FREEDOM FASHION: T-SHIRT WITH A FRILL NECKLINE

  Now I´m going all wild about my Freedom Collection here! That´s all I´ve been sewing lately. Here is my latest creation:

A quite basic, horizontally striped, grey-and-white t-shirt. This shirt is soft, airy, and has a woolly feeling next to the skin. It weighs none and is virtually unnoticeable when on. It feels like a dream really. I paired it with the basic jeans again, a uniform of the modern woman.

The frill around the neckhole is the key to the whole outfit really. It adds a little femininity to my being. Without the frill, this shirt might as well have come from the men´s section! Nothing else is needed to catch the eye. Details too stark would only draw the attention to them, and not my fairly colored face. When I meet and talk to people, I want them to look at me, not a disturbingly protruding detail dangling from somewhere in me.

Makeup is minimal. Virtually only blush on the cheeks, mascara, and lipbalm is needed (that is the appearance, though in reality I also used foundation, filled the brows, and applied light- and dark brown eyeshadow). The idea is to look nearly bare-faced.

  For some odd reason, this outfit reminds me of the always-so-fabulous Gwyneth Paltrow. Classic, plain, and stylish. Not that I´m compairing myself to anyone, but it´s a positive feeling I get.
   ...Wait, now I got it! It is the color choises: blue jeans, grey, white, and black. Does the scale for everyday wear come any more classic than that? She is simply beautiful. Go Gwyneth!

LITTLE JOYS IN LIFE

  In my opinion, the quality of life can be lifted up incredibly by recognizing little everyday details like this:

A cucumber I ate today. What a beauty!

First I ate it with my eyes, and then with my mouth. Beautiful and refreshing!

  The world is so full of negative news and information these days, that I grab any antidote I can find to keep my life enjoyable and happy!

FREEDOM FASHION: THE LITTLE GREY DRESS

 A dress is a must in my new Freedom-collection. I can´t always run around in only jeans, can I?

True to the basic line, this dress is a subtle light grey colour, which works well with only a hint of makeup. The fabric is thick, but stretchy, cotton jersey with faint off-white stripes in it. I can move freely in it, as I value comfort above all else. (And I fight against the common belief of comfort meaning ugly!  =) The boots I bought recently from El Naturalista, my #1 favorite shoe brand.

The neckhole is too low for my bony chest =).  My always favorite Trinny and Susannah taught us that "an empty neckhole is not attractive, it´s a disappointment!". So to fix the problem, I added a piece of fabric to fake a shirt underneath. It also makes the outfit look more complete.

To make the Freedom clothes less plain, I decided to add a feminine touch to each garment. Well, obviously, this particular one is a dress, but in addition I trimmed the hem with a length of cotton lace. I´ve learned that in our modern Western world, where women are supposed to be equal to men, we have lost a big part of our femininity. Why that is, I do not know really.  I believe women have a certain power over men, because we are different from them. Therefore I see power in looking and being different from men. Quoting Marilyn Monroe: "I don´t mind it being a man´s world, as long I can be a woman in it"!

NELLAND FASHION: THE FREEDOM COLLECTION

  "Freedom" for three practical reasons:
1. These clothes are worn on my days off (not work days).
2. These clothes look, at a glimpse, so ordinary that no one will begin to judge my appearance right away.
3. These clothes are colored so mildly, that they allow me to wear the minimum of makeup, I dare show my face on, in public.

  My main goal is still to make the perfect garderobe for work, but I need this collection now.
  Now is when I´m on maternity leave. You know, runningn errands with a kid hanging on my hip, which makes everything more difficult and so slow! I just can´t be sophisticated and look as fancy as I would like.
  So this collection is for my everyday shopping-, post office-, library-, having coffee with a friend-, etc. kind of things. Stuff I would normally do on weekends or other days off. My free days.

  This is the beginning:

Featuring my new favorite shirt and a pair of basic jeans (which are Levi´s curve id, not self made).

On free days it is possible to fool around, as I did with my hair now. After washing it, I braided it in small braids to make waves. Not straight-from-the-salon, but fun nonetheless! That´s what life is (or should be) about.

  Starting now, I will have no difficulties choosing an outfit when hitting the local grocery store weekly. Freedom, here I come!  =)

NEW FAVORITE T-SHIRT

  I´m sure this will become it, in all of it´s versatility. So plain, yet a little feminine, breathable, and cozy. Easy to slip under a dress, short-sleeved shirt, vest, or simply wear by itself paired with jeans (and nude-colored bra of course, I´m a modest person...  =).

Like mother like daughter. The kid´s size came as a bonus from the leftover pieces. I can but love making children´s clothes, they are so easy!

I freaking love this fabric! Although I don´t even know what it consists of, it feels just perfect against my skin. I fell for the fabric when I saw it at the shop, and just had to get it. I knew immediately what to use it for. The shop is a two hours´ drive from my house, and I only go there like twice/thrice a year. But each time I do, I come out with a huge bag filled with amazing(ly cheap!) fabrics.

The neckhole is trimmed delicately, simply by turning in a 1cm seam allowance and sewing it on with a twin needle. This way it remains light, and underneath another garment merely complements the other rather than draws attention to itself.

  I can already see myself wearing this shirt with multiple different outfits. Can´t wait for tomorrow - I´m gonna wear this baby for sure!
  And the girl´s shirt, I must point out, is also perfect under the vest/dresses I make for my cutie.
  

(NEARLY) HEALTHY GINGER-OAT-COOKIES FOR TEA

  Nearly, because these contain sugar. Everything else is super-healthy with no added fat. These cookies feature my recent love for the classic combination of ginger and lemon. I can´t seem to get enough of it!

I love sweet food. I went to a restaurant the other day to have only a dessert with hot chocolate. Why waste time and money on a main course if, what I really want comes after it?  =)

  The recipe:

1 tsp psyllium
2 Tbsp water
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
1 lemon, zest of
1 banana, mashed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
a little water as needed

+ Mix water and psyllium. Let sit while you mix the dry ingredients in another bowl. To the psyllium, add the banana, lemon juice & zest, and ginger. Mix well with a spoon, and add the dry ingredients. If the dough is too dry, add a little bit of water to it. You should be able to flatten it without breaking. You´ll notice what is enough.
  Form into cookies either by scooping a spoonful onto a baking sheet and flattening it, or by rolling the dough with a rolling pin and cutting with cookie cutters into the desired shape.
  Bake in oven at 375F/190C for about 10min.

  Enjoy nearly guilt-free with your afternoon tea/coffee! I sure did, and both of my kids loved them too.

  This recipe is my own, gluten-free, version of the original Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies.

KETTLE WALL CLOCK

  When we bought our nearly 200-year-old house many years ago, it came with some items that had belonged to the previous owners. Nothing valuable, but important to the property altogether. Like this old aluminum kettle.
  Instead of throwing it away I turned it into something useful:

A unique kitchen wall clock. I simply drilled a hole through the center of the bottom, and placed the pointers and clock machinery in place (which sounds fancy but is very simple). Sets are sold in craft stores for a low cost. That´s it.

The clock is the center piece of this kitchen wall, and by itself would have been too small and plain. So I placed it in an old wooden box my grandpa had made long ago, and added a couple of vintage glass bottles on the side. The lanterns are new, but go nicely with the spirit of our kitchen.

The little studs marking hours are actually tiny old nails. My son was exploring the old kitchen log walls the other day, and found these slightly protruding from the surface. What else does an eight-year-old do that grab a tool to pull them out? I again could not throw them away, and after a couple of days pondering where to put them, decided on placing them here. There are only five of them - all the more unique, right?

  Now this old kettle has the privilege of reminding us how time goes by. It is up to us to decide what to do with it...