Gifts from Sweden!

Hi everyone and Happy Long Weekend, if you live in the US. I have grand plans for the extra day off - oh, stitching, jewelry making, sewing, finishing and all that jazz. I already have a feeling that much will come to be neglected, but a girl can dream, right!?

DH and I are laying the hash trail for today (we are the "hares"), so that takes a lot of planning. It is fun and you get a lot of exposure to new neighborhoods, so I really enjoy it. DH and I just got done mapping the trail through Map My Run, which is a really cool tool. We are looking forward to a 3.5 mile trail in about 95 degrees (I'll make sure that DH drinks some non-dehydrating liquids both before and after...).
If you are curious about what hashing is, here is a link! Hashing (read under the heading "Events" to get a better feel for what hashing is. Try it out - you may like it!)

So, my birthday is on Tuesday next week. The reason why I am mentioning this is that I already got a package from my parents in Sweden. They send the coolest gifts! Of course I just had to tear this baby open once I had picked it up from the post office! Let me show you:
A really cool wall decoration with tiny blackbird clips on a string - so I can hang small ornaments or pretty post-cards on the wall. I already have grand plans for this one! I only need to figure out where to hang this, so that real birds don't start hanging from it... you know they will, any chance they get!

I did get a large bag packed to the edge with Rhubarb-&-Cream tea - my favorite tea. There are such wonderful tea-shops in Stockholm. You go in and enjoy all the fragrances, look at the large collections of tea boxes, tea sets, mugs and accessories and sniff all the yummy teas. the teas are sold per weight and it is really hard to leave the store without a collection of paper bags and a few pretty tins for the collection at home. I recently ran out of the R&C tea that I brought back from my latest trip home, so I am really excited about sitting down with a cup of this fantastic drink. (Check out some pics and reviews from a couple of examples: Java and Esters. It cracks me up that this site has reviews from 24 tea shops in Stockholm compared to 10 in London, UK, 9 in Warsaw, Poland, and 6 in Paris, France - I have to write out the countries, since we have Warsaw, London, and Paris here in KY! LOL It is easy to conclude that Swedes love their tea and coffee!)

Some bird clothes-pins. My mom and I collect these, so whenever we find a new version, we buy a pack for both of us. I think that we are up in 4 different types now!

A very pretty felted pot-and-pan coaster. Is this not just wonderful with read pears that also look like hearts? I love the colors, they style, and the feel. It will be treasured and used very carefully - and definitely NOT as a coaster. :-)
Some woven and very sturdy pot-holders. I think that they are too pretty to be used as such, so I will just use them as doilies.
They always pick out the pretties cards too. I think that they generally try to find cards with birds, since birds is a topic that all of us are fascinated by. This time it was a really neat golden lady.

And finally, a wonderful book about Swedish and Norwegian folklore. I am pretty sure that it was L-bug who sent me a link and as soon as I saw this book, I called home and hinted that this would be a great B-day gift. It is absolutely beautiful! There are gorgeous clothes for weddings, every-day life, church, winter, summer - all is covered. The photos are fabulous and very colorful, which is so interesting, since Swedes generally claim that we are "afraid of color". Well, clearly, that is just one of those "self-critical truths" that Swedes are all to good at coming up with... Anyway, the book is so cool, because it is written in English, Norwegian and Swedish. Everything is written in English, but the chapters covering Swedish traditions are written in Swedish also, and the same is true for the sections covering Norwegian folklore. I am looking forward to read a bit Norwegian to see if I can figure out what is says before I read the English text right next to it.

All these gifts are treasures; I can tell that my parents put a lot of thought and planning into all the presents and I feel so spoiled and loved. Tack mamma och pappa!!!!

Well, I need to get back to my stitching. It was recently brought to my attention that we are having an exchange in our all-stitch-weekend, which is coming up very speedily - next weekend, as a matter of fact. A bunch of girls get out into the country and stitch for three days straight. No disturbances from the outer world. We stitch, eat, sleep, repeat over a long and relaxing weekend. We don't have to work on anything but our projects and I can assure you that there is no opportunity to starve during the retreat either. Great home-cooking with salad-bar and desserts. It is truly a weekend to treasure and you feel completely pampered and re-energized when it is time to get back home on Sunday afternoon.
Anyway, after seeing Bzz-Bzz-Bee's super-cute Just Nan birdie, Daisy, I had to stitch up something too. I am still working on the crosses, but I am hoping to finish up the project on Sunday... (I promise to post a pic as soon as I can!) Then it's back to Hare Pyns!

Have a fantastic weekend with lots of stitching and I hope that all of you are safe out in this crazy weather!
Happy Stitching to all,