Quilting above the Arctic Circle

I have moved

2009-08-10T18:44:00.002+02:00

Hi!

I know that it's been a long time since I've posted. You all know that I do alot other than quilting, and I wanted to tell you about that, but somehow I found it difficult to write about it in a blog which were supposed to talk about quilting.

So after a long break, I've decided to start a new blog - Arctic Strawberries. I hope to see you there.

Best wishes
Inga Helene

Home again

2009-01-30T23:56:00.004+01:00

It's Friday night and after being on the road for a week, it's nice to finally be home and have a quiet night with your loved one.

Inga

Where two worlds meet - part II

2009-01-29T21:26:00.006+01:00

Seven Russian and two Norwegian military musicians in their uniforms joining forces.

Inga

For cooperation across borders

2009-01-28T16:28:00.003+01:00

Tonight, Norwegian and Russian militarymusicians share the same stage. That deserves a fanfare.

Inga

Where two worlds meet

2009-01-27T22:14:00.005+01:00

In Kirkenes - where there's only 15 kilometres to the Russian borders, the worlds of eastern and western Europe meet. This is the place for Russian fishermen harboring in Sor-Varanger to watch news, reed Russian papers and have a touch of their homeland. They even operate with both Norwegian and Russian time.

Inga

Stage of the week

2009-01-26T21:04:00.003+01:00

This week my stage is this one. A joint venture in Kirkenes, combining Norwegian and Russian military musicians for the first time ever, will result in a concert where we are on the stage together. If only this could be the standard way for military forces to resolve things.

Inga

Decay

2009-01-25T22:25:00.005+01:00

It has been long since somebody cared for this house. That's sad

Inga

The music of modern era

2009-01-24T16:54:00.004+01:00

The beauty in contemporary music can be discussed, but graphically it definately has its qualities.

Inga

Nearly there

2009-01-23T19:34:00.002+01:00

Look at the sunset. I didn't come to town in time to actually see the sun, but this view was satisfying enough.

Inga

Recommended books

2009-01-22T23:49:00.003+01:00

One for the mind - About Photography by Susan Sontag - and one for the visual pleasure. Enjoy!

Inga

Working late

2009-01-21T23:49:00.004+01:00

We have lots of computer work to do at the moment. I almost forgot to post a picture today. DH wanted to take a picture of the work I'm doing, so I grabbed the opportunity to take a picture of him. BTW check out his website

Inga

Addictive knitting

2009-01-20T23:28:00.004+01:00

I've started on another knitting project. A cushion for my sofa. The technique is called Domino knitting. Make one small square and you're hooked!

Inga

work, work, work

2009-01-19T21:38:00.004+01:00

Today has been studyday. Choosing and editing photos, writing texts. Finally finished!

Inga

Self portrait

2009-01-18T21:38:00.003+01:00

Self portrait is a scary thing. I've never felt the urge of pointing the camera towards myself. The only reason for doing it now, is that we're required to do that as a part of the studies. And remembering Oliver Cromwell's word when a painter wanted to paint him prettier than in real life - Paint me as I am, warts and all! - I'm posting it with no retouch.

Inga

Appreciation

2009-01-17T16:37:00.005+01:00

When we came home yesterday, these flowers were waiting at our doorstep. A present from my mother-in-law thanking us for helping her during Christmas. It's we who should be thankful, being able to celebrate the holidays with close family.

Inga

Almost

2009-01-16T22:10:00.004+01:00

The sun is almost here. Until it rises above the horizon, we'll have beautiful skies to look forward to for the next two weeks, like this captured earlier today.

Inga

Housewiving

2009-01-15T18:44:00.004+01:00

I'm visitng a friend to night for some sewing and chatting. Her husband visits my husband. They share the same interest in photo. From the kitchen the smell of newly baked buns is noticable. I'm not a good cook, but the buns are a well tried recipe that never fails.

Inga

Learning new things

2009-01-14T23:26:00.004+01:00

Today my studies began. Learning new things have always intrigued me, and I still feel a rush when I know there are new knowledge ahead of me. One of the first things I have to do is learn to use my camera's remote control. The first task is to make a self protrait. It will be my first ever. Scary.......

Inga

Sewing

2009-01-13T21:22:00.002+01:00

Since this is supposed to be a blog about quilting I'd better write somtething about quilting from time to time, I guess. Tody I finally found time to prepare foundations for the basketweave strings I've been working on from time to time. I started a project in 2007, and now I need to make a few dark blocks to finish the quilt I have in mind. I even managed to put in a few stitches.

Inga

Preparations II

2009-01-12T11:33:00.003+01:00

In two days I'm a student again, at least part time. I'm going to study Digital Photography at Bergen University College via the Internet. To find time to do it between all the other stuff I do, it requires a lot of planning. At the moment I'm making plans, organizing both the virtual and real folders, printing the texts and choosing tasks. My weeks (uke = week) this spring are lined up.

Inga

The beginning

2009-01-11T20:55:00.002+01:00

I just have to ask, how many afghans do a girl need? I've so far made three, and by the looks of this image, I've started another.

Inga

Work

2009-01-10T23:38:00.002+01:00

Two concerts, an audience counting 1700, Strauss, the Nutcracker and champagne. A good day at work :-)

Inga

Friend gift

2009-01-09T21:36:00.005+01:00

Do you remember this post? My friend got her present earlier this week. I decided to make her these coasters. She was very pleased and was especially satisfied ith the colours, which is her favourite ones.

Tutorial can be found here

Inga

Deadline

2009-01-08T21:29:00.004+01:00

It's 4 pm. Two hours until one page with text describing last nights concert should be mailed to the newpaper's desk. Two hours to press the keys in an order that forms meaningfull words. Two hours to make the words sing like music. The head feels empty. One word put on the page for being erased the next moment. Continue trying, erasing, rephrasing, erasing again.

Did I meet the deadline? Yes! :-)

Inga

Pre concert

2009-01-07T23:26:00.005+01:00

Tonight was the first concert I covered for the local newspaper this year. A typical New Year's concert with Strauss, waltzes and champagne. The picture is pre concert when all to do is wait.

Inga

A gift

2009-01-06T21:00:00.003+01:00

I have a friend who's mother is as interested in crafting as I am. I've never met her, just communicated through mail and Internet. Today, when I came to work, my friend had a present for me from her mother, containing lovely yarn and a beautiful card.

Thanks so much, Anne Marie!

Inga

Colours

2009-01-05T19:56:00.005+01:00

When I want to create, but can't make up my mind about what to make, I baste hexagons. Someday I'll make something pretty with them, but until then I just enjoy the beauty in all the colours.

Inga

The Polarnight light

2009-01-04T14:49:00.005+01:00

It's 3 pm and almost dark outside. The sun is still a couple of weeks away, and the sky has just a hint of red and yellow to tempt us with. For those who haven't cheated and gone south for Christmas, the sun can't be seen for two months. Its return will be greatly appreciated.

Inga

Preparations

2009-01-03T19:44:00.003+01:00

A friend's birthday is coming up. What do you give to people these days? They have everything that they need. I've turned my head upside down and think I've found a solution. These fabrics are on my sewing table, cut and ready to be transformed into something useful. What is it will be revealed when the birthday girl has received the gift.

Inga

Moving on

2009-01-02T16:44:00.004+01:00

It's time to move on. Christmas and New Year have been celebrated. Mothers have been visited. Now it's time to return home to the normal everyday life. To work, chores, walls that need paint, CDs which should be placed alphabetically in the newly painted shelves, choosing and sewing curtains - I could continue for blogposts and blogposts.

Do I mind? Not at all. I'm longing home.

Inga

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T18:56:00.005+01:00

A new year and new possibilities. I haven't been the best blogger lately, but I'll try to improve my blogging routines as well as my journaling routines. I've never been good at writing down my appointments, but luckily my brain hasn't let me down too much. I found this lovely calendar in Oslo last year and I decided to give it a try. At the moment my favorite color is red, so I had to find a red pen as well.

Maybe the red will show off in some of my crafting this year also? Or in my photos? I have a goal, but it's too early to reveal it on the first day of a new year. New year resolutions are hard to keep, so I'm keeping it for myself at the moment.

I hope that you all are well and are looking forward to a new creative year full of inspiring projects and new techniques. Let's go!

Inga

Summer Flirt

2008-07-17T19:17:00.004+02:00

I normally don't think about using only one designer or fabric line in a project (except for the Jinny Beyer collection). I mix and match the fabrics I find suitable for each project. But when I found the Flirtation collection from Moda when I visited Quiltegården earlier this summer, I knew I had to have it and make a small summer project from the 36 squares inside the packet. I´ve never made a tumbler quilt before, but when I asked for tumbler templates, they were sold out. And so were all the four other quilt shops in Trondheim. In Skien, where I'm now there isn't any decent quilt shop at all, so I had to make them myself. I used Word on my Mac (yes, I'm converting from pc to Mac now) and draw tumblers with the drawing tool. I don't know if the ratio is correct, but who cares, the quilt police can't arrest me (hehe).

I cut out 72 two of each fabric. (There are still fabric for at least another miniaturequilt, maybe two). Them I basted them and lay them out to find a pleasing layout. And here's a trick I would like to share. If you shoot a black-and white photo of your project, you elliminate the colours and see only the contrast between lights and darks. Then you can check if your quilt is balanced contrastwise. (If your camera doesn't take BWs, you can achieve the same effect in your image editing software).

Now the blocks are sewn together. If you examine the BW photo and the finished result, you see some small changes which I hope made it better. No I just have to decide how to finish it. Borders? Quilting? Embellishing? Embroidery? Actually, I don't have a clue. So if you feel for sharing your ideas with me, please be welcome!

Inga

Summer projects

2008-07-14T20:36:00.014+02:00

It's two days since my last post and the three skeins of yarn are converted into a pair of men's mittens. I really know the pattern after making 100+ pairs, so it doesn't take long to finish a pair.

Another project is the three bags in the next picture. I started with the red one, continued with the pink and then I had to make the green one. All of them are going to be christmas presents. They are both knitted and crocheted. I found the pattern in a a booklet from Garnstudio , but when I went to their website, I found out that you can download the patterns for free (at least if you speak any Scandinavian language). The red and pink bags are made in Muskat, the yarn described in the pattern. But where I'm staying now, there is no shop that carries that specific yarn, so I had to substitute it with Mandarin Classic from Sandnes. The gauge is almost the same (21 vs 22 stiches on 10 centimeters) and as the observant reader will see, I've used the pink yarn from one of the other bags for the edges.

The final project is inspired by one of the new bloggers I've added in the "Blogs to read"- section. Little Cotton Rabbits has designed some incredible cute knitted stuff. I especially fell for these lovely cup cakes. The pattern is not available, so I had to come up with my own version. I incorporated the techniques used in the bags and am almost satisfied. I had to use cotton balls from the medicine cupboard, and they don't fill out as well as I want, but I will try again when I return home in two weeks. Now I have other gastronomic knitting plans....

Inga

Sign of Life

2008-07-12T20:25:00.005+02:00

Hi there! I've not been a prolific blogger nor quilter or knitter lately. The professional part of me has taken up too much time the last year. The Bach-projet (which I wrote about in my last post) was a nerve-wrecking experience from day one of planning, but it all went well with great reviews and artistic success for all of us who participated.

The project ended in April and after that, I've been so lucky to work freelance for the local newspaper. I've written concert reviews, shot photos during concerts and written stories from the small village where I live.

Now it's vacation and I've finally found time to delve into creative activities again. The yarn on the first picture is my next project, this Daletta yarn from Dale are for a pair of male mittens. Normally I use the baby wool from the same yarn mill, but to make them a bit larger to suit men's hands, this is a good choice.

We're spending a few relaxing days with my mother-in-law and I would like to share an idea for a scrap project I made for her years ago. The strips used in these potholders are cut 2 inches wide. The materials are from my scrap bin. I guess you all have scraps to finish at least a dozen. :-D

Inga

Long night's journey towards Bach

2008-03-29T11:36:00.002+01:00

I'm working on an exciting musical project at the moment. Next Saturday 6 musician will join their forces in permoning all of Johann Sebastians Bach's suites for solo cello. The catch with these two concerts are that three of the suites will be played on other instruments. One (number 5) will be played on a marimba. The fourth suite will be played on a double bass and I will play the second one on bassclarinett.

This music has fascinated we all the years since high school and I'm so pleased that all the skilled musicians I've asked to participate in this project gladly said yes when I asked them.

I know that most of you won't be able to come and listen, so I found a video on YouTube that I hope you will enjoy.

Hi there!

2008-03-26T22:34:00.002+01:00

Just a short note to tell you I'm alive! Not too much quilty (or crafty so to speak) going on right now. The poster to the left with literally only buttons and scraps is the most crafty stuff I've done after Christmas.

I'm hopefull that Spring will bring more time and energy to crafts and I hope to present new work here in short time.

Inga

It's Santa Time

2007-11-18T23:36:00.001+01:00

Hi gals! I'm sorry that I've been absent, but life has really gotten in the way of blogging. So much going on with work, studies and some personal stuff also. But I see light in the near future. Next Saturday I hopefully am a satisfied producer of a (hopefully) succesfull music school show celebrating the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. The weekend after there's a mini tour with the military band called Swinging Christmas. And finally I have one exam this semester. It takes place on the 7th of December.

Then there will hopefully be time to do some crafting again. I've knitted and crocheted a bit the last months, but nothing to brag about, so I'm really looking forward to having time to be creative with yarn and fabric.

Today's pictures are from the local arts and crafts society's Christmas Fair held yesterday. It reminds me that that it's only 36 days untill Christmas. The collection of nisser pictured here is quite nice. It's not American style santas, more the traditional Norwegian santas, which is quite nice, I think.

I've updated my webpage with a couple of new quilting projects; one I haven't showed here at all. There is also a new photo there which I'm quite satisfied with.

Do you remember that I wrote about my father-in-law learning to knit at the age of 88? He knitted himself a small afghan for his chair as his first project and then he continued with a scarf I told him was on my Christmas wish list. He finished that scarf only weeks before he died on the 25th of October. He will be deeply missed by us all. He was 89 years old, but he was a great example of that it's never too late to learn a new skill.

Inga

Housewiving

2007-08-25T20:19:00.000+02:00

As some of my readers will know, I'm not a lot into making food and doing those traditional things that housewives should do. From time to time though, I have a fling with the traditional rolemodel of the woman in the house, like last year and today I felt the spirit from my ancestors to do some traditional stuff. It startet actually earlier this week. I made a focaccia and in the same recipebook I used there was a recipe for a bread I wanted to try. I had to make a dough only consisting of flour water and yeast and let it stand on the table for two days before I continue the baking. So said, so done. Today I was able to take out two lovely bread from the oven.

I even picked some berries today. My neighbours have blackcurrants in their garden and one branch found it's way to our garden a couple of years ago. Now it's a small bush and today I harvested the fruit. Not much, 80 grams to be exactly, but it's enough for a little treat. I added some sugar and tadah! We have fresh jam with the homemade bread for breakfast tomorrow.

Inga

On the go - and back

2007-08-12T23:42:00.001+02:00

Hi folks!. I've been away for a while. Was actually planning to blog during our trip, but the first hotel didn't have cards for sale for getting on Internet and the second hotel had a malfunction on the net that they first sorted out the last day I was there. But it has been a lovely holiday. First we spent three days in Paris. My husband has never been there, so it was time to introduce him to the city. It was hot and sunny and lots of nice food and lovely sights. We walked for several hours every day, and this is what we treated ourselves with on on of the breaks. Yummy! After three days we went to Corsica. This part of the trip was my husband's birthday gift to me. I got to pick where we should go, and since I speak French I wanted to go some place around the Mediterranean Sea where I could practice the language. I chose Corsica because of it's beauty (which Ive seen in magazines) and the fact that there has been a lot of European history going on there. After all, Napoleon was born on that island.

This picture shows some of the treats we got there. This is just a snack that came on the table when we ordered a couple of local beers.

I have lots of pictures from the trip, but I need to sort them. Just as I have to do with the impressions that's on my mind after one lovely week in a fantastic place.

Inga

Tagged

2007-08-01T21:05:00.001+02:00

I've been tagged three times the last two weeks. Both Hortenzita, Jodie and Nancy have tagged me in three different tagger rounds. I'm honoured that so many want to learn something about me. In the three tags I'm to tell a total of 40 different things about myself! So I'm chosing the easy way out of it. In the tag from Hortenzita I have to tell 5 different things in five different topics, so I guess that's what you'll get from me this time. Here it goes:

Five things I want to do before I die:

Write a book

Learn to speak French fluently

Take a year off from work and study Photoshop, Illustrator, Jinny Beyer's books and all the funny crafting books that are available

Play the Brahms Clarinet Quintet

Run my own business

5 things I can do:

Play the clarinet

Knit, crochet and do patchwork

Design websites

Make cheese soufflé

Take decent photos

5 things I can not do:

Drive a car

Be a pilot

Run marathon

Accept extremists

Reach the North Pole skiing

5 things that attract me to the opposite sex:

Humour

Intelligence

Manners

Laughter

Kindness

5 celebrity crushes

Tom Cruise (while married to Nicole Kidman and before)

Timothy Dalton (pre James Bond)

Ralph Fiennes

Sam Neill

Anders W. Berthelsen (Danish actor)

So now you know a little bit more about me;) And when it comes to tagging others; if you feel for doing this tag, consider yourself tagged!

Inga

Views from Trondheim

2007-07-24T21:55:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow it is time to continue this year's vacation to another city. We're going further south, to Skien, my husband's home town. But before we go, I would like to share a few pictures from my stay here in Trondheim. On Sunday we went to an area called Bakklandet (only in Norwegian, sorry!) for coffee and cakes. I had a delicious brownie and a cookie. Afterwards we continued our walk through that neighbourhood and discovered a Sunday-open bookstore (not usual) which was going to get rid of 5000 books and sold a lot of them for NOK 10,- (1.5 USD). I'm sorry I hadn't room in my suitcase to buy anything
On our walk to our destination, a family restaurant, we spotted these lovely flowers.
The next picture shows a decoration detail from inside the restaurant. What was really funwas that I met a neighbour from over 30 years ago. I didn't recognize her at first, but she recognized my mother and when she introduced herself, I remembered her. She is the person I have my earliest memory about. I was only 5 when I saw her last time!
The next picture shows a view of Trondheim, and the restaurant we visited is situated in the tower, 74 meters up!
Yesterday and today I visited a couple of quilting shops. Had to buy new needles and ended up with a little bit more;-)

Now we're heading further south.

Inga

Holiday crafts

2007-07-21T22:46:00.000+02:00

When I'm travelling, I usually get a lot of crafting done. The potholders from the last post are already done and I've done a lot on my next project. A couple I know is getting married later this summer and I've decided to make them a special gift. I'm knitting towels and today I found the perfect soap with lovely hearts that matches the towels perfectly. I hope to finish the first towel in a couple of days.

My mother has found another treasure for me. She gave me all these wonderful fabrics that you see in the second picture. Some of them are flanels, but there are several lovely cotton fabrics also. Tomorrow we are going to do some tidying in the attic and I suspect there will be more lovely finds I can share with you later.

Normally I buy a lot of fabrics and sewing accessories when I visit my mother. There are several nice shops here in Trondheim, but since I know I'm going to far more exciting textile areas later this summer, I've decided to wait spending all my money until later. (If you want to know where I'm going, just continue reading the blog for the next month;-) )But I found a lovely knitting encyclopedia at a nice price, so I couldn't resist it.

I've been tagged at least three times the last week, and I will try to follow it up, but since I'm only at dial up connection for the moment, you have to wait a bit until I follow up those tags. I hope you also are patient about me commenting on your blogs. Next week, when we continue our journey, I will be on a ADSL connection for a while, and I will try to catch up with you.

Inga

On the go

2007-07-19T20:33:00.000+02:00

I'm on the go at the moment. Because of the appendectomy earlier this month, we had to reschedule our holiday. That means we will be gone for a whole month from today. First part of the trip is spent in Trondheim where my mother lives. To get there, we had to take an airplane to Oslo! That's 500 kilometres south of Trondheim. After one and a half hour we took a plane from Oslo to Trondheim. That's the prize of living above the Arctic Circle, I guess. I don't mind waiting in airports, in fact I enjoy buying fancy magazines, having a glass of wine and doing airline-secure crafts ;-) (no scissors or sewing needles). When standing in line to pay for the magazine, I spotted some incredibly cute hankies with red hearts on (in the back of the picture). I thought they were very expensive, but they didn't cost more than normal plain ones. The knitting in front in the picture is a pair of potholders I'm knitting as a houswarming gift for a friend of mine.

When I came to my mother's appartment, she had a surprise for me. As a belated birthday gift I got a vintage handbag that once was a gift from my father to her. I remembered I really wanted that one when I was a small girl. I still find it adorable!

Inga

New afghan in progress

2007-07-17T19:14:00.000+02:00

I would like to share a project I've been working on for a couple of months. The pattern for the afghan was published in the Norwegian magazine Allers earlier this year and I fell totally in love with it at first sight. I'm making it with my favorite yarn, the Baby Wool from Dale. It's the same yarn I make my mittens with. At the moment I've made 102 out of 247 blocks, and 5 of 19 rows are assembled. I've even secured all the thread ends!

As you may have noticed, my blog's look is changing again. Nothing dramatic, but small changes that will make it more ME and less BLOGGER. I hope to change the background and heading with personalized images. I'm just waiting for the licence key to the new Adobe Master Collection, so I can play around with the new Illustrator and Photoshop. It's a real bargain because of my student status. 80% off or something....

I've also added a couple of new links. Please check out Allsorts and Bemused
where I've found so much inspiration lately.

Inga

A finish or two

2007-07-15T20:31:00.000+02:00

I'm happy to report a couple of finishes. The first one is a curtain designated for the window in the wardrobe. The wardrobe redecoration has been going on for a couple of years now, and I hope to finish it before Christmas........

Here I'm modelling the curtain on my studio window, and I'm tempted to leave it there, but no! My studio will have a red and white theme when I'm finished with it, so I have to make another curtain matching that colour scheme. But I like how the curtain came out and it will suit the redecorated wardrobe perfectly. (By the way, this picture makes me painfully aware of the need of a white coating on the upper part of the window).

The second picture shows my version of May-Britt's pincushion. It didn't take long and was quite simple to do. So check it out.

Inga

Heidi's work

2007-07-13T10:36:00.000+02:00

Remember the handsewn card I got for my birthday? Heidi, a friend and clarinet-playing colleague, was the master of that. Yesterday she came to visit and we had a long and nice chat while working on our crafting projects. She brought with her a couple of projects she works on at the moment.

I want to share her latest patchwork project with you. I think it is marvellous! I don't know the designer's name, but it's from a Norwegian book. It's handpieced the English way, and I love her way of using colours. She has been very uncertain about the project, but I'm convinced that it will become a great quilt when finished. Now she's going to pick out all the templates and baste it. Then she'll bring it here once again so we can figure out how she's going to quilt it.

Well done, Heidi!

(Photo: My husband)

Inga

Hi there!

2007-07-10T15:56:00.000+02:00

Hi there! I'm still alive, in case you've wondered. Too much life going on lately, including three exams, two solo perfomances and an appendectomy. But now I'm returning back to my normal strength working in the garden and taking walks.

One month ago I celebrated my 40th anniversary. 25 girls showed up and we had a good time with nice food, lots of wine and great talks. I got lots of nice presents. In the picture you see a part of my gift table. The box contains 7 gorgeous silks and linens, 4 spools of my favorite silk thread and two spools of ordinary thread. My friend Ingrid conspired with two other friends, Yumi and Heidi, and ordered the fabric from Stockholm. It's sooooo beautiful! If I only knew what to make of them. Maybe a hand bag? Heidi even handpieced the card to the right. Behind the bottles you see a card made by one of my former students. She had glued crocheted granny squares onto paper and made a lovely card for me. I even got a birthday cake made of paper, fabric, lace and buttons. You could lift the top and inside the cake I found:

fabric :-D

At the moment I'm crocheting. My new dining room curtains need ribbons. I've made two and a half ribbons. Only one and a half left. Not the most exciting work, but it looks nice when done.

See you around

Inga

Fabric needed!

2007-05-04T11:03:00.000+02:00

Hi again. Long time since I posted, but life's interefering with the creative business. I promised a friend of mine to post today, because she's searching for a fabric to finish a gorgeous storm-at-sea wallhanging.

The fabric in question is the white one in the middle of the photo to the left. She needs 8 inches or so, so if anyone recognizes it and can tell me the manufacturer or where I can buy it, it would be greatly appreciated.
I did think I had some of it in my stash, but the pattern on mine was larger scale than hers. The white square in nearly 2 inches on each side.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Inga

More monochromatic work

2007-04-12T15:08:00.000+02:00

The red blocks are done, 12 blocks are what I aimed for and since I have to wait for some bleeched muslin I've ordered to continue that project, I've put them aside.

The project you see (part of) is a new curtain for the wardrobe window. I've been thinking about doing a curtain like this ever since we moved in almost 6 years ago and finally I've pieced the front. I need to order a backing that will let the sun through, so the seamallowances will show up from the inside. I've been quite thorough while piecing this, so the accuracy is quite good (if I can say so myself :-D)

I just love the blues, at least the textile kind ;-)

Inga

My newest obsession

2007-04-08T20:30:00.000+02:00

This is what I'm spending most of my time on. I've had a fling with those gorgeous red-and-whites from time to time earlier, but now it has turned to real love. Today I have made Grandmother's Flower Garden-blocks while learning my husband to program his new website to be. You see, I have a plan................

Nothing to be revealed yet, but check in from time to time to see the progress.

Now I have to sew more.

Inga

Easter Coasters

2007-04-05T23:56:00.000+02:00

Here are a couple of Easter related projects I've done the last couple of days. First there are the criss-cross coasters from this blog. I needed a quick gift when we were going to visit a friend couple. It didn't take long to make them and they were really appreciated.

The other coasters are for myself and my husband. They are handsewn and handquilted. Maybe you have a few Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks extra? They can easily be turned into coasters like this

Have a nice Easter everyone.

Inga

Another kind of creativity

2007-03-14T17:26:00.000+01:00

I know I've been a losy bloger lately, but there's alot going on. My webdesign studies takes time and so has a major designproject I'm in charge of.

I've designed a poster, an event folder and program notes for an annual event of the Communtity School of Music and Arts where I work.

I've done a couple of assignments like this before, so I decided to add a category on my website called Graphic Design, where I could show this kind of work. Now it's done! So feel free to visit my website to check out what I've done.

Inga

Voila!

2007-02-10T23:39:00.000+01:00

Finally! After nearly twenty years and two relocations I can present this finished dinner table cloth. I checked my crochet pattern binder earlier this week and found out that this pattern was found in a Norwegian magazine in 1987. I inherited a dining table from my grandmother in the beginning of 1988 and I guess I started the table cloth right after that. I have worked on it from time to time. The last time was a couple of years ago when I finished the border(not shown). The only thing remaining was securing the thread ends and I needed a couple of years to get the courage to do it.

But now it's done! And I'm satisfied with the result.

Inga

Power sewing

2007-02-03T15:41:00.000+01:00

I've been sewing alot lately. I started on Thursday between the dress rehersal and the opening concert at the Ilios-festival in Harstad. It's a festival of contemporary music. I played an insanely difficult piece and I needed to relax before the concert. I've been admiring Bonnie's work for a long time and I decided I was going to try out the Basket weave technique. I had a lot of strips narrower than 1.5 inch so I poured them out on my table and started sewing a light one on to a dark one. I cut, sewed and ironed, cut, sewed and ironed and after a couple of hours work I had some blocks done. The best part was that I was totally relaxed after that sewing session. I continued to sew yesterday and this morning also, and now I can present 17 blocks! I don't know what to do with them yet, but I hope to put them in a contemporary kind of work. It would suit the music I've been playing this week.

Thanks Bonnie for the inspiration!

Inga

Siggie swap

2007-01-29T17:46:00.000+01:00

I've signed up for a blogger swap. At Cynthia's blog you can read about the swap and it still isn't too late to participate. So today I started sewing the blocks. I picked two fabrics and pieced after Bea's directions. As you can see, I've made triangles for sixteen blocks. I couldn't find the muslin I bought 6 months ago, which I intended to use in thye middle. Maybe it's time to sort all my fabrics again. They used to be sorted by colour, but now it's only a mess.

Last, I wanted to post another picture from our skiing trip the other day. It was so beautiful.

Inga

The S-week

2007-01-28T22:46:00.000+01:00

Describe the last week with one letter and the letter is S. A lot of Snow, seeing the Sun for the first time this year, a heavy Storm almost preventing us from getting home from work Friday afternoon, the two first Skiing trips this season and finally some Sewing done!

We didn't get much snow before Christmas, but that has changed now. The week started with minus 10 degrees Celcius and lovely weather. We went for two skiing trips. The first one on Monday, but then we started too late to be able to see the sun. So we decided that if the weather was still ok on Wednesday, we would try get out before noon.

We took quite a long walk, more than 15 kilometres and we ended up in a place called Koven, which seemed almost untouched by humans. The slopes were excellent and we only met a couple of other skiers. It felt like being on the moon because of the silence and the cleanness of the snowcovered hills. And yes, we saw the sun!

On our way back we felt that the weather was going to change and boy it did! The next day it blowed and snowed and we just decided to stay indoors. It continued even worse the next day. We had to go into town for work and we had trouble getting there and even bigger trouble getting home. One of my DH's students called and said she couldn't come because they where captured by the snow.

Yesterday and today it has calmed down, but it still snows. My DH has been out removing snow three times this weekend. I did volunteer to help him, but he wanted to do it for the exercise. I've stayed indoors and worked on my Dear Jane. I've made four blocks this week and so far I've done 86 blocks. I've almost finished one of it's corners also. It grows slowly,but it grows

Inga

PS
I've also posted a picture from the skiing trip on my webpage, if you're interested.

DS

Finishing stuff

2007-01-21T16:33:00.000+01:00

I dug into my closets earlier this week, because wanted to make a presentation of crocheted projects I've done earlier. Guess what I found?

A table cloth for my dining table, crochet all finished. The only thing missing was securing thread ends. Probably the reason why it still is in the closet. A gazillion thread ends to be sewn in. Since it's high fashion right now with this kind of table cloths, I've decided to finish it. I'm doing quite a lot every night and have done this for a week, but I'm still not more than halfway through. So I can not share it with you yet.

The project in today's picture (photo: DH) is the first large crochet project I ever did. I found the pattern in a Norwegian magazine Allers. The pattern is actually 20 years old so I guess the project is approximately the same age.

And if you wonder who the cute guy on the picture to the left is? It's my husband portrayed by his uncle 40 years or so ago. Lately he's also started blogging. You can visit his blog here

Inga

Sunday update

2007-01-14T22:37:00.000+01:00

It's time for an update of todays efforts. Finally I've started working on Richard's quilt. It's basted and ready to be quilted. I plan to quilt teddybears (see next picture) in the bright squares and also quilt straight lines 6mm from the edge of the block. In the coloured squares I'm only doing x-es and in the outer border just straight lines one inch apart. Nothing fancy but I think it will suit this quilt.

I've also updated my webpage and I needed to shoot pictures of a couple of old projects. This cute heart was quite a challenge to do because of it's tinyness (4.5 x 4 cm). But it is sooooo cute, that it's worth the effort.

I've also finished a pair of mittens. I plan to open a small webshop where you can buy them on February 1st, but I won't promise that it will be up and running from that day exactly.

Now I'm going to read your blogs:-)

Inga

New year - new projects

2007-01-07T18:10:00.000+01:00

Hello and happy new year everyone. Today's first picture is taken on the last day of 2006 and shows the river Nidelven in Trondheim. The sky was stunning and I just had to share it with you all.

Yesterday evening we played for 2000 people! It's not often we do that, but our new years concerts are almost sold out every year. Nice music, a festive audience and champagne on the back room afterwards is a nice start on our professional year.

Crafts wise I've set some goals. In January I'm going to:

work on Richards quilt

finish the crocheted bed spread

knit mittens

make Dear Jane blocks

I'm also making new curtains for our dining room. I bought some lovely fabric in Trondheim and I'm looking forward to redecorate the room.
Last year someone asked to see a closeup of the quilting in my quilting etude. I do not know if this is close enough, but here's at least a better photo than earlier published. The thread is the gorgeous silk thread I'm using for quilting, redwork and embroidery.

I wish you all a creative new year.

Inga

Christmas time continued

2006-12-30T20:10:00.000+01:00

Hello again. This time I'm reporting from Trondheim, where my mother lives. We came here the 27th and we are going to stay until the 2nd of January. I'm blogging on a really slow connection and was very excited if I would be able to upload images at all, but that went fairly well. I'm also using another imaging program and don't know if the image quality is as well as I think it should be. But nevertheless, I wanted to share some of the Christmas projects I've made for my mother earlier.

The potholders was made with the Tri-Recs ruler and is the only project I ever finished with that one. I'm not a fan about those fast-and-easy rulers which promise you quick and accurate piecing, and I have stopped nuying them. I own only a couple sets. Maybe I will try them sometimes later, but for now I prefer to handpiece this shape.

The second project originates from a wallhanging I once saw. It had lovely tulip blocks and I tried to memorize them for later use. I'm not sure if I remembered it correctly, but this Christmas version isn't bad at all, I think. I've made an Advent version also.

Christmas time is a time for games and fun. We play a game that's known as Ludo here in Norway, I don't know the English name, but you can see how the inner center of the board looks. This was the final result of today's game and if you wonder who won, it was my DH (who played with the yellow pieces).

Inga

It's Christmas Time!

2006-12-26T00:22:00.000+01:00

It's time to sit down and review this year's Christmas. In Norway, we continue the celebration tomorrow also, but the most serious part of the celebration is over. When I was a child, Christmas Day wasn't something dealed (dealt?)with easily. We were never allowed to go out and play with other kids. It was a family day. We 've kept it like that this year also, visiting a my husbands aunt and an uncle of him that I've never seen before. He's a musician like both my husband and I, so it was really nice to finally meet him. (My husband and I have been together for more than 13 years.)

As you may know, our main celebration here in Norway is Christmas Eve. We had a nice dinner and then we handed out the gifts. We gave my father-in-law a creative present. He got needles and yarns and he started almost immediately to work on the scarf I prepared. He's 88 years old and I think he's a really good sport taking the challenge I've given him.

When it comes to my crafting, I'm not doing much. I even left home without anything to do. I needed a break. That break lasted for two days. So now I'm crocheting plate coasters. I hope to make at least 4 within the next week.

Have a nice Christmas everyone!

Inga

Finally!

2006-12-17T20:48:00.000+01:00

There are alot of 'Finallys' to report today. First of all, I'm blogging again. Have not felt like blogging at all lately. In fact, haven't felt like doing much at all for the last two weeks. I blame it on the Polar Nights. They have affected me more than usual, so next year I'll be more prepared. But now I'm back! Hopefully on a more regular blogging basis.

Today we finally got some snow also. When we woke up this morning, the ground was covered with 4 inches of snow. We went for a walk and it continued to snow for the hour our walk lasted. The weather forecast antecipates that it will disappear on Tuesday, but they've been wrong before....

Another 'Finally' is holiday. I played the last Military Church Service on Thursday and gave the last lessons on Friday. There is only a gathering with my students for pizza and soda on Tuesday, but I do not count that as work :-) Now I have two and a half weeks of just practicing by myself. No teaching, no rehearsals and no concerts.

And finally there is quilting progress. I've worked on my Dear Jane and made several blocks. On the picture you see how my Dear Jane looks at the moment. If you want to take a closer look at each block, please visit my website.

Inga

My new voice

2006-12-08T23:54:00.000+01:00

Meet my new voice! (picture from www.selmer.fr). The picture shows what I went to Oslo, the capitol of Norway, yesterday to collect. My old bassclarinet was 10 years old and marked after several years of solid use. So earlier this year I applied to my employees to substitute it with a new instrument. I also applied for a new Bb-clarinet and to my pleasure, I was granted both. Since I mostly play the bass, I decided to deal with that first. So when an instrument maker I know went to Paris earlier this week, he got the mission to find a really good instrument for me. He came home with two, and yesterday I travelled down to Oslo to audition them. I liked one of them more than the other and decided to go for it. It's scary though to take that decision. It's not a cheap instrument and for me it has to be able to express my musical intentions and feelings. So I hope I can be comfortable with this new voice of mine.

I haven't started practicing on it yet. Had to play a military cermon in a church 120 kilometres from here today, but tomorrow I will spend alot of time with the work of art that an instrument of this quality is.

Because the instrument came out cheaper than expected, there was some money left over. I've bought new mouthpieces, reeds and other accesories that will help me find my new musical voice.

And if you wonder about my quilting, I will get back to it someday soon....

Inga

Polar Nights are near

2006-11-20T22:44:00.000+01:00

It's getting darker every day now. The picture (my husband's) shows how it is at the brightest nowadays, and soon the sun won't rise at all. I notice it on my sleep pattern. Waking up in the middle of the night is not an exception and I guess my mood is more depressed than normal. I thought I should be used to it after almost twenty years above the Arctic Circle, but that's not a fact. In fact, I get just as surprised every year this happens. The only thing that helps is seeing the sun, so I'm looking forward to going further south for Christmas

The crib quilt is pieced and marked. I discovered that I was out of batting, so today I went to town to buy some. To keep me occupied I started a new knitting project yesterday. The mitten production makes alot of colourful scraps so I decided to do something with them also. This time the colours aren't coordinated; I'm just making a 'scrappy' striped 'fabric'. What it will be, I don't know. Maybe a bag, maybe a scarf of maybe one row in a knitted afghan.

Inga

Look, she's sewing!

2006-11-13T22:55:00.000+01:00

I'm finally sewing again. A new project is on my table. A pair of colleagues of my husband and myself got their third child last week. Already in March, when she told us about the pregnancy, I asked if she wanted me to make a cribquilt for her. She accepted and I started to plan. I wanted to make something unique for her and that was incredibly difficult. I guess I've been procrastinating all this time, but last week, when the baby boy was born, I decided to really give it some attention.

This is what I'm going for. The coloured fabrics are from my Jinny Beyer collection. I'm putting a 4.5 inch teal border outside this center. I plan to quilt teddies in the beige centers and otherwise do some lines diagonally in the coloured squares. Hopefully it will be ready within the beginning of December.

This one has been a really pain to figure out, so I guess it's right, the saying that states that being an artist is 5 percent talent and 95% hard work....

(Photo: my husband)

Inga

I'm still here!

2006-11-12T16:12:00.000+01:00

Finally I feel like blogging again. I haven't done much quilting lately, feeling like I have a quilter's block, but today I started a project which have been bothering me for the last two weeks. I'm making a crib quilt for a colleague and I haven't known which design to choose. I'll take some pictures when I see that this project is really going the right way.

But I can at least present a finished project. I have redone my webpage and I'm quite satisfied with the result. Take a look at www.ingahelenejuul.no to see what I've been up to.

Inga

Home, sweet home

2006-10-21T00:20:00.000+02:00

I'm finally back home again. It has been an exhausting week with lots of travelling and lots of concerts. I've played 13 concerts in 8 days, and the bands total amount is 19, so it hasn't been any vacation. It's all about getting up, eating, travelling, practicing, preparing for concert, play the concert, get to sleep in a new bed every night and so forth. Not much time to be alone and definately not much time to sew. The only sewing I did was fixing a colleague's torn lining in his jacket pocket ;-). I've knitted a pair and a half of mittens and I did find some lovely alpacca yarn, which I will try.

I mentioned in my last post that we were on a cruise ship. This tour was a joint venture with the shipping company that runs Hurtigruten and most of the travelling were supposed to be done by coastal steamers. Due to changes in the sailing directories, we had to do some of the travelling by bus and speed boat. One day was especially cruel. The bus went 5.20 am and then there was a nearly 4 hour spead boat trip that started at 6.45 am. We had to get up at 4.15 am!

But there was a reward for the early awakening. We were able to watch the sun rise over some of the most beautiful landscapes you can see in Norway. I'm posting some of the pictures I shot that day. Enjoy!

Inga

On tour in Lofoten

2006-10-14T22:13:00.000+02:00

Hi all. I've been a lousy blogger lately, but life and job has disturbed ;-). Right now I'm sitting in a comfy chair at MS Finnmarken, a ship that travels up and down the Norwegian coast. It's both a cruise ship and a way of transportation for the local people along the coast. I'm on the boat due to work. We're on tour with our band, and today we've been playing a total of 11 concerts on board the ship ( I've played 5). Tomorrow we're leaving the boat to drive bus for a couple of days.

Today we passed through Raftsundet and entered Trollfjord in Lofoten. I thought I should share the view with you all. Enjoy!

Inga

New month - new UFO

2006-10-02T22:41:00.000+02:00

October is here and I'm ready to start working on new UFO's. Today I've been marking a redwork piece for quilting. I started this in 2000, and the embroidery has been lying around since spring 2001. I made borders earlier this year, and now it's time to finish it.

To mark it, I prefer using the floor as working table. In our living room, there is space enough to mark and baste quite large quilts. My husband's so used to it that he doesn't mind. He actually used today's working session as an opportunity to test out some camera functions. I'm not too happy to be portrayed with glasses , bit I think today's photos came out quite nice.

The other picture (also taken by my husband) shows the top before basting. I was thinking about doing a more complicated border at first, but have decided to leave that for another redwork of my own design. The embroidery is by the way taken from an American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine issue in 2000.

Inga

One stitch at a time

2006-09-28T22:47:00.000+02:00

I'm in the middle of this ogre. A chrocheted bed spread, where the crochet is finished and the remaining work is "only" sewing it together. Only what?!?!?!? I did some simple math. It's eight seams. Every row consists of 334 rows. There is 2 stiches in every row and that means four stiches in every seam pr row. If my brain still works, that means a total of 10688 stiches. It seems almost impossible to this within reasonable time, but I have already completed one and a half row this week, so maybe within October?

Another ogre is a nosegay quilt I started on one and a half year ago. It's one 12 inch block set on point with an Amish kind of border. Every time I look at it, I wonder where on earth was I when I chose the fabrics for the border. The block is 1930-ish and the border is not. But I've decided to finish it. It's hand sewn so I'm going to hand quilt it. And I'll give it to my uncle who needs something to put on his walls. I know it will be appreciated despite that I'm not satisfied with the colours.

The miniature version of Liberty Flowers is finished and delivered to my brother. He and his wife where satisfied. Pictures are on my other camera and will come when I remember to download them
;-)

Inga

Saturday afternoon

2006-09-16T17:22:00.000+02:00

It's Saturday afternoon and time to relax. I've spent the day doing house chores, preparing next week's program for the two concerts we're giving (Mozart, Smetana and a couple of Norwegian contemporary composers) and quilting on the Liberty Flowers. We also had a photosession to take pictures of the two wristbands I've designed and knitted last week. It took some time before we found the ideal setting but finally we decided that the piano made a perfect background. I've been wanting a piano since I was 7 and when we finally bought one three years ago, it was one of my biggest dreams come true. I'm not a great pianist, but I can accompany my students and even play some pieces with my husband, who's also a professional musician. He plays the flute.

Here is also a picture of the tablerunner you got a sneak peak of earlier. I'm going to make potholders and place mats also. And when we're talking about sneak peaks:

Jodie, will you please send me your postal address? Because you were right about embroidering spoons and other cutlery on the project from last post. There's a small gift waiting for you here above the Arctic Circle.

Inga

Sneak peak on project

2006-09-13T18:09:00.000+02:00

The quilting on Liberty Flowers is going fine. I'm done with half of it and hope to post a finished result within a week or so. I'm also hoping to finish the crocheted bed spread this month. It has been a long time since I started it, more than three years, but I finally see the end.

Today's picture gives you a sneak peak on what I'm planning to take up next. I have a redwork embroidery which I wanted to make pieced borders for. I made one border, took a look at it and decided no, this won't work. So I've decided to use it as the centre of a table runner. The borders will be white linen and I will use red silk thread and embroider something in the borders. What it will be is a secret, but you all have it in your kitchen....

Inga

Another finish

2006-09-07T12:35:00.000+02:00

The UFO-pile is diminishing. Yesterday I could mark off another project as finished. Do you remember the project in this post? One of the postcard quilts is finally finished. I appliqued the handpieced 4 x 6 inch block in the middle onto a piece of fabric and then handquilted it. It's a bit hard to see the quilting, but I've quilted a large maple leaf in the colourful centre. I've also quilted lines 1/4 inch apart from each other. In the outer border I've quilted smaller leafs.

I don't know if I'm fully satisfied with this piece. I like the composition and I think the colours in the middle section stand out well. What I'm not so sure about is the quilting. Maybe I should have appliqued some leaves in autumn colours instead of quilting them and then just do stipple quilting? But I've decided to just let it be like it is. I'll learn from the experience and hopefully will I be more satisfied with my next postcardquilt project.
Inga

Progress

2006-09-04T23:39:00.000+02:00

The calendar says September and most of the work routines are back to normal. Concert season hasn't startet though, so I still have some nice days where I can do some sewing between my daily exercises on the intrument. Today's first picture is an old UFO, started more than three years ago. I came over a pattern for the heart shaped placemats by the Danish designer Helene Juul in a Norwegian quilting magazine. I did think I could finish them before Valentine's Day (and I probably could have done it also) but back then I was too impatient and put them aside. They have been only in my mind around the12th of February every year, knowing that I wouldn't finish them for Valentine's Day this year either :-). After I completed the table runner last week, I thought is was time to try to finish them before our (my Husband and me) 13th anniversary later this month. I know I postponed to finish them because of the shape and getting the backing fit nicely in the "cleavage", but it wasn't hard to do at all.

The second picture shows the miniature version of Liberty Flowers my brother has commisioned. Each block is 4" and the quilt will finish 24x24 inch. It's basted and ready to be hand quilted.

Inga

Finished stuff - webwise

2006-08-31T21:18:00.000+02:00

I've been a good girl lately. Not starting anything new and not buying anything I really don't need. The table runner is finished and photos will come later. I've dug up a three year old UFO, two place mats shaped like hearts, and hope to finish them within the weekend. But the projects I would like to share with you today haven't anything to do with crafting, or maybe they have?
The first webproject is a webpage for a friend of mine who has moved to the US. She is a singer and needed a webpage to present herself. She has included photos, reviews and audio tracks. You can even hear me playing :-). The link to May-Britt's page is here

The other project is a webpage for another friend of mine. She owns a flowershop and the goodies she treats her customers with are awesome. I've taken alot of pictures in the shop and some of the are on this webpage. If you would like to take a look it's here.

Inga

The joy of creating your own stuff

2006-08-24T23:44:00.000+02:00

From time to time, especially when I have an access of self confidence, I design my own stuff. Do you remember Star among Stars and Liberty Flowers? The two quilts just popped up inside my head and even if I didn't knew all the details at once, I knew what exactly to do at every stage of the quiltmaking.

For the project I'm working on right now, there's a totally different story. I started the advent table runner almost two years ago. I got an idea about purple and black. I thought I had it figured out, cutting fabric, piecing half square triangles(HST) together and planning the fabric placement. I finished the piecing, took a look at it and thought: what was I thinking????

Some of the blacks weren't black enough, they looked like they belonged with the purple ones. Because of that, some of the purple ones was too dark compared to the blacks, so the overall design was interrupted. I was really eager to work on it then, but the certainty of the need of doing the frog stich (rip rip rip) killed my enthusiasm for that particular project and it was put to rest.

After I started to work on my UFO's earlier this summer, this work has been lying in my backhead, begging and nagging to be finished. So I decided to give it a try again. I picked out the squares that were too bright, too dark, didn't fit in and replaced them. Some of the squares I took out twice, because when I changed one of the fabrics in a HST, after pieced together with the others, the other half didn't look right either. Finally I got a placement that I'm kind of satisfied with. Some squares bother me still, but I've decided to let it go.

Choosing the quilting pattern hasn't been easy either. I knew from the start what I wanted in the black areas, but what to do with the purple ones? I would love to say that I can draw, but that would be a lie, so I have to rely on premade shapes. I tried out at least three diffent designs before I decided to go with my cookie cutters. I picked out a tree and an angel. After outline stiching two angels and a tree, I wasn't satisfied, so during last night I decided to remove the angels and put trees there also. I also decided to use a small star in the border. That seems too little so I have to come up with one more clever idea before I feel that this table runner has fulfilled its potential.

Why do I spend so much time on that tablerunner? I could have worked on another of my UFO's where everything is figured out and all I have to do is follow the description someone else made to make a quilter's life simpler.I could have bought myself at least three decent table runners for the cost of fabrics, thread, batting, backing etc and spent the spare time on the couch with a book. I could have discarded it and forgotten it. But sometimes, the satisfaction of finishing a project and knowing that you've created something unique, weighs up the extra time, money and thinking that particular project took. "I made this by myself, from start to finish. No one has ever made this before me." There is no better self confidence booster than that.

Inga

Finished stuff - quilted and otherwise

2006-08-19T16:59:00.000+02:00

I realized that this quilting blog hadn't talked about quilting at all lately, so it's nice to present another finished item to you. It's nothing fancy, just a table topper that I made as a teaching example for a quilting class a few years ago. I didn't have enough of the green Jinny Beyer fabric in the border so I had to order some more. That took at least three years. And when I finally managed to order that green rose fabric, the two borders that were already sewn on was not printed in the same way as the new fabric! Luckily I had ordered enough fabric to make new borders (Normally I only buy 30 cm, this time I ordered 50!). I brought this work on holiday in July an my mother-in-law fell in love wih it right away. Everytime I worked on it she commented how much she liked colours so I told her to put it on her wishlist for her birtday in September. After a bit of polite reluctance she did it, so now we have that gift problem solved :-)

Another solved gift problem is this scarf. I intended to make it for my husband, but I wasn't fully satisfied with the colours. I'm going to make him another, but with a shade of purple instead of the beige one. So this will be my father-in-law's Christmas present. He's an 88 year old man and he has a lovely leather jacket that this will go nicely with. Colours aren't only for young people. Maybe I'll design some matching mittens also

Since returning from holiday I've been occupied with a lot of household activities. I'm not playing at the moment, have one more week of self inflicted not-touching-the-instrument- period, since I've got four more weeks of free time before the band starts up. You can not describe me as a skilled housewife. My work takes alot of time and since my husband loves to cook, I don't have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But I do cook from time to time and right now I enjoy spending time in the heart of our home. Today I've baked these cookies called "dreams" and they sure taste good! I used to make them several years ago, but lost the recipe. Yesterday I searched the Internet ad found a recipe I decided to try. I'm satisfied with the result and tomorrow I will continue to (probably) increase my household skills. You see, I have a recipe for a French lemon pie which my husband says is the best cake he've ever tasted, so I couldn't say no when my husband asked if I could make it this weekend. I made the dough today, it's in the refridgerator, and tomorrow, after my homemade lasagna, we're going to have lemon pie as dessert. Yum!

Inga

At home

2006-08-17T00:10:00.000+02:00

When you are driving from Trondheim and up north, you will pass under this arch after a while. It marks the region which is known as Northern Norway. This region consists of the the counties, Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. For me this is the first landmark that shows I'm heading home. The arch's symbol is the Nortthern Light, which is best viewed in this region of Norway.

The second landmark is the Arctic Circle. Then we've entered the land of the Midnight Sun. It's also a reminder of the land of no-sun-at-all-during-winter. Above the Arctic Circle the sun never rises above the horizon for a short or long period decided by how far north of the Circle you go.

The third landmark is when we drive off the ferry that takes us from the mainland and to the island of Hinnoey, which by the way is the largest island in Norway. If winterstorms are harsh, we're cut off from the rest of Norway since the ferry then can't sail due to the weather. Alot of foreign visitors have taken this ferry, since it is the main road to Lofoten.

And then there's the last landmark, when we've turned off the main road and driven over a small mountain pass. Somewhere up on that mountain you drive by the community sign. In Norway, whenever you go from a communtiy to another, these community signs symbolize the entrance and exit of the communities you pass.

For me, all these landmarks make me feel a bit more relaxed, a bit more comfortable and a bit nearer to where I belong. Especially when we leave the ferry, I breathe more freely. It's nice to visit the town I was brought up in, but after living in Nothern Norway for nearly twenty years, this is really HOME.

Inga

Shopping and new blog

2006-08-09T19:03:00.000+02:00

I'm definately not no-shopping this month. When living on a place with only one decent yarn store nearby, it's a treat to come to Trondheim and visit several shops with a huge sortiment. Until now I've bought some fabrics (tried to pick some fabrics I normally wouldn't choose) and yarn. The yarn in the front of the picture was a bargain. Because it had been in the window arrangement in the store for a while, I got it quite cheap. The fluffy one's are angora or alpaccaand the lime green one is pure silk! The yarn in the back is mitten yarn and that brings me to the main topic of today.

Because my mittens have caught a lot of interest around the world, I've decided to devote another blog only to that craft. You can find it here. I'll be thrilled to get visitors over there also.

Inga

Below the Arctic Circle

2006-08-06T17:08:00.000+02:00

We've left the Arctic for a while. Approx. 150 kilometres south-east of Bodoe you pass the Northern Arctic Circle. On top of Saltfjellet, you find this monument dated 1937 - 1940. I chose to picture this monument instead of the newer one from 1990 because the WW2 is essential for the road's existence. Many prisoners of war(POW) originating from the old Yugoslavia worked themselves to death slaving for the German forces occupying Norway. If you travel north towards Fauske you find several sights commemorating the Yugoslavs and the work they were forced to do. One part of the road is actually called the "Blood Road". There is a cemitary where they got their first grave, but later they've been moved to a mutual cemitary in Trondheim where almost every Yugoslav POW who died in Norway is buried.
I admit that is a serious topic, but it's important not to forget if generations following us shall avoid doing the mistakes our ancestors did.

Now we're relaxing at a hotel before the last part of our trip. I already miss the Arctic scenery. We're a bit further inlands, and as used to fjords as I am, I feel a bit squeezed. I only get that feeling when we drive, probably because you follow the changes in the landscape more than if you travel by plane. But I really look forward to sharing pictures of my hometown, Trondheim, with you all.

Inga

On the road again

2006-08-05T17:47:00.000+02:00

We’re on the road again. This time our final destination is Trondheim, where my mother lives. We’re just staying a few days in Bodoe, the county capital of Nordland county. I’m working, my husband is on leave, so it’s a kind of vaction, since we only rehearsed yesterday morning and had the afternoon and evening off. Today we’ve played during the opening ceremony of Nordland Musikkfestuke and later today we’ve been given the honours of performing the official opening concert.

From Kvaefjord to Bodoe it’s approx. 310 km plus a one-hour ferry trip. The scenery is beautiful all the way and we had lovely weather. We made a stop at Kjelvik on Hamaroey and we discovered a path leading to an old cotter’s homestead. It was abandoned in 1967, when the last resident moved away. It must been quite a challenge living there. The road wasn't finished until 1986, so to get supplies, you had to walk a 2 km path down to the sea. The height distance between the farm and the sea is 300m. The farm didn’t have neither electricity nor running water and evertything had to be carried up from the sea. Talk about simple living!

Tomorrow we head south. Mosjoeen is tomorrow's destination. We will be passing the Arctic Circle and I'll take a picture of the monument that marks the Circle so I can show you all.

Inga

From Grandma's archives

2006-08-01T23:33:00.000+02:00

My mother's mother wasn't a wealthy woman. She left her husband in 1952 and chose to live by herself with four kids from 2 to 12 years old. She didn't have any education beyond primary school and she must has struggled more than you can imagine. She was a thrifty woman, saved everything that could be reused and even the tiniest little piece of yarn was put to use in a way.

About ten years after her divorce she bought the house her parents had lived in before they died. Her kids, at that point grownups, helped to pay the expenses. One of her sons lived with her for a long a she lived, but that must also have been a challenge, because of his chronical illness. Her economic situation improved when she turned 67 and was allowed pension from Folketrygden (the official Norwegian sosial security system). But still she used everything twice if it was possible.

Because of this, books wasn't something she put alot of money in. Probably she considered them not important enough to be prioritized in her budget. Except for some old schoolbooks and books my uncle bought, there wasn't many books for us to look through when we visited. My Grandma was a very intelligent woman with a lot of knowledge and it must have been hard for her not to be able to develop her skills further.

For her 70 or 75th anniversary she got a wonderful book from my aunt. It was a crafts book, explaining techniques and patterns in all sorts of crafts. She covered it with paper to protect it and it was almost a sacred moment when we sat down to look at the different patterns and garments. It even had a black-and white picture of a hexagon quilt. When my Grandma died, the book was given back to my aunt. But for my 30th anniversary I received a quite heavy, rectangular gift. It awas the book! Because I'm the one in our family that cares most about crafts, my aunt wanted me to have it.

Yesterday I was looking through some of my books in search of a pattern for a kind of lace knitting I'm thinking about, I found the book and opened it. The patterns where as lovely as they where 25 years ago. I decided to put all my other projects on hold and try out a couple of them. Since I haven't done any other kind of knitting the last years except for my mittens, it was quite a challenge to follow the patterns, but I did have a great time making the swatches. And it sure was nice to think about my Grandma again.

Inga

About mittens and yarns

2006-07-27T19:43:00.000+02:00

I've gotten a lot of questions about the mittens, what do I do with them, what kind of yarn etc, so I better write something about them. In today's picture you see the traditional pattern my mittens started out as. In Norway, this tradition is dated back to the 1860's (approx) and the woman that sort of "invented" this type of knitting in Norway, or at least is credited for it, is Marit Ernstad, who came from Selbu, a small community in Troendelag, right in the middle of Norway. That's why this kind of knitting is often referred to as Selbu-knitware. The pattern often used is an eight-pointed star. Even my mittens has a kind of that, the small one in the center of every motif and also the rounded one outside the smaller one. Originally the colour choices were few. Black or "sheepish black" as it was called and white or unbleached. During last century it became normal to knit with blue and red for girls/boys instead of black. There is a vast variety of patterns, a lot of variations of the 8 pointed star but also motifs taken from the nature. The second photo (taken by my husband) shows a version I knit for my husband a couple of years ago. They are the most complicated mittens I've ever knitted.

Originally a homespun two-ply yarn was used. I'm sticking to the two ply's, but my yarn is a soft baby wool quality from Dale. It's Merino wool. doesn't itch and can be washed in the machine. The needles I use are 2,5 mm (don't know the American equivalent). My husbands mittens are knitted on 2mm needles. That's very thin!!

So why did I go from black and white to colours? One summer after knitting 5 pairs in black and white, I was so bored with the colours. Earlier that summer I had taken a class with Kaffe Fassett and got a new view on colour. So one day I passed a shop window with colourful sweaters and jackets, and Eureka! I ran into the shop and bought colourful yarn. I knew for certain that the babywool yarn was used for some of the jackets I saw, and decided to give it a try. I'm been satisfied ever since.

What do I do with them? I started selling them locally at the arts and crafts society's Chirstmas Sale. Then a friend of mine wanted to sell them in her flower shop. And a gallery owner here where I live also have them for sale. Now I have an order for ten pairs which I'm working on. I'm wondering about making a webshop where I can sell both mittens and patterns I've designed, but at the moment I think it's going to be just wonderings.

And if you are curious, the headband is a design I developed on basis of the mittens.

Inga

Wanted: Summer!

2006-07-26T22:33:00.000+02:00

I've been a lousy blogger lately. It started so well when we were holidaying, but after we returned home last week, I haven't felt like I wanted to share anything. Maybe it has do to with the lousy weather we've had. We went from living on the veranda with 27 degrees celsius to putting on our ovens to heat the house. It was 9 degrees! Makes me want to move further south, but I guess I actually know that bad summer from time to time is the price we have to pay for living in the middle of the fantastic scenery we're surrounded by.

Today I was going ot start working again for a short period, but yesterday the period got even shorter. We got today off, and we don't have to travel to Kirkenes (near the Russian border) next week. Because of terrible planning form the local arrangement committee, our two concerts there next week were cancelled. Then the need for rehearsals dimished. We're only doing a concert on Saturday and also two concerts next Saturday. I've spent my free time painting on the house and testing a car we want to buy (I haven't been driving, just checking if it's okay to sit in the car next to the driver and knit :-D). Buying cars in Norway is incredibly expensive and I'll devote another post to it later.

While driving, I knit mittens. I spend at least three hours in the car every week and that is too much time to let go to waist. I'm planning to take a fancy shot of the mittens out in free air, but I need to secure the thread ends first. Guess how many times I've sworn to do this after every mitten I finish, but when the time comes, I usually forget. So until that fancy shot is taken, here is a small taste of the colours I use. Right now I'm making a pair in two yellow nuances and charcoal black. The colours remind me of honey and licorice, and they are definately not the cup of tea for people seeking traditional Norwegian knitting.

Inga

Summer projects

2006-07-16T22:58:00.000+02:00

I've gotten a lot of questions about the picture in my last post. And Maya did recognize it! For those who haven't followed my blog, here is what I'm working on. This is a quilt I've designed and it's called Liberty Flowers. I'm making a miniature version now. The blocks in the large quilt are 8 inches, and those I'm working on right now are just 4. The large quilt is 65 x 65 inches, and the small version is 23 x 23. I pieced the flowers before I left on vacation, and I have been appliquéing them onto a cotton/linen fabric.

In today's picture you can see a part of my second summer project. A couple of years ago I started to crochet a twin size bed spread to use in my studio when I have to use it as a guest room also. It will consist of seven rows and two borders. At the moment I've completed 4 rows and both borders, so it's progressing.

I also have brought with me a quilting project. It's a table topper for advent. It's quite simple, made as a teaching example of how to use half square triangles. I haven't worked on it yet, it's too hot! But I WILL start working on it before we go back home on Wednesday (At least I hope so :-D).

Another "project" I'm working on is my photographing skills. My husband and I both enjoy photography, and we try do make more out of it than just holiday snaps. So far he's the one that has taken the most fun shots, but I'm eager to learn more about it.

And finally, I never go anywhere without my mittens. I've got nearly 20 different versions now, and when I return back home, I'll take a picture so you can enjoy.

Inga

Lazy days

2006-07-12T09:47:00.000+02:00

We are enjoying some lazy days in the southern parts of Norway. Last Wednesday we travelled down to my inlaws for two weeks of relaxation. And the first thing that met us was summer weather! Since our two lovely days in may we haven't had the feeling of summer at all, only a couple of days with something that looked like warm spring. I was totally blown out due to allergies and it took a couple of days to get adjusted to the temperature, but now I enjoy living on the veranda and wearing summer clothes.

We have travelled a bit around. First to say good bye to a friend couple that's going to the States for three years. He is going to do a PhD in theology and she is freelancing as a singer. We spent a lovely day in Aasgaardsstrand, a small village that's mostly known for it's former inhabitant, the internationally famous painter Edvard Munch. And then we spent a couple of days with my husbands niece and her family. In the pictue we are disturbed by the photographer while I'm fixing something in Martine's knitting. She and her sister are so fun. Every time we visit and I bring my knitting, they both run to find their knitting also.

Today we're going to Blaafarveverket. I'll write more about that later. Have a nice day, folks!

Inga

Oldie

2006-07-02T21:11:00.000+02:00

This project is a real oldie. I started it long before we moved to Kvaefjord, so I guess it's from 1999 or 2000. I made the four blocks and the scrappy 2 x 5 borders, and then I put it away. Originally this pattern, made by Ute Barbara Schoensberg (a Norwegian based designer with links to Germany) was a square wallhanging, but I decided to make it into a long and narrow one. While working on it now, we received an invitation to a party to celebrate the birthdays to a friend of mine and her husband, who also happens to be a colleague of my husband and me. They were going to celebrate their 50th anniversaries together with their families, neighbours and a few close friends. I decided to finish this as our present to them because I know that she understands the work I put into a piece like this.

The party was yesterday, and that's why I can show the picture today. They really appreciated it. We had a splendid time! I met friends I haven't seen for nearly ten years and I also was introduced to people my friend had talked about but whom I've never met. It's so nice to finally have a face to combine with the name you've heard several times.

We're visiting my inlaws later this week. I'm so looking forward to going away for a while. But I will bring my computer, camera and UFO's, so I guess you'll be informed of any progress being made.

Inga

I'm free! (At least for five days)

2006-06-30T23:03:00.000+02:00

Guess what, I'm free. At least, a kind of. No, I haven't resigned or taken a leave, but today, I played the last concert for a while. My freedom lasts only for a limited period of time though. June has been an overloaded month and the summer break is shorter than usual. And how can I claim that three weeks is a short break?

In Norway, we're allowed five weeks holiday every year. Because of our working structure, we all have to schedule our holidays for the same period. In addition to the four weeks holiday we're normally granted during summer, we're allowed two weeks of rehearsing by ourselves to get fit to being able to perform for an audience.

But because of a major semi-military event, we have to return after three weeks to play one concert, and then someone decided that we also should participate in a couple of festivals in the region. So my summmer holidays goes in the drain. I can't stop playing now, since there is only three weeks until our next concert. I've decided to stop playing for five days (not three weeks), before I start exercising again. That's all I feel I can allow myself if I'm going to be able to deliver a professional result at our concerts in the end of July.

After that, we do not have to report back for a six weeks period. How much of that will be a non-instrumental period? Only a couple of weeks I guess. Working as a professional musician never allow you to rest for a long period. It's like being a professional athlete. The only difference is the pay :-(

But I will certainly enjoy my holiday. I plan to study a couple of web design related subjects at University College this fall, and I know for sure that I need all the energy I can accquire through the weeks that lies ahead of us.

I hope to post a couple of project pics within a week from now. This post's picture is taken by my husband.

Inga

Il est fini! - It's finished!

2006-06-24T22:09:00.000+02:00

There are a lot of wonderful blogs out in cyber space where you can find inspiration for new projects. As some of you may have noticed, I have been working on UFO's since the beginning of May. My UFO-pile also includes crocheting, embroidery and knitting in addition to the quilting ones. Today I've finished two works. One crocheted table runner which I intend to put crosswise over the table as place mats, ad then there is this little cutie.

Originally it was a couple of swatches I made to test out the blackwork embroidery technique. I had planned to use them as center blocks in miniature quilts, but then I came across Veronique's impressive embroidery blog, where I found the link to the directions for this biscornu. The word biscornu (according to my French -Norwegian dictionary) means something with two horns, or something irregular or bizarre. I don't think it's bizarre, just cute. So....

Merci Veronique pour cet idée merveilleuse! Ton travail est splendide et j'admire tout. Je te souhaite une bonne weekend!

Inga

Work, work, work!

2006-06-21T22:58:00.000+02:00

Hi Gals!

I apologize for no posting, but work has taken over my life! You see, the funding for our military band isn't the best, but this period there are money to produce concerts, and someone has decided to produce as many concerts that it's possible to squeeze in in 25 days. More precise, there are planned 18 concerts, almost all of them with different programs. So if I was paid by the number of notes I'm playing in June, I would have a year's income from all this activity in June only :-D

Sadly there isn't much extra to achieve, only free time (which I can spend sewing hehe). But there's also fun since there is a large cultural festival starting this weekend. We're going to play 7 concerts within a wee (one every day!) so it will be a lot to do, but I also will be able to enjoy other concerts and exhibitions. Next Monday, I'm going to listen to Rickie Lee Jones performing in the large concert hall in Harstad. I will go to the hairdresser's and enjoy a nice meal also, so that will be MY day.

I manage to do some crafty work. I knit in the car to and from work, I manage to baste some pieces between my daily excercises on the instrument, and I try to crochet a motif for a table runner every night.

It could have been worse....

Inga

Finished stuff!

2006-06-05T15:50:00.000+02:00

Today I finished this table runner. I started it two years ago, when I was on holiday, visiting my mother. It's so good to mark one more UFO done. I have more than 20 to go. This is my last one with six pointed stars and it's the only one intended to keep for ourselves. The flowers you see in the foreground are the roses my husband bought for my birthday. They are so lovely, the nicest flowers I've ever received. In the back you can see an oil lamp which I've filled with decorative stones. It's not the season for lighting the lamp, but it's so beautiful that I wanted to use it anyhow.

The second project is our only pet at the moment :-D. Due to work schedule, it's impossible to have a pet, so we'll have to stick with this incredibly cute kitten. I'm a real fan of red/bluework and I hope to share another project with you in short time.

Inga

Birthday girl!

2006-06-03T16:57:00.000+02:00

Who can imagine that this little creature has become an (almost) middle aged woman with grey hairs showing up? It's my birthday! At first I thought I shouldn't mention it at all, just change my age in the profile. But I changed my mind. You only live once, and every occasion to celebrate should be used. I've had a nice day. My husband greeted me with a card and a small gift. He has ordered a new cordless iron for me, but that didn't arrive at the shop in time, but he gave me some silk thread which I needed to complete one of myUFO's. My inlaws sent a cheque and my mother called to congratulate. Due to her shoulder we'll deal with the gift issue later.

After practicing my daily routine on the instrument, we went into town and ate cake. My husband also bought yellow roses (my favorite) and we did some shopping. Christmas gifts (okay I'm way ahead) and books. We went to visit a friend of mine who works in a newly established art center. Its' an antique building, originally a gym for the Defence Forces, which has been transformed to studios and offices for ten artists, designers and people with creative occupations. It has become an inspiring and beautiful place with lots of fun and interesting people. I got so inspired that I just wanted to go home and establish my own creative business.

Now we're going to enjoy a glass of wine and read the books we bought. Afterwards my husband is going to cook me a delicious meal. I'm enjoying my day!

Inga

May ends - June begins

2006-06-01T20:46:00.000+02:00

This is my friend and colleague, Heidi, with her ongoing project. She participated in my handpiecing class earlier this month and she has been bitten by the quilting bug. She came for a visit yesterday, because she needed some help with her sewing machine, and she also brought her hand piecing projects. I really liked this one. She was wondering about how she should put borders on it, but I advised her to leave it as it is. It's lovely!

We had a nice lunch and then we spent a couple of hours in my sewing room. We managed to make her machine work, so now she'll bind the projects she's already done.

My May challenge is over. I'm quite proud of what I achieved. I almost didn't buy anything (Just two magazines on the day when life decided to be really cruel with me). The only new project was a border that didn't suit the purpose it was made for, so instead of putting it aside, I found a proper use for it. I didn't touch the scrap box. I had planned to deal with it when my mother came for a visit in the end of May(I thought), but then she damaged her shoulder. We'll deal with that when she comes later this summer. But I finished 5 pairs of mittens, 18 other items and I also worked on 9 other projects. My project boxes are reduced to two (really packed boxes, though).

My UFO list is still long, longer that it says on the right, so I've decided to challenge myself a bit more. No starting projects and only buying things I need to complete stuff on the UFO list. I'll try to stick to that until the holiday starts

Inga

Sunday hike

2006-05-28T21:15:00.000+02:00

My husband and I went hiking today. For a couple of years now we have been planning to walk up to a view point in the hills behing our house. It's in the middle on the hill you see in the first picture. The place is called Raudmoldheia (Red soil heath directly translated) and it's approx. 600 metres above sea level. It isn't too long but it's quite steep so the last two hikes we've done has been to prepare ourselves for the top. As you can see, there is still some snow left, but it's no problem walking in suitable shoes. When we went out, it was quite cloudy and windy, but the closer we got to the top, the warmer and sunnier it got . We stopped halfway to the top and had lunch. (Food never tastes better than when you eat outside.) I was quite exhausted before we ate, but afterwars I felt really fit to continue to the top. The reward is view of the lovely mountains in Vesteraalen, the mountains surrounding Narvik and also Andoya, where the asfalt actually blows off the roads during winterstorms and cod blows up on your doorstep (I'm not kidding, promise!) And Mother Nature rewarded us with the best possible weather when we finally came up. I hope the photos show what a splendid day we had. We were out for more than four hours and we have more than 200 photos that needs organizing. Please check my husbands website in a couple of days to see more photos from this trip.

Inga

Finished stuff - week 2 and 3 of May Challenge

2006-05-24T22:36:00.001+02:00

Here is the finished stuff from week 2 and 3 of my May Challenge. In the first picture you see the coasters I finished. I had made one and prepared the three others, but it has taken me three and a half year to do that. The black and white stuff are scissors cases. Originally it started out as pot holders, but the batting was too thin. The pink stuff is a jewel bag that was a tri-recs project. Didn't finish that as I planned either, so I chose to make jewel bags of the few blocks I did. The colourful stuff is a makeup purse and the red and white mini-trip-around-the-world was my summer project from last summer. It is totally handsewn

The second picture is my first handpiecing project, started right before Christmas 2002. I have made several projects with this design, but this one has taken long to complete. The small quilt on the right is what I call the Quilting Etude #1. It was merely designed to practice handquilting and I like how it came out. It's still bleeding red, due to my laziness (didn't prewash fabric) so I have to run it in the washing machine on a wool cycle with no spinning

On the last picture you see the second table mat(matching my husband's). To the right is a small wallhanging that I've called Dictator's Chessboard. I've used some of my bali stash together with black solid border. The title of the quilt? You see, if I was a dictator, I could decide how my chessboard would look like. By the way, the only pieces allowed on this board are pawns :-D. They are quilted in the border.

All pictures are taken by my husband.

Inga

Friday night

2006-05-20T00:09:00.000+02:00

It's past midnight (Is that 12 pm or am?) and it still isn't dark. It hasn't been for weeks and the midnight sun is only days away. Where I live, you can't see the sun at 1 am (which is actually midnight due to daylight savings time), but you get an impression of how it is. Dark nights are four months away and the plants and seeds grow quite fast at the moment. I'm not a gardening spesialist, but I rely on good neighbours and a bit of luck. Maybe my garden will look good this summer?

I got a distressed call today from my mother. She had fallen and broken a bone in her shoulder. I was in the middle of a teaching class and the student had to sense that I got a bit disturbed at that moment. I called my mother back right after the classes and she told me that it was her left shoulder she had damaged. She fell over a fence that wasn't removed after the constitution day and she was going to write a complaint to the community. She is able to eat breakfast and do simple stuff wth her right arm, but dinners have to be eaten in restaurants. On Monday I will try to arrange for a nurse to come and help, but I don't know how difficult that will be. She'll maybe need an operation, and if that occurs I will go down to her to help her. It's very difficult to live this far away (930 kilometres) and I won't be easier the older she grows.

The May challenge is going fine. I will post photos of last weeks finished stuuff during the weekend.

Inga

Congratulations!!

2006-05-17T18:37:00.000+02:00

Ask a Norwegian kid what's special about the 17th of May, and he or she will probably tell you that it's Norway's birthday. And today we've celebrated. It started early today, around 8 a.m, when we gathered in front of a stone monument raised in memory of young soldiers who fought in Gratangen in the beginning of WW2. It snowed a lot and I started to worry about the parade. We went down to a hotel in town to have breakfast before the parade, and when we sat there, the sun came through the skies. And it lasted! It's still nice weather. I wouldn't call it warm today, but it was sufficient to make our job quite comfortable. And it was also nice for the kids since they could dress up in nice clothes and "bunader", which is a traditional Norwegian costume.

For kids this day is like a giant birthday party. There are balloons, and you can eat (almost) as much ice and sausages as you please. Sodas are also available and there are games for the kids at the local school afterwards the parade.

After we finished our job, we went to listen to another ensemble that played music by Norwegian composers. And afterwards we went home to have a nice dinner. It din't go as planned, since we forgot to buy an important ingredience, but the meal was okay anyhow.

Now we're enjoying the rest of "our" birthday. Congratulations to all fellow Norwegians!!

Inga

Ready for parade

2006-05-16T20:37:00.000+02:00

Working as a musician means that you have to work on days when everybody else has the day off. Christmas Eve is one of those days, and our Constitution Day is another. Tomorrow, the 17th of May, is Constitution Day and it's alot to prepare. Uniforms must be brushed and pressed, shirts and gloves washed, collars bleached and shoes polished until they shine. We are among the first ones in the town parade, which is a school and kindergarten parade. We had marching rehearsals last week, and hopefully everyone rembembers what to do when our major commands us. Afterwards we play a concert on the town square. That can be a chilly experience, especially if the weather is the same as it was today during rehearsal. But our day starts early with a seremony to commemorate the people from the (former) local military academy who lost their lives during WW2. I just hope that we don't have to deal with snow during our work tomorrow.

Inga

An ordinary Sunday in May

2006-05-14T23:11:00.000+02:00

We went for a little hike in the hills behind our house today. The warm weather from last weeked had changed to windy and cold, but the sun was still shining. We took some photos to show the surroundings. In the first picture you see the church, and to the right you see the primary school of the community. Quite a good school actually. Schools are a community task here in Norway, even though our last government supported many private schools. This school is among the best in our county and visitors often come to study the education program here.
After the hike, we worked in the house and had a lovely dinner (reindeer meat) prepared by my husband. Afterwards I sat down in my studio to do some sewing, and when I looked out the window, I saw...................

SNOW!!!

This wasn't unexpected, remember this is above the Arctic Circle, and we often get snow in May. I'm just glad that I didn't buy any plants and planted outside the house yet. I only hope it will disappear before I go to work tomorrow. I'm not ready to find my boots again.

Inga

Girl Power!

2006-05-13T00:03:00.000+02:00

Do you remember "Spice Girls" - the English pop group with five female members. None of them could actually sing, despite the fact that all of them tried to convince the audience the opposite. They where picked out after auditions by producers from the popular music business. Producers who knew which parameters that would create a number-one-hit. Good looks, sex appeal and the abillity to perform a song designed for the charts. Remember, I haven't said anything about musicality. This industry (the popular music one) isn't interested in talent, only in cashmaking.

As I've told you before, Friday is our big night in front of the TV. After a long week of hard work, it's a comfy relaxation to just vegetate and be entertained. But tonight I had a awesome and inspiring moment in front of "the Box".

Seven young musicians competed tonight in the "2006 Eurovision Young Vienna"- competition. 18 musicians from all over Europe met last weekend to compete, and tonight's competitors where chosen after a semifinal with excellent performances. Tonight's final was an outstanding event of musical performance and juvenile perfectionnism you rarely see. None of the competitors where older than 19, but their musicality was way beyond what you would expect from a professional (adult) musician.

Norway's representative was the young woman on the picture. She, Tine Thing Helseth, is 18 years old and plays the trumpet incredibly well. She has already studied for several years; she practices several hours every day and her career is going up like a rocket. Tonight she was awarded 2nd price in this competiton, only beaten by a Swede! (I'll talk about Sweden and Norway sometime later). She played so well in the final, even better than in the national final, and we are so proud of her. Congratulations Tine! Well done!!!! Your performance tonight is what Girl Power is really about!

She is actually going to play with our wind band in June. We're really looking forward to that

Inga