Sunday 29 May 2016

BrownBearWondering (free chart)

Brown Bear is Finland's national animal. It is called King of the Forest. It has many names because the word "bear" was a taboo and he was believed to attack at person who used his name or hide away in hunting. So, people made up several names meaning bear; but bear didn't know they were talking about him.

On this free chart where we end up my own design freebie week the bear is wondering what is going on its woods.



Other Finland themed freebie week May 2016 designs are:

NortherLights -keyring

Pull It On

Cloudberry

Swans and Foxes

Finland Flag

Birch - Koivu - Betula


Saturday 28 May 2016

NorthernLights -keyring (free chart)

This time my own design freebie week leads us to the NorthernLights. These special dancing lights have always fascinated humans; with fear or admiration. In Finland we know that fox caused this phenomenon. That's why we call them in Finnish "revontulet" which means Fox's Fires. Here's a tiny keyring chart for you to carry the fire with you to enlighten the darkness.





Friday 27 May 2016

Pull It On (free chart)

The meaning of woollen pullover is measureless. In the world the folklore fashion is rising up its head again with pullovers. Well, in Finland they have always been in fashion. Visit Finland to understand why! I must confess I have more woollen pullovers than I have shoes!


Thursday 26 May 2016

Cloudberry (free chart)

Cloudberry is very important berry. We say it is very honored berry because you need to make a bow to each one before you pick it up. It really is so, they are picked up by fingers one by one and each one needs a bow. This is our yellow gold. See the picture of Stitched Cloudberry.


Wednesday 25 May 2016

Swans and Foxes (free chart)

Today we meet my own design Swans and Foxes. The whooper swan is Finland's national bird. In Finland Fox is part of many sagas and mythology . They both play important role in our nature. Fox would love to have a proper steak but swan is very strong bird and can easily tread fox under the water and make it drown if it tries to catch swan by swimming.

See Swans & Foxes On Bag for extra tips to make this tiny pretty chart true.


Tuesday 24 May 2016

Finland Flag (free chart)

Today's FreebieWeek launches Finland Flag! We call it Blue Cross Flag. Finland is said to be land of a thousand lakes. Blue of the flag describes that. White stands for the snow that covers our land for so many months of the year. It is interesting that at the end the whole flag stands for the water; snow is just one form of it.

Finland is also named to be land of green gold which my own design Birch describes well too.

Notice that the white shade is described as grey in the chart to show it all more clear.



Monday 23 May 2016

Birch - Koivu - Betula (free chart)

WOW!!! This week is going to be FreebieWeek in MyBlog! I am going to design something connected to Finland for You all MyDearReaders! I also plan to design low cost projects so money is not a problem to make these FreebieWeek designs come true for yourself or as a gift.

This my own birch design could do just fine as a pen case, beauty bag or what ever comes into your mind. You need just 3 shades: black and 2 DMC Variegated shades. Calculated amount for green (DMC 125) is 11 meters but buy just 1 floss to see is it enough. The design is quite small so perhaps you can find 14 Count Aida from your left over box. See The Conversion Chart to find out which other fabric match with Aida 14 Count.

Why Birch design? Well, birch is a common tree in Finland. It has been a holy tree. It has been used in many ways during the years. Silver birch is Finland's national tree. There are enough reasons for Birch stitching!


Monday 16 May 2016

Little Sheeps (free chart)


Let these Little Sheeps bound into your heart. You can find Madeira Lana tutorial here if you are not sure how to work with it. This is -of course- my own design.

Sunday 15 May 2016

More machines

Today I had guests...

...it is old sewing machine, as you can see.

It was here to cheer up a bit. 

And here's one more old sewing machine from 1920's. It is Husqvarna Central Bobbin treadle sewing machine. At the moment it is at the sewing machine service. I took Her there when taking Anne home. This machine has suffered a lot but its inside should be OK. After the service all the wooden parts will be fixed and on one day the cabinet will look just fine again. This is actually YoungLady's sewing machine She got from Granny.

Saturday 14 May 2016

CoffeeBagPatchWork

Today's upcycling sewing started with my own design work and reading old manual of Anne. 

The manual is very useful, despite it is very old...
...and have faced damages.

Sewing went fine and Anne was very happy to have bag for Her manual. Anyway I could have picked up easier material for my first project with Her.

But Anne didn't mind. She was born in Sweden and dragged to rural Finland on the time when coffee was not everyday issue to drink even  more often than pure water! So I made bag for Her manual from old coffee bags I had saved for my crafts. (As long as I breath in MyHouse is served FairTrade and organic coffee.)

Anne was very kind, happy and hard working despite the material was new to Her.

The shades of upcycled coffee bags fit so well to Anne's shads. Don't you think so too?

Into the bag I put Her manual, transmission list from Her service (to remember what all was done to Her and when) and some fabric for test sewing moments. The bag I placed in the cabinet with Anne. I heard Her humming with satisfaction. Despite the coffee bags are washed they still have the scent of good dark coffee. Hopefully the scent will fill up the cabinet and She will have cheerful coffee scented moments in Her cabinet. She has come to life!

Thursday 12 May 2016

SergerCare

I have talked a lot about Helga but only now I realized you have not seen proper pic of Her. She is Husqvarna Viking Hyskystar E20. I can not remember for sure when I got Helga because the dramatic lost of Poor Iris was so overwhelming that exact dates got lost in my mind. Anyway She is hardly 10 years old. As you know I have not been as satisfied with Her as I was with Poor Iris. But for some reason since Helga heard about Anne of Green Gables She has been doing so much better.

Today Husqvarna Viking sells My Hyskystar is H Class E20 machine but it seems to be the same; a bit improved model I guess.

I have also a serger. He is BrotherLock 929D. He doesn't have any special name because "brother" means "veli" in Finnish. And "veli" is actually official first name used in Finland. So we call Him just Brother. :) He is old too; about 15 years. He too has been hard working but during the past two years He has started to think about the retirement.

I like Him a lot and He is easy to use. I have been a bit sad when thinking about letting Him go.

Once more I tried to cheer Him up by dusting, proper cleaning & oiling.

For the first time we ended up opening Him all naked. Don't try this at home if you are not sure what to do. Opening the covers fades away the warranty. I do this only when MyMachines are too old for the warranty.

I was happy to notice there was no dust inside. It proves I have been taking good care of Him. But we oiled all the moving parts which contact another part. And TheMiracle really happened. Today He sounds like a young virile man!

Today I am very happy with MyMachies. Now when I got my first ever treadle sewing machine Anne of Green Gables with Her strong power, managed to tempt Helga to continue Her career and rose up Brother's manpower back to its magnificent level; I can do what ever I desire... in sewing! Not to mention about saving about 600€ when I didn't need to buy new machines. The service of Anne cost 70€. I needed to drive to Arctic Circle to get Her home but I was smart and arranged it to happen on our Theater Night so it didn't cause me any extra cost because we anyway had drove there and back. (She got in the service car in MyCity Kemi.)

Wednesday 11 May 2016

Anne of Green Gables

Yes I know. I am a bit obsessed with my sewing machines. But they are so important to me! I can not live without them. Last March before Easter I got my 1st ever treadle sewing machine. We call Her Vihervaaran Anna (Anne of Green Gables).

She is very Swedish Girl and She is finally back home!!!!! I made Her a proper bath (not literally) and pampered Her a lot. I placed Her on MyVeranda where She can see MyGarden and hear the wind that comes from the sea and brings greetings from Sweden which locates at the opposite shore not too far away. I told Her She is very special treadle sewing machine. She is from late 50's, has electric lights but still is a treadle sewing machine! She is Husqvarna automatic 51A.

I had never before tried out a treadle sewing machine. It works better when you tread Her like this; one foot front and one foot back. When you make sure the hand wheel goes all the time to the right direction (towards you) it all goes very well.

I thought it would have been more difficult and I had arranged the whole afternoon to spent with Anne. Perhaps She liked my loving whispers and made me to learn it all very fast. The next plan is to get used to Her. My craft & art teacher told me the 1st thing you sew with your new machine is the hood to keep the dust away. Well, Anne doesn't need the hood because She has this old fashion cabinet. Instead Her guide book has faced several distress during all these years. I will make a bag for her guide book!


Sunday 8 May 2016

Gluten free CrispyRiceCheeseCake

Happy Mother's Day to everybody! To celebrate the special day I share with you my own gluten free

CrispyRiceCheeseCake

Base & Cover

Melt and mix well together
75 g margarine or butter
200 g gluten free milk chocolate

Add and mix well
1 l gluten free crispy rice (I use Semper's)

Pour & spread approx 2/3 of the dough into 26 cm diameter round baking tray. Set a baking paper under it to avoid mess and make it easier to handle.

Pour & spread the rest of the dough on the bottom part of the baking tray. Set a baking paper under it too. This forms out the lid decoration of the cake.


Cheese filling

Mix well and add in the following order

2dl cream (whipped)
500g mascarpone cheese
100g milk chocolate (melt)

Set 3 gelatine leaves into cold water and let them soften

Warm up 1 dl Bailey's Original Irish Cream (it should be hot)

Squeeze the water out of the soft gelatine leaves and melt them into the drink; remember to mix it well. Pour it all carefully and little by little into cheese dough and mix well all the time.

Pour & spread the cheese dough over the bottom of the cake (into the baking tray). It doesn't matter there is not the bottom part placed. It all will stay in without mess if you have spread the rice chocolate well all over the tray. The edges will keep it in there.

Let the cheese dough congeal at least for 4 hours in fridge. Place the lid over the cake and E A T!





Saturday 7 May 2016

Fireblanket Cover

Do you remember MyScotlandHoliday2015? I was inspired to design this Thistle chart after the journey. The free chart is available. I stitched a book mark of this chart. But I also finished the whole chart for further use. The further use has arrived and I sew a cover for our very red FireBlanket in the kitchen. Now it looks very tidy and decorative. I used white raw silk and it looks pretty nice with white aida fabric. I made also lining of the silk for the cover so the original red shade stays in hide. It is all my own design.

Monday 2 May 2016

Wet water

Today I have been stitching my mystery project.

Today I have been watching swans.

Today I have been in woods again with Nuka. We were finding dry way across the woods. Nuka was following my steps until we faced the place she had her brook.

Today I have been standing -after 35 years- in flooding spring ditch. It was not my own choice. I was overstepping it by using log some people had placed there. But Nuka was feeling big girl already. She wanted to find her own way like she's been doing at this place. Suddenly she noticed it's too deep at this time. She started to back off. I needed to jump from the log to the dry ground. I had to step into the ditch to give more leash to her from the other side and then I called her, told her to jump and pulled.

Now we know water is wet and -despite she thought she can not- she really can swim. We also know now that my wellingtons are too short. But it was fair enough; me getting wet high up to my legs and she to swim.

So, now it is done, she needed to learn the lesson and to swim.

Sunday 1 May 2016

MayDay

It May Be that we are going to have BunnyBabies this summer. My ContinentalGiant Sandy is BigGirl already. She is 1 year and 2 months old. She weights 8,3 kg. Today she visited ContinentalGiantMix Jytky. He weights 5,5 kg and is at Sandy's age. I was happy to notice they liked each other quite much. Sandy is going to visit him again tomorrow.

I got her in the meaning to breed her for my own purposes. But I have let her grow in peace, to mature, become adult and reach strong character. Unfortunately many people breed rabbits as fast as it is possible. We had TheAccident with angoras when Rasputin had came through rabbit safe wire web on autumn 2014! Since that no accidents have happen in our BunnyWorld and also Sandy has been able to grow up to reach good size. I am very pleased to notice that despite of living in unheated area with insulated nests etc. she has gained weight during even the coldest moths of the winter. It proves she has been under good care.

It has been a beautiful day. Some green things are slowly showing their colors after long white spring. Spring never happens up here in a short moment. It is slow and you have plenty of time to notice it all.
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