Ah well

The girls were looking forward to spend the day and night at their grandparents' but Sofia behaved very weirdly this morning.

She came halfway up the stairs this morning and just tood there and cried. When I asked what was the matter she just shrugged and wouldn't or couldn't say.

She said her tummy hurt and sure enough a few minutes later she threw up.

So I spent 45 minutes waiting on the phone for her grandparents to hang up so I could ask them to fetch Isabel instead of me dropping her off. No fun bundling Sofia up in the car to have her throw up in there, and I can't well leave her home alone.

Eventually they hung up and my FIL came and picked Isabel up.

Now we're hanging out on the sofa watching Cinderella and experimenting with rice cakes and water. So far she says she feels better.

So still no experimenting with the new sewing machine.



Ah well, time for that later.

All done

All wrapped up.

Herring mixed.

All food is prepped and ready to go.

Now, feet up, a cup of coffee and a slice of saffron cake while watching old episodes of Castle. Aah, good times.

Bannermen

Ugh - it's that time of year again.

New Years.

I should come up with a new banner for the blog.

The one I've had this year was a DIY desk calendar I photographed and put some text on. I made a banner for every month for a whole year so I could easily make the switch on the 1st.

I should really come up with something new. Maybe something sewing related.

Better get started on some ideas.

Cookie jar

I was helping my grandmother with some Christmas baking in November and came across this container in one of her cupboards.

It's gloriously vintage and while I don't normally go for vintage I can not resist a pretty tin cookie container.

I told her I really liked it and two weeks later she came to my house for turkey dinner and brought the container for me to keep.



This is what she had put inside.

The bottom layer contains currant fork cookies and almond biscotti. The top layer is rolled up lace cakes that she had made the very same day.

She claimed she wasn't using the container any longer (and it was empty in her cupboard when I found it) and she wanted me to have it.

It even has the original sticker on it.

Keys to the TARDIS?

It's no big secret that I love Doctor Who.

I've come late to it but I claim being Swedish for my defense and I'm sticking to that. It's not like they ever aired Doctor Who on telly here when I was a kid. (WHY???!?!?)

But I've seen it now and I love it to bits.

So last week when I came home on a particularly crummy day, I found a strange envelope in my mailbox.
In it was a TARDIS-key ring sent as a surprise from a sweet friend in Colorado. (Thank you Sandi!!)

It lives with my keys now and I love it.

Sadly it doesn't make my car any bigger on the inside ...

Winter is Coming

Plans for our solstice celebration are coming along nicely.

I ordered a few sheets of bees wax from a bee keeper up north and I plan to make some candle decorations from it to stick to a larger candle that we can light in the evenings.

We had an impromptu astronomy lesson with the girls on Saturday night when we looked out the window during dinner and discovered that it was a lunar eclipse.

It was fun. They seemed to get it so I suppose I kept it at the right level.

I ended the weekend with some sewing. I got the invisible zipper installed in Isabel's Christmas dress and was cruising along to get the pleats done so she could try it on.
That's when I discovered I had a hole in the shoulder seam that I needed to fix and when I put a pin in it to keep it in place for sewing I jabbed the pin into the joint on my thumb and didn't realise until too late that it was actually bleeding.
So of course I got blood on the dress.

It was sheer luck that the blood sort of rested on top of the fabric and wasn't soaked up so I managed to rinse it out with some cold water.

It's dried now so I'll see about those pleats tonight. Once they are done all there is left is the belt loops, belt, side seams, and hems. Easy peasy.
I'll see about making some kind of brooch for her or something nice to have in her hair. I bought a plain headband that I'm thinking about decorating somehow. It's not my forte so we'll see.

Once the dress is done I have to get started on the Christmas presents. It's just two so there's no panic. Yet.

Gnome party

Instead of a Advent Calendar with mini-presents that cost an arm and a leg and are rarely used again after New Years I decided to use my small collection of gnomes and put one out each night.

We had a left over clay tray that I filled with moss and some candle holders and pretty glittery stars and I set one gnome out every night after the girls are in bed.

I tried to arrange them standing up, but they always end up like this, snuggled together in a big gnome heap after Sofia's been checking in on them.

I'm sure Isabel knows I'm putting them there but Sofia's not so sure.

My main problem now is that I only have 15 gnomes and we have 24 days to fill so I have to look for a pack of gnomes today at the grocery store.
Maybe a big one for Christmas Eve.

If all else fails I'll get them some mini figurines from Lego or Littlest Pet Shop.

It was a spur of the moment decision on Nov 30th that made me put it together, and the girls are enjoying it so maybe it'll be a recurring thing.