It's not all about cats, you know... ;-) Here is a heart with a stitcher and the word Noel, which flew to Nathalie in France.

 Marjorie Massey - Le Passé Composé - Coeurs - H7

 

Right before starting its trip in the sky accross country borders, here is the feline friend (again, a mouse! :) I sent to Harmien, with a little jingle bell attached to the upper left corner:

Chouett'alors - Treve de Noel

stitched on Lakeside Linens with overdyes and gold thread

What a pleasure to learn that the Christmas gifties and cards I sent out this year are arriving in due time... I couldn't send to all persons on my list due to lack of time, but I promise to make up for it next year.

Can you believe that Christmas Eve is... next week?

Here is the piece I sent to my friend Ela in France. The picture is bad unfortunately, but trust me, this new frame by Just Nan is another beauty they made... I made the same gift for H's mother and I have an extra one to stitch and frame one day for myself :) I used the recommended threads but substituded the fabric (too grey for me) for a more cheerful effect.

 Just Nan - Holly Bows 

Pre-Christmas news

Just wanted to send a few lines in the cyberspace before finally heading to bead at 3 am. Ouch! Can you believe it took me 10 (TEN) hours to pack gifties for family and friends, to give and to send away? How do YOU do it? Does it take you half that time? I am sooooo tired and a bit frustrated! Wrapping, packing, protecting, writing addresses, finding addresses, it took soooooo long... and the night will be short. Eh. But - it's such a joy to give joy! I love giving gifties!

I also wanted to reply globally to those of you who asked off the blog. I will be in Norway from December 30th and I believe it's better to send Christmas mail there unless you're really sure it will arrive in time to my address in Warsaw (Poland). If you don't have my address there, just ask!

And to answer a question I've been getting a lot recently... Well, yes, no, I am not sure anymore where I am at any given day. A few days here, a few days there, and I swear to those who want to hear me that by the time I've sold my flat and moved my Polish belongings to Poznan, I'll live the most sedentary life you've heard about (I can always dream). Anyway, the goal is soon to be commuting between Poznan and Oslo and wipe Warsaw off my residential map. I'll then be a bit closer to my father's town as well, 2 and not 4 hours by train. And I'll have my family, those I love most, in the same town, I'm so looking forward to it :)

I've been shortly in Norway, then a bit in Warsaw and since then at my family in Poznan, to help with Christmas food preparations among others and to bake a million gingerbread cakes (or so it seems). I was supposed to return last Monday, but my flight wad cancelled due to heavy snow and so it continued all week. We're snowed under! I asked for a refund for my ticket and I am hoping to take the train instead on Monday, with Toska, who'll accompany me to Norway at the end of the month. My aunt will start renovation works and due to Toska's bitchy character (she can't close her for many hours in one room with other cats), I'm taking her along. Happy The Dog will stay here at my aunt till spring, he loves it here and it's no sense to drag him along in planes, trains, cars and between countries in a regular cycle.

I also have some sad news, cancer has hit pretty close again, my cousin's mother in law was diagnosed two weeks ago and she might not make it till Christmas. Grandma Bronia, as we call her, is not my direct relative but she's been in my life for years now, a warm person who's had a hard-working life and we're so sad to accompany her in her last days at just 78. Everyone's helping in his/her own way and I've taken on me to produce zillions of gingerbread cakes, because she won't be making some this year for her part of the family. I am glad I can contribute in my small, limited way. It's such an awful thing to learn and go through right before Christmas and I wish I could do more, but she's at home surrounded by a whole bunch of loving persons and I know they're doing all they can.

Trillium - the tool the teacher was using is a handmade pouch made of a plastic sleeve for documents (!). I've made a picture which I'll post very soon so you can see. With this decorating technique, a little bit of icing goes a long way so the pouch has to be small and flexible. She had been trying all sorts of materials over the years and she;s confirmed it works best with the sleeves. I can certify, I tried other materials and it just didn't work well.

My eyes are closing.... more during the week-end, I have lovely things to show that I've received lately!! Have a great w/e, everyone!

We've had several beautiful days of lovely sun despite the cold temperatures which some nights dropped to -6,5 C/43,7 F. Winter surely comes early this year! Within a few days the garden froze and the nature changed colors to a burnt orange, but the sun made dog walks so enjoyable. Today, the whole world has changed to an unfriendly atmosphere of strong wind, rain and general grayness. Not nice! Toska refused to go out, Happy did his morning obligations very fast, Lucky (who has short but thick woolly fur) went out for an hour and returned running at my first shouting, totally wet and hungry.
I don't have work since over a week, which is almost a blessing or at least what I really wanted to gather thoughts and stack up on good energy before my return to Poland. The last weeks had been stressing and I was overworked, so I am accepting these few days with a big smile. It's a good time to catch up on lots of small things at home and at my computer.
H's leg is healing but very slowly and it's definitely a difficult case. Nurses continue to come daily to change the specialized thingies on his wound and he drives to see the surgeon once a week now. Still on antibiotics (which we laughingly call anti-idiotics) because of the staphylococcus aureus infection he got at the hospital and a part of the wound has opened wide (eeeeek) but the necrosis seems to heal.
I feel so sorry for him, that it all is due to the blood thinning medicine he is taking after his heart op' and unfortunately such problems arise with a sad regularity even though he's very careful at preventing them. But it is also an eye-opening situation, what do we know that will happen to us later in life? He'd been in perfect health till the age of 50, and his heart condition was not due to high cholesterol, obesity or anything like that. It was suddenly discovered there was a genetic malformation in the heart, his life was saved and the quality of his live is perfect, he's certainly just as/more active than any of his active friends, but very regularly, problem arise with the blood. He goes to have it checked bi-weekly if it's okay or daily when it's not, but sometimes the problem occurs in between the good periods and most often the values jump because of a simple cold or medicine. He has now returned to work and can walk a lot better so I'll be leaving for Poland on Sunday, with Toska and Happy. Not that I look forward to it, because *a lot* of tasks await me till Christmas, but I already got my ticket back to Norway before the New Year, and that eases the heartache a bit! (also that of leaving little Szpulka here).

My blogging was so erratic over the past year that I thought it would be a good idea to catch up on the crafty part and post finishes from that period. To start, here is a box I sent last year to Jill F. for her birthday (exchange). I was so proud of me! I painted the box inside, covered it with matching fabric outside and glued a white cardboard piece to the bottom. I knew that Jill liked purple and peacocks s I chose this pattern and adapted the color. So glad she liked it! It is a bigger size box that can be used to hide all sorts of crafty treasures :)

Pinberry Lane - Mehitable Wright's Redwork Sampler

Among the birthday goodies, I added this hand-made felt hedgehog, because Jill likes them.
I used a pattern I found on the web after searching long for one I liked and I stuck pins in it :)

I'll leave you with this heart-warming video of Szpulka and Lucky. I am sure you will melt down! We sure have a very patient dog :)

My friend Nathalie in France received her two end-of-summer gifties, so I can show them now. First, an Atalie little piece, it was my first time to try my hand on spider roses and I must say they are both very easy to do and very decorative. I played with colors so this is not the original version Atalie designed.

Atalie - Cassandre

stitched with my choice of silk threads

Then, one of my first medium-sized tatted pieces, which I sewed onto a hand-made red little pillow.

Summer came to an end so fast, but I still try to enjoy the nature around here in Norway, already thinking of my return to Warsaw at the end of the month.

One walk we did was just a few minutes from home, close to Stallerud, a local farm, but we used a path I haven't yet been to and Hakon hasn't walked since many, many years. As it turns out, it is very much used by locals, we met peoples walking, biking, jogging, bathing... Funny, because it's a pretty much secluded place out in the forests.

I picked this season's last raspberries - there are plenty of them growing wild on the sides of the streets, old abandoned gardens and lots in the forests around. They are smaller, sometimes much, much smaller than the ones you buy, but quite good nonetheless! :)

The funny part of the walk was to discover this bathing spot floating on water, with a large area with bonfire places, benches... quite lovely!

Happy made sure to explore the shallow waters this time. He is terrified of water usually, never goes in unless he is very very thirsty during a long walk, but even then he is so scared and behaves like water is attacking him at the smallest move. We usually have good fun of it :)

 Nature is preparing for the winter sleep. Norwegian woods are filled with big rocks, something I am not used to at all in Poland.

Dear H. will be at hospital for a couple of days to remove a lump on his ankle. The operation will take place tomorrow at the Radiumhospitalet, the largest cancer center in Northern Europe, as Wikipedia affirms. They chose to do it there because of where and how it is located, but there is no fear of finding cancer cells in it. They have to do a big and deep cutting and take care of nerves and muscles, from what I understood. Otherwise there were lots of preparations to make his blood thicker, he hasn't been taking his blood thinners (which he's taking after his major heart surgery in 2005) and it's been controlled many times the last three days. So the scare, if there is a small scare, is not really the lump on the leg, but more his heart/blood issues but I feel the staff at the hospital has been taking it very serious and all has been prepared well :)

In August, H. was at a normal hospital to operate an aggravated bursitis, but only under local anesthesia. He showed me that picture later:

and I commented - how could you sleep with your leg that high up? To which he replied - I told you I didn't sleep for three nights, didn't I? I can well imagine! LOL

He's been very busy the past days to finish lots of garden works in preparation of the days he won't be able to walk too much.
As for me, I am making plans for the fall and winter, thinking about packing my flat in Warsaw for the big move to Poznan, booking plane tickets in between several cities, summer is over, it is going to be a very busy few months for me.
I will be reducing my stash greatly so I will offer some charts here as well. I think I have enough lovely stitching and tatting projects to keep me occupied for a long time so it's no sense I keep dozens of charts I won't stitch. The only thing I wish I had more of is silks, overdyes and Lakeside linens! I am positively addicted to them! LOL But a big part of my charts collection has to go. What do I do with the old ones noone would buy and which I would hate to trash? What do YOU do with them?

By the way, someone had the good idea of repainting the main building of the Polytechnical School in Warsaw, I live across the street from it. Take a look HERE for a photo - they carefully analyzed samples of the old yellowish paint that was used 34 years ago but it turned out pink! Light pink, okay, but pink! The result is so awful that they stopped halfway and from what I understood, it's being repainted using a different color. I am anxious to see the result when I'm back! LOL

A little giftie I sent to someone I often think about... someone whose life hasn't been the easiest or the funniest, and I meant this as a little talisman for the future :)
It hasn't arrived yet and I hope this person will enjoy the little surprise.

The soft fabric it lays on is the same I used for the backing.

Midsummer Night Designs - Angel in my pocket

stitched on Lakeside Linens (misplaced the color tag), 36 ct.,

with variegated hand-dyed thread

We're just back from a delightful Indian dinner at Flavours of India, a new place that just opened this month in the nearest town. Yummy, yummy! Fantastic nan bread and ginger/pistachio ice-cream, among others. I'll be back tomorrow with a longer post, as I am still catching up on emails to lots of people who've been patient enough to wait through my longer absence, but I'm closer to the surface now :)

Here is a pillow I sent to Ela earlier this year. It was my first time sewing ric-rac in between the front and the back pieces and you can't imagine how much time it took me to eventually visualize it how to do it! LOL It is a nice piece of soft green velour rickrack. Ela loves pink and green just like me, so I was happy to adapt this monochromatic piece to use these colours. I sewed decorative half stitches all around.
I almost miss this pillow but I know it is in wonderful hands! :)

M1 - Monorammes série 1

Marjorie Massey (Passé Composé)

Pre-Easter reality check.

I've disappeared again and again, I am late in replying, in commenting, I promise I'll find time this week-end. 

Life has its ways to make you slow down. Actually it all started on the plane from Oslo two weeks ago. I felt unwell, not to the point where I should call a flight attendant, but very unwell anyway, wondering whether I'll see any landing at all anymore... I sort of decided to disregard it once the plane hit the ground but the following days, I often felt dizzy, my head was turning... Okay, I knew I was going to spend Easter at my father's so I thought I'd wait and consult his doctor wife once there. The fourth day I decided to check my blood pressure and it was 195/145. Yup... Took pills for three days then on Sunday, H. called me at a moment when my head was turning so much that after spending half an hour on the bed, I still couldn't get up and work... He literally forced me to call my father's wife and her reaction was quick - "If you can, go to the ER or call them ASAP! Now!". I quickly analyzed the situation, called the lovely owners of the pets' hotel, who arrived within half an hour to take them, I packed a bag and took the taxi to the one hospital I trust and know. They sent me to doctor who examined me immediately wrote a paper so I could be admitted to the hospital, my pressure was sky high. I got a pill under the tongue and he told me to walk *slowly* again to the ER. There I sat a nice 8 hours on a chair, I had my pressure controlled every now and then, they took blood tests and some time after 2 am, I was released. The results were good, no nasty heart symptoms and nothing else of that sort so the only thing to do is to take measures to have that b---dy pressure lower fast. 

Needless to say, that kind of night is a reality check. You see people dying, people suffering, the ER is a fast-moving microcosm and when you sit there and wait for a verdict regarding yourself, you have a lot of time to think. And when you feel so dizzy and you don't know what they are going to do to you, where they are going to send you... I was reminded of H's similar experience where within hours the decision was made to operate his heart and how that changed his, our life.

I foolishly played with not losing weight, not following the right hypertension treatment, but you can only play with your life so much. If I don't want to ever experience this blood pulsating heavily in the head, this dizziness, the fear of being alone in my flat and what would happen IF... well, I need to react asap.

On Monday I was feeling okay enough to take the train to my father's and since then his wife is trying doses, testing medicines, trying to see what and how I should take it to be out of danger. A life threat it was. My blood is lower during the day but still very high in the evenings so we're trying to control it. She says I have sad eyes and wants to know what happened that triggered it all, what sort of event... Well, I am sad deep inside, noone wants do die, right? Several sleepless nights listening to the bump-bump-bump in my head stole my smile but I'm working on it :)

As to what triggered it, who knows... I simply think I took too much on my shoulders the past months. Some of you know I decided to sell my flat and move to another town, where my family lives. All that thinking about renewing the old flat, finding a new one, administrative issued about my firm, sorting out stuff at home, traveling between two countries and four towns, lots and lots of work, not enough sleep, I think it all accumulated to a level where this had to happen to slow me down, or else...

Needless to say, I scared H. and my family, I scared myself, so I'll postpone all the moving out/renewing works plans till after the summer at least and in the meantime, I'll be in Norway as usual between middle of May and end of August. If I'm allowed to fly in 5-6 weeks, that is. 

We always think that bad things only happen to others but that's very proud thinking... And we only have one life. And I feel so deeply uneasy seeing how my closest ones worry for me. My father is soon 76 and I hate that he is so moved by all this.

Okay, so here you know - BUT I am fine. In some days I'll smile again, it feels good to be under great care among people who care, and as for the future, I need to rework it a bit to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. And lose weight. And take my pills. And worry less. And stitch a lot :)

Now that I've shared the not so good news, we can pass on to funnier stuff. 

Here's a tiny pillow I stitched over one for a recent LHN exchange, with overdyes of my choice. My partner hasn't opened it yet because she hasn't sent hers yet. Hopefully she'll like it!

 LHN - fragment taken from Nature's Beauty

Take care and enjoy Easter! Isn't it wonderful how nature wakes up to life? It's been a loooong winter in my part of the world this year.

Easter bunnies

Hope these bunnies cheer you up! I've sewn four before I got bored (in pure Gemini style) and now that they've been received, I can show them. For once my Easter envoys will not be late! Due to lack of time, I wasn't able to send to all the persons I would have liked to but I've sent so many packages out for Christmas that I'm choosing to forgive myself :)

I was in Oslo/Norway for a few days last week. Mainly to bring 30 (thirty) frozen dinners to H. who had a major health problem and one of its effects was an internal bleeding in one leg, hence not being able to walk without pain. Now the only thing he has to do in the evening is to warm the oven :)

But also, it was a delight to see again the cat-boys after 6 weeks. Those little devils are just unique!

My flight from Warsaw was at 6 am... that meant leaving home at 4 am! Thank you Wizzair!! I couldn't sleep on the plane and when I looked out at one moment, we were already flying over Sweden's south-western coast. For fun, I took this picture because I was curious if H. would be able to find out where exactly that was and yup! We found out by comparing the picture with Google Earth and the funny thing is that of all the places I could photograph, this is the one spot where we spent a week-end with fellow translators from many countries, staying at one of them's house by the fjord not far from the little village of Lysekil. Isn't technology amazing nowadays?

On Saturday, H. could walk a little bit so we drove to see the new jumping tower on the Holmenkollen hill. Just a 5 minutes drive from the center and the view from up there rarely disappoints, in every season it has its charm. Splendid in the summer sun, but equally interesting with a thick winter mist...

We were not allowed to stop though. The World Biathlon Cup (or whatever it's really called) was held since a few days so the organizers put fences to block cars from stopping. You want to see, you have to pay. Norwegians start to find it outrageous that they have to pay outrageous prices (55 usd, if I remember well) just to see events which once were part of their life. What makes them angry is having to pay even for standing in the woods to see the skiers! Ah but, your favorite Polish reporter managed to take a picture of a biathlonist with its riffle on the back...

... and a picture of the new jumping tower, big deal for the Norwegians. It was inaugurated in early March, replacing the old wooden tower, one of Oslo's landmarks. It is seen from faaaaar away. I am not sure, but I have the feeling the old one was more easy to see.
The new one has funny sides aimed to protect the jumpers from the wind, I think...

Then we drove down again to Akerbrygge, a central spot in Oslo. I was surprised to see new modern ferries which connect the town with nearby places around the fjord, mainly used by people commuting to work and sometimes by tourists.

Once industrial, these buildings were transformed into a modern place with many shops, offices, a cinema, and lots and lots of places to eat. All that extremely expensive, of course. I love the place though! Lovely modern architecture and very peaceful even when it's very crowded.

Lots of very, very expensive apartments, too... Probably the most expensive in town.

On the other hand, Oslo's Town Hall (where the Nobel Peace Prize is delivered) looked sad... it's much nicer in the warmer season with flower banks around!