Office Christmas Party

...well more like an outing, really :)

 

Every year (this is my first) the entire Copenhagen site is invited along with our families to a Christmas Party outside Copenhagen.

We took the train - never do that when it's in the middle of the first serious snowfall of the season ;) 

Anyway...the party was great! Good food, huge decorated tree, Santa came and had brought candy for the kids.
And we got to go in horse-drawn carriages to a Christmastree lot in the woods where we chose and cut down our own tree! Fun! The kids were so excited :)

 

Bringing the tree back to Copenhagen on the train was a bit of a challenge, but Mr Sødeste is a strong guy, so he managed :D

Now we just need all the snow on the tree to melt, and then we can put it up and decorate it!

TGIF!!!

I have been looking forward to Friday most of this week. Not because I didn't want to go to work - I did. But because we have been making progress on some home-improvement projects that have been put off for way too long.
Remember this post about curtains? I finally did it!!

I chose a fabric (IKEA) that Charles and I would both like, and then I was able to finish this whole project in an afternoon!

I am sorry this second picture is a bit blurry, but you can still sort of see what the curtains look like. I am very happy with them :) -oh, and please excuse the messes in the pictures. I have so much cleaning up to do, it's not even funny!

I am also hoping to find time to take the kids out for a snowball-fight tomorrow. We have a lot of snow here at the moment, and they have to be given the time to enjoy it while it's here :D

One down! Too many to go ;D

Christmas (and in my family also birthdays) are just around the corner, I have hardly even begun sewing! I am so behind this year.

When we were at IKEA the other day, I bought a towel so I could make a Tote-able Towel following Anna Maria Horners tute.

She likes to go scuba diving, and she enjoys going to the beach in the summer - so I am thinking this will be a good idea for her.
This will either be her Christmas present or her birthday present. Her birthday is January 5, so I need to have her present ready when I see her during Christmas :)

Christmas decorations in the making

Miss V has asked for at least a month if we could please put up the Christmas decorations?! I have been able to stall until now, pretty good I think :)

I love garlands, and I remembered seing this felt garland tute. So since I am spending a lot of time on the couch watching reruns of old tv-shows anyway, I figured I might as well do some stitching...

 

Miss V was happy to help me put all these on a thread and hang it in the window

 

I am pretty sure we will put it on out tree, though, I don't like it in the window. It seems too small somehow...

So I have rolled it up, and put it away so it is ready for our tree.

 

It looks really pretty this way. Like a felt flower :)

Vienna - at the opera

Vienna has a lot of cafés and apparantly they are famous for their coffee - I don't drink coffee, so that was wasted on me. However I do eat cake. And they had lots os fabulous cake!!

 

Another thing Vienna is famous for is their Opera House. I first saw it at night, and it looks really nice with all the lights.

 

I had booked a ticket to see a ballet in the Wiener Staatsoper, but when it finally turned Wednesday evening I was so tired I almost didn't go.

But I am so glad I did. 

It was a beautiful performance and everything about this building was so formal and elegant. I felt very glamorous - even if I was wearing jeans!

On a less festive note: I am sick! Eeeeks! Well-wishes are most welcome ;D

Pillowcase

We have a number of pillows and cushions at our house - as I imagine we all do :)
Only, at my house these pillows are a very poor-looking bunch. When I finished the hexagon pillowcase for our floor cushion, I vowed to prettify all our pillows. And I still haven't done it.

But now I have made a start. I have made a new pillowcase for one of the pillows in our couch.

 

The fabrics are all Kona Cotton - 7 different colors :) The kaleidoscope blocks are 11'' square and I am so happy with it!
The orange and purple stand out a lot in the photo, not so much in real life. Funny how that happens!

I am not all done sharing pictures from Vienna, but that will have to wait for my next post.

Vienna - Hundertwasser

This must be the architect of my dreams!!!

Hunderwasserhouse, Vienna

The work he did, is so unique and so beautiful. I can only imagine what it must be like, to live in one of these houses! The pictures are ones I took using the camera in my cellphone, there are much better ones on the website - also ones where the trees are green...amazing!

The other side of the building

I think it looks amazing!
There is also a museum with some of Hunderwassers paintings and models of houses....you can see some of his work at their website: Kunsthaus Wien
The museum is a work of art in itself

 

I am blown away by these buidings, they are such an inspiration!

And now I also know where my dream vacation would be....at Bad Blumau!

Vienna - The museums!

I am finally back from Vienna...it feels like I have been gone for a really long time, but it was only from Sunday morning to Thursday night.

There was so much to see and do in Vienna, home of the Jugendstil!
....the real reason for my visit was a course at the EPO. And that was awesome, but I think you would all be really bored if I went into too much detail about that - so I won't!

Vienna has lots and lots of museums, I could only go to some of them.

This is me in front of Wien Museum Karlsplatz.

This museum has my favourite Gustav Klimt painting "Love" - it was so worth the visit!!

Klimts work was the main attraction of the next museum "Secession"

Here they house his "Beethoven Frieze", but the building itself was also impressive, all the detail and the decorations. So beautiful!

After the Secession Hall, I went to Museum Belvedere:

 

After going here, I went to my hotel. I had walked all over Vienna, and I must admit that my feet were getting tired!

This next building is not a museum - it's the French Embassy. But look how beautiful it is!

 

The windows and the balconies and all the gold...wow! I could look at this for a long long time. And really, a lot of the buildings in Vienna were so pretty!

After an hour or so in my hotel room (and some dinner) I went out to see the Albert Loos' American Bar

 

I love stained glass, so naturally I like this a lot :)

There is so much more to share from Vienna, but I will have to split into several posts, so come back!!

Self Portrait Friday

This week has been such a busy one. But then every week seems to be that way. Come Friday evening I am sitting on the couch, not really wanting to get up...not even to go to bed! I may just fall asleep right here.

 

This is my picture forthis weeks' self portrait. I am happy because I had a good week, because I have spent this afternoon watching Miss V splash around in the pool during her swimming lesson, because I am watching tv and eating popcorn with Mr Sødeste.

Life is good.

-and I'm a little anxoius, I'm leaving for Vienna on Sunday. I'll be gone until Thursday night! I am going to miss the kids so much!

But it will be fun...I'm going as part of my job, but there will be time in the evenings to go and do some (other) fun stuff.....know of any quilt shops in Vienna, Austria?

DQS9

Today started out not so good. Miss V is sick and I am staying home with her today.
A day with her is always welcome, I just wish it didn't have to be because she is feeling bad.

We started doing watercolors, watching movies and other low-key activities....and then the doorbell rang!
It was the mailman - with a package for me - my doll quilt for DQS9!!

This quilt has been sent to Europe from the US three times before arriving at my door - I am so happy Donna didn't give up! Look at the beauty she made for me!

She also sent lots of goodies

 

Miss V was so happy to see a lot of beautiful buttons, and she started laying them out on the quilt ;)

The patterns are wonderful, I think I will make some bags for Christmas, they will make great presents!

Also, look at the label

 

Isn't it just the best? I am feeling very lucky that Donna made this quilt for me. It is perfect!