Owner: american swede URL:http://www.americanswede.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 06:19:28 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: swedish american woman who blogs about her home and garden projects. I focus on decorating, sewing, knitting, gardening, photography and more. Site statistics:Click here
Spring is Coming! 2008-03-03 17:48:00 I don't think much could thrill my soul more than the little bits of green that I see poking out of tree and shrub, and pushing aside the dark earth. Equally exciting is the weather being warm enough to enjoy a close-up look, and tearing out the weeds that have filled in a lot of that dark earth.
I spent the morning at a local nursery getting some much-needed help. I am too embarrassed to Read more:Spring
Curtains 2008-02-18 16:40:00 Today I made curtains for Daughter's room. I am so pleased with the results! Every time I go in her room, I feel completely restful and calm, yet energized. -- I absolutely love green and white together! Maybe because green is a sign of life, which I am so ready to receive in the form of Springtime. Anyway, here they are:
Not sure if I'm going to leave the tie-backs just like this, or if Read more:Curtains
Inspiration 2008-02-14 17:58:00 Daughter's bedroom has bothered me for awhile, namely the unpainted trim. Inspiration
struck, and I am now in the middle of completing a slew of details (finally painting the trim and doors, making a headboard, sewing curtains, making shelves above the windows, to name a few). Here are some treasures I've collected/made/received over the years that have inspired me in the evolution of
Dragonflies 2008-02-14 16:59:00 I'm working on finishing decorating my daughter's bedroom, and happened upon a picture in a magazine that inspired these dragonflies. After painting and glueing and taping and, and, and . . . they are now jauntily "flying" about Daughter's room, hung from the ceiling.
No title 2008-02-04 12:29:00 Another little girl's name:
Slippers for Me 2008-01-20 08:18:00 Over Christmas, I knitted these up for myself:
I love the accent yarn around the top. -- Quite different. Read more:Slippers
A Story Worth Mentioning 2008-01-20 07:15:00 For some time now I have wanted to make something for Husband, but, save a very time-consuming HUGE project of a Norwegian sweater (my eventual goal), I could come up with nothing. Until I found a pattern for a Peruvian hat.
Armed with all my scraps of leftover wool, the project began. It knitted up quickly, largely due to the fact that I couldn't wait to see the addition of the next color, Read more:Worth
Noni Hydrangea Bag 2008-01-19 20:46:00 This one's for me!!
I've been eyeing Noni patterns for quite some time. -- Over a year, at least. I love the details and the surprise "different-ness" of these fulled bags. They just nail a punch, in my opinion. So, a few weeks ago when Sister and I went exploring (and found) a local yarn shop, and I found this pattern, I knew it was coming home with me!
The bag itself was quick and
Wool Delights 2008-01-19 10:21:00 Ages ago, while looking at Noni patterns online, actually, I stumbled upon these sassy pom-poms. Being purely a knitter, I thought (for now) they were beyond me. I love working with wool, though, so decided that one day I would figure these little things out. "Imagine what one could do with them!" I thought.
Over Christmas, while visiting in the town of Hastings, Michigan, I was overjoyed
New Look 2008-01-18 20:38:00 I'm after a new look! What do you think of the new layout/background for my blog? I like the cleaner, less cluttered look of this layout, and I think it goes better with my blog title.
What do you think?
P.S. -- Pictures coming soon! I've been way too busy making, and doing no recording. Sorry!
Some hints to upcoming photos:
completed fulled slippers for Daughter (I've already posted
Fulled Helmet Hat 2007-12-13 08:35:00 I bought this pattern over a year ago. Again, it's a fulled (felted) project, and I just thought it was really cute, and would be really warm, too. So a week or two ago, in the non-occupied evenings, I started working on it. Last night I finished it, and this morning I shrank it.
I think it looks Medieval-ish, no??
Right now it is stretched, drying over a balloon. Hopefully the balloon's Read more:Helmet
Letters 2007-12-05 21:59:00 I've been working on more Christmas gifts, these for some girls whose names are obvious. Last time I did this, it took me HOURS to complete, as I wrapped each letter with wrapping paper and glue. This time, I got smart. My neighbor and I both like to use Stampin' Up! stamps, so I called on her to see what she has. She loaned me several sets, plus gave me more ideas, and this is what I came up Read more:Letters
Shared Meals 2007-11-26 13:13:00 While perusing another's blog one day, I happened to learn about shared meals. Basically, it's where you get several households to join you in creating one large meal each and then each household gives their meal to all other households in the group. It majorly cuts down on cooking, and is supposed to help with the budget. (So far I've had too many other things happening to know if it really Read more:Meals
Bathroom Paint-Job 2007-11-26 09:58:00 We are soon hosting Dear Husband's office staff Christmas party at our house. This has been great impetus for completing a few more "renovations" around the house, one of which is the main bathroom.
The bathroom was gross. Purple in color, and a VERY bad paint job at that; caulking around the sink that looked like it was carelessly smeared in place -- if you can call down on the counter 'in Read more:Paint
Slippers 2007-11-26 09:39:00 A few weeks ago, as the weather was turning cooler, I told Dear Daughter to get her slippers on. (I had knitted and fulled her a pair a couple years ago.) She put them on, and came to me saying, "Mommy, they're too little. Will you make me a new pair? A pink pair, exactly like these?"
So a trip to our local craft store produced the yarn (although not the exact yarn) for the new slippers. Read more:Slippers
Applesaucing Again 2007-11-26 09:16:00 I now have 4 bushels of applesauce in my freezer, less what Dear Husband has heartily consumed. One bushel is for an unnamed person, the rest will be gone within a few months by Dear Husband, no doubt.
This photo is from the last saucing time with Dear Sister. The apples were worse than seconds, and we paid the full price for them. That was maddening! So, as you can imagine, we did a lot of Read more:Again
Play-Dough Creations 2007-11-26 09:02:00 Dear Daughter shows her creative side with these guys she cut out of play-dough and arranged herself. She then insisted that I take pictures of it. So of course I had to blog about it, too! Read more:Dough
Birthday Present 2007-11-26 08:35:00 Niece recently had a birthday. Of course I needed to come up with a present for the event, and Niece gave me the idea when she mentioned she really wanted a sleeping bag for her doll. When I checked out the price of the one she wanted, I about had a cow! I told her I'd make her one. So this is it:
Dear Sister made Niece the night-gown, after Niece picked out the fabric. Read more:Birthday
, Present
Fulled Knitted Slippers 2007-11-11 06:58:00 Another Christmas project, these slippers were knitted from a Fiber Trends pattern. Knitted
and fulled projects are by far my preferred knitted projects. (How's that for redundancy?) I am not one to sit, nightly, knitting the same project for a year. -- I am all about instant gratification, with an element of surprise added. Fulling provides both, since I knit double-strand with large Read more:Slippers
No title 2007-11-08 15:02:00 Years ago, David and I bought a bunch of unfinished furniture. Of course, we fully intended to paint or stain it, but that didn't happen and didn't happen. We've moved location multiple times since buying it, and always vow we WILL finish the furniture. However, it still gets put into the house and loaded up with goods in its unfinished state.
This time, though, we decided it wouldn't even
Applesauce 2007-11-01 20:13:00 On Monday, I got together with Sister to make applesauce. We did two bushels in about four hours. -- Froze it, which is so much faster (AND neater) than canning! Now, here's hoping my freezer doesn't break down or lose electricity!
When we tallied up how many bags of sauce we had, we stupidly got to thinking how much each bag cost us, and compared it to the price at our local grocery store.
Baby Shower Gift 2007-10-27 22:02:00 A friend had her baby boy recently, and along came a shower invitation. I am the kind of person who likes to give original gifts, but I have a hard time coming up with the ideas for these gifts. Recently, though, I found my inspiration while at my local craft store: plain white letters to hang on the wall!
But they were too plain for something as special as a shower gift. (Although the first Read more:Shower
, Baby Shower
Zinnia Pillow 2007-10-27 21:28:00 We've had too much going on at our house, thus the lengthy pause in blogging.
My husband and I had a fabulous 10-year anniversary celebration at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. (We backpacked in, and spent three nights in the canyon.) Awesome experience, and a 10-year dream fulfilled for both of us.
The weather has been dry, dry, dry. My poor garden! I've hardly touched it in over a month,
Poison Ivy 2007-09-25 21:59:00 I should have known better when I pulled out all those weedy things along the edge of our lawn. -- I saw the poison ivy! I don't know why I thought I'd be exempt from getting it this time.
It is in little patches all over my body. Tonight I can't sleep on account of the intense itching. So I got up and scratched the blebs open, then bathed them in alcohol. (I much prefer pain to itching.) Read more:Poison
, Poison Ivy
Sandbox and Other Things 2007-09-21 12:48:00 We finally completed the sandbox, dug up the clay ground for the box to sit down in, and filled it with sand (with "help" from the kiddos). The kiddos, of course, are thrilled with it.
We've spent a lot of energy collecting rocks to go around our flowerbeds, and I am not so pleased with the results of this fieldstone:
as I am with these rocks.
We've hauled these rocks, a few at a time, Read more:Sandbox
Nursery and Mail-Order Plants 2008-03-13 20:21:00 I recently put in an order through Spring Hill Nursery
for some more plants. (I ordered from them last year, and was pleased with the results, so decided to try it again.) Soon after ordering, three hydrangeas (one red and two purple), a butterfly bush, 3 rudbekia, and 1 monarda arrived in the mail looking small but healthy. Now, about a week later, they have leafed out an incredible amount, Read more:Order
, Plants
Empanadas and Tomato Cilantro Salad 2008-03-16 14:19:00 I do not like to cook. Period. But a couple days ago I stumbled upon a recipe I'd torn out of a magazine ages ago. It was for Empanadas. A salad was pictured with the empanadas, but I didn't have the recipe for that. So I did what I thought would taste good, and wow! -- Lunch was a hit!
Here is how to make the empanadas:
1 pound refrigerator pizza dough (Next time I'll make my own)
1 can Read more:Tomato
, Cilantro
, Salad
Signs of Life 2008-03-15 21:36:00 We are having the wettest spring! As opposed to last summer when there were huge fissures around our yard from the severe drought, we are now getting rain, rain, and more rain. When I walk in the lawn, squishy sounds greet my ears, and water pours into the holes of my crocs as my feet sink into the swampy turf. (If you could call our lawn 'turf'. -- It's more like 'healthy weeds' than
Planting 2008-03-18 20:17:00 This morning I went to my local nursery and took Mr. Jim's advice and bought Loropetalum and Abelia and Camellia. (Seven plants total.)
This afternoon, I planted:
2 Loropetalum
4 Abelia
1 Camellia
And transplanted to pots (for now):
2 Echinops Ritro
1 Echinacea
1 Hydrangea
And tonight I am sore and tired! Nothing like digging in clay!!!
I still have to plant:
What Is It? 2008-03-22 13:38:00 This is the happiest item we unearthed yesterday, in all our thrashing of underbrush. Minus a few blossoms that got knocked off, it looks pretty good, but the question remains: What is it?
The thin tree bears delicate flowers of light pink color, with a dark pink cluster of stamens (??? -- Forgive me! I don't remember my floral anatomy from college A&P) in the center. Leaves are bright
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