Ronja’s First Horse Show

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Happy rider

This past weekend, Ronja participated in her very first horse show. She started riding almost 2 years ago when she was 5 years old, and let me just say, she was less elegant then than she is now.

She has loved riding from the very first time, and she never complains about going to her riding lessons in the evening after school, even when she’s tired. Mads and I haven’t got that much horse experience between the two of us, and riding was something Ronja chose for herself and continues to enjoy, every single week. It was a good decision!

Yesterday, Ronja was happy, proud, and excited all mixed together, and we so enjoyed seeing her at the horse show.

Warming up

Ronja and Borte during the show

Ronja at the award ceremony

Frida had a hard time coping with the fact that you don’t get a rosette, if you’re not part of the competition. That’s how she ended up looking the way she does below. Ronja on the other hand, earned a shared 2nd place, and was  at least 2 feet taller for the rest of the day.

Ronja with her rosette and Frida

Tropical Blend Dress

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We have weather for summer dresses here in late April. I can hardly believe it – 20 degrees (Celsius) during Easter holidays, isn’t it amazing?

It definitely makes me want to sew summer clothing, so yesterday I made another dress from the latest Ottobre – this time for Frida. I picked out 5 or 6 fabrics that I would be happy to sew it up in, and Frida made the final decision, which is a beautiful design from Heather Bailey’s Nicey Jane collection.

Frida wearing her tropical blend dress

The dress is #18 (design B) from Ottobre 3/2011, and in spite of the simplicity of the design, it has the piping at the neckline and the bias tape at the hem to add a few nice details. I traced a 98 length and a 92 width, and it’s a perfect fit. The bias tape I used for the hem is Michael Miller gingham, and I used it for the piping as well, cut in halves. I even managed to find som matching daisy buttons for the dress – it could not be any more summery, and Frida loves it.

Tropical blend sleeveless dress - button

Tropical blend sleeveless dress - detail

I haven’t made piping before, and it’s not perfect, but it’s not bad either – I found it a little hard to work around the strap roundings, I probably should have stretched it a little more through the curve. Anyway, this is the perfect summer dress!

Meanwhile, it’s always hard to predict what will happen to the stuff you sew, isn’t it. Take the tulip dress – I almost had to bribe Ronja into modeling the tulip dress… Why? Apparently, it’s scratchy. If any of you guys have a quick fix for scratchy linen, let me know, because I’m afraid otherwise there is no rescue for the dress. But here she is wearing it – at least she looks content. :)

Ronja wearing her Tulip dress

Ronja wearing her Tulip dress

Lickety Spring

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Lemonade on the garden table

I made a Lickety Split bag for spring a while ago as a gift for a special blog-friend. I didn’t show you then, but it’s more than appropriate now, because I think I can say with confidence, that spring is finally here!

These are pictures from yesterday afternoon, when the girls and I enjoyed the sun in the garden. Mads was out with his friend Martin and thousands of other motorcyclists celebrating the annual opening of Bakken Amusement Park – the oldest amusement park in the world. (If you’re curious, the first to paragraphs here explain the event rather well.) I do believe they enjoyed themselves as well!

Snowdrops and a blue sky

What a great day

Winter aconites

So now that I’ve proved to you that spring is really here – this is the Lickety Split in my dotted spring-version.

Lickety Spring

Lickety Spring

I made it just the same way as usual (previous versions here and here) – followed Rae‘s pattern, and added sew-in interfacing to give it a touch more body and a magnetic snap. I’m really fond of it, and I think the recipient was as well.

And speaking of Rae – don’t forget that her awesome Spring Top Week is about to begin. Tops can be entered from March 30th, and all the details on how to participate are on her blog. Even if you don’t participate, the amount of inspiration found in the many contributions is amazing – and that will be revealed over on Rae’s blog in the beginning of May.

The girl in the window

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I just left work, and while I was walking to the train, a bird was singing – you know, spring-like! I immediately started dreaming of bursting buds, sunshine, and warmer temperatures. It won’t be long – right?

The girl in the window 

This is Ronja modeling her rose dress.

I must say that I find the [lack of] light at the moment utterly uninspiring – which leads me back to dreaming of spring. Can’t wait!

Our house so far!

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Our house is finally starting to look the way we imagined it some 4 years ago. It isn’t finished yet, but this past weekend it has definitely been taking shape. Sometimes it feels like we have been waiting way too long for this to happen, but then again… During those 4 years, we have had our 2 girls, rebuilt the entire 2nd floor, installed new windows all over the house, and quite a few things more than that. So you see, we haven’t been “waiting” – we have just been busy doing other things.

The house so far

While the girls and I have been on a nice long weekend at my Mother’s, Mads has been working hard helping and preparing for the masons. It’s amazing to see the difference it makes – and we haven’t even added colour yet. As always, the entire process of our renovating can be seen here. The pictures are sorted with the newest first, and seeing them all does require a bit of patience with all the work that has been done.

Sunday afternoon we had time to drop by some friends of ours who live just a street away. With the weather we’re having we decided to play croquet, and afterwards barbecue in their garden – I just LOVE the fact that it’s almost summer! I think Ronja does too – she ran around barefooted with her croquet mallet and had the best time!

Playing croquet in the garden at Rikke and Martin's

Our sandblasted house

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 Saturday the girls and I were banned from the property due to the house being sandblasted. The awful noise it creates is not for kids (or anyone else for that matter), so we decided to go to the ZOO with Sandra from Ronja’s mothers group and Sandra’s younger brother Benjamin who was born 1½ months later than Frida – and of course their mother. ;) We spent most of the day there, having a wonderful time on yet another day with amazing “drop-the-coat” weather! Two girls aged 3½ sure do know what they want – and finally we gave in to their very persistent wish to get their faces painted.

At the Copenhagen ZOO At the Copenhagen ZOO

When we arrived home late in the afternoon, Mads was washing the house – rinsing off all of the sand and dirt from the sandblasted bricks. It looked like – well, I don’t know what it looked like! You certainly wouldn’t imagine that there were people living in that house – it looked like a building due for demolition! Mads told us it was a good thing we had been away – he had been wearing earplugs, and he still had a ringing in his ears long after the sandblasting guys left. Our cat, Freja, wasn’t too fond of the sandblasting either.

Sandblasted house 

Mads has been working really hard washing the house and cleaning up sand for the rest of the weekend, and now everything actually looks ok. I don’t know if it’s just me, but even though it still needs the plastering and colour, I actually think it looks so much better than it has for the past years with the fake brick facing.

More pictures from the sandblasting are found here. Now we’re on to the plastering of the house next weekend.