Hide and seek

Wishing you all a playful weekend!

Modelling cushions

My two latest in the cushion department, presented here by Kurt, who loves to be in front of my camera. The cushion in the bottom pic will be listed in my webshop next week. The top one I'm keeping for my sofa. (Scarf is a vintage Liberty of London piece.)

Norwegian Elle Decoration visit

I'm having a photographer in my home today, taking pics of it for Norwegian Elle Decoration :-) More on this later, no doubt.

Shed days

Besides my failing attempt at playing dr Doolittle, the last few days have been spent moving stuff between sheds. The new shed at the back of the garden really would make a lovely working space, but seeing as I would need electricity which it hasn't got installed (for sewing machine, heating etc.) it will be used for storage. For the time being at least. (The other shed which is attached to our house is better suited as a workshop.) Maybe later, if I should turn to writing it can become my writing hut :-)
Just look at this cute writing hut that belonged to George Bernhard Shaw. It was built on a turntable so he could position it according to the direction of the light. So clever. Read more about it here. Photos are taken from Shedworking blog.

I'm posting this picture just to cheer myself up a bit. I'm sure that bird in my bathroom is dying, you see. I've tried feeding him regularly and all of that, but he's not very chirpy anymore. Literally. I feel rather useless, even if it is only a bird. And a bird that had already been served a death sentence when I found him. All the same.
I feel a bit like that Moomi on my son's cup, actually. So much for cheering myself up...

A bird in the hand

On our way to kindergarten this morning, we came upon this poor little thing sitting in the middle of the road. My guess is he'd fallen out of his nest and being too young to fly, he was basically sitting there waiting for his fate. There were already ants on his feet trying to eat him alive (at least that's what it looked like). I just couldn't leave him there, so I put him in my son's hat and brought him home and now he's practicing his wings in our bathroom :-) He has only opened one eye so far, so I know he must be a baby. He's proving to be a fussy eater, though, and after having facebooked this issue, I got a tip on what to do: I'll have to go shopping for bird seeds and pre-chew them, apparently, before serving them to him. The things you do... Well, I did make a vow to the RSPCA (Dyrebeskyttelsen) when I was about 7 years old, always to be good to animals...

Aren't his feathers beautiful?

Wishing for IKEA

The fabulous Heather of SkinnyLaminx sent me this tea towel with the design 'I wish we had Ikea'. I think Heather really, really misses not having Ikea in South Africa were she lives... But what would have happened if you did have Ikea, Heather? Would we have had the fortune of enjoying this pattern then? ;-)

Check out Heather's Etsy shop for more great items.

FYI, the rest of the artifacts in this picture are of course – Ikea.

17. mai

I didn't manage to take any interesting photos today... That's what happens when there's too much going on, I guess. Anyway, this was the best shot I did - a meeting of prams before the children's parade. The kids were all so cute in their nice clothes and flags in hand, calling out their 'hooray!'s. Not at all sure what all the fuss really was about, of course. As far as national holidays go, this was a pretty good one, though. Happy birthday, Norway.

Shed update

Our garden shed is finally finished built. Thanks to my dad and his assistant, Frankie. Just some skirting boards left to put up, and it's all tickety-boo. Parts of the shed is built from recycled material - hence the green door... It all needs to be painted now – dark brown, to fit in with the grander scheme of things in the neighbourhood. Tomorrow I will start moving stuff out of what has been our main storage room up until now and into the shed, in order to free up space for my workshop. Yay. At last.

Sunday is Norway's national holiday, with all that that involves. I might post from that later. Have a jolly nice May weekend, all!

Charley Harper

Yesterday I placed an order for this abc book illustrated by the late American artist Charley Harper (1922-2007). Here's a little copy on him from Wikipedia: During his career, Charley Harper illustrated numerous books, notably The Golden Book of Biology, magazines such as Ford Times, as well as many prints, posters, and other works. His subjects are natural, with birds prominently featured. He called his style of work for "minimal realism".


I'm fascinated by what I've seen of his work, and I now want this coffee table book called "Charley Harper – An illustrated life" by Todd Oldham. It was priced at $200 when it was released in 2007. The next edition is available to pre-order for September this year... Patience is a good thing.

Dog update

Thank you all for your comments on my new dog :-) Who, by the way, is proving to be a great little chap. As kind as they come, but a real cheeky one too at times. He's great fun. I had him to the vet yesterday for his ID chip and general check-up. He's fine. And just now asked to come and rest in my lap... Ahh. Bless. And lo an behold - we finally have a name for him! We considered all your suggestions, but eventually went with my original choice: Kurt*.

* He was Dexter for one day, Rupert the next. Neither felt quite right.

Catch of the day

I did some real speed thrift shopping earlier today. Think I spent all of ten minutes in my local second hand market - and I am quite pleased with the result: A large Roulette oven proof dish from Rörstrand, two plates by Figgjo Flint, a decorative plate from Melitta Germany, a saucer by Figgjo Flint and a small Picknick saucepot (is that the correct word?) by Rörstrand. It came with a lid, but unfortunately not the original one. Which I now have to hunt for...

It's all procrastination of course. I should be doing paperwork.

Introducing...

...the dog. Who at the moment remains nameless. His former owner called him Kasper, but as one of our neihgbour's kids has the same name, I think we need to change it. (To avoid confusion when I call him in for his dinner, for instance..) We have short-listed a few names, but we're having difficulties deciding.

We've just been out for a morning walk in the pouring rain. He didn't seem to mind. Now he's blissfully conked out on his sheepskin rug.

As for settling into our home, he's doing really well. We need to practice walking on a leash, and he jumps a bit on people in excitement. I'm looking to enroll us onto an obedience training class.

SCUSI exhibition

If you should happen to be in Porsgrunn or thereabouts this week or next, you should go and check out the porcelain biannual at Galleri Oksen. Scusi is opening the event with their exhibition 'Hundremeterskogen' (Hundred Acre Wood). These are some of the new works they will be showing.

Picknick by Rörstrand

It's missing its lid and has two chips at the brim. But for less than $1 I do not care! :-) This is my first piece of Picknick from Rörstrand. Designed by Marianne Westman.

Dog dishes

I have been deep in the think tank this weekend and have finally made the big leap and decided to take on the before-mentioned fox terrier. He is lovely – very playful and sociable. I'm now looking forward to some serious dog training sessions. Hope I still find time to blog... ;-)


I realized that I had a fox terrier in my house already - on one of these decorative plates that hang on walls. I have mine on the restroom wall... alongside a poodle and a boxer. This is a wired haired fox terrier, though, and it looks quite different to what mine does (which is smooth haired). As for the wallpaper seen in the pic, it's from Habitat, designed by Barbara Hulanicki founder of BIBA.