The meadow

    I've let myself get tempted by Drops new CAL ( Crochet – A – Long ) ‘The Meadow’.

    It wasn’t that easy to get the cotton yarn, actually it was sold out of most online shops in Norway and even the UK. I was ready to substitute with another cotton yarn, wool or other #7 colors, but the more I though about it, the more I wanted to do the CAL exactly as it was designed. So after a couple of hours online, I finally found the right colors and quantities from a little online shop that was probably overlooked due to their high shipping cost ( like more crafter I tend to look for shops that have free or low shipping)

    The mystery blanket will use 17 x Drops ♥ You #7, in 5 different shades.

 The meadow mystery blanket

The Meadow CAL

The Meadow, clue # 1. Anemone square

 

The Meadow, clue # 2. Buttercup square

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     These little crochet flowers have put me in the mood for gardening, and the time being right I’ve started to pot some of my bulbs and begin to plant seeds… naturally April in Norway is still a bit early for growing things outside, so the pots will have to stay indoor for at least another 3 to 4 weeks.

Rosaline giving helping to plant the seeds and bulbs

 

While waiting for the grass to turn green, we can still feast our eyes on little patches of colorful Crocuses.

Charting a Berlin woolwork pattern + news.

Re-charting 'Lust garden'

This is certainly the biggest re-charting project I have done so far.

'Lust garden ', is a very large antique woolwork pattern. It's hand painted, has a plenty of details and a lot’s of colors. It's a pleasure to re-chart, but taking a lot longer than anticipated.

The colors are vivid and there is little damage, but alas ! The artist who painted it 100 or more years ago did not stick to the lines…. The colors overlap and it’s proving a challenge to make sense of it in some places…..

Here you can see the progress I did in about 4 ½ hour of charting.  

Here is how much I managed to chart in about 41/2 hours, the little color blocks in the middle are for reference.

Look closely at the area in the circle, you will notice how colors are overlaped.... in such a case I need to decide on which color is the most important to keep, and which to drop- but sometime it gets a little confusing and I have to go back and try a different combination. My goal is to stay as true as a possible to the original chart, but there are time I need to take some artistic liberties.

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Thank you Orysia for the lovely birthday card.

 My Friend Orysia makes lovely knitted items and cards, you can check out her Folksy shop here: https://folksy.com/shops/Kniterella2

The garden at rest under a layer of snow....... and little cat footsteps....

Moumousse, the only cat who ventures out these days. When it's over -10 outside, the older cats prefer staying indoor.

1837 religious embroidery

     There are a lot of antique needlework items to be found for sale on the internet, flea markets, and  antique markets. And while I would love to collect all of them, I try to limit my selection to items that are un-usual, or that have a personal touch to them.

1837 French embroidered picture

    This is the latest addition to my private collection, it’s a French religious embroidery of a bare footed woman kneeling by an altar. An interesting detail in the picture is a pair of shackles that are hanging on the wall behind her.

     Is she doing her communion, or taking her vows as a nun ?

    Her name was Adelaide, and the date on the picture is the 7^th of September 1837.

    Around the picture are the words ‘Le temps est maître de tout il n'est rien dont il ne vienne a bout’

    It translates as : ‘Time is master of all, and there is nothing that does not come to an end’.

    The embroidery is very fine, worked in tiny, tiny cross stitches. The frame is old, the picture is dirty and faded, but that is to be expected in a needlework item that is over 178 years old. 

Adelaide, le 7 September 1837

Notice the tiny stitches

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Garden news

    It’s autumn and time to bring in my plants one at a time, I do keep my eyes on the weather report as the first frost will mean the end of the gardening season and a rush to bring every flowering plant indoor. 

Busy-Lizzies cuttings, and parsley to be frozen for winter use.

      Busy-Lizzies (Impatiens walleriana) are not so well adapted to the Norwegian climate and do not do too good indoor either, so every year I take some cuttings and let them take roots over the winter. It’s a simple way of having plenty of plants for the next year, without the inconvenience of having to protect and store large plants over the winter months. 

    Every year I plant Pansies, sometime here, sometime there, I usually let the plants die out on their own and many go to seed, so it is only natural that once in a while you get surprise ‘bonus’ flowers. This year I had notice several small Pansy plants growing in different places, so I left them in peace and to my delight I’ve had yellow, purple and white pansies popping up in many unexpected places.

Little bonus Pansies in a Perlagonia pot