Crafty vacation

We spent yesterday out of the house. First we went to an animal park that focuses on animals that are a natural part of the Scandinavian wildlife. They have moose, deer, beaver, seals, bears, wolves, lynx/bobcats, owls and hawks, badgers, boars and foxes to name some of the animals. They also have a Swedish breed of sheep (Gutefår), a Swedish pig and some other farm animals.

Some of the animals had offspring born this spring or earlier this summer. Cuuute.

After the animal park, we went to a place called Skäralid which is famous for its geology. We took a two-hour-walk in the beech wood along the edges of the cliffs and then down by the water at the bottom. Beautiful. I love beech woods. The light is amazing through those crisply green leaves, and as nothing huge grows on the ground, one can easily move around in them.

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So, if yesterday was all about being out of the house, today has been the opposite. I haven't stepped out the front door all day. And I've been dressed in my "sunkekläder" (loose and ill-fitted clothes I wear when I'm sweaty, relaxed and not showing myself to the rest of the world) all day. Sure, I've been outside but that's been in the garden and only to hang laundry or play with the cats.

Yes, I've done laundry today. Four loads. Good girl.

And I've been housewifey in the kitchen as well. Dressed in my Emmeline apron, I've made bread. Or rather buns. I used a recipy I just got in the latest issue of Allt om Mat (All about Food); Tomato and basil bread.

Not exactly the same size...

Close up of the loveliness...

I got 36 buns out of the dough. 20 of them are in the freezer for later enjoyment. I really like baking. And bread (or buns) do taste better when you've done the work yourself!

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Before baking I made something related to yarn. I turned this:

into this:

Yes, that's my Laminaria. And yes, I was only 8 rows from binding off. And yes, I did love my Laminaria.

I ran out of yarn. And I didn't want a cropped version of Laminaria. I could've ripped back one repeat of the blossom chart and started the edging charts again, but that would've left me with a shawlette with very strange proportions with only two repeats of the blossom chart before the edging. And I would've been close on being short of yarn again... So, Laminaria hit the frog pond and I'll try the pattern out again with the ViKanGarn-yarn I bought a week and a half ago.

No regrets.

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I've been thinking about making us a blanket for the couch. We have a big wooly blanket that is way too warm to use more than half of the year (even here in Sweden) and to be honest, I think it now consists more of cat hair than sheep wool... So, I thought I'd make us a cotton blanket big enough to be used when taking a nap on the couch. 'Cause that happens. Occassionally.

Earlier this week I bought seven fat quarters in a shop called Färg&Form. I fell in love with the colours and patterns (even the butterflies!). Aren't they beautiful?

Fabric collection is called Daydreams and is made by MODA

At home I realised that four of the fat quarters I already had at home would go great with the ones I bought. Agree?

Eleven fat quarters of fabric

These four fat quarters were a gift from iKate in a swap I participated in a couple of months ago. (Remember the Manos Silk Blend I use for Clapotis? Yes, that's the swap.) They are Joel Dewberry prints. And I love them. And they go so well with the fabrics I bought. The blue is exactly the same. And even though the green is more yellow, it works great with green of the MODA-fabrics.

Today I finished cutting the fat quarters into this:

Rectangels!

It took me a couple of days of cutting but now I have 300 pieces measureing 2½in by 5in. I love my rotary cutter! Cutting these pieces out using scissors would've been hell. I just wish I had a "quilter's ruler" (is that what they're called?) that had measurements in inches. I like using inches when I sew and cutting these rectangels would've been faster if I hadn't had to use my measuring tape to mark the fabric before cutting.

I hope to be able to start the sewing tomorrow. Stay tuned and I'll keep you updated on my progress.

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Hope you have a crafty summer!!!