Let’s go to Finland!

As you may know, I’ve been taking a Northern Studies course (Introduction to the Circumpolar World) and since I love textiles, quilts, knits and all things that require stitches to make, I thought it would be fun to tour around some of the circumpolar blog world and take a look at what’s up  in other Northern countries! Maybe I’ll go there someday in person, but for today, lets take a cyber visit and skip on over to Finland. Grab a cup of glögi (mulled wine) and let’s get going!

I don’t understand a word of Finnish, so this will be a photo-tour. Here is a little glimpse into what’s going on over at Ajatusten Aalloilla in pictures:

 

Eija Kause has a blog called TILKKUTAIDE in Finnish (of course) but with bits and pieces of English. I learned that she is a hairdresser who quilts in her spare time and enjoys time at her lake-side cottage. Oh! We have something in common, eh? Here is what Eija has been up to:

 

…and I assume this is her lake-side cottage: beautiful!

Then I found myself over at Inglborg’s Lotta and found this picture. Dogs and quilts seem to go together no matter where in the world you live. And just look at that beautiful quilt – such beauty in simplicity!

Love this shot, too:

Ina at Ina-Knits spins and knits and sometimes uses Drops patterns, which I have only recently discovered myself! Love the smallness of our world sometimes!

 

A quick visit over to Töölön Tilkkupaja – tikkauspalvelu:

And last (but not least!) we’ll visit the Finn Quilt show, photos courtesy of Life’s a Quilt in Vaasa, Finland:

 

I hope you enjoyed our brief tour of Finland!

 

 

 

 

A sick day, a quilt blog and a little tea snorting

Before hubby left for work this morning, he made sure I was tucked up on the couch in my jammies and a quilt, with a cup of tea and 2 aspirin at my elbow, my laptop and iPad, and about a dozen sewing projects close to hand. Yup, he’s a keeper, that one!

Did you guess from the clues? This is my second day home from work. While it’s nice to be home from work, having a mouth full of cold sores  (did you know you can get cold sores inside your mouth? ugh) is not. It hurts to talk and it hurts to eat. Two of my favourite activities. Sigh. So what’s a girl to do but browse the internet and catch up on bog reading? (I hope Amanda isn’t reading this…she’s my NOST 101 instructor, and she’d probably be telling me that I should take this time to start my research paper that is due next week. Did I tell you I’m taking an on-line course called Introduction to the Circumpolar North? I thought maybe I should be introduced to it since I live here, and all that.)

So I’m sitting here under my quilt trying not to spill tea into my keyboard while being entertained by Katy over at Monkey Do (or I’m a Ginger Monkey, whichever she calls it, I’m not 100% sure.) Honestly, that girl made me snort my tea up my nose, she is so funny!

I’ve decided that there are some really cool quilters in England, and that I should probably go over there someday and meet them.  Like Miss Ginger Monkey. There’s also Lynn over at Lily’s Quilts, who not only has great tutorials, but also gives great blogging advice. And is very funny to boot. (what do you suppose “to boot” really means?). AND they have the London Fat Quarterly Retreat! Just listen to this: “ we have planned a fun-filled weekend of silly games, sewing challenges, tutorial workshops and more!” (now, if you ever took a bellydance class from me, you KNOW how much I adore silly games, lol!) So I figure that silly quilt games must be just as much fun, right? I just gotta go and meet these English quilter gals!

Meanwhile, Sam is keeping my feet warm. I just hope he doesn’t wake up and want to play ball or something energetic that requires me getting up. Besides, it hurts to laugh. Here he is snuggled with his favourite squeaky toy. Goofy guy!