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May 1, 2009

The Trip was "Wicked"!

I had an amazing time on my whirlwind trip to Sweden and London!

On the way over to Sweden I met up with my friend Celine, a fellow quilter. She fed me a very yummy lunch and let me play with her very cute kids! I also went bearing a few gifts, some batiks for Celine, a few little baby vests/onesies for her little girl and a little sheep stuffie for her little boy. Thanks Celine for the lovely afternoon!
Celine and Family and me
Gifties for Baby Charlotte
Barbara and her DH were great hosts. Barbara and I did lots of shopping at craft/quilt
and knitting shops! Look at my loot :)
Lots o Goodies from Sweden
Some great Japanese taupes
I love the wooden spools with the ribbons, I bought them just to look at, lol, but can put the ribbon to use eventually too, with cards or sewing... I found some gorgeous Japanese taupe fabrics and clever zippers by the yard with different cute zipper pulls. Barbara swears by zippers sold this way, you can make them whatever length you need and are much less daunting than the standard zippers to work with. I did that zipper pencil case in the picture in about 10 minutes, so easy! The little plastic bird is part of a set of clothespins I bought for my laundry line! They will make me smile each time I hang out the laundry...
Swedish Yarns for some Fingerless Mitts
gloves
Look at this gorgeous Swedish yarn I bought to make some fingerless gloves from a pattern the shop did...here are my yarns and her is the photo of the gloves...Barbara will help me translate the Swedish instructions, lol!
Goodies from Sweden Part 2
Barbara decided I needed to learn how to do some lace knitting, so I have succumbed, and bought a beautiful skein of Swedish/Estonian yarn to make the Japanese Feather and Fan shawl. You can see the yarn there in the pic above but it is hard to see...I should have taken a photo before I prepped it for knitting. In the pic is also some cute linen/cotton material with deer and Viking runes to remind me of Sweden, more ribbons and other cute stuff I got, including my standard tea towel I always bring home!

Barbara's husband let me borrow his car and I got to drive around Sweden with Barbara, looking at a beautiful old village called Sigtuna and a lovely bigger town called Uppsala. We also went into Stockholm for the day. Here are a few photos of the sights we saw...
april-2009

After a great week at Barbara's, I headed for the weekend to stay with Katy. As always, I had a great relaxing time, crafting, computering and watching movies...there may have been a little bacardi sipping of an evening as well... I managed to finish up a lot of my crafting projects I had been working on at Barbara's. Here are some  photos of the Dear Jane blocks I left for Katy.
Dear Jane Block for Katy - Papa's Star

This is the progress I made on a felted bag I am knitting.
Progress on Constant Companion felted bag

We went to see Wicked on the Saturday night before I headed home again. FANTASTIC!!! I loved the music and the story was great. We had the standby/understudy doing the role and she was amazing, so good! Can only imagine how great the star must be if the understudy is so excellent. Here is Miss Katy posing in front of the theater :).
Wicked!

I started my injections yesterday for the MS, so far no issues, yay! I was sad the day before I started, as I don't take any medicine at all barely pop pills unless I have a very bad cold/flu and now I will always be on medication, end of an era...but so far things are going fine.

I have gotten great packages in the mail from Paula and from Vicki, and a gorgeous handmade needle book from a friend here in Ireland, but they deserve another post, so hope to do that tomorrow!

If you made it to the end of this post, you have great stamina, and thanks for visiting!

21 comments:

rachel said...

all around it sounds like you had a great time.

you certainly bought some great stuff.

i knew you would LOVE wicked.
amazing, amazing show!!!

and yayyy that you didn't have any issues with the injections!!!

Thimbleanna said...

Wow, what a haul! It looks like you had a wonderful time. Those little birdy clothespins are adorable. I can really sympathize with you -- I never take anything -- not even vitamins, and I was quite sad when I had to start hrt. Getting old sucks!

paulahewitt said...

what a fun trip! im glad you got the package - it got a bit lost on my shelf after i packaged it up - so i didnt send it as early as Id planned. I like all the goodies you bought.

Vicki W said...

It sounds like a fab trip! The photos of Sweden are beautiful.

Mary-Kay C. said...

Wow. It certainly looks like you had a great time. I'm glad you enjoyed Wicked. The musical is way better than the book. I hope you are doing well with the injections Just consider it a part of life. You know a lot of us older folks,I'm 50, have been on medication for years. And not for mental illness either. Keep well.

kathie said...

I so happy that you had a great time. Wow some treasures you brought home, oh and I love your DJ block I may have to trade something with you to get you to make a block like that for me!
thats one of the blocks I just don't think I could ever make!
I need to get back to my DJ quilt
maybe next week I will get out my blocks and post about it again.
Its time to finish that quilt, I have always LOVED that quilt and in awe every time I see one finished.
WE saw wicked a few years ago in Boston and it was amazing, my girls are still talking about it.
Tell Celine I LOVE her T quilt on her sofa!
Kathie

Hedgehog said...

So glad you had a great trip!

Marguerite said...

Thank you for sharing your trip with us, the pictures are awesome and lovely things you bought ! Really glad there are no side effects to the injections. It'll soon become routine I'm sure !

Tracy said...

What a great time...and what great loot! :o) Love those Japanese fabrics...and I spy some Tilda treats too ;o) Zips by the yard do seem daunting at first, but very geat to be able to cut to length required. Glad you had such a terrific time with friends. Happy Days ((HUGS))

Barbara said...

It was almost as good as being there! Thanks for such a great post! :D I'm also so glad to hear that the injections are going so well - hooray!

The Chocolate Cat said...

Sounds like a wonderful trip and lots of fun. You certainly got some great goodies!!

Sharon said...

WOW what a great trip. I LOVE that yarn for the gloves. SOO CUTE!!! Good luck with your injections. Here's hoping you have no side effects.
Hugs

Jackie said...

Sounds like a fun trip! Knitting, quilting, Wicked (we saw it here Sunday), and friends...what could be better?!

Karol-Ann said...

Indeed, it sounds just like what the doctor ordered. Glad you had a wonderful time!

cher said...

everything sounds so fabulous! I am so glad you had such a fun adventure/visit and wonderful shopping. I hope you continue to do well with your injections.

Julie said...

I am so glad you had such a good time!

Celine said...

Glad you enjoyed your trip and your little stop in our mad house! Thanks for the pressies, the bodysuits are being worn very often and the sheep is well looked after. Haven't used my batiks yet.
Hope you are well and that we can meet up again this summer maybe?
Take care

Carolien said...

Lovely to see the girls ánd the other things you made/received!

Taker care & greetings, Carolien

Julie said...

Lovely pictures of your kiddos. You have been busy! Lots of great progress, and looks like you have a haul of goodies to enjoy...I am glad.

Doina said...

I like the things you have made and show on your blog!

colleen said...

Lovely pressies...and the girls look to have grown by leaps. Glad you are doing so well. Lots of things seem to be going on in your world.