Tidbits

Raspberry lemonde bars. 

Obviously the solution to defrosted raspberries sitting in your fridge.

 

Easter photo session outtakes. Because every girl needs to have a butterfly dress like that. 

Super seriously still love it. 

 

As messy, loud, and sometimes obnoxious as this guy is...I'm really gonna miss him.

And those other two buggers.

 

Practicing still life and styling with my fantastic sister.

Much fun!

 

Playing with negative space in composition.

I really love these tete-a-tete narcissi. 

Working on my edge on the blanket. Slowly.

Pondering the packing conundrums.

Hoping no one wakes up my baby while she sleeps on the balcony.

Love that (Finnish) custom of having babies sleep outside.

I want to too!

Also, I should not consume more than two cups of coffee per day for numerous reasons (my coffee maker says I've had 3/4 liter of it so far...) but how I really would love another cuppa! 

One week till Japan!!

Sun, sunbursts, and seed starting

Snippets of the last few days...

Admiring Kissa sitting in perfect kitty form.

She's been mowing the lawn... and those Easter eggs have become some of her favorite toys. Tsk tsk...

 

I've started on my new blanket.

This is the stash I'm trying to use up. Blues and greens!! Also a bit of gray... 

 

I've been using the infamous Priscilla Hewitt's Sunburst Granny Square Pattern which I have linked there.

 I used this tutorial to help me fumble through the first square, but since I've started making these daily, I must say, the pattern is easy to memorize once you get the hang of it!

This tutorial by Eda's Crochet Room was helpful to learn with since the pattern calls for some stitches I don't think I've ever made before. 

I bought more little tete-a-tete narcissi. :)

 

We've had such gorgeous sunny weather and since today was my day off, we sat outside and I crocheted and soaked in the rays. 

 

I had a grand seed starting afternoon. Zinnia, asters, pumpkin, decorative gourds, corn, sunflowers, marigold, snapdragons, watermelon... I still have more seeds to plant, but the irony is running out of the 10 liter bag of particular seed starting dirt that I went all over town to find.

Also, I am running out of containers to start them in! I have egg cartons, washed out meat tubs, yogurt cups, sour cream cups, microwave meal and soup dishes... I've been saving all these things for weeks, even going as far as purposely buying particular foods for lunch at work to be able to save the container they come in!!

:D 

And it's still not enough!

I think I'm just gonna have to ask folks at work to save me their yogurt cups and the like. 

I don't know how many more microwave meals I can eat either. :P

 Hey, does this count as gardening post #0.5 of 2013?

Hahaha... 

I can't wait for the snow to be GONE so that I can stomp around the garden in my blue boots again and think about where exactly I am going to plant everything. 

Even though I've made at least two plans on paper already, lol!

Well, that's it for me. 

Off to bed soon, even though it's fairly early. This pregnancy fatigue is kicking my ass. 

Pregnancy -- which reminds me!!

The pictures of the baby blanket that blogger wouldn't upload a few posts ago...

Here ya go!

Thanks for stopping by! 

See ya around!

Happy Easter!!

Wishing everyone a happy and sunny Easter! Hope you got to eat lots of chocolate! ;)

Spring flowers and crochet

 Happy Easter Weekend!! 

My weekend started on Wednesday and ends tonight. Unfortunately I work the next 4 days, but hey... I'm one for looking on the bright side (every now and then), so I'm thinking about how nice getting holiday pay will be. ;)

On my wonderful three days off though, we've been busy! 

Wednesday, hubby and I ran errands and then I spent the evening crocheting. 

Yesterday we went to Ikea and bought a new patio set, new pots for summer flowers, crib stuff, a new bathroom rug, new bedroom curtains, and all that other random s...tuff that finds its way into your cart. Lol! 

Ah, and today, we've sat in the sun enjoying our new patio furniture with the hubby and my friend. 

Sipping tea in good company, sunshine on my face, and yarn in my hands. Happy day ♥

 We've had gorgeous and sweet smelling spring flowers to enjoy these past few days (thanks to my mom's wonderful friend!) :)

Nothing more inspiring to take out the camera than some pretty flowers!!

"Paper weight narcissi" or "perunanarsissi" in Finnish (which translates to potato narcissi)...

How could I resist crocheting a few sweet Easter egg amigurumi? Here is the pattern I used from the wonderful Greedy for Colour blog :)

Brought back memories of learning to crochet and being ALL ABOUT amigurumi!! 

...counting rounds... 

 

Kissa keeps our Easter grass freshly mowed...

And no, I still haven't gotten over how much I love this orchid. Unfortunately, I think it's glory days are ending. As you can see, one flower has drooped and all the buds that were once closed, are now open and blooming... I saw this via pinterest about making orchids bloom again. I wonder if it works! 

I've crocheted more than just the eggs though!

I finally finished the baby blanket for my friend's daughter. I hope we will see them tomorrow so I can post about it soon (I've been trying to keep it a surprise!). I have the pictures taken for the reveal already! :) Stay tuned for that for sure!

So other than fiddling with little eggs, I've been fiddling with little flowers. 

The pattern I've used is from the fantastic Lucy at Attic 24. 

And TA-DA!!!

I told you I was almost done with it!

This is the baby blanket for my little girl. ♥

Just need to finish it but hey, I have until at least the end of May, right? ;)

 It's all that pesky sewing in ends and crocheting squares together and adding a border business that I just don't have the interest in doing right now. 

But wow! Love LOVE love, the rainbow look! 

I had a couple more pictures of this, but stupid Blogger won't upload them! :( I'll try to add them some other time to another post. You get the gist pretty well with the sad picture above though.

So that's what I've been up to.
I think I will crochet some more eggs and flowers tonight if I have time.
Time to really buckle down and think about what kind of square to make for my next blanket. :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Spring in a new home!

So after what has been a hectic and crazy-busy February, March has brought better weather (even though it's still sooooo cold!) and a new home! 

With these two wonderful things, I am also finding more time to do things I want to do again... and so much energy and inspiration! 

Now if only that pesky job would end so I could really focus all my time on crafty endeavors ;)

The day before we moved we went to see The Killers in Helsinki. 

Yeah, I know, who goes to see a concert when moving stress is at it's peak? 

Funny how things work out though when you buy tickets months in advance, you never really know what will happen! 

Here is a picture from my phone taken from the Killer's concert. They are amazing live by the way and I highly recommend seeing them if you are the least bit a fan. 

I was hoping they'd play this song "Be Still" (because I'm obsessed with it being prego and all), but as expected, perhaps it was too slow of a ditty to perform live for a party crowd. They did play a lot of my favorites like "Dustland Fairyale", "For Reasons Unknown", and "Smile like you mean it". 

Ah, and Brandon Flowers has such a beautiful, powerful, and conveying voice... surely one of the best in music today. ♥

Is that enough fan talk? ;)

Wanna hear more about the new apartment?

Well I love it for starters!

 We have the furniture in its maybe permanent spots... Still working out the kinks from a few rooms...

I'm just blown away by how awesome a walk-in-closet is to have for storage! Wow, we have near empty closets in the bedrooms thanks to it! :)

Lots of kids live in this area... so our courtyard has several snowmen :)

That's my breakfast view. Urban scenery complete with trains passing. Thankfully, they aren't loud!
And speaking of breakfast, I've been on an oatmeal kick lately. This morning, I ate it with banana and red currants from last summer. What a surprisingly good combo!

I've had lots of flowers to keep me happy in our new home.
My friend brought us these beautiful red tulips last weekend. Thanks! :)

And last Saturday when we went to Ikea, I brought home this orchid and a pot of narcissi. 

And while we were out today shopping, hubby bought me pink tulips to enjoy for our anniversary (two whole years on Monday!!)

There were so many, I was able to take a few and put them on my nightstand. Having flowers on one's nightstand is a total quality of life measurement for me. :D
Aww, you can kinda see us in the background on our wedding day. Oh the happy memories ♥

I've been really into spring and Easter since the stores are suddenly full of daffodils and Easter chicks and chocolate eggs.

I'm loving having a proper dining room/nook now and I smile every time I walk by and see it :)

I'm having so many thoughts on decorating as far as themes and colors go... just kind of taking my time thinking though. I feel like we always rush into putting things together and then get tired so quickly, so maybe if we take our time, we'll enjoy it longer. :)

As is, I'm pretty tired most days when I get home from work. I think it has something to do with working a lot and growing a person inside. 

Here we are at 26 weeks and change. 

She's a kicker, a mover, and a shaker.

And she and I are getting bigger by the week!!

(especially this past week, I've really felt my clothes getting tighter!)

 

Well, I am itching to crochet since I am having a glorious 3 day weekend in honor of our anniversary and since daylight is slipping away, the cozy corner of the couch is calling my name. :) 

Ooh, and I bought some new yarn today which is always the motivator to finish any projects, because well, what's better than starting a new one? :)

Thanks for stopping by and hope spring is finding you where ever you might be! :)