Color in our home

I'm obviously not the only one in need of some color this time of the year. Here's what I found in our home. Most of it in Nora's room, actually.

Saturday night

The days are indeed longer now, more daylight, more song (the birds, not me), and sunshine that is warming us up. But, well, there is still snow and will be for many more weeks to come. But in Nora's window it's spring.




Thank you for all comments on my last post, I really appreciate that you take your time to write a few words :-)

Today I've been sewing clothes for Nora. I will show you soon!

Mittens and a favourite book

Today will be a rather silent post as we are on our way out in the snow and sunshine. I wish you a happy, sunny day (and an evening full of yarn ;o) )






More yarn along on Ginny's blog. I know it "should" be a single photo, but I really want to show you the wonderful illustrations of the books we read, hence the many photos.

share some happiness

I use to think of (and sometimes blog about) things that make me happy, or things I'm grateful for. Everyday, ordinary things. The small joys. It really is a good habit and it helps me focus on what is important in life. But how do I involve my family in it, I thought today as we had dinner.



I recently read one family where they, at dinner, asked each one of the family members what was the best thing that day. Besides the more obvious positive effects, it also gave them a chance to learn what each one of them valued the most. Everyone, each day, was listened to. As good as it sounds, it doesn't really work in our family. I did ask Nora, though, but she answered what she wanted to do, rather than what we actually did ;) And I did ask Magnus, but he was too tired to think of anything but sleep.

How can I inspire my family? Can I inspire my family? I thought of this, and when I read Ginny's blog post today I got an idea. Maybe I can take a piece of paper and put on the fridge, and every day write down a few words on what made me happy or what I enjoyed that day? It'll help me focus, but it's also there for everyone to read (and be reminded or inspired). Will it work? It's worth a try, isn't it?

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And I found a great (and free!) online class on how to use twitter. (If you want to follow me on twitter, you can find me here.)

I saw the sign ---

You know how one thing can lead to another and you sometimes end up doing something else than you had planned to? The other day when I went for a walk with Zam I brought my camera and without much thought I started snapping pictures of signs. It made me think of the Ace of Base, a Swedish pop band, popular in the early 90s. They have a song called The Sign. Thinking of them made me think of a boy I was in love with then.



The lyrics of The Sign are crappy (to say the least). Or what do you say about this:

I saw the sign and it opened up my mind
and I am happy now
living without you
I've left you
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes
I saw the sign
no one's gonna drag you up
to get into the light where you belong

Thinking of them made me think of him as we both liked Ace of Base at that time. I was a quite shy 12 year old and I think he never knew how I felt. Sometimes I thought maybe he liked me too, but then, probably he didn't. I guess I wasn't the kind of girl you notice. He was from USA and lived in Sweden for only a couple of years with his family, then he moved back when we were 13.



A few years later he came back to visit. There was a girl in our class who stayed in touch with him (I think), I suppose she liked him too ;) and she was the one who told us he'd visit our school during a break that day. I think I never got around to talk to him, I probably felt awkward in some way. Besides, by then I was not in love with him anymore.

As I walked there with Zam and my camera I came to think of him and wondered what he's doing today. I searched on Google (isn't internet amazing?!) and his name popped up. As I know which state he came from, and as his name is uncommon, I actually only found one person - but several hits. I'm not sure it's him as I didn't see any photos so that I could recognize him (and maybe I wouldn't anyway, a 12 year old look quite different from a 30 year old). I was looking for an email address or some way to contact him, but couldn't find any. I did find a text written by someone who seemed to know him, and that guy did have an email adress. So I dropped a few lines ...

Do you think I'll get an answer? Do you think it's him?



More crappy lyrics:

I got a new life
you would hardly recognize me
I'm so glad
how can a person like me care for you
why do I bother
when you're not the one for me

I believe I can - new painting

I was so happy the other day when I discovered my painting - the first one I ever listed on Etsy - sold in less than a week! I was so excited I couldn't fall asleep until 2 o'clock ... Maybe it was pure luck, maybe it wasn't. I will never know if I'm not listing any more paintings, I thought, and listed this one today:



I have to believe, even if it's scary. So I jump ...



... and I hope I'll know how to fly.

Our moment of the week

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. SouleMama.

Snow is melting

This is what it looked like a few days ago (and since November). Then I heard a drip, drip, drop. I hadn't heard that for a long, long time. Now the street is covered in ice and with water on top.



When we went for our morning walk, Nora, Zam and I, it was really slippery outside. I don't know how many times Nora slipped and fell (and became rather wet), but she liked it and kept running on the icy street. Slow down, I said, but of course she didn't as falling was the goal.

They say tomorrow it'll be cold again.

What I like now:
* Daylight is staying for a few more minutes every day.
* Open kindergarten is open again, after the holidays, and Nora loved going back there with me this week.
* I've managed to make a flyer for my shop that I'm satisfied with. Tomorrow we'll find somewhere to put it ;-)
* Today I made a new dinner out of leftovers and it was delicious.

What do you like now?

The doll I made for Nora

Back in November (or December?) I was crocheting a wig for a doll. I promised to show you the doll, but I never got along to take any pictures. When I finally remembered to do so + it was daylight + I found the doll, she was asleep and almost hidden in Nora's bed. Her hair was all messy. That's a good sign, that means she got to play with Nora ;-) Anyway, here she is:



She has a few blue/purple dreads.

And the dress, I never finished it as Nora was waiting impatiently. Maybe one day.

With a heart as big as the sky

... new item in my etsy shop, maria nenita. If you want to know what's going on you can follow me on Facebook (as I will not write everything here), welcome :-)

In her window

Christmas -> Out
Springtime -> In



Nora and I made this for her window, I thought we needed some color. I cut the animals + heart from felt fabric and Nora choose the beads.

Plaster plåster

Mama sheep and baby lamb fell down from the kitchen table. Luckily Nora took care of them.

Warm and colorful

After I knitted the first one, it was impossible to find another skein of the same color. In the yarn shop they helped me pick out a similar color. I'm not so sure I agree that it's similar. Not so much. No.

I do look a bit like Pippi Longstocking. But they are warm, and I guess that's what counts :-)

Yarn along + cake and tea and a good book

I'm a slow knitter, even when it comes to really simple knits. Not that I knit slowly, just that I'm that kind of person who get too many ideas and start too many knittings (and finish few). In November I cast on this knitting.





Cake and tea and knitting and a book. Can it be better?

(Well, there could be some chocolate too.)

The book is about Plupp, a little creature invisible to humans (except you and me, who can see him) and who can talk to animals. He lives far up in the north. We used to read those books when my sister and I were little. This one I hadn't read before (as far as I can recall). I bought it for Nora. It's about winter and we meet many animals in their winter white fur. This books is a new favourite.

Yarn along with Ginny.

Finding spring

Yesterday it felt like spring. We've still got snow, but for the first time for one and a half month it was just above freezing point, it was sunny and very windy. Nora, Zam and I went for a long walk. Zam sniffing on the spots of yellow snow ... and Nora and I talking about pigs. She loves stories about pigs at the moment.





Our main project this week is to throw Christmas out and to re-organize our home. Magnus went back to work yesterday, but he's been at home since the week before Christmas so during that time I've worked a lot and not cared about our home at all (except for Christmas decorating). Now I want to bring some spring, or at least winter without Christmas decoration, to our home. Nora and I changed the curtains in her room, and she played with the Christmas curtains for a while, pretending they were blankets. We made a little decoration for her window and then we planted seeds and vegetables to have in one of her windows. We only planted things we could find in our kitchen - we'll see whether it grows :-)





Zam thought we were boring.

Painting the ceiling in my new craft room

I'm painting.



This room will be my new craft room/studio. It's been used as a guest room (and will continue to be a guest room too), but the most frequent guest how been Zam who likes to sleep upstairs ;-) Downstairs, where we "live", isn't enough space for all my craft material and it's so annoying having fabric and beads and paints everywhere so I'm I really really need a room of my own. However the ceiling is so dark so now I'm painting it white to let some light in.

:: this moment ::

Nora is lucia, a couple of weeks too late and with a purple ribbon instead of a red one.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

via soulemama

A favourite quote

The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things-ancient history, nineteenth century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later, or six months, or six years. But he has faith that it will happen.
~Carl Ally

I like that quote. It's just how I am. I'm so curious about so many things, want to learn and try, want to know more about ... anything and everyhing! From how to plan and build a house to the anthropology of religions. I go to the library and borrow tons of books, but I seldom have time to read them all. When having my own creative business it's both very helpful and also a bit stressing - to want to know and learn everything.

News for the new year

It's a new year and parts of my business will get a fresh new start as I'm changing a couple of things + make a new craft room/studio (the photo is the view from that room). I'll show you more pictures later, at the moment I'm painting the ceiling.



When I started my webshop milly & molly I had planned to sell mostly things I've made myself. For my international customers I created an Etsy shop with the same name. The webshop had a life on its own though, and took another path. It had no connection to the Etsy shop, except for the name. I thought that might be just confusing. It was the same with my Facebook page, it turned out being all about my webshop and the webshop was really not that interesting for my international friends. I write almost everything in Swedish, too. So, I made a few changes:

* My Etsy shop got a new name (maria nenita), not to be mixed up with my webshop. I will also create more for my Etsy shop now that I have rearranged everything and have a clear purpose again.
* I created a new page on Facebook, with the same name as on Etsy, and it'll be about everything I create and only in English.

I think that's a good start :-)