The scent of willow

Today I went on my second day of a basketry course. Everything took longer than I thought and it was quite tough on ones fingers but the results were worth it. Not that the basket was perfect in any way but the fact that I could create a natural solid container without glue and bolts was awesome.


In the beginning the willows are tied together at the top so one can work ones way from the round platform to the top edge of the basket.

Buttons for Norway

Finally I am back to blogging again. I have borrowed a good camera so hopefully the pictures will do it just.
I have joined the button swap organised by Sally Shim (shimandsons) and was partnered with Norwegian Magni. Can't wait to see what she has concocted. Here is the card I sent her. Beatrix Potter is one of my child hood favourites.


The 12 buttons gathered together before they were sent off. Found this great wrapping paper which I glued to cardboard.


The envelope was stamped with light blue ink. The stamp is constructed in such a way that one can choose a number of letters to form one word or several short words.


6 white buttons. Must be at least 30 years old.


4 red buttons. Notice the nice edges.


2 blue buttons. Unfortunately only two existed but they are a sweet couple.


I sewed an apron for my brother. One that only covers the trousers. Here is a detail of the ribbon. I love the coarse material with black rather than blue shade.


I went to the beach the other day and started taking pictures of the shells. Suddenly I thought of photographing this intriguing angle - wondering what treasures the shell might hold.

Northern images

Here are lots of pictures from one of my favourite books. The title is Nordlys which means northern light in Danish. It can be found in German on Amazon.de and it can be found in Scandinavian book shops (saxo.com) but here they charge a lot for sending. Basically the book is a photo series of 14 Scandinavian interiors - i.e. real homes and not those set-up ones. They are very different and yet very typical for the culture. I have chosen random images from the books so as to give a fair idea. My photos are not super since photographing books is bit of a task for my kind of camera though I have bought a thingy to stand it on for stabilizing











And here towards the end of this post I would like to show you this perfect apple. It had rained and the red seemed redder than ever. I don't want to pick it - it seems a pity

I went to the beach 10 minutes walk from here and found these broken bits of ceramic plate. I always look for these but it is rare that I find such a nice pattern

This my dog Ronja. I don't like to include pictures of her because it would accumulate... but I find this picture attractive because the sun gives her an "aura". Wow, does she look skeptical! That is a facial expression she has had since she was tiny

I was surprised when I put my lens close to the berries because the little "windows" appeared. Looks slightly religious to me

September red

I did something I rarely do - I bought flowers for myself. It was worth it because the rooms seem to come to life and when I wander by It is a repeated pleasure to study the details of the perfect petals. What you see on the right is the plaster negative shape of a large dog paw. Next to it is the tip of a plaster foot - mine actually. The foot can be seen in my very first post in July

The camera had problems capturing such a deep red. Too much of the good stuff

This is not a great photo but I wanted you to see the combination of colours on the cupboard top. The baby blue, the red and the dusty green (the plums) represent the colours of the fifties for me

This is a sportscar I once found and rescued. I actually sawed it in half so that I could prop it against the wall - it looked as if it has crashed through the wall. Though in a sorry condition I let it participate in the red set-up

It was ever so hard to get this in focus but I love the museum/putbehindglass/this is exquisite feel that goes with putting something under glass. The flower is sitting in an old tin biscuit form

This sign cannot be seen on the other photo because it has been fastened at the top of the mirror. I know some people would find it strange to keep something this tattered but to me the silver and the red fitted right in here. The sign reads 'emergency exit' or 'nødudgang' in Danish

This flower is called bridal veil in Danish and is usually found in combination with other flowers but I like them all by themselves. The boxes are old bank boxes and the lids open halfway. They were one of my best buys. On the left is the headlight of an old car. It is sitting there because I am going to put a halogen bulb in it and hang above a full body mirror

They just don't make closing mechanisms like these anymore

Woolly matters

I have been "reading" one of those great Japanese books and felt inspired to make a different kind of birthday card. It takes a couple of layers to make it sturdy enough but it is in no way a difficult project. Actually I think it would be fun to do for children as well.

And here in full body. I imagine making different animals - even some that don't usually have woolly backs...

This is the book I am talking about. It is strange to open it because the index and introduction is at the back. So I now read it from left to right... When in Rome. The other Japanese books I own are not like this. The ISBN is 4-579-20947-8 and the title is "paper paper"

In the book they only show a brown and a beige sheep with wool spun around their bodies. The book contains many more projects but the quality varies I have to admit

At a flea market yesterday I bought this bowl. It's from Royal Danish Porcelain but did not cost more than 25 kroner (about 4 dollars). It goes perfectly with two big milk jugs I have in the cupboard. One is shown here in the middle of a small stream

At the same market I found these white matte balls. My question is: what have they been used for? They are probably made of marble but they white surface is easy to scratch with metal or something equally hard

I have a thing about rescuing flowers. These were obviously not going to live very much longer but I think they still radiate transient beauty floating around among themselves in an old battered tin cup

A guided tour

I have a little balcony which I call my oasis. I will show you some of the details if you want to come along?
I have a thing for succulents. First of all they seem to survive pretty much everything and they don't need flowers to look interesting

Most succulent flowers look strange and exotic. I am surprised every time this plant decides to flower because it happens so fast. From afar these flowers look insignificant, I think

On the right side a box has been planted with herbs. This one is the thyme leaning on weathered wood

Another great thing about succulents is that they are willing to make lots of babies. I just cut these off and stick them in earth. The next thing you know is they are growing on their own

Recently I bought lavender and planted some of them in these metal pots. Grey metal seems to go well with the faded greens and the soft purples of lavender

My favorite flowering plant is the geranium. Here the Queen Ingrid as it is called in Denmark. It is amazing that the earth stays inside this pot but nevertheless it does

This was a new plant for me to have in my collection. The green colour is almost artificial. It forms the shape of a pillow if it is healthy enough.

I took some of these from my mother's garden and they seem quite happy now. I have taken an ultra close-up picture of the leaves because they really don't fill out the pot yet

This is the same type of plant as mentioned earlier but in a different kind of container. I don't think baskets are meant to survive outside but I like the rustic feel when it gets older

On my walk this morning I picked some wild black berries. There weren't many and they were really tiny but it just meant they were all the more treasured