Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you all who visited my blog page, I promise to write more next year ;-)

I am planning to add more stitching things on the blog next year :-)
See you then!

Advent with kitties and cross stitch :-)

Our "Christmas kittens" are born. Beautiful little kitties which purr so softly and meow so LOUD haha
It´s been busy times lately. I decided to start my own little business and have been working on that day and night. I am designing cross stitch patterns and have to admit it takes a bit longer then I thought to make a pattern ready for sale ;-) I am hoping the first ones will be ready in January. I will post the pictures here when ready. I call my business "Stitching Elf" All the pictures will be based on Icelandic Nature and all it inhabits.

More later and remember to enjoy the Advent :-)

"The summer within the winter"

The weather changes fast here in Iceland, ... like the economy these days. But it is good to remember the beauty is still there, we just need to look a bit harder. There is always the heart of summer within the winter. The plants are just sleeping and will wake up again to give us beauty and joy.

During windy, cold days it is wonderful to sit under a blanket with our stitching in hand and a doggy to warm the toes and a purring cat helping with the stitching. A candle on the table and good family to share time with. Nothing is better then that no matter what else goes on in life.

Life changes like the seasons

The Light of Life shines through and brightens up each day. Even when it is cloudy and rainy like today, we know the sun is right there behind those clouds and is shining as always, wether we see it or not.

Well, I think it is about time to write another blog. Many things have happend since last time. A month ago my husband Lárus, became ill with encephalitis and was in a hospital for two weeks but is back home and recovering well, actually recovering amazingly well :-) Lárus is now in physical therapy and it will take weeks or perhaps months to recover fully. But there seems to be no permanent damage which is a miracle :-)

The Heavens smiled at us this time and gave us a new life :-)

We are convinced that both the medicine, the good doctors and all the people around the world which prayed for him, made the whole difference. People of many Christian churches and many religions and faiths have prayed, we felt the energy and peace that came with it. Thank you all dear friends and people we have never met, thank you for all the praying.

Here is one picture for a dear friend Judy, she asked me about this tree on the Friendship Tapestry website.

I stitched this birch tree a few years ago and have used the image as background on the website. www.internet.is/friendshiptapestry I used Icelandic wool for the tree but DMC cotton for the branches and leaves, both solid and varigated threads. The fabric is ;-) an old shirt from my husband hehe

I hope you are all enjoying the autumn coming in with beautiful colours. The changing of seasons always gives me a sense of life changes. The old is blown away to give space for new ideas, new outlook on Life, new hope and a new opportunity to live better today then yesterday. Well, maybe I feel extra much this way, this very autumn :-)

Keep stitching! :-)

Rags

Close friends

I hope you are all enjoying the summer. It has been really nice here in the SW part of Iceland up until now when it rains all day. But I guess the plants really needed that too. But we who can help it, stay inside and stitch or write or... ... just play together like these two in the above picture. They are almost the same age, will both be one year old this autumn. Dúfa (meaning Dove) is the Icelandic sheepdog puppy and Magni the little Viking, is the siamese/housecat mix kitten.
They are the best of friends.
I send my best to you all, now I am going back to stitching.

My blog and The Friendship Tapestry website

Today I connected this blog to The Friendship Tapestry website. Here to the left is a link to The Friendship Tapestry.

A glorious day!

My exhibition at Eyrarkot, Kjós, yesterday. The weather was wonderful !! and the fjord and mountains gave their best to greet all the visitors that came to their special day: "Kátt íKjós" "Joy in Kjós".
Here are some photos from the exhibition :-)

Guests looking at my work and reading the tiny stories with each picture.

Me and my pictures

Me and Jóhanna outside Eyrarkot. Jóhanna is a Heathen priestess and held a speach about the Old Nordic Faith, Ásatrú and the people who first settled in Iceland and the area around Kjós. They were both Heathen and Christian and all lived together in harmony. The world can learn from that today...

This is Bergþóra and me. Bergþóra owns and runs the guesthouse and eshibition room at Eyrarkot. She has made an old house into a wonderful warm and welcoming guesthouse for 10 people in this peaceful countryside, just 40 minutes north of Reykjavík. She offers breakfast and rents out the salon where we had the exhibition. If you ever want to come to Iceland and stay in the countryside, I´ll get you in touch with Bergþóra, she is the nicest person you can imagine.

More guests looking and reading.

Holtasóley or Mountain Avens is the Icelandic national flower. It grows everywhere, even high up in the mountains. The flower is small but I feel it represents the smiles of Mother Nature. She smiles to us, do we see it?

Almost there...

Saturday is getting closer and I still have a lot of things to do. But I´ve got 8 pictures ready now, so almost there.

Here is one of a dwarf I met one fine day by a lake called Kleifarvatn.
It is still raining and the wind blowing out here in the N-Atlantic. But my roses keep blooming, they are not giving up. And with those Nature´s smiles in my garden, it is ok if it rains...

All my best to you dear friends out there.
Love
Rags

My studio

My window and door to the balcony of my Ravens Nest.

We have been blessed with sunny and warm days for about 6 weeks in a row! It is not usual in Iceland to have the same weather day after day for so long and we have all really enjoyed it. Except it means we have to water the gardens and some farmers have lost some of their grass. But today makes up for it, it rains like God wants to clean the ground right through, all in one day!
But it is dry and warm in here, in my studio, my "Ravens Nest" and I have a lot to do before the exhibition. Even though it is only for one day, it takes time to prepare the pictures. But it is fun and I really look forward to next Saturday.
But better keep going
Love
Rags /Ragga

First exhibition of my needlework pictures

On July 19th I will display my stitched pictures. It is the first time I display my work since I started "stitching my paintings" so I am very excited. (and nervous ;-)

The exhibition is only open for one day but it is enough for me to start that way. I will tell more about it as time comes near. I am working on making the pictures ready for walls and ready to be viewed.

My best to you
love
Rags

Sunshine on my shoulders

The Light shining in all it´s glory, giving light and warmth with the old birch tree giving shelter from the hottest rays.
My best wishes to you all dear friends.
Love
Ragga

A test post

This is a test for a blog page for Rags.
Anyway, just testing. See you girls ;-)
Rags