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!!

Sneaking a moment...

I'm sneaking a moment to share my latest going-ons... I feel naptime might be running out so I'll make it brief!

 Meal planning.

It sounds boring and tedious to decide what you're going to eat for the next week. I used to think so anyway.

We've been doing this for a month or two and it's changed the way we cook (healthier!) and the way we spend money at the grocery store (less!).

Here's a spaghetti dinner we made. I just love the look of the pasta :D

Pussy willows. 

The first sign of spring. I can't believe the winter we've had and how fast spring has come.

(even though it's snowing outside at the moment, it's supposed to melt by Friday).

 

I haven't gotten around to crocheting or knitting much since last time. 

Unfortunately! 

But my knitting machine Aunt whipped out TWO pairs of baby socks for Elisabeth while she was in town! :)

 

The border is growing. Slowly. 

I made a whole row of sc in the light gray... only to get about 15 stitches from the end of the WHOLE ROW and run out of yarn! GRRRR!

It pissed me off enough that only today have I picked up the hook again. 

Now I'm just going to do hdc rows of green and the dark gray. 

This blanket is already getting used though, even with some ends hanging off. It's perfectly large and thick!

As an anniversary present from my aunt, we got a pot of pansies. 

(I had just complained about how I will miss out on pansies on my balcony this year). 

They are so very pretty!

 

My muffin is growing at warp speed and now she can stand up all by herself against any table or chair that she chooses. 

 

This face is so cute that I can't even handle it.

I have this photo as my background on the laptop and it makes me smile every time. 

Just over a week left until we are headed to Japan... 

I can't handle that either! 

There is so much still up in the air about living there AS WELL AS after we get home... 

If ever, now is the time to just say, what happens happens and hope for the best!

Life's an adventure, right?!

So close, on the edge!

Ok, so maybe the title was a bit dramatic. 

But what I'm referring to of course, is my blanket!

I've now crocheted together 80 squares, 8x10 rows.

Here it is more laid out for viewing purposes:

I've actually surprised myself and immediately after crocheting the final rows, I began sewing in the ends!! I know, no procrastination on a not-so-fun job, I can hardly believe it myself! ;) 

Seriously though, why must I procrastinate about everything that's even just a little tedious or irritating to take care of? 

Phone calls are the worst!

Anywho, I've even started work on the border today after I got the last ends sewn in. Woohoo!

I am so into this blanket now, it's ridiculous.

I want to work on it until it's done and I can hardly put it down!

By far, my most favoritest ever crochet make. ♥

This week saw us back at Ikea. I haven't been there since maybe November? 

Of course, I walked away with an orchid. How could I when they were even on sale?!

We also got some baby proofing items for our mobile little one, new curtains (the living room ones barely cover the window as we found out when the sun shone for 2 hours a couple weeks ago), and a new duvet cover. We've been using the Christmasy red blanket from my parents since November and now that it's getting brighter and the snow is gone (!), spring is on our minds. Time to lighten up!

This was the cheapest of the three contenders and now that we have it in our room, we are happy we went with it. 

Hubby especially loves it, and I have been teasing him about liking "French country" style stuff. ;)

My sister got Miss Muffin a tea party set. :)

But I think the cat is more interested in it than Muffin since she's been stealing pastries every chance she can get!

So that's about it. Just mainly wanted to share my progress on the blanket!

(and obviously my pretty new orchid)

See ya around soon!

Maybe next time, I'll have one more completed blanket under my belt! Woot!

Runeberg

Today is Runeberg's Day here in Finland. He was a famous Finnish poet, if you're interested, you can read about him here.

I thought yesterday was Runeberg's Day, so I whipped up a batch of his wife's famous pastry that we eat on that day... 

I guess the upside is celebrating two days in a row? ;) 

And for once, I have pictures to show on the of the holiday for that holiday. Cool!

It's not even 11 p.m. yet either! 

These past few days, I have been working a lot on my blanket and knitted shawl that I just had to take on a little instant gratification project. 

I'm making them for kids I know for Valentine's Day. 

Cute! 

If you want to make one, the pattern and tutorial are here @ bunny mummy's blog 

They are really fast and easy.

The only change I made was for the eyes. I made a magic circle and hdc 8 into it. Then I made french knots for the eyes. 

The pink and green one on the left was for my little muffin. 

It might be me, but she's the cutest thing I've ever seen. ;)

And crawling so fast and all around the house now. She's ever so busy!

Hope you are having a wonderful Runeberg Day. Even if you don't know who he is!

Yarny post!

Wow what a week!

Monday I felt a little funny but didn't think much of it...until Tuesday I felt a little more funny.

Then started the vomiting. Blah.

I'll spare you the details but let's just say stomach bugs are horrible! I haven't had one in years (although I certainly was reliving my "morning" sickness during this illness...), and I hope I won't for a few more years now. 

I'm so GRATEFUL that my little muffin didn't get sick and that hubster only got a very mild case of what I had. How fortunate!

Needless to say, not much has been happening here this week.

I have however, today, gotten around to taking a few photos and I figured I'd better do something with them before they just sit around. If pictures could sit. 

Ugh, it's one of these days.

 This amaryllis is from a bulb that was supposed to only have two stalks and dutifully bloomed around New Year's and after. Then it produced a surprise third and I was tickled! However, the plant itself is pale and pitiful, so I just chopped it off and put it in this little vase. Cute and sooooo vibrant!

Almost makes me like red more. ;)

I'd better get on to yarny stuff because I called this a yarny post!

Here is all that is left of my blue and green stash that my stash-busting sunburst granny square blanket is supposed to use!

It's dwindled quite a bit if you compare it to this post from (ahem) 10 months ago HERE, you can see that I have used quite a bit of yarn. I will say, I discarded two yarns. One because it was just too thick, the other because I wanted to make the scarf below in this post. :D 

I don't know if I'll make it to 88 squares, but I'm up to 50 now! 

Oh, and pictured above is not the 3 skeins (150g) of the gray border yarn. I bought quite a bit of it since it was just on sale and well... If I run out of color perhaps I just make a decorative border?

Oh, and below are only 40 squares. I haven't sewn the last 10 on, and think  I won't until I'm done. I'm worried that the blanket will then end up lopsided because I ran out of certain colors or something.

 

Ah and this project.

This is a Drops design pattern which you can find here. 

I really like this but I'm stumped as to how I've managed to add stitches where they do not belong... I need to:

a) unravel until I find the culprit

b) ask my mom. 

:D 

 

Oooh crawling baby getting into trouble.

That's my cue!

Ta-taa and cheerios!

I hope you're staying healthy despite the bugs going around! 

Oh, and a picture of my cuteness before I go! Almost forgot :) 

Silly muffin says "what?!"

Winter prettiness

I finally had time to get out and take photos. We've had gorgeous weather all week, very cold (-15-20c) and sunny. This weekend, a little warmer and cloudy, but I'm sure we will have white crisp sunny weather again soon.

You can faintly see in this picture the "glitter" snow gently falling in the sun... I LOVE when this happens! 

Sun as a bug in a rug. ♥

 

It was such a mild fall and early winter that the pussy willows started to "bloom". Now they're snow covered. 

 

I was really enjoying the low sun and trying to capture the flare in the lens. 

 

Winter ♥

I love when it's sunny and cold and snowy...

but I do miss summer ;)

Hope you're staying warm where ever you are!

Starburst-sunbursts and possibly the 2nd rainbow reveal

Lots of this again. Yay!!

Link to tutorial and pattern

I've gotten back into the groove with this blanket which has sat in the pile of WIP's since early summer. In fact, last time I crocheted these squares, I was pregnant! :O 

After making what feels like 10000000 crochet Christmas presents, I was definitely wanting to make something stress-free and all for ME. 

What delicious colors, I could play with these all day. 

I've even been a good girl and I've been following a "sew-in-all-the-ends-rule" every 5 squares. 

I've made 33 squares and I'm thinking of making it an 8x11 rectangle...so just a few more squares to go ;)

I took the pictures below for my Ravelry account.

I realized I had never updated the picture there to show the final product even though I finished this blanket before Miss Muffin was born... 

Now I wonder if I ever revealed it here...and I'm too lazy to go back and read so here it is! :)

By the way, I highly recommend having ravelry account if you like to crochet or knit. TONS of patterns there and lots of inspiration. Plus, if you upload the pictures of your projects to your account, it's a nice reminder of things you've made. I post most things to this blog, but to see projects, I'd have to search labels etc... On my ravelry page, I can see them all ka-bang right there!

Other than crochet, I've been baking. A lot.

Scones have been my latest conquest, something I've been trying to perfect. I love them with coffee!

I baked brownies today for a guest and covered them in whipped cream and sprinkles. I love the picture, I just want to swim it or something. Is that weird?

These two!

I loves 'em!

Miss Muffin started crawling this week (super exciting). 

She's still pretty slow though so life hasn't changed all that much. Yet.

Bubba is sweet as ever and hang out with her. She was cracking up at him licking his leg...  :D 

 Well that's it. For now. 

I'm trying to get back into a blogging groove. 

I kinda have missed it.

And it really inspires me to take more pictures of every day life... which is priceless later in life when every day life changes and these small moments are forgotten. 

See ya around! :)

Some things are certain.

What a strange year this is turning out to be!

We have had NO SNOW since mid-December or so. Very weird and made for a strange Christmas and New Years. Now, we have snow again which makes me so very happy as there is reflected light --> even cloudy days aren't so gloomy anymore. Today however (this picture was from yesterday), we have actual blue skies and sunshine. It's lifted my mood a lot and now that I think of it...when was the last time we even had a sunny day?!

One characteristic of this year is that it's totally unpredictable. It increases my anxiety levels but makes for a sense of adventure too. Who doesn't love spontaneity and adventure?!

The last time I had an unpredictable year like this was when I was about 19... And choices I made then, still affect me today (mostly in a good way!), so let's hope that the same can be said later about this year!

Adventure? What adventure?

The possibility of going to Japan again! (lots of reading this book and drinking tea and coffee at the moment)

Adventure of becoming an entrepreneur! It's in the cards and is my resolution. Although, I really don't do resolutions. Hubby and I do mottos. This year we haven't decided on it yet totally, but I think it's getting financially stable. Something definitely related to that! 

One thing that isn't uncertain: we eat well.

This gorgeous cinnamon rolls were consumed in honor of the new year. With cream cheese frosting of course!

This cake was my mom's birthday cake. It was a gluten-free sponge cake with a layer of meringue on top. And in between the layers and on top, a creamy coffee chocolate filling. And on top of that, ganache!! 

Oh. My. Word.

This was totally improvised. Totally delicious.

And it hasn't all been desserts. We've made yummy curries, savory casseroles, and there's a high consumption of these below at the moment. 

We really need the vitamin C now, since we are all a little sick. Poor muffin has her first cold. ;(  

She's still mostly in a good mood.

And no cold is going to get in the way of learning how to crawl!! 

She's 7 months and rocking on her hands and knees. 

We are going to be in mega trouble soon! :D

Another certainty: I will always be taking flower photos. 

This amaryllis has been blooming since New Years. First one stem. 

Now the one below. A nice little surprise too, a THIRD bud is coming up!

:)

For the first time this year, one of my all time favorites: tulips.

I don't think I've ever bought them so early in the year before, but I'm not one to argue with sales. ;) 

And my favorite, flowers on the nightstand. ♥

I got a cute Vera Bradley tote from my sister for Christmas, in which I've been stashing my yarny crafts. 

I gave up on the mittens since hubby broke my bamboo needles! 

So instead I started knitting this thick and chunky basic scarf.

My mom gave me some gorgeous yarn, so after long debate with myself and ravelry, I decided to make another south bay shawlette. I made 3 or 4 of these a few years ago as Christmas gifts, but never with a variegated yarn. I love this pattern and I love how it worked with the yarn!

It's quite big but super cozy.

The last pictures I wanted to share make me giggle. 

The aftermath of taking down the tree a month after having it.

:)