week 51

Well, looks like I'm more the one-blog-entry-a-week kind of person...
; )
Last week I did promise to show my woodcarving project once it's finished, so that's what I'm going to do today. When I first posted it it was still very bland. I have to admit, it didn't change all that much in the end... and it did not become a bowl either...
This is what it looked like after I was done sanding it:

Already you can see the lovely pattern of the grain. But look what happened when I rubbed it with flax oil:

Aren't those colours phenomenal?
And now imagine it with a candle burning in it:

The warm candle light makes the grain come alive, and it looks so cosy, just perfect for winter!
(sorry for the bad quality shot, I lent my tripod to a friend and just couldn't wait for her to return it...)

December already???

It's been very busy in this magpie's nest lately. Not only has "Sinterklaas" (Saint Nicolas, it was his "birthday" last Saturday, and so he came all the way from Spain on his steamboat to bring presents to all Dutch children, well, the good ones that is...) come and gone this past weekend, dropping a huge bag of goodies for K at the front door, I've also started to work on our smallest bedroom to transform it into a workspace. That means I won't have to carry the heavy sewing machine down the stairs anymore every time I need it, 'cause now I have a little desk there. And finally I managed to hang a pinboard on the wall where I can keep my smaller crochet WIPs, so I can look at them and maybe every now and then take a picture to check whether there is any progress at all  ; )
Right now it has some hairclips and a keyring on it:

I hope that there will be lots more of these in the near future. I love making them, and they make great gifts!

One other thing I'm currently (still) working on is the woodcarving project I mentioned earlier. I'm almost done, just a little something left to do and I can "proudly " present it here, hopefully sometime this week!