And the winner is....

*drumroll please*

ekittie!


She had a hard time deciding on what she would chose if she won, but in the end she seemed to settle on the gift card in an Etsy-shop... (She did, however, give me the sweetest compliment on my taste in fabric and considered choosing fabric as her prize even though she doesn't sew!)


Sorry I couldn't make you all winners... Better luck next time? 'Casue there will be a next time.

Here it is: Anna's anniversary give away

Last week I posted my 300th post and celebrated my 2nd blog anniversary here on Anna's Corner of the World.

I decided to make that a reason for a give away.

Thinking about what I wanted to offer as a prize, I tried to find something that would suit most of my readers. I know some of you are crafters and some aren't. Some are Swedish but most of you aren't. I decided to give you a choice...


First choice:
A $40 order in any Etsy-shop with an owner willing to agree to letting me pay for your order. My favourite Etsy-shops are: weeones (fantastic stitch markers in clay), littleputbooks (pendants and lovely photo blocks) and unaodd (pendants). There are numerous gifted women and men over at Etsy!!! (Note that this prize has its limits as the seller has to agree to me paying for the order. I haven't made arrangements with anyone.)

Second choice:
A mystery package of either yarn, fabric or beads to a value of $40. I will get you something that I think suits you! If this is the winning prize, I expect the winner to tell me a little about themselves so I can pick yarn or fabric that I think is right for them. If you ask for green, I'll try to get you green. But I won't "take orders" as this is a mystery package!

Third choice:
A mystery package of books to a value of $40. I'll get you something I think you'll like! I'll expect to get some ideas from you (used or new books, in Swedish or English, crime or romance, fiction or craft, or what ever) but I won't take orders... You might end up with books from an author you've never heard off. I might get you something you're not expecting. Just for the kick of it.


Boring but important stuff:
This give away is open world wide. I'll ship your prize out to any address you provide.

I need some contact information to be able to reach you if you end up being the (a) winner. If I don't know you in person, please add your email address or post where your blog is so I can find you.

The prize might end up going through my home where two cats live. If you're allergic to cats or if cat hair disgust you, please keep this in mind before entering.


How to enter:
Tell me (in a comment) in what order you would pick the prizes. You can add all three choices or stick to just one. This way, you won't end up with something you don't really want...

I also want you to tell me about something you do to pick yourself up when you're tired, gloomy or sad. Is there a certain book you read? Do you go out for a walk? Grab yarn and needles? Turn on the TV? What do you do to pick yourself up???


If you post about this give away in your blog or on a forum and come back and tell me where I can find the information, you're automatically in for two chances to win.


Entries will be accepted 'til September 13th. Winner (or winners - I haven't decided yet) will be announced here one or two days later.

So, go over to the comments and tell me what prize(s) you'd like to win and what you do to pick yourself up!!!

Think I can see the light

This could've been my give away post as I had my 2nd blog anniversary yesterday. But it isn't. I haven't been able to set things up the way I had planned and need a couple of more days.

Hang in there. :)

~~~~~

I think I can see the light at the end of the overworked-at-work-tunnel. I'll get on a train in a couple of hours to go out of town. I'm going to attend a seminar tomorrow and in order for me to avoid flying and still be able to get there when they start, I have to take the train today and spend the night in a hotel. I'll be back home at about kl23/11pm tomorrow night. And at 9/9am on Wednesday, I'm expected to present my major project for our management group. (Or at least, the scope of it now. We're far from finished.) The presentation will take place about 1½ hour drive from my house which means I have to get up early. Boyfriend has taken the day off work and will drive me up there. After my 2-hour-presentation-and-workshop (now, does that sound posh or what?) I'm taking the rest of the day off too. Boyfriend and I have planned to eat lunch in a restaurant and then spend the afternoon outdoors. Just the two of us. On an ordinary Wednesday.

I need it. 'Cause this girl is tired. And slightly overworked.

~~~~~

My plan was to spend the train ride knitting on my German Stockings but I won't have much time for that. Unless someone sprinkle me with Energizer and Inspirational Sparks. I must work on my Power Point-presentation for Wednesday...

I'm more than halfway on my presentation but I think it still needs another couple of hours. And finishing it today means I won't have to work on it on the train coming back tomorrow after having spent an entire day listening to different speeches. And finishing it on the train means I can spend time in the hotel bath tub reading my book (Ken Follett's Svärdet och Spiran/Pillars of the Earth) without any stress...

And I'm looking forward to that.


(By the way, I have turned the heel on my first German Stocking - after having reworked the heel three times - and am working on the gusset.)

Another give away coming up

I'm getting closer to 300 posts in this blog. And I'm nearing my 2nd blog anniversary as well.

Those are things to celebrate, aren't they?

I'm making plans for a give away. This time around, I won't be making something myself. I don't have the energy to make the time for it... But I hope to be able to arrange a fun give away anyways, with prizes that appeal to both knitters and non-knitters, to those who sew and those who don't, to those who speak Swedish and those who don't...

Wish me luck! And as I'm Swedish, you have to do that by holding your thumbs for me. :)

Thank you, Great weekend and Creative

Thanks for your sweet comments on me modelling Emmeline earlier this week! Boyfriend and I had fun taking the shots and I thought it was fun to "make something" instead of just standing still showing you the apron. Dressing up (or down - Gudinnan: Jag har faktiskt bar överkropp på den första bilden...) was fun. I love the shoes I'm wearing in the first shot, but I rarely use them as they have a 2inches high heel and I'm not too comfortable with that. And neither is boyfriend. :)

I haven't used the apron in action yet, but I hope to do so this weekend. We have tomorrow off from work (Sweden's National Day) and boyfriend and I hope to get some company for dinner. If we do, I'll definitely parade around in it when I make dessert. I've offered boyfriend to borrow it when he makes the meat, but he prefers his own male (and somewhat dull) apron...

~~~~~

I've been meaning to tell you what a great weekend boyfriend and I had, but I've hardly sat down by the computer in the last two days. I've had meetings back to back, and yesterday I wasn't even in the office as I booked elsewhere. Things are a bit slower today so I thought I'd give my blog an update. (Or two, as I plan on a Getting-to-know-you-post as well...)

Anyways, we had a great weekend. I can't say how many hours we spent ouside enjoying the sun and the warm temperatures. We didn't do a lot of work (read: no scrubbing algea from the garage) but read, relaxed, made out, and talked. We had dinner at a fancy restaurant downtown on Saturday night. Just because we could. We were supposed to go out for a piece of pie, a salad, or a sub. Something quick and easy. And ended up pampering ourselves instead. Just becasue we could.

We spent time at the "beach" on Sunday. Boyfriend took a swim (about three strokes) in the cold water, but I just dipped my toes in. I want my water to be warm. I don't buy in to "refreshing" swims.

~~~~~

I worked some on my Clapotis. And I love it! The yarn works perfectly with the pattern and the needles.

Clapotis in Manos Silk Blend

I've asked Kate to help me out with getting more hanks of Manos Silk Blend so I can make a really long scarf.

~~~~~

Yesterday I started cutting out fabric for my two first cushions for our couch. We have cushions in it, but these are the first two that I'm making myself. I have five planned. So far...

Remember the Give Away Bag I made a couple of months ago? I'm using that same fabric for these two cushions. And I'm making the back chocolate brown.

~~~~~

I've also bought fabric for making myself one of these; a Paper Grocery Bag. I ended up at IKEA again and got a black-and-white-print for the exterior and a very bold yellow-and-pink-striped one for the interior. Pictures when the progress starts. At the moment, the fabric is awaiting a ride in the washer.

Moment of truth...

Thanks to all 29 of you who wanted a shot at winning my give away bag. I truly enjoyed reading all your comments and the amazing things you had as your favourite sewn object(s). Christmas quilt from a mother. Sewing needle case. Paddington bear from Grandma. Shorts made by mother. Halloween costumes. Turtle pillows. Quilt from grandmother. A silk Roman shade. Needle holder and knitting bag. Tablecloths. A snow suit. A quilt for MIL. Amy Butler's Weekender Bag. Quilt for a daughter. Patchwork quilt from a great-great aunt. A quilt from grandma and mom. Tiny apron. A skirt. A tote bag. Baby blanket from grandmother. Quilt from grandmother. A communion dress. A stocking. Bedroom curtains. A hankie. A mat for the Christmas tree and a matching stocking.



Thank you all for sharing!



I put everyone's name on a piece of paper, folded them all nicely, shock them around in my hands and let a colleague help me draw a winner.



And the winner of the give away bag is *drumroll*



...



...



...



*drumroll again*



...



...



...



GEEK KNITTER and her Paddington Bear!!!



I'm really excited to ship my bag to her. I've visited the city she lives in and it makes me all giggly to think about my bag being walked around places where I've been. :)



I hope you'll like it, Geeky. :kram:







PS. And to those who didn't win... I thought this was a lot of fun and will probably host more give aways in the future. Trust me, I'll hold my thumbs for you then if you decide to enter the drawing.

Random

1. My Amy Butler fabric squares arrived the other day!!! I got 32 different designs/colour combinations and between 2 and 6 of each. I wanted to immediately start making placemats for our dinner table but restrained myself. There's still some more thinking and planning to do before I start the sewing process. Loooove the squares though and have tons of ideas on what to make with them.

2. Using "tons" above I came to think of the difficulties I had when studying in Canada and having to use both tons and tonnes depending on whether the literature was Canadian/British or American. Or whatever it was. It confused the h$ll out of me. And it wasn't just the spelling, it was the numerical value of one ton not being the same as one tonne. I can't remember it exactly...

3. This got me thinking about this one absurd incident in one of the groups I was assigned to in one of the classes. We had different projects during the semester and everyone in the group took turns doing the tasks for the projects. If I made calculations for the first project, I would make blueprints for the second one, arrange the layout for the third one and takle it to the printers and so on. I was assigned to do the proofreading and corrections before sending it over to the layout and printer girl... I made many people laugh in the computer lab when I told them I was doing the proofreading and that my group trusted me with correcting their English. It felt truly absurd.

4. I picked up Muir yesterday. She was supposed to be a Christmas gift for my mother last year but that didn't happen. My hands started to hurt real badly from working too many projects on small needles, so I had to put her on hold. (Yes, Muir is a she and her to me!) I've managed to do 4½ repeats of the chart so far and I really love the way this turns out. I think the colour changes of the yarn work very well with the designed lace pattern and I can't get enough of the airy feel that the knitting has.

I'm not sure I have enough yarn to complete 13 full repeats and doing the two borders. I weighted my project yesterday and my estimation is that I might have to cut one of two repeats out. I'll probably knit the first border in a bit soo see how much yarn it takes. When the sun comes out again and I'm home to use the natural daylight, I'll take some progress pictures.

5. Sewing projects on the list: Emmeline apron from montessoribyhand for myself (washed the fabric yesterday and hope to start it during the weekend), smaller - and manlier - apron for boyfriend in a thicker linen fabric (washed yesterday and is ready to be cut and sewn this weekend), a door stopper of some sort to keep the laundry room door open for the cats, pin cushions, cushions for the cough, beforementioned placemats, coasters, and... Well, I can keep busy with my sewing machine for quite some time.

6. I might not work a full day tomorrow as our computer techies will shut down our computer system tonight for some superduper difficult and time consuming magic. I won't be able to access any networks tomorrow and to be honest, I don't really know what to do with myself all day if I can't access files and programs I normally use. Maybe I'll do some organizing of my binders and then take the afternoon off?

7. I'm going into town today to see if I can find a birthday gift for a friend. We're invited for tea and scones at her home tomorrow night. Don't really have any ideas on what to look for... I'm thinking my reward for finding her something will be a trip to the library. I'd like to see what kind of books and magazines they have on sewing. Not that I need more project ideas, but I'd love to learn more tricks.

8. There's a phone ringing in one of the offices next to mine and it's driving me nuts as it's been ringing forever. Please hang up if nobody answers after the 20th signal...

9. My boyfriend and I visited my parents yesterday. I've been on the look out for a green or purple rug for our living room and when my mother heard that she couldn't help but getting excited. She had just bought a new rug for one of their rooms as she didn't like the colour ocmbination between the newly-bought table and the green rug. So yesterday we picked up the green rug! I really like it!

10. The cats went crazy after the rug was placed on the floor and boyfriend and I settled down in the couch and comfy chair. They sniffed around the rug and suddenly burst out in crazy runs around the house. I don't know how many times they crashed into the walls... Skorpan got his paws under the rug and started running sideways along the rug's edge. And then he stopped to start chasing the moving object underneath the rug (being stupid enough not to realize it was his own paw and leg)... And then they both sniffed around some more before going for more crazy runs...

11. I went to the gym on Tuesday morning. I'm sore.

12. I have a halfhour presentation in a week and a half that I haven't started preparing for and I'm really nervous about it. I know the subject but I don't really know the audience. I don't know how familiar they are with the subject and therefore don't know if I should go into detail or keep things more general. There's no way for me to find out either. I have to prepare a PowerPoint for it and I'm awfully slow at doing them. And I know I have to prepare as I can't improvise for half an hour.

13. Lately I've been thinking a lot about lost friends. You know the friends you had a couple of years ago that you never talk to anymore. The ones you went to school with and now know nothing about. The girl next door when you were ten. I have many lost friends. Some of which I'd love to get back in touch with but for some reason don't make a priority. I plan on emailing them, calling them or sending them a card, and then nothing happens. I read my books. I work. I knit. I sew. I blog. But I don't take the time to actually contact them. Why is that?

14. In less than an hour, I'll draw the winner of my give away bag. If you hurry, you'll be able to enter if you haven't done so already. :)

Really. I am.

I'm sitting here blushing. Really. I am. And my heart is warm.

Thank you all for your kind words and your praise for my give away bag and my sewing skills. I'm blown away. Really. I am. THANK YOU.

~~~~~

There's still time to enter the drawing if you haven't done it yet. Go here. And remember that "I wish I had one, but I don't" is an answer to the question of your favourite sewn object. It's not the most exciting one, but if it's true... Well, then go ahead.

Give Away Bag - 100th post

It's time to celebrate my 100th post in this blog. A couple of weeks ago I decided to arrange a give away for my readers to mark this milestone. Or something. It could've been an excuse to sew yet another bag...



This is a messenger style bag based on inspiration from sewing Amy Butler's High Street Messenger Bag. It's rectangular and easily holds a hardcover book, a water bottle and essentials like wallet, keys and cell phone. It closes with two ribbons.



The bag has one outer pocket. It is pleated and has an elastic sewn in to keep the opening of the pocket closer to the bag. The flap also covers the opening. In the picture above you can see the coverage and the outer pocket.

The fabric is thick (meant for curtains) and works great for bags. Both the outer fabric and the lining are bought at Åhléns. The bag is interfaced quite heavily on all sides and will hold its shape on its own. The flap only has one layer of interfacing so as not to be too sturdy to bend over the bag. The bottom is extra stiff.

There has not been any attempts at matching the print on the fabric. I let the fabric do whatever it wanted to when I cut the pieces.



The strap has not been attached yet but my intention is to make it adjustable. It will be attached in the two D-rings at each side of the bag. These are metal and somewhat bronze-like. The strap will match the ribbons in front.

The bag is lined with an off-white and beige fabric that makes it easy to see what's at the bottom of the bag. This fabric is also thick and meant for curtains. There's a zippered pocket in the back panel.



For consistency, and colour, the inner pocket is made out of the same fabric as the outside of the bag. This pocket is big enough for keys and maybe a wallet if the outer pocket doesn't feel safe enough.



This is the bottom of the bag. I love this section of the fabric! It shows all the colours in the fabric.

This last picture shows the bag from the front again. Just as a reminder. And also to show one way of tying the ribbons.

This bag is made in a home that contains two cats. I can't guarantee that the bag will be 100% hair free, so please keep this in mind if you're allergic.


So, what do you have to do to be able to get this bag?

I will randomly draw a winner/receiver amongst those who leave a comment to this post and answer the following:

What is the sewn object in your possession that you value the highest? Is there a story behind it?

I will ship to anywhere in the world. Everyone who leaves a comment will be in the drawing on equal terms. One posting per person, please!

You have until noon on Thursday, February 21st, to leave a comment. And that's Central Eurpean Time, which is 1hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The winner will be announced here in the blog and if you leave contact information (email or web address) in your comment, I will also contact you personally.



What are you waiting for? Go leave a comment! :)

A hint...

I thought I'd give you a hint of what I'll post about tomorrow.

Kolsva and give-away bag

My plan was to finish my Kolsva-sweater (bottom right) this weekend but that didn't happen. It's all seemed though and I'm working on the collar. When I'm done with that part (and have it sewed in properly) I'm going to decide what to do with the sleeves. They're supposed to be three-quarter length but I think I'll make mine full.

My plan was also to finish the bag I'm making for my upcoming give-away. That didn't happen either. I agreed to help a friend with his studies and thought it would take us a total of 4 hours or so. It didn't. We spent 2½ hours on Saturday night and altogether 5 hours yesterday (excluding time for the dinner boyfriend made us)... When my friend finally left yesterday I was too tired to do anything that demanded focus. So no sewing.

This is my 97th posting so I still have a couple of days to finish the bag... Hang in there.

My craft table

I made room for my sewing machine on my craft table yesterday. When we moved into the house five and a half weeks ago, I claimed a corner desk that was about to get thrown out, and it's now my official craft table*. We set it up in our office next to the computer desk.

I have set some rules when it comes to my craft table and craft corner:

• The table is mine. Mine. And therefore only my stuff will be on it (cats of course included as mine).
• I can leave it as messy as I want to.
• I can sit at my craft table whenever I want to (even when someone else wants to use the office desk).
• When I sew (or do something else at my craft table) I get to use the comfortable office chair.

That's only fair, isn't it? :)

I have ideas for my craft corner. Shelves up on the walls so I can store my little stuff in boxes. So I can organize. A notice board up on one wall so I can pin sketches or notes up there to be seen. Spotlights on the shelves and in the ceiling so I can get proper light. Just to name some of the ideas...

Yesterday I started to sew the give away bag. If it turns out as nice as I imagine it to, I'll have a hard time parting from it when that time comes. I'll go into town after work today to get some more supplies. I thought I had everything I needed at home but when starting the actual sewing part yesterday I came up with some new ideas... Now I might need buttons. Or ribbon. Or both. And something for the handle/strap. Hmmm...

I'm enjoying this!

(* I feel a bit pretentious calling it craft table as all I ever do nowadays is sew or knit. And I don't knit at the table. I do that while sitting on the cough. Or at work. When Christmas comes around I usually make Christmas cards (not last year though as I was interrupted by a house...) but that's it. No other paper craft for me. I've given all my pearls away. I've given all my soap making stuff away. I don't dabble with paint anymore. And I'm no longer creative with my writing either. So, craft table might be too pretentious...)

I should and weekend talk

Thanks for your feedback on my last post about an upcoming give away. I have to say that I'm a bit embarrassed by your kind words, but I'm trying to be more proud than embarrassed. Thank you all!

I started cutting fabric yesterday and some of the interfacing is already ironed in place. There will be a give away.

~~~~~

My hip is doing better!!! And my upper body hasn't been shifted to the side in three whole days!!! I'm in less pain!!!

Yey for medication.

~~~~~

I had a nice weekend. Bowling with colleagues on Friday night (but I wasn't bowling due to my hip), getting wireless Internet connection thingies set up on Saturday, watched some good handball on TV from the European Championships, knit the front panel of my silk sweater (which apparently has a name: Kolsva - bottom right), spent 45minutes outside in the garden with the cats (who looooved being outside again even though the whole thing was a biiiit scary with all the new sounds and smells), made some great tasting pork chops with rice and mango-red onion-ginger-koriander-salsa, met my parents for an hour, got myself a Flickr account, cheered for Denmark as they won the European Championships in handball, watched another episode of Miami Ink and talked to my sister on the phone.

It was a good weekend.

Should I?

I need to know what you guys think.

This blog is getting closer to its 100th post and I feel like that would make for a great occasion to celebrate a bit. I'm thinking about a give-away. To make one of my commenting readers happy.

I think I'll set it up as asking for comments about something (don't know what yet) and then have the winner drawn at random. That's sort of an easy way to do it, eh? For both me and those who join in.

As I have people reading this blog who don't knit or sew themselves, I thought I'd make something and give away a finished product instead of the "usual" yarn hank or fabric square. I'm thinking about a bag of some sort. Would that be a good prize? Would anyone be interested in winning a bag that I've made?

I'm aware of other bloggers doing this without asking for help beforehand, but they all seem to be part of the group of bloggers who have thousands of readers and therefore have more "blogger asteem" than I do. I'd feel ridiculous to set up a give away and have nobody interested in it.

So, any thoughts? Would you be interested in joining in for a free gift or should I give up on the idea?