THE BRIGHTEST SUNSHINE EVER

  Finally I´m a mother of two! My baby princess was born, and now everything just seems to be glowing along with the spring sun!

Bright, happy light seems to cover everything in Nelland these days!

  My life is plain filled with happiness and joy right now! What a wonderful world we live in!

HOME DRESSED IN OESTARA

  Tomorrow is the peak of Oestara, the spring equinox! Equally darkness and light, and from then on, more light and dark! Yippee!

  This is the time of year when I always get charged with energy, and can´t wait for all the snows to melt and start living outside more. Dreaming about hammocks, planning seeds in the garden, maybe a fruit tree, having breakfast in the morning sun... It´s all still ahead!

  What I always do before the peak of each sabbat, is decorate my home to the occasion. It sets up the right mood, and is refreshing to experience a change. It is still snowy outside here, but I´m taking a head start to spring bloomers inside the house.

This is what you see when entering my home. I like to decorate the entrance hall, so that it is there to sweeten my day each time I (and everybody else!) walk in and out of my house. It gives the first and last impression.

These boots are old army shoes I bought years ago at a second-hand-shop. They sit on this dresser year-round, and act as potholders to changing flowers and other decorations.

Only a very close look reveals that these aren´t real grape hyacinths. We have allergies in the family, so I had to give up most real flowers and plants long ago. Luckily they manufacture fake plants that look so real, it is hard to suspect anything!  =)

Willow catkins are a must at Oestara!

This is the opposite side of our entrance hall. On this side I have the big wreath above the mirror, on which I hang decorations. I wanted to create a difference, so that both sides stay interesting, and don´t repeat the same idea.

As a curiosity, this deserves a mentioning. These are my staple decorations, that stay here year-round to give vintage look. Notice how the shoe-theme continues on this side...

Rust and lace create an interesting combination.

Oestara colors in a nice, subtle tone, in a wide variety.

Mixing natural ingredients with store-bought ones accentuates the best features of each.

The dining table in our kitchen. A tricky place to style, because the arrangement needs to stay quite low so it won´t block eye contact between people.

Another staple decoration: a vintage scale.

These chicks are so adorable and fun!

This spot in the kitchen is so cut off of natural light, that the chicks have to nest in fake grass. But it looks great all sabbat through!

Still in the kitchen, these old army spoons enliven the tabletop without making it difficult to keep the surfaces clean.

Yet another corner of our kitchen. (I´m still in the process of remodeling the armchair, that´s why it looks silly...) The kitchen is located in the center of our house, and is therefore the second place where I find it essential to play with seasonal decoration. We walk through and spend a lot of time in it, so the decorations give out the maximum effect when placed in here.

  It is still too cold outside to place Oestara´s blooming bulbs there, so for now I´m only enjoying these ones inside the house. The time will come (usually surprisingly quickly!), to plant them outside too. And then it will be a whole new occasion, and source of beauty and happiness, when I do that!
   Often I find it best to take baby steps, and embrace each, one by one. That maximizes the effect and gives me the most joy out of it!
  Beautiful Oestara!

PLAYSUIT FOR A BABY

  One-piece romper is a favorite of mine for a baby´s outfit, but this time I had to give in and make a playsuit. The reason for it is that I noticed how many body shirts I have gotten as a gift for my baby, and now will have to find a use to. It would be silly not to use them, so I need some "pants" to go with them. And regular "pants" will not do. I think they look mostly unattractive with a baby´s big diaper-bum, and are not handy in use. Only after the baby becomes a toddler, and starts to walk, are ordinary pants in order.

I was left with small pieces of extra fabric earlier, when making a nursing shirt for myself. How could I throw those away? I thought it would be cute to have outfits made of the same fabric with my baby. This baby body shirt is one of those I have gotten as a gift. If the baby is a girl, I´ll add a little lace to give it a more vintage and romantic look.

Snap fasteners, always my favorite in baby clothes!

There is a seam going across the belly because the scrap pieces of fabric were so small, I couldn´t fit the entire front or back piece on it. Like they say; "where´s a will, there´s a way"!

  This playsuit is made with the same pattern as all of my previous rompers, but I left out the sleeves. It is so simple to vary!
  If you don´t yet have proper patterns, it is easy to buy them on the net. This is a nice, and affordable, set for a baby from McCall´s. I have bought their patterns, and therefore can recommend it. They have a worldwide delivery too.

NATURAL BEAUTY OF OESTARA

  The other day I was driving home from... hmm...I forget now... and was able to witness this beautiful sunset on the way.

No picture manipulation done here, it really was this beautiful!

It shows clearly how the sun is getting more powerful. The colors in nature are getting more vivid as the daylight increases. Welcome spring!

  Pictures were taken while driving, through an obviously dirty windshield...

  Embracing everyday moments,s like this sunset, are what brings quality to my life. Sound dull? But I see them as gems, that are so close to me, that it requires a certain skill to acknowledge them. And since they do exist anyway, why not enjoy them to the fullest? Quality of life, to me, is more than just traveling around the world or buying new houses and cars (of which I do none...=)  Those occasions come too rarely. I rather recognize the small good things life has to offer (along with the bigger but more infrequent ones, of course), and be happy every day!

  I love and respect the fact that nature still keeps giving us so much, though we have harmed it in many ways over the past century or two. But like they say, it is not yet too late to save her, and ourselves as a side product! Little things do add up...
  

CUTE GLOVES FOR OESTARA

  It is still chilly where I live, especially in the mornings. Today it was -10 Celsius. That means gloves are still necessary, every day, when stepping outside of the house.
  Gloves are a fun accessory, with which you can go a little crazy even. I love stylish clothes, but I don´t want to take things too seriously. Dressing up is like a little fun game. Besides, I have to wear something anyway, so why not something pretty and uplifting?

  These gloves go with my Oestara-look:

Green grass and little chicks are so Oestara!

Gloves are a safer place to fool around and have fun, than say, dresses or shirts. If I had this theme in a bigger garment, I would have to be much more subtle with the outcome.

Call me childish, but I love these little buttons!

The grass is simply cut out piece of green fleece. I placed a solid piece of it on top of the clove, and started cutting away. I hand sew it on (which took a little too much time, and especially patience, but now that I see how it turned out I can say it was definitely worth it).

  Oestara is not only about grass and chicks, it is also the time when the first flowers, like crocuses, start to bloom:

All of these fabrics are leftover pieces of some previous projects. The crocus buttons I salvaged from my earlier dress (which I abandoned for being too stretchy and loose), and transferred to these gloves to make them pretty.

The first bugs wake up from hibernation during Oestara too.

The crocuses were challenging to sew on securely enough, since they weren´t buttons after all! I used thread, as close to the original color as possible, to tie around the whole flower.  It doesn´t show in use, only in a close up like this.

The recipe:

your hand
a piece of paper
30cm fleece fabric (a little stretchy)
buttons, ribbons, bows, etc. for decorating

+ Place your hand, fingers separated, on the piece of paper. Draw down the outlines of it. Add about 1cm to these lines, all around, and cut along that line. This is your pattern.
  Fold the fleece right sides in, and cut two hand shapes out of the double-layered fabric. You can use different colors for bottom and top, if you like.
  Sew close to the outer edge with straight stitches (mine have never torn). Cut opening notches between each finger at the bottom, up until about 2mm from the stitching line. Turn the gloves right sides out.
  Decorate as you wish. Let your imagination fly and have fun!
 
  You can check out my Imbolc gloves here for more inspiration!

  These gloves fit incredibly well, since they are made just for me. The fingers are exactly the right length and width, which I often find poor in store-bought gloves.
  They also make a nice little gift for a friend (you might want to sneak her/his handprint first with some excuse for the perfect fit, but these work without it too. Just keep the fabric stretchy enough.).

(IN)HUMAN TRANSFORMATION

  Yesterday was the due date for my baby to be born. But she didn´t.
  What better date to capture my current figure on film than that?! I won´t be this big for long (hopefully), and unless photographed, later on I will never believe the size I achieved during pregnancy! It amazes me how much a woman´s body can stretch and change in just nine months...

This is my home-look. No make-up (if I don´t leave the house), but jewellery and other accessories are used to complete the relaxed look. Outfit colors match the house´s main colors. It is a skill to dress right for each occasion. And homing is an occasion, right?

  For comparison, here is a picture of me a year ago:

This is a genuine going-to-work-look. So not too much make-up, but otherwise a neat appearance. Thought through to the smallest detail, like the hairband. (Needless to say, I have made the dress myself.)

  Once the baby is born, it is time to start hunting that lost waist again... It won´t happen over night, but don´t they say that it takes those same nine months to transform oneself back to the original state? I have a long way to go: -20kg...
   I will post about my progress during the year. Thumbs up!

DIY CUSTOM-FIT MAKE-UP STATION & CABINET

 My earlier (and successful!) experience with woodwork encouraged me to try a bigger project. This time I made an important, quality-of-life improving, piece of furniture I have been struggling with for years now: a working make-up station! Yes, yes, men don´t understand the importance, but us gals, we use it daily to achieve the best results in life, right?  =)   (I do think a neatened and somewhat stylish appearance affects the way we are treated by the world. And that goes for both sexes.)

Whenever possible, I put on make-up in daylight. Therefore the station needs to be in front of/next to a window.

There is a door leading to the upstairs balcony right next to my make-up table, so I built storage space for slippers as well. Now they´re not in sight all the time, and it´s easier to vacuum the floors.

Not a pretty sight inside, but so important in use, that I want to show this too. Hidden from the eye are electric extension cords, trash bag, and tissue/toilet paper for cleaning make-up brushes.

The mirror is from a vintage make-up table I had before. It was pretty, but too small and not handy. I saved the mirror, and placed it over the ugly (but necessary) air conditioner we have in our bedroom. The lamps are located at an ideal 45 degree angle above my face, to shine light nicely when I do my beautifying in the mornings ( this face does need a lot of work  =).

In the corner there was a nice space to add a cabinet to. Can there ever be too much storage room?

Now I finally have a proper place for all my sewing magazines and patterns!

In the feminine corner of our bedroom I have allowed myself to have a tiny bit of pink. Otherwise I keep it to the minimum, because I always think that if I were a man living in our home, I wouldn´t want too much girlishness around...

  The combination of these cabinets is made of glued wood panels, and attached together with small angle irons. I screwed the cabinets to the wall behind also, to prevent falling (maybe I don´t trust my skills enough yet...).

  Since I´m no expert, and all custom-fit cabinets need to be made by specific measurements to fit the desired space, I can not give detailed instructions. But go see Ana White´s page to learn more about the making of wooden furniture.She has done wonders, and is inspirational!