This summer I did have a lot of creative ideas but looking back I was mainly knitting and created hair-bands out of my knitted strips. Inspired by a friend of mine I bought recycled t-shirt yarn in Panduro as soon as I arrived to Sweden. They had a pack of 10 differenet colors in small rolls of yarn, barely enough for one hairband - but I managed to stretch the strips to make them fit to cover the whole hairband. During the summer late evenings I was up knitting to relax. T-shirt yarn was fun to knit with it goes fast because it's pretty thick. I keep it simple knitting garter stitch because thats I all I can at the moment.  At the end of the summer I attached the colors I liked the most with a hot glue gun onto the hard hairband I had brought with me from Düsseldorf bought on Amazon.  I asked my dad in the beginning of the summer if he could help me - to build a rustic cool stand for my hairbands. In the garage I found branch from a Juniper bush that my dad had collected and ...

 I was doing so well doing my weekly update about my creative work. And then schools summer-break happened. We left as soon as the school was out here in Germany to Sweden and stayed there all six weeks of vacation. We had a great vacation. Both warm sunny summer days spent on the beach but also cooler and cloudy summer days spent in the forrest. We managed to spend good time with family and friends. Travelled down south and also had time just chilling home at Lundsätter our country house.  Apart from swimming and fixing around the house I did manage some creative project so - I will catch up on that over the next posts and then hopefully be back on track doing my weekly update. 

Thank you Summer 2019 for a great mix of weather and a long break from routines We have spent our vacation in Sweden. We left Düsseldorf and flew to Stockholm Skavsta on 4 of July and stayed all the way until 18 of August. At first I was stressed to get as much as I can out of this precious time we call Summer and to meet up with family and friends while we are in Sweden. How stupid to get stressed and so I stopped with that and could enjoy fully instead. When we first arrived in Sweden it was cold - no but really I mean cold cold as in 15 degrees. We had to drive to the Outlet in Vingåker to purchase fleece jackets, wellington boots and long pants. When we left German in was hot and I couldn't even imagine that it could be such a different 2 hours away (in an airplane) But the weather picked up and we have enjoyed warm weeks where we have been swimming in the lakes but also rain and cooler weather - and to be honest I think this big variation is the magic with Swedish Summe...

Ohh my God this school year went so fast. It feels like yesterday I entered that school building for the first time with the title teacher. Such great year, so much work, so much fun, so many great young people who are fun, lost and pretty lazy. Who are spending more time playing games or watching series on their computers then on their schoolwork. I had no idea what this year would be like when I started. If I would mange to gain respect and to teach these young people anything. A totally new role for me in a well known environment. Now looking back at my first year teaching at high school level I have really learned a lot and it has not been one boring day at work. Through given these youngsters respect and given them support I have got nothing but respect back. It was an emotional last two weeks, wrapping things up and going through results and setting grades. And to say bye bye to great colleges and crazy mentor kids which I have grown very found of. I was exhausted by the end of ...

This weeks topic on Illustration Friday is GROW My contribution is flowers growing at my mother's summer house. A couple of weeks ago I was watching Mila picking and eating wild strawberries and throwing stones in the lake and at the same time drawing flowers from the garden. 

I am recycling an illustration I made back in 2013 to illustrate mid July summer weather 2015... It is pretty grey and miserable weather. Lets put it this way I still have heating on inside... Come on now please rain rain go away!

We keep singing rain rain go away.. But it seems to have no effect here in Sweden. After a record cold, rainy and windy May and June I guess we were all hoping for some nice warm sunny weather. We northern people need to charge our batteries with some nice weather before the dark comes again. I can already notice that the dark is falling at night after some weeks of light nights around Midsummer. I guess still some time to hope for this amazing Swedish summer days though, don't think I have given up on you! So I continue singing rain rain go away!

Sommartider hej hej sommartider! Sometimes but only sometimes I wish it was 1994 again, I made a couple of illustrations on this topic sometime ago. It was a warm and sunny summer Me and my best friend was playing cards on the beach all day Sweden playing good football and ending up third in the world cup and we were all signing "Digging for gold in the USA" and dreaming about football players I was laying in the grass with my best friend dreaming about the future and making rather weird foretelling lists ( hundreds of them) and then in the evening we were doing the same but inside a small playhouse where we slept all summer In the field I had a bunch of grass fat ponies to enjoy an evening canter with in the lush nature Going to riding camp with other horse crazy girls is their anything better then that? All good memories although I am not sure that I would want to be 14 for more then for one or two days again.

And so finally the building project came to an end! One morning while me and Mila were having breakfast she looked at me and asked "mamma WHERE is the builders?" Yes I have to admit it was kind of nice to have them around making the quietness out here in the forest a little less too quiet. BUT my god it is also very very nice to finally be done! When I started a couple of months ago with our building project the second floor of the house was a skeleton. A wooden skeleton very drafty and far far away from being called a room. Both short-sides of the facade of the second floor was still to be closed to stop wind, rain and birds from coming in. This is where we started and then continued to divide this humongous second floor with a wall to start to utilize one part as a good beginning. This room nearly 70 square meter got isolated and plaster walls put up and finally the big rounded wooden ceiling created of wood panels that has been laying there for ages. The wooden floor was ...

Summer heat came to Prague last weekend and has stayed But I mean heat heat as in 35 - 40 degrees Celsius It is HOT outside and it is HOT inside I am dreaming about a cool pool And a big cool cocktail