From now on I'll just write whenever I feel like it and leave out all comments of "I'm back" or whatever.. :) I have been busy though :) sewing, crocheting and doing small home improvements :)

A bench that I've had for many years already but I haven't had space for it so it's been taking up space at the cottage.. :) now I realized I had the perfect place for it in the hall and the perfect colour too ;) I just need to decide if I'm going to use the old knobs or get new ones.. the old ones are brass but I'm thinking of putting wooden ones.. if I can find what I want :)

My old kitchen sofa, finally getting repainted! The biggest part of it is sitting in my hall now and waiting for me to finish with the sanding and then paint it.. :) luckily it's a water-soluble colour that stinks only a little bit ;)

And when it comes to sewing I've been making passport covers and started on two dresses.. one of the dresses needs to be finished by October as I'm going to wear it to a friends wedding! No pictures of that yet, it's just a lot of pieces of pattern and heaps of fabric :)

First one, inverted application :)

Second, just two fabrics to make it stripy and not too flowery :)

Third one, I just love love love looooove this fabric! :)

I need to get more pictures taken.. and I need a camera that is better at taking pictures indoors/in less light.. :)

And I'm back! :)

At least I'm going to try to blog again.. :) Autumn is here so maybe there will be more time to sit by the computer, especially July went by with very little computer time. Most of July I was at the cottage where the internet connection is sooooooo slow but I didn't have very much interest of sitting with a laptop anyway. I spent most of my time swimming and picking blueberries and just generally enjoying summer!
I did miss my sewing machine and oven a tiny bit, but as I said, there just wasn't time :)
Now I've been going almost double speed instead :P especially as I had an order for a wedding cake for tomorrow, it's delivered already so I can breath again ;)

Raspberry mousse cake á la me ;) and roses, roses, roses.. took some time to make them all.. but for once I didn't start at the last minute! :)

I actually started my sewing at the cottage, mum had both her sewing machines with her (she's got an overlock/serger too *envious*) so I made the mock-up for a shirt/blouse. I think it turned out quite nicely and I already used it once! I wanted to finish it in time for our family reunion and I did.

More roses! But I didn't have to make these by hand :P

I've also made a purse for a dear friend, and I have some more ideas to try out.. a passport cover for one.. and some new ways of sewing that I've found when reading heaps of blogs! :)
I found the tutorial (that I actually followed almost completely) for my friends purse here: Pink Penguin isn't it a lovely name too :) oh yes, a pic of the purse:

That was it for today, let's see when I'll post next :P

Blog-lazy ;)

I've been quite active otherwise :) I have started to knit amigurumi :) lots of fun and a little bit of swearing :P

First! A small bear.. cute huh? :)

Then a dragon.. but it doesn't look like the one in the book.. not as cute ;) although if you look at the head in the book it doesn't look like it would according to the pattern.. I'm wondering if there's been some mistake in the translation (I have the book in Finnish).

Second dragon, way better! I made the spikes a bit differently too and the wing :)

Poor little one only has one wing so far.. it was quite a lot of job with that one :)

Right now I'm crocheting a turtle :) but again I have to do some improvising when the pattern is strange.. ;) I have to see if I could get my hands on an English copy of the book to check if my surmising is correct.. :)

I finished knitting the shawl some time ago already.. turned out quite nice :) and my friend seems to like it which is the most important thing :)

Btw, I opened a paypal account today so now I can sell stuff if/when I want to :) or get enough ready..

I've been reading Economics even though it some days has been such a pain! Especially Mondays when the assignment is due :P This week though I have already read both chapters and listened to the first lecture and it's only Friday! I also finished the assignment due today already on Tuesday, yay! Sorry procrastination if I seem to neglect you.. :D

life..

I've been meaning to write for a couple of days but then I've either forgotten about it or something else has come in between.. I've been a bit more down in the dumps again for a couple of weeks.. and not really had so much energy.. but I managed to lift myself up a bit already yesterday :) just in time so I could read 3 chapters of Economics and make the assignments that were due..
I've also decided to raise the dose of my medicin a bit again, I've been trying to lower it but it went too low now.. just waiting for the doctor to write the prescription.
On Saturday I felt a bit like I was drowning.. drowning in all the pressure from living.. there's so much all the time! Even just staying at home there's so much that needs to be done.. house cleaned, food cooked and eaten and kitchen cleaned afterwards, bills to pay, stuff to organize.. I know most of the population can't realize how hard and big even the smallest task can be if you're not fully functioning.. I do feel lots better than I have in years past, which makes me realize how depressed I really have been.. definitely don't want to go down that road again..
Btw, didn't get the last job either.. but there's one for me somewhere, just have to keep looking and looking and try not to get too depressed... ;)
The best thing though is that I have managed to cut back on my chocolate! I also realized that I can be a chocolate lover even if I don't eat huge amounts every day :P yesterday I didn't eat any chocolate, just didn't feel like it.. I've developed a new feeling, sort of like I don't want to eat chocolate when I'm really feeling down or angry or something.. :) now I'm still battling against my more or less constant sweet tooth :) although I'd say that one has been surprisingly quiet too.

Still knitting and crocheting :) the shawl for my friend is almost finished! I'm on the last row, but of course I ran out of yarn so I have to go and get some more today.. but it's such a lovely blue color that I don't mind at all having some extra :)

I haven't forgotten you..

I just haven't had the energy/interest to write.. it's been so cold here lately that I just want to curl up under a duvet ;) but today I found an interesting job that I called about and now I have an interview on Friday! wohoo! :)
Maybe I could go out a little in the freezer today.. the new ice age I think.. well, supposed to get warmer at the end of the week.. I hope that's going to hold! :)

I've spent quite a lot of time on my Economics course too, trying to understand! I think I've finally managed to understand at least something, but still way too little.. at least according to myself ;) I know I need to sit down with the book and pen and paper and really draw diagrams and count stuff and think, not just read.. oh well.. will do.. one day... :P

Now I'm just a bit fluttery because of the interview on Friday.. Friday evening too so even longer to wait :D just keep everything crossed until then... :)

Swimming and knitting

Yesterday I bought myself a pair of swimming goggles! I don't know if I've ever even owned a pair before.. probably as a kid.. anyway, I went swimming with them on today :) and goodness, I could concentrate even better on swimming :) and it felt good! Although at first it felt a little bit more like choking ;) I swim breast stroke most of the time and with my asthma and stuffed nose it's not so easy to breathe "on command".. but I did it! :) and got better while I swam :) I even stayed almost for 45min, instead of the 30mins I've managed to keep my interest going earlier times... and gosh it feels so good now again! body and soul :D

Yesterday I also managed to finish the mittens for a friend, wohoo! My first ever! And I finished them on time to so they'll get to travel with another friend to Belgium instead of having to travel by post :P

Sorry for the crappy picture.. They are a dark green and light grey :)

Today I'm soon going to my sister and niece to have dinner, I'm bringing the dinner :) I love cooking and I love seeing the big smile on my niece's face! She's such a cutie :) I love seeing my sis too, but she gets a bit overshadowed by her daughter :P but who wouldn't love a smiling 1-year old :D

Culture and what not :)

Les Misérables trailer from Dirtstudios on Vimeo.

This is what I did on Friday evening! It was so great! Fantastic! I've been listening to the music more or less non-stop since then.. :) and I'm going to borrow the book too :) I have wanted to read it before but I've never gotten around to it.. now I'm in love :D I want to see it again, and again, and again! It helps of course that there were a pair of eyes (and a smile/face) that I fell a bit in love with :) it's nice once in awhile to have something more "real" to dream about :)
About the music, I got the English Original Cast version, the French and one Swedish from Stockholm.. :D just wish that Åbo Svenska Teater would make one too.. :)

I went swimming twice last week too, Monday and Friday :) I was longing to go swimming Tuesday-Thursday :P might go more often than twice a week soon :) unless I happen to get a job.. I'm going to call about one tomorrow.. I really have to.. it's one I actually want :P I just don't particularly like making calls and especially not when dreading a "no"..

On Thursday I was to a friends exhibition opening in a café. I was expecting nice paintings, but I came away with a whole feeling of happiness :) nice paintings, lovely colours, great café! I'm going to drag Mom with me there too (well, she doesn't seem to need much dragging) :) The best with the paintings was the positivity and happiness that the text about them

And suddenly it's less than a week before I go to Stockholm! Shopping! Yey! :)