had just opened their eyes. The are so sweet you get diabetic! To be honest they should be on top of the list. My husband is dead against it though mainly because we have one cat already, the remaing brother of Nasse but mostly ( he says) because I was devastated and swore never again to have animals when I had to have Nasse put down at the vets. But a girl can change can`t she......

So please, please Dear Santa .....make my husband see the light!

Take care

Jeanette

Seeing another perspective

photo from blog.craftzine.com


I have a confession to make. I am a yarnoholic! I get abstinence when leaving a yarn shop if I didn`t buy anything and I can wake up in the middle of the night with a strange urge to start knitting….. But yarns are off limits at the moment! I took a decision that I don’t get to buy a single hank or ball until I have finished what I am currently working on……Which is SO frustrating but necessary if I don’t want to go bankrupt.

On the other hand people collect stamps right? and valuable art and toys and cars…..So technically speaking you could say that I am building up a collection right? And a collection per definition means something quite big in proportions doesn’t it? Thinking about it in that way my collection of yarns is really quite small. Not big at all. Could do with an added collector’s piece or two !

Oh I love to see things in another perspective!

Got to dash! I am off to the yarnstore……
Oh bother it`s 22.40.....got to get some sleep...then I will dash to the yarnstore!


Take care
Jeanette


PS My last finished piece. Green linen shawl with black linen lace.

The Textile Ladies

Anna, Lisa & Monne - The Textile Ladies

Meet the Textile Ladies, my fantastic friends always ready to do crazy things in the name of creativity. Monne a lady with excellent taste in interior design and colors, full of knowledge when it comes to design and gardening. Is currently trying to forget the 100 piece coat that once seemed the perfect spring sewing project ….Lisa, former head of a bookstore who knows what there is to know about books and has great insight in what I like. She can always recommend something that suits me. Does fantastic embroideries that only occasionally by mistake get stuck to her jeans…. Last but not least Anna, the most colorful person I have met with enormous integrity and an aptitude for creative knitting! Patterns are there to be neglected or redone…..and she always seems to land on her feet …… and then there is me who enjoys talking so much when we meet that I seldom get anything done!

Do I need to mention that all of them has a great sense of humor? Even now when I am sitting here all alone in my office writing a huge smile spreads over my face and I get all warm inside just by thinking of them.

Now that is what real friendship is about.

Take care
Jeanette

An even better remedy

Birdie flying over Eleanors desk

Just read my e:mail and had two lovely mails proving that “Blogland” is quite amazing sometimes. One was from Eleanor in Australia with a photo of Birdie. I made Birdie for her because I think her writing is wonderful and now Birdie flew back through cyberspace with a greeting for me. The second one was from Caroline, whom I met when I held a summer school at the University of Lund in 1987! Can you believe it! She found my blog and recognized me and sent me a lovely mail. I must have aged with grace…you wish.

So I think I am cured and back. I just needed to know why I was doing this and now I know. I write because I like sharing my thoughts and meet new friends from all over the world. Old ones too as it happens!

And it gets better…..tonight I meat Anna my dear blogfriend who just happened to live right across the park from me. Pretty amazing! First blogfriend and now friend in IRL.

Take care
Jeanette

Remedy?

Could this be a remedy for my writer’s block? I remember I tried something like this taking a writing class many years ago but this one I got over at Helylle though.

I just get to answer with one word. Here goes:

1. Where is your mobile phone? Desk
2. Your hair? Long
3.Your mother? Caring
4. Your father? Loving
5. Your favourite food? Chocolate
6. Your dream last night? Nightmare
7. Your favourite drink? Wine
8. Your dream/goal? Mixed media artist
9. What room are you in? Home office
10. Your hobby? Crafting
11. Your fear? Loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Country house
13. Where were you last night? Bollerup
14. Something that you aren’t? Patient
15. Muffins? YES
16. Wish item? Canon Mark 1
17. Where did you grow up? Malmö
18. Last thing you did? Kissed
19. What are you wearing? Long johns
20. Your TV? Off
21. Your pet? Cat
22. Friends? Vital
23. Your life? Precious
24. Your mood? Reflective
25. Missing someone? Sven
26. Vehicle? Volvo V 40
27. Something you’re not wearing? Hat
28. Your favorite store? Any chocolate store
29. Your favorite color? Black
30. When was the last time you laughed? 10 seconds ago
31. Last time you cried? 1 hour ago
32. Your best friend? Barbro
33. One place that I go to over and over? Österlen
34. One person who emails me regularly? Jonas
35. Favorite place to eat? Seeside
36. Tattoo? Someday
37. Work disciplin? Effective
38. Why do you blog? Sharing
39. Skill you wish you had? Ice skating
40. Favorite trait in others? Humor

Now here is an even better cure for almost everything.......





Savannah Chocolate Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
•2 cups brown sugar
•1/2 cup vegetable shortening
•1 cup buttermilk
•1 teaspoon vanilla
•2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
•3 eggs
•2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
•1 teaspoon baking soda
•1/2 teaspoon salt

Hot Fudge Sauce:
•1 (4-ounce) bar German chocolate
•1/2-ounce unsweetened chocolate
•8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
•3 cups powdered sugar
•1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
•1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cake, cream the brown sugar with the shortening in an electric mixer. Add the buttermilk and vanilla then the melted chocolate. With the mixer running, add eggs, 1 at a time. Sift the flour with the baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and beat for 2 minutes.

Grease and flour a 13 by 9 by 2-inch rectangular cake pan. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until the cake is springy and a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly, about 40 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a rack to finish cooling.

To make the sauce: Melt the 2 chocolates with the butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir in the powdered sugar, alternating with evaporated milk and blending well. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the mixture becomes thick and creamy, about 8 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Serve slices of cake topped with warm fudge sauce.

( Recipe and photo from Food network)

Take care
Jeanette