The healing of stitching in the cold of winter

We had this beautiful autumn filled with all the colours of the rainbow ... but all of a sudden, winter is here :-)

The little birch tree in my garden turned yellow but over a few minutes snow covered the whole scene :-)

 "Birkikvistur" (have no idea of the English name, sorry) has the most beautiful autumn colours I have seen but hidden under the cold snow.

 My little puppy, Krummi, has to go outside in the middle of the night. It is wonderful to listen to the peaceful night with no one around, even the birds are asleep. And watch the snow on the trees and hear the leaves fall to the ground. Beautiful but oh so cold ;-)

 As soon as the first daylight is visible, the birds start singing again and eat the delicious berries that wait for them.

In earlier posts you see that my dear Dúfa got ill and then died my poor little darling. While we waited and nursed her, I stitched this little Christmas box.

I always get help from the family with my projects ...  ;-)

Here is Edda "helping", she had to know what I was doing haha

And here is the box in close up. 

Thank you Judy for the kit. It is always so comforting and relaxing to stitch. We know that, don´t we:-)

Last year my husband was in the hospital for two weeks and in the meanwhile I sat there and watched over him and ... of course stitched :-)

This is what I stitched then.

I can´t think of anything more relaxing and comforting as stitching. It makes it easy to concentrate on praying and add positive thoughts to each stitch.

 Well, petting and taking care of the furry fourleggeds in the family is pretty comforting too :-)

Heart theme

Heart projects :-)

Summerday

Winternight

Life

Our dearest little Dúfa had a heart attack two evenings ago. It was like she knew she was leaving. She "said" her goodbye and then laid down again on her favorite place in the living room. All of a sudden she was gone.

We thank her for the two wonderful years she gave us. I also want to thank all of you who prayed for her. We know that prayers help although we don´t always get what we wanted. The prayers and good thoughts help also with the passing to a new state in Life.

And we know although we deeply miss her, that Life never dies. She lives on in a new world full of light and with a healthy body. :-)

Miss Sunshine and the windy days

Life sometimes gives us both rain and sunshine at the same time and even adds some heavy winds. This last week has been like that in our home. Last Wednesday this beautiful little puppy moved in with us. We call him Krummi, which is a nickname for a raven.  Krummi is such a wonderful little puppy. :-)

Our Icelandic sheepdog, our lovely dear Dúfa (means dove) took him so well right away. But on Friday Dúfa became seriously ill. During a few hours we really thought she wasn´t going to make it. But with wonderful vets who knew exactly what they were doing and with a lot of prayers from a whole lot of people, she turned back to life. She is now recovering. We don´t really know what happend but it looks like she may have eaten a poisenous mushroom. At least she was in a terrible shape. She is now starting to eat again and is in recovery. It will take some time but we believe she will be all good again :-)

Krummi is a smart lively little thing and we all love him to pieces. He learns fast but has a hard time understanding why Dúfa can´t play all day.

But Krummi also has a great friend in Embla Sól, my granddaughter. They know how to have fun together and teach each other a whole lot. Dúfa likes to take part but only for a short while at a time, until she is better.

Just before Dúfa got so ill, I received a wonderful packet of presents from Judy Grant. :-)

A whole lot of treasures came out of the envelope :-)

And here is Miss Sunshine with silk ribbon stitches, glittering beads and a beautiful smile.

This present couldn´t have come at a better time. I took the cross stitch pattern for the little Christmas box and started stitching while I was waiting for news about my poor little doggy. It soothed me to stitch and helped me concentrate on praying and not worrying.

Thank you so much Judy, I don´t think you realized how much this pressy would mean to me :-)

The sun is shining today on the wonderful autumn colours, the birds are singing and Life is good. Little Miss Sunshine will remind me of sunny days through our coming dark and cold winter :-)

The colours of autumn

I just love how summer and autumn are peacefully trying to top each others colours.

Scarlet Hit, is the name of this rather small rose but oh so beautiful.

The bees are still working while the Lisa Rose continues blooming. And she is not nearly done!

This one (Purpura broddur, in Icelandic) has "autumn colour" all summer, which makes a wonderful contrast with the green leaves around.

Skáldarós (Poets rose) shows beautiful variety of reds and pinks and yellows along with the green.

Birkikvistur looks like a beautiful flaming bush in my small garden.

This little Fairy Rose is blooming happily more and more, every day.
All these colours and texture are so inspiring for painting and stitching. So, I take as many photos as I can during this colourful time of year and look through them during winter :-)

Season changes

It is early autumn now in Iceland, or should we call it late summer?

The berries are ready on the Mountain Ash (Rowanna tree) as well as other trees and bushes. It is harvesting time. People are making jams and juices from various types of berries.

We have had a wonderful summer and are now heading into darker colder days. But that is not all bad. We can now enjoy candle lights in the evenings and use our warm wool sweaters :-)

The changes of seasons always makes me think of what happened in the season passing, what I´ve learned and then start planning for a new one. What will I do this autumn, and this coming winter? So many things, so many ideas.

One of the main things I am thinking of is the exhibition of the Friendship Tapestry December 10th. That will be exciting :-)

August and this wonderful summer is almost over

The unforgettable summer of growth in 2009

This wonderful warm summer has given us some amazing things here in the north. We have a cherry tree in our garden. I was not sure if it would bloom but it did so this spring, beautiful white flowers all over. This last week, we were able to pick one red cherrie to taste. We even split it in three, so we (my husband and I and our little granddaugther) could all have a little taste, mmmmmm.... it was so good. It was the very first fresh cherry I ever tasted.
And now we have a lot of berries almost ready for picking :-)
For me, having a tiny little front yard and growing cherries, on this island in the North Atlantic, is nothing but close to a miracle. :-)

One of my cats had some adventure the other day (see another blog post). And is now slowly recovering from breaking his leg. Cats are an amazing creatures, he jumps around, runs and plays on three legs with no problem. The other animals (including us humans) in the household give him good cuddles and hugs and he is healing well :-)

Two of my latest stitching works. To the left is "The Guardian Angel" and to the right is an elf man we call "The Educator in Hvalfjörður". Both are images from my new elf cards. I printed my painted pictures on to fabric, silk in one and cotton in the other one. I use varigated threads including hand dyed silks ( I just love those!) and metalics for the angel. The elves staff is from one of my rose bushes in the garden.

Warm days in the north

This summer has been unusually warm and wonderful in Iceland.

Dúfa, my doggy, had to find the fragrance for herself, imitating both me and the bees :-)

I can never get enough of these wonderful rose bushes. It amazes me everyday how beautiful the colour is and the fragrance mmmmm ....

And for a thread and fabric addict like myself, I always start thinking of what kind of thread would fit best to stitch them ;-)

This little elf man, I painted and then printed on silk fabric. I used hand dyed silk and fine wool to stitch him and a branch of a rose(of course ;-) for his walking staff. This is one of the pictures on my exhibition last weekend.
The family enjoys ice cream in the little garden. Do you see the kitty trying to steal a lick from the bowl?

One of our cats, "Magni the little Viking kitty" broke his leg the other day, during some adventure outside. He is now home from the animal hospital, getting better and learning to use this strange stiff leg.

Poor little Magni, but the other animals and our dear little granddaugther make sure he gets a lot of hugs and comfort :-)

The family (some with two and some with four legs ;-) spends as much time as possible in this tiny little garden. I always carry with me a bag or a basket full of: a stitch project, my Elf cards, the phones and of course my coffee mug.

Today is cloudy but it feels nice though. My husband and I are working on the website www.ragjo.is it still needs some fixing. But have a look, check out the Friendship Tapestry pieces, there are some gorgeous art, curious kind of works, warm and cheerful, old style and new methods. The Friendship Tapestry is really a collection of ways to do needlework as well as showing friendship between all people around our planet.

My exhibition and a new website!

This beautiful weekend I am displaying my "stitched-paintings" in Eyrarkot cottage in Hvalfjörður, Iceland.

Saturday was wonderful with the perfect weather to enjoy the view over the fjord and mountains, along with the art work and chat over coffee outside.

We took short walks to visit with the elf beings in the neighborhood. The connection between Icelanders and elves is old and rich. As far back as stories go in this country, there is the stories of these beings living in lava rocks and mountains, streams and knolls.

We had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people Saturday and are expecting people today as well. The paintings on the wall are made by the artist Inacio Pacas.

The weather is beautiful today, wonderful to drive a short distance out of the city and enjoy a peaceful afternoon with nature, art and elves and of course us humans too ;-)
I am also introducing my new Elf Cards: "The Elves Little Oracle Cards". They include pictures of Icelandic nature beings, birds and animals.

I have opend a new website www.ragjo.is it includes the Friendship Tapestry along with pictures of my "stitched-paintings" and the cards.

Love and friendship to you all
Ragga /Rags

I love these lovely days in the garden :-)

A beautiful day out in the sunshine today!

The unbelievable fragrance of the roses and the variety of green and pink colours. The variety of shapes and texture .... mmmmm... just makes me want to stitch and paint :-)

I spent most of the day in the tiny little garden of mine. In the great company of good friends of human kind, cats, bumblebees, plants and .... well, these are my new "Elves Little Oracle Cards" ;-) My kitty Edda wanted to have a reading. It looks good, I think she is going to be playing outside some more this summer ;-)

My new website is: www.ragjo.is