Still Enjoying Summer . . .

Contrary to popular belief, I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth :)  I've just been enjoying summer, my trip to Finland, and the catching up that comes with all of that enjoying life!

My trip to Finland was a wonderful visit with an old friend, meeting her family and experiencing the Finnish culture.  A sidetrip to Sweden was a fantastic cruise on the Baltic Sea, and thoughts of my ancestors while seeing just a small portion of the land they came from.  I find it truly inspiring to be immersed into another culture - a whole other world of language, food, and the many small things I take for granted.  I never thought I'd be watching the "Biggest Loser" with Finnish subtitles!  Or carrying around conversion charts in my pockets to figure out temperature and money.  And, I don't really love using military time on a regular basis.  I do, however, love a good sauna and a dip in the lake :)

Tatting tools were no problem on my flights - I had a small embroidery scissors, my Aero shuttles, and my hookpen in my carry-on, and had no raised eyebrows.  I thought I'd get more tatting done during the flights, but my eyes got tired fairly quickly.  I did get one bookmark completely done - one of my favorite bookmarks to make - from Jane in South Africa, with Lady Shuttlemaker's beautiful "Helm's Deep" HDT:

and got a start on this one - Flower Meadow - in Lizbeth Tropical Punch.

 

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And here are a couple more photos from my trip:



 

A pretty crocheted way to cover bike spokes - as seen in a

Swedish museum representative of the 1700-1800's.

 

 Greetings from Stockholm!

My friend and I saying goodbye at the airport in 1978.

And my friend and I saying goodbye at the airport once more in 2012.

 

Aaawwww - it was so much fun to catch up!

 

STILL on vacation :)

Having a wonderful time in Finland!

 at Suomenlinna

 Kärkola

view from Hollola tower

Greetings from Finland!

I'm glad to finally be in Finland after all that planning and anticipation! 

I was able to get my tatting supplies on the flights with no problem, and got a little bit of tatting done too.  Now I hope the flights home will allow the same equipment through security :)

Yesterday, we visited Suomenlinna - islands just off of Helsinki with an old military fortress.  The weather was beautiful, sunny breezy mid-60's, and it was so enjoyable to stroll around and look at the Baltic Sea.

Hopefully I will be able to post some more pictures during my stay, but computer time is a bit limited as I don't want to hog my host's computer!  And I'm finding it difficult to use this foreign keyboard too - never thought about that before.

Relief - Finally!

I thoroughly enjoyed tatting this bookmark by Frivole - the Flowering Quatrain Bookmark in Size 20 Lizbeth.  The color is a brighter pink than shows up on the photo, and it seemed like this pattern really deserved a solid color to show it off.   Now I'd like to do it again, paying closer attention to being more consistent with picot size.  I also really like how this is done in one pass - split rings are lifesavers.

My cave had a workout this past week because of the record-setting heat we've been having.  Upper 90's to even 102F, with high humidity - ugh.  I pretty much only went outside to go to and from work or water my flowers and veggie garden - otherwise it was much more comfortable in the air-conditioning doing absolutely nothing, since the heat just sucks the energy right out of me. (Have you ever had your glasses fog up just by stepping outside?)  We FINALLY have some relief after some storms passed through last night.  We went from 100 degrees to 75 in just a couple of hours.  It feels so good to have the windows open again!

I also made one of these cute little bags - the Little Boxy Pouch.  It's a quick, easy pattern, and I've made it in a few different sizes.  The pattern makes a very small pouch - but I revised and cut this one in 10x12 rectangles instead of what the pattern calls for.  This particular one is about perfect to hold all those products I travel with - even a makeup pouch would fit in here along with the shampoo, disposable razors, etc.  I think this bag could hold various UFO's too . . .

Speaking of UFOs, I'm wondering what to work on next.  The unfinished doily?  The handkerchief edging that I started ages ago?  I sort of put them aside as county fair tatting projects when I realized that I would be on vacation and unable to be at the fair.  I think they might be 2013 fair entries :)

Cave Time!

Tonite I will be hiding in my woman cave - and believe me, it's a welcome chance to stay in the air-conditioning and work on tatting the Flowering Quatrain bookmark.  It is currently 99 degrees outside, and the dewpoint is ridiculously close to 70.  {Which pretty much means it's a sweatfest out there!}  AND, our new building (at work) had a glitch in the A/C today, so it was near 90 inside the building.  Ugh.  I do not like hot, humid weather.  You wouldn't think it would be like this in Minnesota, would you?  


17 days until I go to much cooler Finland :)