New Project Challenges

Birds And Tree

Hejsa!

A pair of starlings have started building a nest under the roof tiles of our porch. It is lovely to sit in the living room and watch them flying to and fro with bits of twigs and moss. I just hope that our opening the front door won’t disturb them once they have baby starlings in the nest…

In the autumn, I planted a handful of acorns from “my” tree and the other week I noticed that one of them had sprouted a wee seedling! I am so excited about this. It is magical to watch it grow and unfurl delicate new leaves. I very much hope that I can keep it alive so one day we can plant it in our garden. If you have any advice for growing an oak tree from seed to tree, please let me know! :-)

I started a new quilt project. (I made a video about starting it…) It is going to be a bit of a challenge because I am making it from a bunch of fabrics that I liked when I bought them but then I didn’t use them and now I’m not loving them quite so much. They are all very different in colour, style, scale of print etc. I like a creative challenge, though. I like the feeling of ‘I need to put these things together and I have no idea how I’m going to do it and how it’s going to turn out, but I’m just going to get started and see what happens.’ It’s exciting!

And it’s only fabric after all. Yes, it would be annoying to mess it up but it’s not like I’m building a house. The roof isn’t going to slide off if I make a wrong decision…

Forget about adventure sports, adventure crafting, that’s where it’s at. Standing on the precipice of ‘good taste’ and mangled piles of fabric. :-)

As I mentioned last week, on Sunday, February 18th, The 100 Day Project starts. I have an idea for what I’m going to make this year. I can’t wait to get started. Are you doing The 100 Day Project? I have tips for that kind of long projects in this ebook.

The other day I remembered (how did I forget it?) this 100 day project from 2022, a stitch sampler with 100 stitches:

I loved making that. I think you know I like stitch samplers? :-)

The template for the sampler consists of circles and rounded rectangles. A fun part of the project was to use stitches that either fit in those shapes or could be modified to do so. In some cases I just more or less ignored the shape. It was a really fun, creative challenge. And I learnt a bunch of new stitches too!

The 100 stitches sampler template is available in my shop and it includes a list of stitches you could try. Some of them are available as stitch tutorials on YouTube.

Now I think I’ll turn off the computer early and go cut up some fabric for that quilt. Apart from the ten largest blocks, which I made already, I am not completely sure how I’m going to construct the rest. A bit of creative fun for the weekend! :-)

Have a lovely weekend!

x Carina

---

Some Things I Am Enjoying

Book: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World* by Bettany Hughes. I enjoyed this (audio) book very much. It is read by the author and I love it when non-fiction authors read their own books. I’m listening to another book at the moment and it’s also written by a woman, but it is read by a man. That just seems a bit weird? Like, they couldn’t find another woman type person to do it? Anyway, I really like Bettany Hughes, I enjoy her TV programmes a lot, so I had no doubt that I wanted to use my Audible credit on this book. Five out of five. :-)

Watching: Our Flag Means Death is back on BBC!

Music: Saviours, the new album from Green Day. I find myself randomly humming The American Dream Is Killing Me, the first song on the album, and that’s usually a good sign.

Food: Fastelavnsboller. Danish Lenten/festival buns. Never mind pancakes, these buns have a marzipan filling plus whipped cream and icing on top. :-D

*bookshop.org affiliate link.

---

Some Random Things That Caught My Eye

🌸 Starter kit for dyeing sashiko threads. I would love to try this but do I really need another craft?! No, I probably don’t…but my birthday is coming up in a couple of months, so maybe I could wish list it… :-D

5 Ways to Detect AI-Generated Images. Knitting Batman granny, I’m looking at you… 👀

🌈 Sun-Star TWIINK 2-Colour Pen Set of 4. I would love to use these in my sketchbook, I think that would be a lot of fun!