Subversive Christmas cards

Christmas is fast approaching and because of the Christmas fairs I'm attending I have been trying to get into the spirit a lot earlier than what is normal to me. You might say that my attempt wasn't very successful because the result were these Christmas cards. 

This type of embroidery is called guerrilla embroidery in Norway, but that name is a protected title here in Norway so I call mine irony or provocative embroidery. I think the english term for this type of work would be subversive embroidery/cross stitch.

 "Find your own way"

"I want, I want, I want"

This one was not easy to translate. "Fjompenisse" can be defined as a goofy person that speaks without thinking. Part of the word "nisse" means Santa. So this will be: No, you're a "fjompenisse"

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Back to the 80s - Hair scrunchies

I have been doing a lot of crocheting lately. Probably because it very compatible with "doing nothing" like watching TV or waiting in a doctors office. And a little while back I fond the perfect project to just keep in my purse in case of a boring moment... hair scrunchies. Just the word takes me back to the fabulous 80s.

I found the tutorial here, and its perfect for putting all the little bit of leftover yarns into good use.
But most of all its the perfect project for those that are inexperienced and a little bit inpatient like me.

It takes me about one evening to finish one. (I'm sure of you have been crocheting for a while you could manage both two or tree  in the same time :) I've used a size 2 or 3 hook depending on the thickness of the yarn

I use elastics from H&M on the inside. They come in packs of about 15, and a girl do only needs so many scrunchies, so I'll bring the rest to all the Christmas fairs I signed up for this year.

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Stool redo

Still in hospital, the needle in my arm has been replaced with a new one and all the bacterias in my body has been killed except for the ones actually making me sick. But it feels like things are changing so I’m hoping I’ll be able to go home soon.

The last of the projects from my “playing with colors” weekend is this stool. As I do with most of my projects, I forgot to take a before picture. But it had its original silver colored legs and the seat had some sort of fake fur on it. Not really ugly, but very, very boring.

I took some scraps of fabrics and sewed them together to make the seat cover. The legs I covered with strips of fabric that I just twirled around. That bit I was not too sure of so I just fastened the fabric with double sided tape. Think I’ll end up removing it ant spray paint the legs in pink or turquoise instead, but for now I’ll leave it to see if it grows on me.

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

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Tablerunner with a spring feeling

As I mentioned in a previous post I was playing with colors a few weeks ago. Since then a lot has happened that made me postpone a lot of my current projects. I’m currently admitted to the hospital, nothing life threatening but I’ll be stuck here for a few weeks. (Thank god for portable computers and public wifi) But today I was allowed to go home to get some clean clothes and used the opportunity to take a few pictures of the second and third color project.

This table runner was inspired by my tea-cups turned flower pots. There really hasn’t been much spring time in Norway this year (last weekend it was snowing) so I decided to make it feel a little like spring inside instead. All the fabrics are new except for the back that’s from an old sheet.

As you can see on the pictures there is some air between the layers. It’s not as bad as it might seem in the picture and if it had been bothering me I could have avoided the problem by quilting the two layers together. But I’m not crazy about that technique so I’ll just leave it as it is

By the way, I had a few requests about a tutorial for the potholders in my previous post, and I will be making one as soon as I get out of the hospital.

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http://www.myrepurposedlife.net

Potholders

I mentioned in my previous post that I had been playing with color and some of what I made were these potholders.

I had some leftover squares from when I sewed some scarves a while back. I have been thinking about what to do with them for a while, and finally I ended up with these potholders. They may not be to everyone’s taste, but I love the overdose of pattern and colors they provide J

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net 

Copenhagen findings

I’ve just come back after a beautiful weekend in lovely Copenhagen, Denmark.

My plan was to bring home some beautiful vintage plates, but sadly there were no flea markets close enough to the hotel. But by accident I stumbled upon a shop caller RetroVilla filled with (amongst other cute things) a lot of vintage wallpaper. If I had been a millionaire I would have brought almost every single roll home with me, but being on a budget I had to start the difficult task of choosing… After what seemed as an eternity I managed to pull myself away with a bag filled with gorgeous colors and patterns.

Bird feeders

Its been a strange winter with relatively high temperatures.  But that was until yesterday when I woke up at the whole town was white.  And for a few minutes I did actually enjoy the beauty of it… but then I remembered that I had to get to work.  I participated chaos and I’ve never been more right in my life… it took me 2 hours to get to work and that trip would normally take between 20-40 minutes.

I’m not the only one struggling with the winter weather. Birds have a hard time finding something to eat, so last weekend I decided to try to make my own bird feeders.

I melted some food fat/oil/lard and stirred in nuts and seeds.

pored the mixture into paper cups with ribbon in it and waited for it to set.

I then removed the cups, hung it from my witch hazel and the birds have been all over it from the first moment.

I was hoping to get a picture of them sitting in the tree enjoying the food, but it was very hard to get close enough and also the curly branches worked as a sort of camouflage for the little brown birds. But the tree is filled with the little things all day and it’s a pretty sight J