Birthday wishes

When I wake up tomorrow I’ll be 50. It’s just an ordinary day really, but somehow it’s quite significant. I had plans for this day, like writing a middle-aged-and-wiser post and making a quilt while I still was in my 40ies as in “today I’m still in my forties”. Then I realized that I would rather celebrate being 50, you know embracing a new decade in my life, so I’ll make a celebratory quilt later instead.

By the time I figured out what I want for my birthday present, it was too late. I would love to go to a Coldplay concert, but they are sold out everywhere. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, UK – all sold out. My other more humble wishes will come through though. I will have lots of my loved ones here, some of them flying in for the occasion, I will not have to cook – and I’ve got the two first copies of my brand new book right here. Not a bad start on my 50ies I’d say.

So, the next time you’ll hear from me I will be one day older and a decade wiser – or was it the other way around. Anyway, see you next week; I’ll have quite a few splashes of creative energy to share:)

Contrasts

Some of the joys of life are all about contrasts – like earlier today when I had the joy of spending a couple of hours in a dentist’s chair having long overdue work done on my teeth. I bite and grind my teeth, like big time, and have done some damage brushing them too hard, so they needed to be fixed. Usually I don’t care what the dentist does, he’s a lovely man and all that, but whatever he does with all his doodahs is of no importance to me – that is when I’m not in his chair. However, that feeling of relief when he puts down his drilling equipment is pure joy. You see – contrasts – if the drilling wasn’t so unpleasant, the joy when it’s over wouldn’t be so pure.

This weekend was quite full of contrasts too, especially regarding the weather. The last weekend we spent at the cabin was windy and wet, and now it was all bright and sunny.

Husband was cutting down some of the birches that are growing in the slope close to the house, and of course grandson was helping. Husband is very calm and patient, but I was all nerves watching them, so afraid that the little one would fall down and hurt himself – again. I was nagging and nagging until I got sick of myself and started looking around instead.

I noticed where I should have put my erosion bundles

(husband’s old cement blender)

all the textures and colours in the birch

and the contrast between old wood and new

and the little specs of greens between the flora of yesteryear

and the old and the young trees from this post that were still talking

and the light and shadows

and the beauty of blues and neutrals (great colour scheme for a quilt I’d say).

The guys were playing grandson’s favorite game – racing self made boats and rescuing them again with lots of cheering and excitement and a few water-induced accidents that needed to dry out

and making rivers and quays in the lake.

We need to spend more time up there, and I need to find something to do until I can go back to handwork because I was going mad not doing anything but playing Wordfeud and DrawSomething in the evenings after the little one had gone to sleep. Talk about contrasts…

The yarn that broke the camel's back

What was I thinking crocheting like a lunatic! I do love the tangible, colourful result though.

A big

and a small basket for myself

and one in Easter colours for a friend.

I was at the doctor’s yesterday and came home with a 30 days’ supply of anti-inflammatory drugs and this device on my hand

which is the most comfortable it has been in weeks. I’m not allowed to use it all the time but with this on I might be able to just a little of this and that. Stay tuned for more upcoming one-and-a-handful-wonders…

Slow cooking

Any handwork goes under the slow cooking category at my house these days. However, the background for the christening quilt is quilted. I love how simple straight lines can transform this

to this.

The cotton batting is bearding quite a lot, but nothing a good sweep with the lint roller thingie cannot fix.

I remembered why I never used up this batting a little too late…

The Sketchbook Challenge, March

Flowers, flowers, flowers. After a grey winter we’re enjoying the first bright yellow crocuses popping up, so flowers was the perfect theme for March. I made these sketches on Sunday while grandson was here. I find that I’m much more likely to sit down and draw and paint when he’s here, so I have been taking advantage of that.

For the first sketch I used the blue painted watercolour paper from this post. I drew simple flowers with a white marker,

and outlined them with black. There was so much texture on the page already that I did not add anything else.

The background for the other sketch is a sheet of ordinary copy paper where I had splashed on remaining paint from other projects. I had a lot of fun with this, taking it from “oh, ok”

to “what did I do!!!”

to “wow, how did I do that?”

By the time I was done I was afraid that the page would dissolve completely, but it held up and I managed to cut it to size and glue it into my sketchbook. I find it very liberating working in a medium that is totally unfamiliar to me and I can do whatever I please as I have absolutely no expectations regarding the outcome. I will certainly play with the technique I used to create the light in this sketch – if I can remember what I did.

Have a wonderful weekend, the weather forecast here is sun, sun and sun!

Scrap day

I had my first trial at making a scrapbook page while working with the book. I wanted to show how the ideas and illustrations can be used for other mediums, and scrapping sounded like fun. I quite enjoyed making that first page although it was a bit wavy because I used paint and glue which I probably shouldn’t have used. Never mind the ripple effect; I was happy with my page

Snow Day pictures of grandson with the snowmen from the Snow love quilt on the cover (sorry, my ill-lit picture)

on a painted background.

My daughter has been making a scrapbook for the big brother, so I thought it would be fun to transfer her belly from The belly quilt into a page.

I can see 10 things I would have done differently, but she’s happy with it. As you can see, I included the picture of her that was the basis for the quilt.

I wouldn’t mind making more pages, and with that stupid hand that now has a pinched nerve thank you very much, I just might pick and choose a few shapes from the book and play with them. It would have been fun to teach a class using it for mixed media art; a couple of quilt classes have already been booked.

The baby is coming over now so mom can take big brother to the eye doctor to check his new-ish glasses. Cuddletime!!

Book club magazine

I am in the middle of a whirlwind these days with books and patterns and grandkids flying by every other minute. Seriously, if I don’t shut my eyes every now and then, my head will be spinning. The appropriate resolution pictures from the photographer that just need to be converted into another format to be bloggable have arrived. I’ll tell you converting them is a slow process with resting hands.

However, the magazine for Hobbyklubben (The crafting book club) came out last week with a presentation of "Gledesspredere" – and pictures. That little pink blurb on the cover says that this is the winner of their competition (“Do you want to be a crafting book author”; and yes, I did).

The cover girl is “Early bird in the flower meadow”, the one and only table runner in the book. The projects are generally small, and the runner is an example how you easily can use any of the illustrations in a bigger project.

Front cover of the book and a few charming creatures.

“Ostrich walk” (where did Per go?) and the twin quilts “Running with scissors” and “Running with balloons”.

“Georg”, “Shopping”, “Penguins in snowstorm” and “Bird and fish”

“4 cats & a mouse” and “Happy day"

More pictures to follow!

I have been getting questions about when Gledesspredere will be in English, and I’m afraid that is out of my control. The publisher have their own people who are working towards the international market, it just might take a while. That being said, if you know a publisher, feel free to nag and brag and send them my way.-)

In the meantime, do not despair, I will have a few copies available here for those of you on friendly terms with Google Translate, those of you who enjoy pretty pictures, and of course those of you who like my work and would love to own a signed copy of any book of mine.

Basically the book is all about the joy of creating and sharing the joy with others. It has 50 patterns + a 4 page gallery and I have used lots of different materials and techniques – all in my quirky style. Charming creatures, changing seasons, well-seasoned wisdom, human diversity and lovely little ones – they are all covered. The book has lots of tips and tricks, and of course a bit of humor.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it. Only one more week or so and I will have the first copy in my hands.

Have a lovely Wednesday!