And then came Nissen

Gjesåsberg nissen (the santa from the mountan nearby) came by yesterday. The children and the grownups as well was so happy to see him. He was so quiet, did not say so much, but he left a big pile of christmasgifts for all of us.

We spendt almost 4 hours opening all the gifts.

And this is how it looks after all the unwrapping.

I must have been a nice girl this year because Santa brought a lot of quilty presents for me + a lot of other not quilty presents.

Lise have knitted the mittens for me, Anne Ida have made that little blue sewingpurse, and Hanne has stitched the little snowman. I also received tea, patterns, liqueur from other quilt friends.

My DD and DS had bought me some new quiltbooks. One was on my wishlist, but the other one was totally new to me so I was so surprised by that one. And I got the two christmas cd's and the Mamma Mia dvd I had on my wish list + a lot of dvd movies to watch.

Stina had made the little cute lavender pillow for me. Nancy had made two lovely hearts, a bag to keep my tea lights in and a new tablemat. And look what's laying on the blue towel together with the lavendersoap (that smells so lovely).......my own abyquilt thimble.......

Look, isn't it so cute. One of a kind and it is mine. Laila's mother have handpainted this one for me.

Another fun present is this one. When Bjørg and I was preparing the next block on Joy Of Life BOM we joked about having bias on our wish list for christmas. Because there is a lot of bias on these BOM and we both hate to make them. So Santa brought me 3 long stripes of bias.

And this is some other wonderful things that has dropped in my mailbox these last days before christmas. I appriciate so much to recive these little goodies from friends.

Thank you all of you.

Now I am enjoying a quiet moment on Christmas Day. My new christmas CD of Peter Jøback is in the background. I am reading blogs and mails. The candles are lit. (got this wonderful candleholder from my DD). And I am just enjoying som quality time. And now I will find my stitchery or the next Joy of Life block and start sewing.

Enjoy your Christmas time.

Saying for today:

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,

and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful

Christmas Eve

The tree is decorated. The christmas gifts is under the tree. I am having a quiet moment early in the morning with tea and scones. I have lighted the candles and some christmas music on the radio. Both children are still sleeping and I am so happy to have them both home. Later today we are first going to visit my mother and spend some time together with her. And then we are going to my brother to celebrate christmas together with his family.


Yesterday after the tree was decorated my DD allowed me to open my SSCS package. I have been a clever girl and have not peeked at it. It stayed in the big envelope until it was placed under the tree. Look how beautiful they are wrapped.
My Secret Santa was Anita R from Australia. Look what she have sendt me. A wonderful butterfly bag in beautiful fabrics. The inside of the bag is the same fabric as the butterfly. Love it, and I will for sure use this one as a summer bag. She also sendt me some beautiful australian fabrics, a pattern and Tim Tam balls (yummy yummy). And the country threads christmas magazine which has a lot of tempting projects. Thank you Anita for being so generous to me.

There is so many presents under the tree this year. And I imagine how many more it will be when we bring them to my nephews house later today where we will be nine people total. It will be so fun with two small children (7 and 4 years old) and I think santa will be visiting us.

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year.

Take care and enjoy!!

Saying for today:

From Home to home,
and heart to heart,
from one place to another.
The warmth and joy of Christmas,
brings us closer to each other.
- Emily Matthews -

Merry Christmas

Some days ago I showed you a little sneak peak of a christmas stitchery I was working on.

And here it is finished. It says GOD JUL which means Merry Christmas. I am not sure what to make of it yet. Perhaps as a stuffed heart or as a applique on a bag. Will make something of it this holidays.

I have also made a Merry Christmas version of this pattern. And I want to give it to all of you dear bloggerfriends as a little christmaspresent from me. So to all of you from me

here is the pattern of the Merry Christmas heart.

Thank you Helen for helping me do this. Blogspot has no way yet to store and show a pdf file. So Helen was so kind to help me with this.

I will be happy to receive a photo what you make from the finished Christmasheart.

I wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year.

Hardanger heart

Look at this wonderful hardanger heart my niece have made for me. It is so beautiful made and she also have sewed tiny pink beads on it. Now it's haning in my window together with the beautiful hardanger angel she gave me two years ago. Thank you Linda :)
I am now cleaning the house for the christmas holidays. My DD surprised me when I came home yesterday. She had cleaned the bathroom all over from floor to roof. I am so happy she helped me with it.
And one of these days we will bake some gingerbread cookies. Have to have that smell in the house to feel it is christmas.

Saying for today:

This time of year means being kind
to everyone we meet,
To share a smile with strangers
we may pass along the street.
--Betty Black ("This Time of Year")

We have a beautiful country

These photos was taken some weeks ago, but I have forgot to show them to you. Don't you agree we have a beautiful country. I guess this place is even more covered with snow now. And I imagine if I look very good among those trees I can get a glimpse of a little red cap. Perhaps our nisse (santa) is hiding behind the trees watching us.

Maybe this little cute fellow.

Saying for today:

Christmas is doing a little
something extra for someone

Adventpackages

Today it is the third sunday in advent. Only 1 1/2 week to christmas. I still have a lot to do before I can relax and call it christmas.

I have opened my adventcalendar gifs today and I forgot to show you the one from 2nd sunday in advent.

This is my gifts from 2nd sunday in advent. A pincushion cat from Nadine. A lovely tin filled with pins from Hanne. And a lovely little pincushion flower on a peg that stands in my thread from Nancy.

And todays adventcalendar gifts was: From Nadine a washcloth with cats on. From Hanne a lovely scissor, I love this one and it is so good to cut with. And from Nancy a tag for my luggage and a cute thimble from the Golden Shears World Championship 2008.
Look how cute this one is. It is handpainted and I don't think there is that many of them, so this is special.

And this is what I have been sewing on today. My own design for christmas, but I can't show you anymore yet LOL

Saying for today:

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown

I'm still here

I have not wrapped myself into christmas paper and posted myself far away (and if I had, I would have mailed myself to a warmer place like australia), I have just been SO busy.

As Kris at Tag along teddies says; one week is missing. There has been so much to do at my work, meetings, deadlines. And then I have tried to get the house decorated for christmas. My DD came home yesterday and I wanted to have most of the christmas preparations done before she arrived. I almost made it. And I know she will help me with the rest.

And you know there is a lot of secrets going on these days. I have not just been cleaning the house and going to work, I have been sewing a little too. Some christmas presents. Have to show you after christmas because these are secrets projects.............eh....almost secret projects as I give you a little sneak peak here LOL
I

T0day the ladies in our little quiltgroup Trådsnellene (The Spools) had the annual christmas meeting with traditional norwegian christmas dinner.

This is the ladies that I use to go to the cabin weekends together with. It is always fun to meet like this. Sewing, chatting, laughing and today eating christmas dinner together. Thanks girls, you are such great friends.

One of the ladies had made these little thread basket as a little christmas present for us. They are so cute. Perfect to bring along to a sewingmeeting to throw all the thread ends in. Another ladie gave us each a little santa figure. And I had designed a little stitchery challenge for them. Can't show you that one yet, because I have mailed it to some other ladies that I know visit my blog. Ooooops perhaps I should not tell this on my blog LOL

Tomorrow I will show you my adventcalendar presents from last weekend and this one. Hope tomorrow will be a relaxing 3rd sunday in advent. I really need to relax now. Now I will pour myself a glass of red wine, light some candles and find some handstitching to work on.

Saying for today:

Take care.

Remember to relax.

A little bit of christmas feeling

Every year I visit this candleshop to get in christmas mood. It is so peaceful and beatiful to go around in this shop. Christmas carols on the speakers and burning candles every where.

Look at the porridge on the table. It is actually candles.

Now I am in christmas mood.

Saying for today:

Christmas Cheer Recipe:
Combine loads of good wishes,
heart full of love and armfuls of hugs.
Sprinkle with laughter
and garnish with mistletoe.
Top off with presents.
Serves everyone!

New books and SSCS

Got these books yesterday. I ordered them last week from http://www.capris.no/ and they arrived very fast. A new norwegian book called Julegleder (christmas joy) that has a lot of fun small projects. There is something in it that calls my attention now. Perhaps christmasgifts. Better hurry up.

And the newest book in the elm creek series. Will save this for christmas reading. This is more like a cook book with a lot of interesting recipes in it, but it is also a novel about the elm creek quilters.

Been quilting on my Leannes House some days now. I hope I will manage to finish it this year, but times does fly so fast right now.

And in the mail there was a note from the postman that a package was waiting for me at the postoffice. I guess it is the SSCS present. All the way from Sydnay Australia to me. Thank you Anita, when I get it home I will hide it for opening christmas eve.

Saying for today:

A good friend is like a wonderful book,
the inside is even better than the cover!

New Block in Joy of Life

Today Bjørg and I had a new meeting preparing next block of Joy of Life BOM. Block number 1 and 5 are finished, and now we start on block number 2. Irene is the one taking the photos and we almost talked her into making bias for us LOL, because there is a lot of bias on these BOM.

It is a lot of work on this block. And I have traced and cut all pieces for this one. We have noticed that block 2, 4, 6 and 8 are probably the blocks with most applique on it. So to have enough to sew on this christmas we chose to make block number 2 now. And we probably will make them in order from now on.

Saying for today:

There's enough warmth in a friend's hug
to warm up the coldest day