Connecting the dots…

Lovely Slow Day

Mads and Ronja took off around noon today to go sailing, so Frida and I got out the sewing machine to make something for her. I have hardly been sewing at all for several months, but I can really tell how our autumn vacation has brought the pace down, and made me want to get out the sewing machine more.

We made this dress. Or actually, I made it while she was toddling about, “helping” me out, singing, messing around with my needles, running to and from. A total dream-afternoon – I had no idea that sewing with her around could be so easy.

The dress is made from a Stof & Stil pattern, which I believe isn’t sold anymore – #700492. The flowery fabric is from Stof & Stil as well, the bottom fabric is from a pillow case from IKEA, and the red gingham is Michael Miller. The two main fabrics are a rather sturdy quality, as this is not a summer dress – Frida will be wearing it with a t-shirt under during winter months. It’ll look like this:

At first I wasn’t sure, but now I am – I like it. It is a generous fit, but that’s ok – she’ll be able to have it for a long time.

I made a few other things during the vacation. Our boat needs a bit of fixing up on the inside as well as on the outside. My tasks are centered around the softer things – like bringing the inside expression of the boat closer to the way we are, without losing the fact that it is a boat, and boats do tend to have a different kind of aesthetics than the rest of the world, for some reason.

I wanted to make some pillows for the boat, and during this week, I got around to making four of these. I used this tutorial over on Prudent Baby (if this one doesn’t work for you, she has a ton of others to choose from) – it was quick and easy to follow, and I like the result a lot – very summer-cottage-ish!

I only photographed the first one, after that I had to make the other three in a real hurry before we were going sailing. I wanted to take pictures on the boat, but that’ll be another time – it was dark when we got back from our sail.

And finally, I got around to making a pouch for Frida’s Nintendo DSi, which she got for her birthday in September.

Remember the one I made for Ronja’s Nintendo DS? It has been doing the job, so for this one I used the same tutorial from Mad Quilter.

All in all the most productive few days I have had for a while.

Only So Many Hours a Day…

Warning: This will be a long post – but don’t worry, it will be pictures mostly.

When you look at my blog, it does indeed look like nothing much is happening. However, going through my recent calendar, and my recent pictures you would be getting an entirely different impression. I was just checking to see what should be included in a much needed update, and from that, I can totally see why I haven’t had time for blogging.

I miss my blog, my blog reading, and all of you guys out there (if anyone’s left), let me just say that first. However, these past few months work has been terribly busy and quite energy comsuming, which is good because I love what I’m doing – it just takes a few sacrifices. And as if business at work wasn’t enough, we also took on a project in our family – more about that further down.

I’ll give you a picture wrap up – so let’s see what we’ve been doing the last few months.

So – briefly:

Mallorca in July

Canoe trip to lake Immeln in Sweden in July

Ronja starting school in August

Ronja’s 6 years birthday in August

I made these adorable goodie bags from Minimega’s printable pdf for the occasion when the class was visiting – just had to show you!

And now in this look-back we’re approaching September, and of course, in our family we just always need 2-300 things keeping us busy, so we started looking for a sail boat (this is the project I mentioned at the beginning). Our new love will be a separate post (or several, of course), now that I hope I will keep up the posts just a little more than I have the past 3-4 months.

We spent all of our spare time for a month driving around the country (and southern Sweden as well), dragging the children onto all kinds of sail boats that were more or less fit for a family of 4 – in all kinds of weather. Which is a lie, actually, ’cause it was raining almost all the time. We finally found the boat model Shipman 28, which is a good Swedish design by Olle Enderlein from 1969. It seems to live up to the things we were looking for in a sail boat, that is meant to host future summer vacations, and numerous sails during the sailing season – within the price limit we were willing to spend. So check this out:

We named the boat ANNA after my amazing grandmother who died 4 years ago. She was a woman who radiated warmth, wit, interest, and just a presence that anyone around her felt and was struck by – she always had a strong ability to gather the family. So those are the qualities we humbly want our new love to possess – or perhaps rather the name stands for a lot of positive things that we want to carry with us when we are sailing and spending time on the boat.

We have spent quite a few weekends with her by now, and we all love it. The girls are getting used to saling step-by-step, and we cannot wait to spend a summer vacation with Anna.

On to the next thing:

Frida’s 3 years birthday in September

All these things have put quite a strain on the calendar, and remember, this is without the stuff that has been going on in our work lives, which at least in my case has been quite a bit. And did I mention we started renovating the bedroom?

This post reflects very much my need to do a wrap-up before I can move on to the next blogpost. It may seem like nothing, but this is just not really what you want to be doing when you have a blog – you want to write whatever enters your mind at the moment, right? Not much crafty stuff here, and the time-issue is in part an explanation for that, but I have been doing minor things. I’ll let you know more soon.

A Taste of Sweden – Pappersbruket

Pappersbruket is just a 5 minutes drive away from Denningarums Gård, and we arrived there after a brief afternoon detour into the woods for a geocache. It was somewhere around 4 in the afternoon, and we had plenty of time for a shower and some clean clothes before dinner. Jessica who runs the place together with her husband, greeted us and showed us to our room.

As soon as you set foot in the hallway of the hotel, you cannot help but know a lot of love went into the creation of the place – it’s just really beautiful and filled with atmosphere! After we freshened up, we went downstairs and had a look around before dinner.

Every detail in the pretty hotel has been tended to carefully – from the beautiful wallpaper panels to the furniture and the colours. After looking around on our own for a while and being shown around by Peter, Jessica’s husband, we sat down for dinner. Though the host couple were totally sweet with the children, it didn’t take Mads and I long to agree that this would probably be a place we would be more likely to go without children. The girls loved the acoustics and space of the hall and the restaurant – does that tell you anything at all? Calming them down was rather difficult – good thing we were the only ones in the restaurant that evening… Dinner was amazing, by the way!

The girls fell asleep late, and Mads and I stayed up talking, seated in the soft couches. Next morning we had breakfast before Peter took us on a tour of the rest of the site which is used for events of different kinds, and it just showed us once more that everything is so well accomplished it’s hard to believe. It would be a truly great place for a company event of some sort or a large party.

After the tour we borrowed a canoe, so that Mads and I could take the girls out for a little while. We both weren’t too optimistic about how that would work out, expecting the girls to not be able to sit still for more than a little while. We were soooo proved wrong. After a little while the rain started pouring, and we got out the raincoats for both girls.

At this point things could have been way more challenging than they were – the girls were singing most of the way, and in fact they just seemed to really enjoy our quiet trip down the stream – and so did their parents. Mads and I have been canoeing in Sweden quite a few times before we had kids – now I think we may just try a few days trip again soon.

When we got back, Peter was there to meet us with umbrellas and while we got into some dry clothes, Jessica made us a cup of tea. After that we said goodbye and went back to Denningarums Gård to have lunch.

Finally, we were all tired and ready to go home after a great weekend of Swedish impressions – this cool bus is what you see close to the town when you go there – but don’t believe what it’s saying (Helvetets Port = gateway to hell), because Östanå definitely has something to offer.

And now, we’re so off to Mallorca – see you when we get back!

A Taste of Sweden – Denningarums Gård

Our weekend in Sweden started out a bit hectic. Friday Mads had to pick up the girls from the daycares, get everything packed in the car, and come by and pick me up at work, where they were supposed to come up and see the office. I work in central Copenhagen, and whereas the office is like most offices, we have this roof terrace that gives you a great view of the city. I was really looking forward to showing the girls my workplace, but that’ll be on a different occasion, because there just wasn’t time. Mads and the girls had been stuck in traffic all the way to the center of Copenhagen, and we agreed that I should meet them in the street. Everyone’s patience was stretched to the limit as we headed out of the city – towards Sweden.

After a two hour drive we arrived at Denningarums Gård in Skåne. The sun was low in a blue sky, and everything looked wonderfully idyllic! The girls immediately ran off to the nearby playground, and Mads and I were welcomed by the friendly host couple of the farm. They showed us to our cabin, a primitive wooden cottage with four bunk beds, facing the stream. We unloaded our luggage, and while we had a look around the place with the girls, they lit the barbecue and brought us baskets with barbecue-ready meat, salads, drinks etc. – mmmmmm.

We had a delicious dinner on the cabin terrace in the evening sunshine.

It sounds almost over the top, I know, but it was great. The girls left the table to go play when they had finished, and Mads and I enjoyed the tranquility of the place. After a while of playing by the stream, we all went to bed early after a long day.

Next day after breakfast we went out on the stream on one of the roofed rafts. We brought a basket with coffee, cake, and juice for the girls – Ulf (the owner) gave us brief instructions, and then we took off down the stream.

We were out sailing for a few hours and it was absolutely brilliant! The girls brought sticks and spent a lot of the time “fishing” – actually, come to think of it, they spent most of the day splashing sticks into water someplace or another.

The rest of our Saturday there, we did nothing but relax. The farm has pet rabbits, emus, llamas, pigs, ducks, and besides all the animals they have a very impressive fruit and vegetable garden. The girls loved the place, and really it’s just a great place to get into a slower pace than what is usual for a family with children like ours.

So far the weather had been slightly chilly, but still very nice. However in the afternoon, when we had gone out for a walk, it began to rain, and as the girls were also starting to show signs of tiredness, we decided to say goodbye to Ulf and Karin for that day and head on to Pappersbruket, where we would be spending Saturday evening and some of our Sunday. More about that in my next post.

Rain, Rain, Rain…

It’s raining again. It’s been all day, and it probably will be again tomorrow. So I’ll just focus on last weekend – wanna take a look?

The girls had a pool in the garden – they started out like this, and then they ended up soaked, jumping around in the water with absolutely no inhibitions.

Nelle, Frida, and Ronja at dinner in the garden. Nelle’s parents and her younger brother were there as well, and we had a real summery evening, barbecueing in the garden in the warm weather.

That’s just not possible this weekend. It’s been raining pretty much since this morning, and the guests we had over for dinner this evening just had to stay inside and imagine a summery dinner at the garden table. We had a cosy evening all the same, and Mads made some yummy lamb shanks for dinner.

Next weekend we’re going to Skåne in Sweden – my family and I have been invited by Tourism in Skåne to try out some of their offers for tourists, and of course we had to happily accept. Mads and I have taken a number of canoe trips in Sweden years ago, and we generally love the Swedish countryside, so it was an easy call to make. We will be going to Pappersbruket, and Denningarums Gård (sorry, no English version for that last one, but I hope it’s as beautiful as in the pictures – see “Bilder” in the menu on their website). I’m really looking forward to it!

Pappersbruket

Denningarums Gård Surroundings

Tomorrow, however – we will just be relaxing at home. Which is needed after a lot of running around lately – let’s hope for a bit of sunshine.

Ring On My Finger

Guess you don’t hear much from me at the moment. But I mean – WOW… Life is so busy at the moment. This here below is one of the few breathing spaces Mads and I have taken lately.

The picture is from a minicriuse Mads and I took to Oslo in Norway, without kids. DFDS Seaways have a route from Copenhagen to Oslo, and we booked a cruise for our 10 years boyfriend-girlfriend anniversary. It was a wonderful trip. The girls had their grandmother looking after them, and Mads and I could enjoy a few days of total relaxation in each others company. The first evening, we had dinner in a restaurant aboard the boat with a panoramic view of the sea and the setting sun, and Mads totally topped it off by taking me to the deck later on and breaking out that question, you know…!

Even though we were limited to 7 hours in Oslo, we enjoyed every minute of them. Walking across Oslo to Bogstadveien, taking the bus up to Holmenkollen (the ski jumping hill) with the amazing view of the Oslo bay, admiring the sculptures of the Vigeland Park, and drinking latte in the sun every chance we got. We had sunshine and high temperatures, and we really had nothing to complain about – as dull as it may seem.

Today it is Mads’ birthday and he is not even here – he is working in Hull, England.

So Mads – lots of kisses from your girls – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

By the way, Mads got his ‘yes’ without too much trouble.

Kitchen Renovation – Check!

One really great thing we got done this Easter was to finish the kitchen renovation, and to really finish the connection with the living room. I’m not going to say much about it – just show you how it all turned out. But first – do you remember the old kitchen?

and this?

Not to mention the somewhat demanding and quite extensive process:

Well, it has now turned into this:

I don’t think I need to tell you that we’re happy!    You can see all the pictures right here.

Rainy Easter Sunday

Following a marvellous day yesterday, Easter Sunday has been rainy. We were planning to go somewhere, light a fire and make twistbread with the girls, but with the weather today, it just wasn’t possible – or at least it would have been rather wet.

Instead we painted Easter eggs (better late than never), and had good friends over in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is my last day off before I start my new job – and Ronja’s last day off before she starts in the after-school centre. She will be going there full time as kind of a transition period, until she starts school for real in August. What a big Tuesday for this little family.

Maybe tomorrow we will have weather for twistbread…

Happy Easter!