TADA!!! Meet my pear

See what I found in our garden:


A real pear! Did it grow there? Naaah, I made it for the Blackbird Designs exchange!! So glad with the result, really. It has now found a welcoming, warm home at Barbara's.
I used a Tilda pattern from the book "Home Sweet Home" - I love Tilda designs (and of course, she's Norwegian), though I am not a real "Tilda addict" as her fans call themselves. Don't really like the lady dolls - just like with Prairie Schooler, I am in the minority, it's not the Santas I like most (but the flora and fauna-related charts). Anyways, I am showing the original to the right - I like Barbara's more, hehehe! But this is where I got the idea.
The pear is not difficult at all to construct - but I have to admit it doesn't look like a pear at all till it receives a stem and a leaf (which I made but forgot to send). I chose to add a piece of wood from the garden, thicker, which I cut to the right proportions - and it looked fantastic.
The next step was to sew the BD design, the crow from "Souvenirs of Summer" onto it. I stitched it one over one but I am totally unsure of the count of the fabric, maybe 36ct? Really don't know. I am so hopeless at remembering such details that I need to check a close-up - did I use Lakeside Linens or R&R? Oh I'm so bad at those details.
Hah! I even bought the same Tilda fabric on a trip accross the border to Sweden. H. did the food shopping while I grazed in the Panduro shop.
I was not so happy with my sewing on the pear but Barbara is gentle on me and doesn't pick on the details :)
Two wooden buttons and the trick was done.

I was also delighted that the post service was so fast - sent on Wednesday in Norway, received in Holland on Friday!

And here's the bottom... these threads make the pear look even more "real"... but it's hard to see it on the picture.

I'll be back later with more to show.... but now I need to return to packing. I'm leaving Norway on Monday... sad, sad, sad days as I pack, sort, clean and enjoy every moment with the cat-boys! :)
We want to do as much at home as possible today so we can enjoy at least half a Sunday outdoor somewhere.

This conversation took place two days ago:

me, showing something: H., does it look like a pear?
H.: - Yeah, not really.
me: - Oh? Why not? I mean, it's a perfect pear?
H.: - Well...
me: - Pfffff. You have no sense of art. It's a perfect pear.
H. - So why do you ask me, if I don't know anything?
me: - Oh well.
me, trying again: - Hey, see, isn't that an absolutely beautiful, perfect pear?
H.: (...sigh...) - Oh YES, it's so beautiful, an absolutely perfect pear!! ...(silence...) isn't that what you wanted me to say?

I resisted the urge to... well, you know. He's just a man.

The pear, you ask? You'll have to wait to see :) A week or so.

I've finished and sent my PS exchange, I'm almost done with the finishing part on my BD exchange.... stitched a PS piece for myself, but need to do the finishing so I can show it properly... and tonight I plan to start on the LHN "Snow" piece that Gigi is offering on her blog and the benefits of which go to the Unicef. Two more designs come with the LHN, but I only like one of them. It is possible to pay with Paypal. To see and/or order, click HERE.

It's getting late, but I thought I'll post a short update about our cat boys. They got their next vaccines this week, they were also chipped (answering to comment: tattoos are much less popular here, I'll hope for the best that they don't get cancer - but then I am much more worried about the street and the risk of them being hit by a car next spring...) and they got their European Union/Norwegian passports :)
We weren't planning to that fast, but we just had to and the boys were neutered yesterday. I spent a long time searching the web for info about the advantages and disadvantages. Had I known it would be so painless and fast, I wouldn't have worried beforehand.

The boys upon arriving home...


Happy checked on them from time to time till they woke up. It was sort of funny to see cats sleeping with totally open eyes, it's the first time I saw it.

Our new vet has a home practice and I just stayed in the room and watched the whole intervention while it happened. The actual surgery part took less than a minute! What took time was all the preparations - injections of morphine, local anesthetics, antibiotics, vitamin B, shaving, cleaning... I and the vet (a woman) had a fun time observing H. who was really uncomfortable about the neutering part and just left for a 40 minutes walk! He became so pale and all... She said all men react that way! LOL

They were supposed to wake up after 4-10 hours and to relax for 7 days.
Well, they started to wake up after 2,5 hours and already at night, they were fighting, running, chasing each other, enjoying life at fullest. Nothing could be done to stop them - nothing at all! Like if nothing ever happened. We just had to stop worrying about the open wounds (no stitches, it starts to grown after 3 days, we were told).

They're just the most adorable cats on Earth I know. Watching them play is endless joy - and then they are perfect companions, they're more like dogs than cats. Humans are so important for them... They sleep close to where I type and they're on my lap when I stitch... they follow H. till the shower cabin... And then Felinek is vocal (his brother is not at all), he asks for water, for food, he complains when he's forbidden smthg (Felinek - no! - meeeeow!! I said NO! - meeeooooo!!!!) LOL
They come for hugs in the middle of the night and they generally are always around.
H.? He's so fond of them!! He made a clean space on his work desk where we laid a soft plaid for them to sleep on... He's planning to clean a sort of hall room in the basement where we plan to put a climbing/playing furniture for them, money allowing. They're such a joy!
(answering to Anonymous comment - thanks for the tip about wet food, I didn't know about that issue. We won't have them on wet food only, much too expensive, but they get some daily and they drink a whole sea of water in addition to their dry special food so I think they should be fine. Actually I almost worried at first seeing how much they drink!)

(I kindly ask you not to zoom on this one - who looks good after a 3 hours ride?? LOL)

We're back from our vacation in the (cold) wilderness since so many days, but days have been busy and maybe also I didn't have the inspiration to write. And since I fully subscribe to the idea of blogging without obligation... :)
I'll post photos and write more about the vacation in the following days after I have delivered a job for tomorrow, tonight I shall spend the evening typing away...


However, I just couldn't resist showing this last finish. I made three major changes: 1) I replaced the year with Jul (Merry Christmas in Norwegian), 2) I extended the red bar to the right in the window with the pine tree - a part was missing on the chart, I am not sure if it had a meaning I didn't understand or if it is an actual error but trust me, it looked weird the way it was. I mean the bars under the two red bells - see photo up.


and 3) I didn't use the brown linen included in the kit. I used 32 ct Belfast Planinum Pizzaz from Zweigart - see the blueish opalescent elements! It is just marvelous and I plan to use the half yard I got for many future works, especially ornaments. Just love it!! It played so well with the Crescent Colors floss from the kit. I wasn't so fond of the previous yearly kits - but now I see I might stitch them again on something else than the brown linen included in the kit - anything looks better than its sad color!!


This was such a fun stitch, like with all PS charts!! I especially love this finish... plan to turn it into a bigger pillow one day, but not very soon - Christmas gifts making has to happen first.
Till later....

Oh, I was about to forget - if you have nothing, I mean really nothing better to do after reading me, check THIS LINK to see our furry friends in real life. There are 4 more short movies uploaded (More from...). The quality is not so good because I filmed with the new iphone and the light was not easy. Some were made in the cabin and some in the old room the kiddos are using here downstairs. Enjoy!

Isn't he beauuuuutiful? :) How could anyone, really...