Zentangles

Fell completely in love with these patterns when I first saw them, 

and found myself drawing before I knew what had hit me.

Very meditative.

And addictive.

And fun:)



Inspiration found at Søhesten, and Stine Hoelgaard, and Annchen.

Stripes

This is not todays breakfast, but yesterdays coffeebreak.

I'm so into stripes these days (and a bit tired of our red(-ish) dining table).
I put on this black and white striped piece of fabric and really liked the look of it.



So there I was - enjoying my coffee, sitting on our "new" bench, catching a glimpse of what was left of the daylight, and I'd got stripes on the table.:)

Sometimes little things give great joy.

Redressing the dining room bench

Finally the redressing of the dining room bench  is finished.
Here you can see what it looked like before.



I started earlier this autumn sewing new covers for the seating pillows,
but when they were finished  things sort of went on hold.



Since there were a lot of patterns in the seating pillows
I decided to go for all white on the back pillows.

My storage of fabrics is fairly big, but it didn't hold any suitable all white fabric.
It took me awhile before I got round to buy it,
but now the fabric is bought and the sewing is done and
 the bench is thoroughly dressed in
black and white.

I'm so pleased.

Advent

Then it was first Sunday of Advent.

We have installed our shining star in the window and we've lighted the Advent candle.

This year our traditional Advent candle holder was abandoned for four block candles on a candle dish.

I didn't have four candles of the same colour so then I just used what I had  which was four different colours; white, grey, purple and bronze.

The decor of the dish is very simple: some pinecones and dried up wood sticks and a paper star. All very flammable so I'll make sure to remove them before they catch fire.

Photographic truth

In between the clutter there is this image of the glass jar candle holders and homemade Christmas decoration paper ball.

Zoom out and you get all the clutter from a dinner table not yet cleared.

The beautiful blog Mrs Hardy has an Unblogged challenge to show the clutter that's usually edited from the blog photos.
Well, I've shown my clutter before, and I've got lots of it so I probably will again:)
This is my contribution, and if yoy like to see more go to Unblogged.  

The time

 

In our house there are a lot of time tellers - eight to be exactly, three in the kitchen alone. The trobule is I couldn't be sure they were telling it right.

 

Some did,

but a couple of them had slowed down beacuse they were low on battery or - just bacause,

and also some of them hadn't yet been shifted to winter time. 

It was downright confusing! 

So I meticulously synchronized each of them to the accurate time.

 

What a relief!

The result of not finding what you're looking for

You know when you're putting something away and you think you've found a place that you easily will remember when next you look for this thing, and when you need it again it turns out you do not remember were you placed it.

Has that ever happend to you?

And then you end up buying new stuff because you can't find the old because you don't remember where you put it last?

Well, that's happened to me quite a few times.

For instance with ginger bread cutters.

So this year I had a search - in the kitchen with kitchen stuff and in the closet with Christmas stuff and in the cupboard with crafting stuff.

And this is what I found.

I think it is enough.

Then we're all set to bake ginger bread
- just going to buy a fresh make of dough.

And if we don't bake we still have a troupe of ready made one-leggers to eat:)

Budding hyacinths

Three hyacinths have come to the house.

Judging from the colour of the pots they came in their flowers will be white.

I've put them each a mini green house - and when they outgrow the jars
I'll just take the glass lids off.



I suppose the hyacinths ought to stay in a cooler room,
but then I wouldn't see them.
For now I'll keep them in the living room, but moved away from the window.

Soft light

 

  

It's so dark these November days I'd want to have candles lit always, even in the middle of the day.
Inspired by so many blogs I've made some crocheted covers for empty jam jars. I've wanted to make some forever and finally I have.  

I've used thick natural wool and made different patterns, some of them quite holey to let the soft candlelight through. 

  

Snowman for Christmas?

Almost two weeks since my computer blacked out and took with it a lot of my pictures as well.

So annoying!

Well, I'm finally posting again with the help of a borrowed computer and fresh pictures.

We have a crafting kit to make a snowman family - something fun for my daughter and me to make together.

We intend to produce an entire  snowman family to celebrate Christmas with us. 

Now the dad is ready.  

We got this kit before last year's Christmas.

Back then I was rather determined on how things should be done and look (I wanted it to look just like in the picture on the box) and I wanted to decide every little detail, constantly poking at how my daughter was doing.

Quite soon she had had enough - she quit!

She told me I could finish the snowman family on my own.

But what would have been the fun in that?

The snowman family kit was packed away.

So this year I'm not making that mistake again. I've learned my lesson.

We give each other slack and we help each other.

We're going to make our very own special snowman family:)

Ready for bed

Since my daughter and I switched bedrooms earlier this summer I haven't done much decorating wise in my bedroom. In fact it's functioned mostly as storage room - the floor full of bags and boxes with just a tiny path leading to the bed.

The ledges are remnants from the failed elevated bed project when this was my daughter's room, and I do  have plans to remove them but for now they are perfect for pictures and letters and other slim stuff.

Unfortunately the h in tonight didn't make it in time to participate in the photoshoot:)

Even though I cleared out all the mess sitting on the floor there are still a lot of cupboards and shelves in this tiny room. I haven't much hope to remove any of them any time soon as I'll still need all the storage space.

The curtains were my daughter's pink fairies curtains so I took them down. I bought roller blinds a couple of months ago, but they're still waiting to come up...

I painted the trim around the window today...  

The ceiling lamp needs to be rewired before I can connect it to the electricity.

So still a lot to do but at least now I've seen the potential of this room and hopefully that will speed things up:)

The beautiful blog nib has a challenge to show the bedroom: this really gave me a push in the right direction so a big thank you for that.  



Stars

Some stars seemed suitable for the season.

They're not luminous but soft and cozy.

I've been crocheting granny squares for a while and growing a bit tired of them.

Although these stars are just a variaton of the good old squares it's a nice change.

Inspired by the beautiful blog noralill.

Little by little

I'm still in the middle of painting the living room walls. I'm working my way round the room inch by inch.

Progress is slow.

Now I've mounted the bookshelves in the sofa nook again.
I'm a bit worried that this time the screws wont tighten enough to carry the weight of all the books that used to be in it.

So for now most of the books stay in the window sill - I kind of liked them there anyway.

And instead I've put different nick nacks to be displayed on the shelves.

Finally I have all white walls, and I've wanted it forever. I don't think I'll want darker or deeper coloured walls anytime soon, even though that's the way the trends are heading.
This is me.  

I love my new walls.

Xmas inspiration search

It's November.

We've already finished our first box of Christmas cookies.

I've brought out my Christmas books and even bought a Christmas magazine and

I'm all set to be inspired for the holiday.

I know its a bit early but December is usually so full and quite hectic,

 and November is just dark and dull

 and really perfect for Christmas preparations.



So I made this list for myself:

- make time and space for Christmas,

not just put it on top of everything else

- no style regime

(but if so - then my daughter's)

- have presents ready before December

 (yeah right!)