It won’t be huge, but this could be a really nice sewing space, I think. The wall that is not there, is the one that holds our closets, which will still be the case after the renovation. The door into the room from the hallway is to the right – it’s easier to see in the picture below.

Mads painted the ceiling yesterday, and the walls had first coat tonight, so it won’t be long before I need my design to be ready to go shopping. I think it’s going to look something like this, but if you have good ideas based on what you see, don’t hold back!

During 2009, my brother Jakob and his wife Jolanda who live together in Amsterdam, went to Mongolia for a wedding celebration. They spent some time travelling around the country, and when they returned, Jolanda brought with her a fascination of the delicious felt products that were produced by locals in the country.

She has now started a business called Esgii (‘felt’ in Mongolian) and a very nice looking webshop at Esgii.nl importing felt products from Mongolia, produced by individuals and small businesses, using the principles of fair trade. A large part of the population in Mongolia is still living below the line of poverty, and Jolanda’s initiative means that she and her customers will be contributing to a positive development in Mongolia.

It has taken a ton of work on her part, and the thing that carries her is that she is passionate about the products, the way they are produced, and sets high standards for how she wants to move them along.

She currently sets up stands in different markets around Amsterdam, while taking care of the webshop at the same time, so if you live in or near Amsterdam, I can only tell you to go get those gorgeous things. Take a look at the pictures here and her site, to see what you should be expecting. But for now – mostly for the Dutch visitors.

Here’s to hoping she’ll go international before long – I can definitely find a few things that I am adding to my wish list.

I didn’t realize until the elastic was in its casing, and everything was pretty much done – only needed to sew the two tiers together. I have no idea why I didn’t see it coming – there is so much fabric around the waist of this skirt, you could fit an elephant in there – if the elastic was long enough. But I didn’t. See it coming, that is. I ended up gathering the top tier to fit the second tier, and now I can’t decide whether I should unpick a lot of seams and redo the whole thing. All that fabric around Frida’s tiny waist does take up some space…

I adore the fabric (baby corduroy) which I found at Malika & Rosa, but I only got half a metre, because that should be plenty for a small skirt – however now that I used everything making the waist of this skirt (yep), I have next to nothing left. What to do, what to do… In the meantime, Frida absolutely loves the skirt – I’m not sure she sees the problem!

A few days ago, I mentioned here that Rae is doing her Spring Top Week again – and it’s open for entries now! Being last years winner, she has asked me if I would like to be part of the jury this year, and of course I would love to! I am so happy and proud to be included, because the rest of the jury is made up by 9 incredibly talented women – I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun.

I’ll get back to that some other day – but right now I’m just feeling so internet-lucky! The internet is an amazing place to get together with like-minded people – online as well as IRL. During this past weekend, I was at my third bloggers meetup with an amazing group of girls who have their blogs and a great deal of creative talent in common – and then we have come to see that we really just share so much more than that, and I love being part of it.

Lucky me!

I had a wonderful weekend. Saturday, I met up with a bunch of open, creative, strong, sensitive, wise, funny, inventive, remarkable women. The day contained humour as well as seriousness and many good talks – it was a bloggers meetup, and though it took place a two hour drive away from here, it was definitely worth the trip, and it left me with a feeling of having connected to a bunch of wonderful women outside my usual circles. Thanks, girls – and Yay for blogging – did I say that before?

Sunday was all about kitchen (I’ll get back to that) and kids – and visiting good friends in the late afternoon.

So back to the blue Monday. I was tagged by Annette in a colour game, and I wasn’t sure whether I would find the time, because as you all know, time is a luxury around here at the moment. However, I started looking for light blue items in my home, when I wasn’t thinking about it, and finally I couldn’t resist getting out the camera.

I thought it would be difficult to find light blue around here, but while there may not be many totally light blue items, it’s still a colour that pops out here and there.

Like in the new issue of Ottobre, which arrived a few days ago – such a gorgeous girls tunic pattern in there, by the way!

There is one among Frida’s crayons…

In this painting by Ronja, a sweet girl has light blue arms – or is that wings?

And this blue wire will help spread atmosphere in our kitchen to be – they’re coming out of the walls everywhere.

I managed to find light blue – so I’m sending on the challenge:

Marina, Amy, and Lisbeth – would you play along and find 7 green items in your homes?

It’s just incredible – my top actually won out of the hundred tops in the Spring Top Week, and there were so many beautiful ones there!

So I just want to say thank you to all you guys who voted for my top. And the same goes to you, Rae – if you are reading along; lots of thank you’s for hosting the Spring Top Week, and making it such a fun and inspirational event to participate in!

Thank you all!

The tutorial is great, and I would definitely use it again. I used a Japanese linen-cotton blend with circus elephants that I found at a Danish fabric shop, Malika&Rosa.dk. I can totally recommend it, by the way – even though we all know fabric’s pricy in this country, she really has my kind of sewing shop with a pretty delicious selection!

For the lining I found some white fabric with little green dots, and for the soles I used two layers of baby cord. The little guy is a newborn, so obviously there’s no need for reinforcement for crawling or walking, and I don’t think there will be while they fit him. They looked so tiny when they were done – you forget how small newborn babies are, don’t you? I made a drooling bib to go with it (that was a first, but I drew the pattern myself, and it came out pretty nice, I think) - you can see the ensemble here.

I was supposed to visit during this week, but as I mentioned I’m down with a soar throat, so no visiting newborn babies for me. Therefore, I shipped off a small parcel yesterday – hope I get to see him soon, though!

I found this blooming shrub when we were walking in the park Saturday, and actually I just saved the picture for this occasion, because I thought it would fit the purpose wonderfully!

So I wrote all the names down on little pieces of paper, and had my stay-at-home God of Fortune (if you need that elaborated a little bit – go here) draw the winners:

Winner of the Flower-Bib:       ♥ Julie ♥

Winner of the Elephant-Bib:     ♥ Ria ♥

You two can start looking for an email from me - congrats to both of you!

To the rest of you: I’m sorry I didn’t make more bibs to put out here, but Frida needs quite a few! Honestly, I wish I could ship one off to every one of you! I really appreciate you playing along, though, and I hope you will stop by in the future!

We did go sled riding the other day (Frida’s first), and it was lots of fun, even though the girls were too tired to be at the toboggan run for very long. Afterwards we went home to have some hot chocolate – Frida hasn’t tasted this before, and while she was skeptical when first looking into the cup, the next two cups went down within minutes! It was sooo funny to watch her while devoting her entire attention to her new obsession!

And now I want to thank Mette for giving me this award!

The award is all about nearness, and I really appreciate it. Mette herself has a wonderful blog (in Danish) about her life, crafts, and her three beautiful boys. I’m going to pass on this award to other blogs that to me are synonym with nearness.

So go check out the following:

Lille-Ursus – I have been following her blog for as long as I’ve been sewing, and her warm descriptions of family and friends, as well as her attention to detail and things that make her happy – these things make me want to give her this. Also, Ulla gives out a lot of herself to her blog friends, and I’m proud to be among them.

U-handblog – One thing is her amazing generosity when it comes to all of her awesome tutorials. But really, because this award is about nearness, I also chose her because of the way she writes her tutorials – not too formally, but rather like you’re with her in a room having a laugh about the challenges on the way. That’s quite a skill you’ve got there, girl, and it’s a pleasure to read your blog!

MADE - because when I read Dana’s blog, I feel like she’s talking to me. Her pictures add an atmosphere of intimacy, and last but not least – I love her creations.

Colorfool – they’re hit by life at the moment, so the blog doesn’t come 1st priority, but when she posts, there’s plenty of nearness.

That’s all for now – but hey, I made something for you guys! More about that tomorrow – and remember the coupon code for Fabric.com is still valid!

Therefore, if you’re going fabric shopping soon, they are offering a $5 discount when you are using the code blogastrid – the coupon is valid for one week. I think that’s pretty nice of them! It’s a one time only coupon, and there is no minimum purchase.

So go take a look – it’s one of my favourite online fabric stores due to their huge selection, good prices, and great customer service!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

That said, I’m here to tell you that I have been sewing for a year now – one whole year!

A while ago, Chris and Jeannine posted about their sewing history, and I wanted to share as well – however, I decided to wait for my sewing anniversary, which is now – like right now!

Like most people in Denmark, I had sewing classes when I went to school – I think it was about the time when I was 13-14 years old. The class was about learning the basics on how to use a sewing machine. I don’t really remember making much, but I do remember sewing in paper, trying to make straight and equal lines and stuff like that.

Since then, I haven’t really been sewing – until last year. Ronja needed a dress for shrovetide – just like this year – and I went and bought one at a costume sale. I wasn’t quite pleased with it, though, so I bought some ribbon, sequins, and little fabric roses, in order to spice it up a bit. So I spent a lot of time sewing them on to the dress by hand, and Ronja loved it, even if I still wasn’t completely happy with it.

Anyway, this got me started. I realized that in order to get things the way I wanted them, I would just have to get out my inherited sewing machine and start sewing. Went and bought some Onion-patterns and fabric at a local sewing shop, and when I came back to buy more Onion-patterns, the shop owner asked me if I’d heard about Ottobre – it would be cheaper for me in the long run. Just guess how much I appreciate that piece of advice! Got my first magazine in Swedish, which was how I found out that I completely DO NOT understand sewing terms in Swedish, so when I decided to subscribe one week later, I ordered my subscription in English. A few weeks later, I bought my new sewing machine – a Pfaff 2027 – and I love it!

After that, I have been sewing lots of stuff for the children – just check out the mosaic above. And that isn’t even all. I have been learning so much, not least from the Ottobre English Sewing Group, which I have mentioned a few times before. I was afraid that when I started working, it would be hard to find the time, but now after two months “out there”, I still love spending an evening with the sewing machine, so that doesn’t seem to be a problem.

Tonight, I’m adding the final touches to Ronja’s angel costume – I will show you soon, promise!