itching

My 8/52 photo, a sweet but totally crazy dog at our barn.

As you can see, still very much winter over here, snowy and grey. Frozen pipes at the barn.


I am so ready for spring, and sunshine, and color, and flowers. I’ve made my balcony garden plans and I’m itching to start my seeds and to give the balcony a good scrub and clean up.
Just a few more weeks now.
Until then, I’m making baby succulents (well, the plants are doing all the work really, I just give all the baby succulent shoots their own pots and water occasionally).

I was given some tulips at the farmer’s market last weekend as a thank you for giving one of the vendors an awesome pumpkin ginger soup recipe (do you want it? it’s super yummy and the vendor said it worked wonders for his date).


So good to have some color in the apartment! And speaking of color, I got some lovely summer fabrics in the mail and I’ve been dreaming up ways to use them for weeks. No actual sewing going on, I’m taking a little break after the red skirt and waiting for sun and motivation to show their faces around here.


There’s hope I’ll be getting some knitting finished though! And, saving the best for last, a sneak peek at some vintage patterns I scored on Etsy lately. I won’t be showing them in full because they’ll be presents for friends if/when I make them 🙂

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4/52

A portrait a week.

The old mare at our barn, enjoying the quiet of a snow-blanketed world.
This challenge is so good for me.

embracing

dark clear winter nights.

The biting, icy wind blew away any trace of stress. Though most of it had been good to begin with, it was just what I needed.

in between

The days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve are uneventful here, working a little and getting used to all the christmas lights being gone. I can’t wait for the dark days of the year to be over, but it will be another 2 months until I will get home from work in daylight.

I got a new quilt top done and now have to find the time to make the quilt sandwich so I can start handquilting it.


The snow and ice is thawing very slowly day by day at temperatures around 0°C. They are predicting January to be full of snow as well…I am already tired of it and soo ready for spring. January will be the time for buying seeds for me and I’m planning to start a few plants indoors as early as February. I’ve never done it before and I am still working on the how’s and where’s because with two curious cats it will be quite a challenge to give the baby plants a space with enough light without having them nibbled at or tossed around or eaten before they are ready to go outside in May.

christmas recap

I hope you all had a wonderful christmas! We certainly did.
We spent Christmas Eve at my mom’s, Christmas Day at my boyfriend’s parents and the 26th at the barn.

It’s still Winter Wonderland around here, at the barn especially.

We had a Santa Claus parade.

Despite all the difficulties that come with continous snowfalls around here (especially with a small car and a public transport system that all but collapse at the hint of snow), it is sort of magical, and quiet, and nice.

snowed in

Not really, but a little. I was lucky to be able to get to the barn on Sunday even though my friend and I had to park miles away and hike there.



When I came back we (meaning me and my boyfriend who was trying to help) got stuck multiple times with my car until we got it parked in a spot that wasn’t the middle of the street. That means no more moving it until the snow has reduced itself by about half. Sometimes I consider myself lucky to be using public transport to work.
I got these wonderful photos though, so it was worth it.

snow and family

We’ve had very heavy snowfalls again in the last few days. I can’t remember a winter when we had continous snow on the ground for weeks before christmas.
Since it is dark both when I go to work and when I leave again I hadn’t been able to take any photos of it at all, so yesterday I made the most of my time (that is, the time that I didn’t spend sewing).

It really does look like winter wonderland around here.


Despite the snow we went and visited my grandma, who lives alone now. My mom hadn’t been to her house since my parents split up more than 15 years ago. In a way, my grandpa’s death has brought us all closer together again and my grandma was so happy to have us there and especially to get to talk to my mom again after all those years. We agreed on the way back that we would be doing this more often in the future.
My grandma’s house hasn’t changed one bit, it looks exactly like it did when I was a kid. We joke about that, but it’s kind of nice really. There is so little constancy in our busy lives as it is.


I bullied my brother into letting me take his picture. It’s the kind of big sister I am.

And my aunt’s doggy had no choice in the matter anyway. That resigned look? I get that a lot 😉

grey

Has been the predominant color around here for days. Even more so now that the snow has turned to rain.

I don’t mind it much during the week when I am cooped up in an office anyway. But at the weekend, some little sunshine would be so nice.

Maybe next weekend.

first snow

I’m days behind with posting, these are from early in the week.
I can’t even remember when we last had heavy snows in November. We usually don’t get “real” snow that stays on the ground until January.

It has stayed for the whole week and if the weather forcasts hold true will stay on for a good while. It sure looks like this winter will be a long one.

spring is coming

but is is slow to arrive. Another beautiful, sunny day today and I have even found the first spring flowers of the year in my mother’s garden.

At the barn on the other hand (which lies a critical few 100 metres higher) everything is again covered in snow.
I have again spent the whole weekend sewing, making a spring dress for myself. I made it on my beloved vintage treadle (that baby rocks!!) except for the button holes and the inside seam finish with zig-zag stitch (I drove out to my mom’s house to use her Pfaff for that). It’s nearly completed, I’ll just have to sew on the buttons by hand tonight and then I’ll do a big dressmaking post 🙂

The cats have spent the day sleeping in the sunny spots on the floor and while I have no photos of that, here’s a recent one of Murphy in all his sweet, anxious little self.