Spring....... are you nuts?

Those are glass mats I made when I was having the cold last week. They are paper pieced and measure 3" and I've bin meaning to make them for some time now. I drink so much water with ice that I put cotton batting in them and they are great in absorbing the dew from the glasses. Five is an odd number I know but I ran out of energy. Now on to spring.....

We had almost a week of warm sunny weather mid way through March, when it got cold again, then we got one heavy storm last Wednesday evening and yesterday afternoon a blizzard started that is still going strong and the weather man says it will be snowing tomorrow with 15-20 m/s wind.

Not nice, oh no. So I go a bit bewildered when I was reading a local news site today and saw an advertisement from a sports store saying: The spring is here, get your bike (buy it from them) and start bicycling. Hm..... the spring is here..... where? Hallo, yoo hoo spring where are you?

I would so love to have spring arriving early and I try to be optimistic but this is so bizarre it's not even funny. And I will absolutely not be buying a bike from that store. Yikes.

Sunna.

My father.

March 24 1939 was the day my father was born, so if he had lived he would be 70 years old. I have no idea where that photo is taken or how old he is in it, only know that he's the boy in the front. Will you just look at those clothes. LOL.


This is his confirmation photo, so it must have bin taken in 1953. He's 14 years old.


I don't know how old he is in this photo, but I'm sure it's taken before his 20 birthday. He was a quiet man, and absolutely not in the front of everything. But he was loyal and fun to be around most of the time (could be moody at times) and he absolutely loved Jazz.



This is the last photo taken of him, I think in early 1983. He died in a helicopter crash (in to the sea) not far from where I live on November 8 that year. He was a mate (first mate) and a captain with the Icelandic Coastguard. (Can't find a photo of him in a uniform at the moment). He also served as a navigator on the Coastguards helicopters or airplane for three months a year, so that's the reason he was on board. They were four that died that night. Two were found right away but my dad and the pilot were not.


Then over 5 years later, in January 1989 a darling fisherman from our town got a body in his shrimp trawl? not sure if it's the right word. Anyway, it was known right away that it could only be my dad or the pilot, and it was positively my dad.

I always thought that I was okay with him being missing, because that's how he wanted to go. Just go in to the sea and no fuss. But in the middle of the funeral I just broke down. Later I realized I had never really grieved for him so this was finally a closure, and it felt good. I had him buried here in the town where I live instead of Reykjavik where we are from. I thought it only right, here is where he was brought when he was found, and here I can take care of his grave.

I find it funny/sad that as I was 20 years old when he died I thought him ancient, but now when I'm over a year older than he was when he died I feel not old at all.

Sunna.

I received the Sisterhood Award from Scrappy Quilter today, and I have to say I'm honored. I have found so many wonderful people in blogland and some, I hope, are becoming friends. She's such a great person and check out her project and dream: Quilts for the North.

In order to officially be the recipient of this prestigious award, I need to do a few things first --

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

Here goes:

Quilting in Oz Mary is a wonderful lady, I love her blog, her take on life, her strength and it's just plain fun to make friends with people of another generation, both older and younger, to get a totally different view of so many things, both big and small.

Stitchin by the Lake Marlene has such a great way with words and is able to write a wonderful stories about ordinary happenings in her life. It's a great gift to be able to give laughter to others without hurting or using people along the way.

Dr Quiltmom Now here is a blog that has bin a great help to me in quilting my quilts. She gives me courage to just get on with it. And most important.... to finish. LOL. Also a fun read.

Julies Blog Jule is a nice and talented lady who welcomed me to Quiltvillechat (you can read about it here) when I first became part of that and also was the first to welcome me to blogland. And a teacher, I so totally respect people that have a talent to teach children.

Quiltin Grandma Donna is another wonderful lady who has helped me with my blogging, lets face it, I'm not good at computering. I like visiting her blog, it's somehow calming, I often wonder if we can somehow perceive the personality of the blogger through the blog.

Button Counter I like blogs like Monica's, that after visiting put me in a lighter mood and make me ready to tackle what ever comes my way. Hm.... I'm getting sappy here. LOL. Actually, all the blogs I have mentioned make me feel like that.

I wont nominate more blogs as I don't comment on so many, and I don't feel it's right to nominate a blogger that I have not made a connection to. Does that make sense? Anyway, I had a very hard time to start commenting, I so often felt like I was intruding.

Now on to other things. I have finally beat the cold (well almost) and am thereby able to do things that need concentration again. I have done very little knitting or sewing because I become so restless when sick, like a caged lion. And it's so frustrating because I know that if I only would get in bed I would be able to sleep it off in few days. I read a little too, but mostly I just ambled listlessly about the house between milking and doing chores. Now, enough of that.

Here is my first Siggy ever. It's my name. Sunna means the sun. My middle name Reyr is the Icelandic name of a grass plant: Anthoxanthum odoratum. I will not be using that in the block. I thought about it but figured it would look like a tree when finished. LOL.



Here it is finished, but a little bit small and not quite as the instruction says, so I will make another later today so I can mail it off tomorrow.



Oh, and it's not wise to sew the beads on before you assemble the block. Grrrrr.

Sunna.

Crocheted afghans and one little quilt.

I saw so beautiful crocheted afghan on Marys blog yesterday, that her grandmother made.

That got me thinking about some of the ones that live in this household. The first one is Hubbys, that his Granny Ebba made for him to fit his bunk when he was little. It just came home a few weeks ago after staying with his mother since.... well for ever. Lol.


The next one I don't know who the makers were. It was my grandfather's and has his name on it and the date 8 May 1920. He was born in August 31 1888 so it's thought that this afghan was made (by some women that did this for some extra money) and given to him when he left his home to go farming in another county. He died in January 16 1939 and my father was born in March 24 1939 .

It's made of coarse wool that was dyed red, black, violet and light blue, but only the red and black have kept true. The crocheting is all done from the right side, so they cut the yarn after every row and started again from right to left. Then the ends were threaded in the end links to secure them and at last the borders were made going around the eight leaf roses (and there by hiding the ends). It's got lots of holes in it so for keeping I roll it up on a curtain hanger and then put a bed sheet over it.

I was thinking when I was photographing it that it would be fun to make a quilt like it, but I would most certainly make it controlled scrappy. Each rose measures 3 1/2".


The white afghan was made by my great aunt Gagga who was my grandfather's sister and had a hand in my father upbringing and when he was 12 years old he moved permanently to her. It was always on her bed with a blue satin bed cover under it that shone through the holes. Also a great idea for a quilt.


I made that one when I was pregnant with my oldest. I was so fed up with all the bright, light blue and pink people were telling me to use that I made some color choices that I feel today are not so pretty. But I was happy with it then and quite proud of my self, did not use any pattern and most importantly....... I finished it. Although I should have made one more row to make it wider.


There is one more crocheted afghan that my Granny Bubba made me when I was a teenager but I can't find it at the moment. I believe I know where it is, but I have a bad cold and its cold in that storage room so it will have to wait to some warmer time.

But I did find this little quilt while searching for the afghans. It was made in 1984-5 for my oldest by his aunt. (My SIL). The blocks, except three of them, are high quality white cotton we call damask here in Iceland. This was a project she did in school in Denmark where she was getting extra education as a teacher. As you can see (you can click on the photo to make it larger) she did stuffed work in two blocks, using the pattern in the fabric. And the three blocks are the same fabric (white with blue "dots") as the blue (blue with the same kind of "dots") in the back that is folded over to the front, the corners are mitered and it's quilted down.


Well bugger it, I just took a good look at the photo, I should have ironed it before photographing.
Hopefully I will remember to do that i the future. Lol.

Sunna

Old Kitchen Aid.

This is an 52 years old Kitchen Aid that I got 22 years ago from my great aunt Gagga. I let my DD1 have it when she came home for Christmas and then did what I've bin going to do for so long. I finally made a cover for it. Not that I've used it much since I got a new KA 17 years ago.

DD1 chose the fabric. (One of few I had enough of for this one fabric project) It's designed by an Icelandic woman, Gudrun Erla but I don't remember if it's RJR or what. (I think so) And I sort of made it on the go, no pattern and hardly any measuring. Which is not so good, you just can't see it in the photo. Or maybe you can. Lol.

Now, you may have noticed the top photo is small and a bit to the side. Thats because I got a bad case of "I can do it my self" when I had no idea what I was doing. Ended up shrinking the photo in to it self without being able to fix it instead of making a small version to send in mail or use in the blog................ and it will stay this way.

I've so had it with computer geeks that come to my aid when I have made a royal mess out of something I'm trying to do. It goes like this:

What did you do?

Nothing, just hit those buttons you told me last time.

What buttons?

Those. I point.

What were you working on?

I explain.

You should not have used those buttons. Pokes around a bit.... what... what have you done? You are not supposed to be able to do that.

Oh, believe me, I can do anything I don't intend to.

Now I'm off to bed to try to sleep off this awful cold I'm having and have had since Wednesday. I was very generous and shared it with Hubby so he has no sympathy for my at a time like this evening when my head hurts, my body is in pain all over and I'm feeling totally sorry for my self.

Well somebody has too.

G'night.

Sunna.

Productive weekend.

I went bright and early, well around 10 o'clock, lol, on Saturday morning to participate in a sewing day with my guild. We were sewing nearly to 5 pm. And here's what I did. I finished the units for the Boxy Star blocks I've bin making for a swap I'm in at Quiltvilleswap. I then ironed them and got them packed up yesterday so I they could be in the mail to USA today.


They look like this when sewed together to make one block. You can see lots of Boxy Star quilts at Bonnie Hunters Quiltville site.


These hourglass blocks were my L-E (leaders-enders, you can also read about them on Bonnies site) while I was sewing the Boxy Star units. They will be used in the Chunky Churn Dash quilt when those blocks come home from our swap hostess Deedee in Canada. I'm almost half way through with the hourglass blocks. And I have hopes that the CCD blocks will arrive any day now.



Then I started sewing strips on eight donation blocks that I had prepped a few days before. I finished them in the evening after milking, got them in to an envelope yesterday and they went also in to the mail today. They are heading to Jan in Australia.


I took my camera with me to the meeting because I was for once going to take photos. Here is the result. Wow, lol. Two photos of Johanna modeling for Hugljuf who knitted this gorgeous .....
I have no idea what you could call it, jacket or sweater, what ever.

Anyway it's made of very fine Icelandic wool ( called "one spun") and I think I'm right when I say it's original Icelandic design, I remember it was very much in to own a dress in this pattern when I was a teenager. (For grown up women. lol)


Today I started mending clothes that have bin piling up for a while. I will try to finish that tomorrow and then perhaps I will sit down and knit my self a pair of wool socks that I started the winter before last. I usually have half knitted socks and mittens stored away for when the urge to knit hits me, then I make up to 11 pairs until one day the urge passes. (My fingers and shoulders are thankful for how seldom this hits me)

I found the box with the socks and mittens today while looking for yarn to use mending a sock for DS2. I knitted one round on each mitten and felt such a peace, it's a good way to slow down when things have bin in a rush around me.

And yes, I knit each pair at the same time, 10 rounds or so on one and then the same on the other. I'm always trying to finish up old yarn from Granny Bubba, mom and others so there is a little bit of this and a little bit of that (together with newer yarn from a sale years ago) and knitting both socks or mittens at the same time helps making them look like they are from the same pair. Lol.

That's all for now.

Sunna

Not a boy, but a man.

Well here he is. As promised. He's an old soul, always feels best in a checkered flannel shirt and jeans. All the better if they are a bit dirty. When he was in his teens, he was always so happy when his Granny Munda brought old clothes from his great grandfather. They were just perfect for him. I still remember the look on his Granny face the first time she came and realized the clothes she intended for her son to use working the farm would be used by her oldest grandson to school.

Have a nice sewing weekend. I will. Yippie, it's sewing day with my guild tomorrow.

Sunna

Birthday boy.

Jon Ingi

On this day 24 years ago my oldest was born 12 minuets after midnight. And was I ever relieved. They had bin looking at the crown of his head for six hours when the doctor said that's enough and pushed on my stomach, and so he was born. A beautiful blond haired, blue eyed boy.

A proud police man.

Two years old with little brother Johann Olafur

Four years old with little sister Steinunn Dilja
She can be anything he wants
even Karate Kid.

Seven years old with little sister Gudbjorg Ebba,
I guess he felt her hands were cold.

I don't have a new photo of him but you can see him with his siblings here. I will take a photo tomorrow when he comes for dinner. He can't come this evening because the firemen have a practice/exercise this evening and he is one of them.

He works as a electrician and is single living in a little house on the farm where we live. The house is old, the oldest part built around 1910-1920. A true fixer upper, so he's always busy.

Sunna.