The Dao Of Nature

The Dao Of Nature

This is an amazingly beautiful cartoon

 

cherries!

Yay for cherry season!

Well, not really. Because I don’t like the taste of them, and I have to pick a lot for my parents. BUT they are so pretty and red! So after picking a whole bucket from our four cherry trees (we have probably 10 buckets left on the trees) I had to take some pictures. My mother will make jam with it, and in a week we will make cherry liqueur. The liqueur will take the most lovely red colour, and it’s beautiful in intricate flasks around Christmas.

Well, here are some photos to celebrate the lovely color of cherries!

 

Laptop Lunches! (updated)

Remember this post? I purchased a “laptop lunches” lunch box 49 days ago and today is the day it appeared in my mailbox. It took a while, but was worth it! I love it, and I can’t wait making nice lunches for myself when I start school in a month.

Since I didn’t want to wait a whole month to try it out, I made a quick lunch with items I found in our fridge, and ate it all. I’m very full now, because I’d just eaten breakfast an hour before.

Well, here’s the pictures!

 

Spoonflower!

I heard about spoonflower almost a month ago. Signed up for the beta testing the same day and got an invite the day after. You can make your own pattern and have them printed on 100% cotton. The page is still in beta, but seems like it’s gonna be huge.

Sadly, I am NOT a designer, but I wish I could make up some pretty pattern and have it printed. I found it first via “Inside a black apple” and she has gotten another batch since then. I love her fabrics, and wish I could make something equally cute and pretty

There is a flickr group with patterns that are made for spoonflower, and some of them are amazing!

I had to make a mosaic of some of them, just to show everyone!

 

Rainbow cupcakes!

I was invited to my best friend’s 21st birthday party (btw, 21 isn’t a big deal here, because the age limit for alcohol is 18 and 20). Since my birthday present for her was to come to the bon jovi concert with her, I didn’t have a real present, so I figured I could bake something. And since she loves color, I thought I could try the rainbow cupcake things I’ve seen on craftster. Many others have done the same. (Example 1 and example 2) I just had green and red wilton color, and didn’t want to use any of the other food colorings we have (they have hardly any color, and taste like crap)

I first spooned in all the red and green I had made, and then realized I had to put more into the paper liners. So I made the rest of my batter brown with cocoa powder. And they came out great! So yummy and colorful! The colors could have been a bit brighter, but I didn’t want the people to think they were poisonous or something, haha. Anyway, here they are!

 

Last day at work - CAKE!

I made a cake for the people at work. It was just a box mix for chocolate cupcakes. But I used the same when making my dad’s yoda cake. (here and here) So I knew it would work They liked it, and thought it was really cute “Takk for meg” means “thanks for me”- directly. And is a saying in Norwegian. Means goodbye and I’ve had a great time etc

The cake got a bit wobbly, and not smooth edges at all. Because I had to cut it down in size. And the fondant was a PITA. Especially the red. Because it got so much more sticky and wet after adding the food coloring. Was happy when I was finished though

 

365 stuff

The latest 365 pictures

 

gift from work

Since I only have two days left to work, I got a gift today! I feel so lucky to have been working with such nice people, and getting to “know” a lot of friendly people, who are regular customers. I’ve been working in a grocery store, so all kinds of people frequent there. Some are there every day.

One man, says almost every time to me; “så du er på plass i dag og, morgenfrisk og klar!” which means something like “so you’re on duty today too, all awake and ready”. And when he said that today, I became sad because I probably won’t see him again after quitting. He reminds me a bit of my own grandfather I don’t want to get all sentimental, but I AM a nostalgic person like that.

And my gift was these pretty design candle holder, by “hadeland glassverk” named “finn schjøll” And the polka dotted table runner, plus candles and napkins!

 

Another sewing post - laptop sleeve

So I made another thing today. A laptop sleeve, using this tutorial:
http://whipup.net/2007/12/16/tutorial-fabric-laptop-sleeve/

The tutorial was easy to follow, and it seemed like a quick project to me. I proved myself wrong. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever made! I drove down to the city this morning to buy bias tape (didn’t bother making it myself) and some batting. I got quilt batting, because that’s what the lady gave me, and I didn’t realize that I’d have to quilt it some.

After I realized that, I thought “well, that can’t be too hard” but it was, because the fabric didn’t stay still I got it acceptable at last. And then there was the velcro. I thought I had some in my stash, but all my stash was in Oslo I’d left my fabric etc here, because I don’t have a sewing machine in Oslo (yet) but I hadn’t thought of the velcro. So I had to drive down town to get some of that too. Luckily it went smoothly sewing that on.

Then came the next obstacle. The binding! I thought it was easy, but the fabric was so thick, so I had to fight with it to sew the binding on. In the end, I finally managed to do it, but it wasn’t exactly as nice and straight as I’d wanted it.

The sewing of the corners went nice, I thought. And after finishing up, and going up to the computer again, I realized I had sewn the corners in the wrong way An hour more of tearing out stitches, and I finally managed to sew it correctly!

So this was the project where almost everything went wrong. Luckily it works well, it’s just a little bit tight around the computer. And the thick batting protects it well. So I guess I got what I wanted - something to protect the laptop when it’s just lying around.

And here’s the images! (this was before I’d found out about, and corrected the corners)

 

Yoga Mat Bag

FINALLY, a sewing project. And this is something I’ve been thinking of doing for a long time. I got a yoga mat when I bought a subscription on a work out magazine (yeah, I need to start working out again) but haven’t had anywhere to put it. So I thought it would be good to make a bag for it. Then I at least have a place for it, and it doesn’t roll out by itself

I used the tutorial found here, which is great. It’s easy to understand the steps and I didn’t even have to print it, but remembered it by heart after reading over a couple of times. Mine has a bit more allowance round the bag though, because I was afraid of it becoming a too tight fit. Still, this is one of the most professional sewing jobs I’ve ever done, so I’m quite proud ;D