Wrong is who thinks I'm on vacation here :). Each time I'm coming to Norway, people wish me a good vacation - but vacation it is not! As a free-lancer, I can travel all work wherever I want, provided there is a reliable and fast Internet connection and that my laptop survives its trip to the destination. Work has been (very) slow this year, but it changed a lot in June and I find myself typing away all days and some nights... I won't complain, mind you, money pays bills and money pays stash :) and I have perfect working conditions here - through the window in my working room, I see trees, squirrels, all types of birds which provide a lot of entertainment, neighbor cat fights, neighbor cats visiting and playing... I just adore my summer here. H. has installed air conditioning in the lower part of the house, so even on the hotest days, I can work all I want without sweating... Once a day, I do a bike trip with Happy tied to his springer-thingy (is it known in other countries? how popular is it in the US? it is actually produced just a few kilometers from here) through the woods, around lakes... or I walk with him in the nature... and frequent walks in the garden make great pauses when I work... The first part of the month, it rained A LOT. Now, since ten days or so, temperatures are in the 27-30 degrees Celsius range, so it's been HOT and not really good weather to be out long, it feels like opening an oven each time I peek out. So H. and I often bike late in the evening, even around 11 pm - remember it is more north here than the rest of Europe and days are very long, nights very short...
And I've been awfully sick again for some days, and then had to work, work, work fast! to be able to deliver jobs in due time.
All that to say I am really sorry I sort of disappeared from the blogging world - and I am especially sorry that I am posting pictures of exchanges (today) and more birthday gifts (soon) this late. Diana and Leah, I hope you'll forgive me - you've sent me awesome exchanges! :)

Here they are, I hope anyone who sees them turns green with envy ;-)

First, the HOE Just Nan exchange I received from Diana. Oh, see that purse/little bag!! I love, love, love it!


A close-up on the handsome little guy... isn't he just PERFECT?

The bottom... ah, Diana is so skilled in sewing!


The lovely extras, including a Just Nan pattern from my wishlist!


But that's not all... let your eyes feast on the next gem, the Blackbird designs exchange from Leah...

Leah wrote it is a design called Flock of Birds from the My Heart is True booklet... one I don't have yet, so I totally didn't know it contained this sampler chart with birds! And I so love those... Leah couldn't have chosen better... and everything is just wonderful about this pillow, the colors, the fabrics, the work.... I couldn't believe how lucky I was when I opened the package! Thank you so much again, Leah!!

However, what is not perfect, is my pictures... Can you see that fly on both of them? I didn't see it when taking the photos... looks like Norwegian flies need a lesson in politeness! :)

Hah, I know you like this pillow...!

I'll leave you today with a fresh bunch of peonies I picked this morning in the garden... They are my very favorite flower and H. couldn't have made me more happy yesterday when he let me choose two more species at the gardening center. We're getting a truck of good soil tomorrow so I'm only waiting for it to plant them :). Norway is very rocky and so is the garden here. The house itself is built a little higher than the level of the road, on a huge rock and wherever a plant (or even grass) needs good soil, H. has to provide it, otherwise the ground is just a layer of clay on rocks.

Aren't they beautiful? If it only depended on me, I'd plant different varieties of peonies absolutely everywhere! :)

My Prairie Schooler exchange and another birthday package

Prairie Schooler taken from PS book 49 - Garden Verses

Here's the pillow I sent to Cindy for the PS exchange, all the way to Singapore - and can you believe it only took 4 days or so? Oh, I was delighted to hear that Cindy liked it... I have to tell you I had to fight with myself, a small voice was telling me to keep it but I was stronger than that! :) It is taken from the Garden Verses samplers BUT I changed colors to my choice of overdyes and it became quite colorful in the process. Loved it! I glued a very tiny red band around the pillow to complement it.
But, but, you just have to visit the PS blog and see the purse Cindy made for her partner in this exchange, I am still drooling over it days and days after I saw it for the first time! Ah, I don't have much sewing talents. Would love to be able make such lovely pouches!!
Gabi, if you read it, the fabric I chose is definitely under your influence :) Upon receiving the exchange biscornu from you earlier this spring, I decided to implement more darker linen in my projects... :) Not sure why, but I loved using light colored, natural fabrics... all sorts of light Lakeside Linens... trying to change my choices now and each time I do, I think of you :)
Here's the back, bad picture, I know:

Did you know there is a Just Nan lovers blog and one other for fans of La-D-Da? I just discovered and joined both... Passing the info further!!

Now, now, see the wonderful pillow and all the super lovely goodies I received from Carla in Peru from the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club... It only arrived a few days late and it made me smile, smile, smile!!

First, the pillow... absolutely awesome finishing, the result is soooo very sweet and cheerful, with assorted beads all around! It is a pattern I didn't have but so wanted to, and here I get it already finished into such a lovely decorative item! I love it, Carla!
I'll refer you to Carla's blog to see more pictures.

And then, the goodies... Fantastic linen from Enchanted Fabrics, a company I didn't know, two other pieces of very lovely fabrics, lots and lots of variegated DMC floss, and a chart from my wishlist. Just wonderful!!

More later.... still more to show!!

So much to show, I will have to spread this onto several posts :)
I've settled down here in Norway for the summer... It's been busy days...
The trip went super fine... only the check-in people tried to convince me I didn't pay for two pieces of luggage, the procedure for checking-in the pets is awful comparing to the terminal I used before, the flight was heavy with turbulence...actually this must have been the second time I was really scared in a plane, and I've been flying regularly since I was 4 years old... Toska was fine, but Happy was very nervous when I got them in Oslo... then the customs officer tried to tell me their papers are not correct, but I knew better... I was glad to arrive home in the evening:)
The transition from downtown Warsaw to the nature here is always a special moment of delight... I can't have enough of being in the garden, of walking in the woods, around the surrounding small lakes, smelling summer... Yup, I am happy.
Thank you to *everyone* who took time on Friday to send me their birthday wishes here and by email... You made my day very, very special!!!
It all started with H. bringing me a rose... one rose... this is what I asked him to do - we went to the gardening center in the afternoon and I opted for garden flowers and herbs instead :) With the price of everything in Norway, you gotta make choices. I was busy planting and transplanting all week-end :)
In the evening, H. took me out for dinner at our favorite place by the lake... just a 5 minutes drive from home...

... and not much can beat the view from the table..

... I'll just show a picture of the dessert....


The restaurant as seen from the lakefront...

...the so lovely garden around... we always have a walk in there after eating...

This is actually a lake with drinkable water so it's protected, you can't bathe in it.

Talking about birthdays.... here's what I sent Harmien for her special day recently... I think I'll refer you to the pictures she took - not only on mine, the kitty still has glue in her eyes, but Harmien took hilarious photos of her Kisse making friends with kitty! :)



I had two packages waiting for me when I arrived here... One is the Prairie Schooler exchange - a lovely tin box sent by Lynda A., who told me it's stitched on a piece of Silkweaver Solo with DMC and Anchor threads. I love boxes of all kinds and this is such a cheerful addition. Thank you, Lynda!

And last but not least, oh no no no, was a surprise birthday package from Mylene... that I love so much!! Mylene picked items really to my tastes, a lot of nice pink :) That included lovely beads, overdyes, a hand-made floss tag, a lovely card, two chocolates... who disappeared faster than I had the chance to photograph them... and a wonderful chart from my wishlist!!

A close-up... see the lovely floss tag:

Thank you again, Mylene, for surprising me on my day!! :)

That was a long post... but please come back later, I have more to show - some exchange pieces which already got to my partners... and another fabulous birthday package from Ela... You'll see why I'm smiling from ear to ear today.... :)

So we're more or less ready to leave... Less is more correct ;-) All that's left to pack is stash for the summer and some personal effects... but I still have lots to do in town in the morning before leaving to the airport.
The week has been so very busy, I haven't had time to stop by and say hello... but I read your blogs via Newsgator while sipping morning coffee :)
My face/jaw is almost fine, stitches are removed, but I was a bit unlucky - the mental nerve is "damaged"... no idea why it is called "mental" in English though! In short, I don't feel the left part of my chin and lower lip, several teeth and I have a tingling, burning sensation in there, and it drives me nuts, that I can say :) The surgeon explained that during one of the injections that were supposed to remove the pain, the needle must have gone very close to a major branch of nerves. I checked and rechecked and it seems that what he said is true, it wasn't his fault really, 2 to 5% of people can be this unlucky. Hah, I am always exceptional ;-)
Six to nine months, they say, so I'd better get used to it. The good thing is that it almost can't be seen looking at me that this never is paralyzed. Just sometimes when I smile :)

Got a new haircut and more highlights in the hair...


See you from Norway tomorrow night! Cross your fingers for me tomorrow, it's going to be a tough travel tomorrow, just me, two transporters with cat and dog, two pieces of luggage and a rucksack with my laptop.
The reward? Birthday with my H. I just can't wait! :)

Try to keep your face straight...

Sunday smiles...

Remember the Easter little contest Lucy won? When I asked what Toska was looking at? It was a bird, Lucy guessed it right and here is the whole picture!

Isn't she funny? I swear she seriously thought it's a live bird, she was staring at it in a very concentrated way and I just had to take it away fast! I thought cats were more intelligent! :) :)
The bird was a birthday gift for my Polish friend Ela in France, among other goodies. I added a Tilda crown to mark the birthday occasion :) Ela liked it a lot and I was delighted! Some more pictures:






Seriously, Toska was perplexed...


Last week, I was on a jewellery-making course... another great evening. Our goal was to learn and make a matching necklace-and-earings set and here is the one I made, totally in my style, for more dressed-up occasions. The technique we learned was working with a steel wire, I've yet to learn everything else but it certainly was a great start! I'm such a jewellery junkie :) How do you like it?


I stitched a delightful little sampler by With My Needle (hope I remember right) - but I'll do the finishing on it.... in the fall, no time for that now. With all the birthdays in May/June within my family and stitching friends, I'm much too busy. Ah, and then all the exchanges too :)
The chart came with the backing sampler fabric, fabric and thread, and I must say I just love the way the colors play together.

Harmien's birthday giftie is still winging its way to her... I've heard the PO workers were on a local strike so I really hope the package went out as planned when I sent it last week.

Private stuff? As I'm mentioning on top of the blog, I'm flying to Norway for the summer on May 27th, in just ten days. We've delayed my flight from the original date this week because I was way too delayed in my preparations, all the visits at the doctors, checks etc. When you leave for 3 months, you gotta prepare well or else you'll forget on the table the one thing you can't leave without. And I'm sure it will take me a whole night just to prepare the stash I plan to take along!
PLEASE don't send anything anymore to Poland till September. Ask me or Mylene for my Norwegian address instead if you don't have it! Otherwise I'll make an arrangement with the person who'll take care of my mail to have some mail sent to me but I'd like to limit it as much as possible to reduce the burden on her.
My high blood pressure is still high but not as dangerous as it was (190/150) so I'm leaving... I've been put on zillions of pills and I just HATE it. Hate it. Fortunately, I'm starting to feel better but the first two weeks were atrocious, I was feeling week and out of breath whatever I did. Was told this came from lowering my pressure so much very fast. Still worried about the whole issue, but apart from modifiying my (already healthy) diet and exercise even more, what can I do? Loosing weight will surely help, but with the other doc talking about PCOS, that combined with an underactive thyroid, the task is very hard.
The week has been very busy again, so I apologize for visiting your blogs without leaving many comments - I certainly visit at yours! :)
Yesterday I had dental surgery to extract a nasty wisdom teeth. The whole op' took over 2h15... and I'll spare you the details, but it was gore and I was told "you know, it really happens extremely rarely, cases like yours". Humpfffff. It was pure torture being made on a live body ;-) but really, with the way technologies have developed, pain wasn't a problem for the most part. They gave me 9 injections in total to make it a pain-free procedure, at least that :) I was joking with Ela on Skype today that the fact that the surgeon was a stunningly handsome young man helped a lot too :)
So I've been keeping it slow this week-end, applying ice on the cheek, taking antibiotics and painkillers. Doesn't hurt but (not sure if it's due to how hard my case was) I'm still swelling after a day and a half, I have a head like a tire, really scary actually! :) I now have fiever and the cheek is very hot despite all I'm taking and doing against it, so I might have to show at the clinic tomorrow morning. Good thing they're on the next street. Aaack, it was a very complicated surgery. Do we all have FOUR wisdom teeth? If so then I hope it'll take some time before any of the others give any pain, with my luck! LOL
Wish me a speedy recovery :) and have all a lovely week!!

HOE Woodland exchange

Here is the stitched piece I sent to my partner in this exchange, Leigh. I'm glad you like it :)
I chose to stitch a fragment of PS' Band Samplers, over one, with my choice of overdyes, as usual :)
To the corners, I attached four little pieces of a pussy willow (left after Easter) branch I cut into tiny trunks.
When I read about this exchange, I immediately knew I was going to stitch a PS piece, but the ones I had in mind were the Santas in the woods... I browsed thru my collection and I liked this one even better, it has a tree and some animals that live in the forest, which were the criteria for the exchange. Like with the BD Red Sampler pillow, I just stuffed it a little bit. leaving it soft and delicate, it was so tiny since I stitched it over one on a high count linen.

Some goodies traveled along... all in the same 'green' or 'arbor' theme.

Have you read about Edgar's blogoversary and Steph's amazing giveaway? I never win anything (the surprising exception was the gift certificate from lovely Nicole end of last year), but I'm passing the info along! It's so funny to enter these drawings anyway and there's always one lucky winner :)

Toska asks... ta...ta...-what? ta-tting? not food-thing?

Here's as far as I am in my trying to learn this art. Oh, I just adore it. Wish I can learn much more. But let me tell you, on the tatting course I participated in, I was the worse learner of all 5 ladies. Not that any of us did wonders that evening, but at least they were able to learn to tie the knots properly. At several moments I felt I was so ridiculizing myself that I wanted to leave... just couldn't understand the trick about doing the knots. Not because our teacher wasn't good, I think I sometimes require more time to learn some things - some, I hasten to add ;-), I'm not totally retarded LOL! Anyway, I stayed and I'm glad I did. I took my piece with me on the train and hey, I learned. Still not pushing the thread with the middle finger of the left hand at one moment, but rather helping myself with the index of the right hand, but who cares! :) I also got a book to learn more than the knots and the picots and joining, it's so well explained that with some patience and time I think I'll manage. The second course is scheduled after my flight to Norway, so I hope I'll do well on my own till I can ask the girl for help in the autumn.
On Monday, I'll be learning to do jewellery. Nicole, if you read this, have no worries! I'll never create pieces as beautiful as yours. Easy things, of course, but one has to start somewhere. My goal is just to learn enough to be able to make easy stuff for myself, for friends...
I was talking to the girl who organizes these courses in the gallery and she comforted me, saying she does a lot of crafts, but only when it requires one tool. She's never been able to do knitting, for example, she says it's impossible for her to coordinate the two needles. How funny! Anyway, it helped lift the frustration I was cultivating after the tatting course.


Thank you so much for your kind words in response to my last post. I needed to get some things off my chest, but then I regretted posting all this in the public space and thought about deleting the post, but reading your comments really sweetened the burden.
As of today, grandma isn't leaving for anywhere. Once more she confirms her body is just amazing. Her head has come back for the most and the cold is over. Today she's getting her injections for the last time. Noone knows when she will leave us, but it's not a simple cold that will have her. Should I mention the broken tiles when she fell on the stairs two years ago? Her head was perfectly fine.... ;-)
And no, May still doesn't work for me, but what, life is a sinusoid... need to learn from my own mistakes, and I've made plenty the last years.

Happy Friday evening, everyone!

Ah, May 2009, what a forgettable month! Not only I need to do blood checks and visit the doc every week, not only I battle otherproblems, but now that. Not that it was unexpected, but almost. Where do I start... Oh May, my birthday month, what a crappy one this year!

On Thursday afternoon, a very hot afternoon, I took the train (almost 4h) to my father.. The whole point of the trip was to be there with him on Saturday for his 75th birthday, which didn't turn out the way he planned. My brother didn't come, his sister (my aunt) couldn't come because of grandma, so I just had to go. Little did I know...

Friday was nice, I love all the flowers they have at their entrance and in the garden... I and my father's wife went for a long walk with both dogs....

Three little dogs, all very different in shape and color, all rescued from a shelter. From left to right, my Happy and their Biniu and Sonia. I witnessed some funny scenes :)

But then just after 10 pm on Friday, my aunt called and I immediately knew it had to be serious if she called so late. In short, grandma fell twice, it was quite a job to lift her, she wasn't okay at all, my aunt called the emergency, they came, gave grandma injections and insisted on hospitalizing her. They said that her breath is very bad, her heart is bad, her lungs are bad, her blood oxygenation is bad. My aunt refused, signed a paper. She explained to the doctor that in hospital, grandma wouldn't have a nurse at her side every minute. At home, my aunt is there for her. The doctor agreed, set up a scheme of nurses coming to do injections twice every day, yada yada. Granma has caught a cold but at 100 and over 3 months, it made some damage to the head as well... We thought the situation was dangerous, so instead of celebrating my father's birthday, off 2 hours we drove.

Can it really be so that there was snow on the fields recently? :)
Long talks....

Good time too...

Grandma being asked to breath properly....

And then my father++ left, and I stayed for two days more to help my aunt. Oh the days, oh the nights. Grandma walks almost okay again, but her head is not okay... sometimes she doesn't recognize my aunt, at other times she speaks total rubbish, and most often she just istn't among us... I talk, I explain, I shout, but I see she's looking at me with a blank face. She doesn't register much, though she told her birth year to the doc today :)
Nights are difficult. Today, till 3 am, she called every 5 minutes and every time I went, she was sitting on the bed and ready to start the day. Totally not there also... She kept repeating "two carpets, two carpets". I knew she wanted to say something else, but she couldn't find the right words. I felt so sorry for her, she was a poor little thing totally lost in her world. But as soon as I made her lay under the cover, she sat again. By 3 am, I and my aunt were exhausted.
Today she was much worse in her head.... I tried to tell her good-bye, but I talked and talked directly close to her face, but then I realized she was looking somewhere else, not hearing me at all. She kept rolling her eyes and closing them repeatedly all day, it looked like she was leaving... but apart from that, she still walks, albeit slow, eats quite well.. But in her better moments, she says she's very tired and that she wants to leave....
Nothing unexpected of course, at her age, but still an ordeal for the closest family to go through. Looks like noone is really prepared to see her go...

I took the train to Warsaw again tonight with Happy, and I'm sitting here completely exhausted. The last two days, my aunt was able to walk grandma from her room to the kitchen, to the terrace, so I could leave. I had to, for a multitude of important reasons. But I've made it clear - if grandma starts falling again, if my aunt needs any help (more than usually, that is), I'll go no matter what.
Who knows how long it will last. A day? Two? A few weeks? Months? This is just so sad.
And this also means that I might not be able to leave for Norway as planned, but I'll cancel or delay the flight as needed. WHo knows what's going to happen during the next two weeks. Ah, life.
And then there's work to deal with every day.

So I really have to apologize to anyone (you know who you are) I haven't yet replied to... Days are so busy at the moment... but I remember and I do try to write an email or two daily...

Toska stayed alone while I was away, much longer than planned, and she went high up, grabbed 3 gifts for 3 nice May/June birthday girls... and ruined them. I was so happy to have done them in time! I won't have time to stitch replacement pieces.... I'll do my best though!

No stitching the past few days. But last week, I went to a tatting course (more later) and I took a beginner's piece to work on. Well, to learn :) I've understood the basics, but I'll have to go to the second course to be able to do more than the very basic stitches, picots etc. I haven't been able to understand the more advanced how-to's by myself.
Any tatters among you? I find it extremely relaxing and rewarding - and hey, it only requires a lenght of thread and the shuttle to take when traveling. Not like with cross-stitch, all the fabrics, charts, floss....

Sorry for the sad post today, I'll crash on the bed and get some strength. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. And I'm so sad that my father's birthday was so bad.... it was supposed to be very special.