Waffle towels with embroidered border

Hello dears,

As some of you know that I like to buy and make Christmas presents before December, well my friends I have already 3 Christmas presents for my relatives. 2 of them I have even wrapped. A couple days ago I got the idea of selfmade waffle towels with embroidered borders. So yesterday I cycled to draper's and bought a meter of grey waffle fabric.  So basicly what I did was I cut the waffle fabric in half. Now I had two pieces (two towels) Then I desinged the embroidery pattern. I had black and white string at home so I used them. One piece I made pattern with black string and another with white string. When the patterns were ready I finished the raw edges by sewing. That was pretty much all. Sounds easily but it took 4-5 hours to finish both towels.

Finished!

Now when the towels are ready I can wrap them on the paper. My next project going to be knitten mittens. I going to make a pair to my brother ...suprise, suprise, as Christmas present. First I just have to find where I have put my knitting needles....

Till next time!

Happy name day!

Hello dears,

In Finland, people not only celebrate their birthdays each year, but their name days as well. My name days are on 20th and 21th July. In Finland we have a bit different calendars than other countries, each day somebody celebrates their name day. I found this link, it's a name day calendar you will also get information about the names. What I really liked was the directions to pronounce the names. For example name Jonna is pronounced as YOH-nah. I freakin' hate it when people doesn't pronounce my name correctly. Once in the States a salesperson called me as "Yong na" What the...?!?! Not even close, do I look like Asian? But that's all about that subject...

Name days are often celebrated with pastries. I made blueberry pie to my co-workers. They loved it!

Blueberry pie!

I was quite touched when one of my friends gave me a little present, a reflector. Since I do live in Finland, there's use for reflector pretty much half a year. Two of my co-workers bought me salty liquorice ice cream for coffee break. Very sweet of them <3 It feels good to know there's people who care about you.
Happy name day to me! Or as we say in Finnish "Hyvää nimipäivää!"

Till next time!

Blueberry picking

Hello dears,

I went to pick blueberries in Nuuksio national park today. It was absolutely fantastic weather to go pick berries and in general be outside. Not too hot and sunny. Well at least when I was in Nuuksio. It rained when I was coming back home.

Last week when I went to Nuuksio with my sister and my niece I found a good spot to pick berries. So today I went there to pick berries. It took about 2 hours to pick 3 liters of blueberries. I don't have a clue is it long time to pick 3 liters of berries but I really did enjoyed it.

3 liters of blueberries

I wish I would have had a bigger bucket. I just have to go again in Nuuksio to pick another 3 liters of berries, but that can wait. At least couple weeks. It was quite tiring to walk around the national park wellies on my feet. But it was worth it. I also found a few chanterelles and forest strawberries. Since I didn't found many chanterelles I gonna make a yummy omelette of the mushrooms I found today. 

The catch of the day

When I got back home I cleaned the blueberries. I took 3dl of them away for a blueberry pie. rest of the berries I put on the freezer so I will have berries for winter. My wild guess is that before the winter comes I have ate all the blueberries...

Blueberries are ready to go in the freezer



When I was cleaned the berries I made a blueberry pie. I must say it's damn good ( I'm eating it while I write this blog update ;) )

The pie is ready!

Now I need to rest a bit. I feel really tired coz lots of walking in middle of nowhere, or maybe it's the sauna that makes me feel tired. Anyhow, till next time!

Tuska Open Air Metal Festival!

Hello dears,


Yesterday I went to Tuska Open Air Metal Festival with my friends. It has become as tradition for us to go there every year on Saturday. This year wasn't exception. We have missed Tuska only twice. First time when we went to see Rammstein and last year when we went to see Faith no more.
Anyhow, we met in Sörnäinen, in Helsinki. I was a bit early in our meeting point (coz my moaning sister, argh) so I went to calm my nerves in a local bar. In the end we met the terrance of the bar.

It's a beginning of a beautiful day!

We had a brunch in Kallio and after the brunch we went to the festival area. First we walked around the festival area to see what's happening. Personally I wanted to find out where Germany-Italy football match is displayed.

The highlight of the evening

This year we had actual timetable. Usually we have missed most of the bands coz we have sat on the drinking area and just talked. We did a lot of talking this year too but also managed to see the bands like Turmiön kätilöt, Thunderstone, Anthrax and Stam1na. I had to leave middle of the gig of Stam1na coz as fan of die Mannschaft I HAD to go to see Germany-Italy match. Which was quite hard decision to make coz Stam1na is one of my favorite bands. Meanwhile my friends watched the rest of gig of Stam1na and some of the gig of Ghost. They came to see the football too coz the gig of Ghost wasn't that good. So we watched the rest of the thriller together.



Our timetable.

Kippis! Cheers! Prost!

 

The old gas bells of Suvilahti

It's mojito time!

Turmion kätilöt

 

Anthrax

 

The singer of Stam1na.

It was another fantastic day in Tuska. I had a good time there with my friends, saw great bands, and even better football match. Next year again!

Till next time!





A summer day in Nuuksio national park

Hello dears,

My sister and my niece are staying a couple nights at my place. Today we made a little day trip to Nuuksio national park. I must say I'm really proud of my niece. She walked about 10km without moaning. Unlike my sister. It's a bit amusing that 6 year old kid doesn't moan at all but her mother does. Anyhow, I tried to ignore her moaning. I do enjoy a lot walking, well hiking in a forest and it's quite mood killer when somebody moans "when we are out of the forest". I was about to ask her why she wanted to go in Nuuksio first place if she only gonna moan all the time, but then I thought it's better not to start to argue about it with her.
Anyhow, Nuuksio. It was lovely sunny day, temperature was around 22 celsius degrees. Pretty much it was perfect weather for hiking.

Map of our route from Kattila to Haukkalampi

We started our hiking trip from Kattila. Near to Kattila is a lovely meadow full of flowers. I have always loved that area. Meadows looks so beautiful. 

Meadow full of flowers

From Kattila we walked to Haukkalampi. We took a bit longer route to Haukkalampi coz the views were much better there.

 

I saw blueberries, ate some and now I wanna go to pick blueberries for winter.
 

We walked throught the swamp

What a lovely blue sky!

A typical Finnish lake view. I love it!

When we were in Haukkalampi we had a break and ate some of our snacks. The plan was to make a fire and grill the sausages. My niece wanted to grill marshmallow but when we got the grill spot there wasn't any firewoods. At least I didn't found any. So we had to eat cookies and fruits.

A view from our lay-by. Breathtaking isn't?

After eating we walked back to Kattila, we took an easier route back to Kattila coz my moaning sister.

A view of Haukkalampi. It's full of pond-lilies.

Still 1,0km to Kattila! Hurrey!

It was a nice hiking trip, even I had to listen my moaning sister. Now we're back at my place. Rest of the day we gonna relax. Make a good food and watch TV or play boardgames.

Till the next time!!!



Midsummer in Finland

Hello dears,

This weekend we gonna celebrate Midsummer in Finland. It's the main national holiday in Finland. Originally a celebration of the summer solstice, it is typically spent with friends and family at a summer cottage away from the city, either partying or relaxing. But some of us spent it in a city. This year there going to be a music festivals in Helsinki so that gonna keep some in a city during the Midsummer.

Lighting bonfires and bathing in saunas are two of the most typical traditions in Midsummer celebrations.If you gonna spend the Midsummer in a summer cottage barbecuing, fishing and boating have later become standard Midsummer pastimes while enjoying cottage life. In the old days, Midsummer spells were cast, many of which had to do with hopes of increasing fertility and finding a future spouse. Personally I have always liked the one where you collect 8 different flowers and put them under your pillow before you go to bed. If you do so you should see your future spouse in your dream. Here is a link about Midsummer love spells 

Midsummer Eve is celebrated most of Nordic countries, Baltic countries and also some countries in Europe. All the countries has a bit different traditions.

Here is the Midsummer bonfire from Espoo

That's all from me now. Till the next time!

Soon it begins

Hello dears,

Day after tomorrow EURO2016 begins. That means I gonna watch a lot of football, or soccer as people call this noble game in the USA.
 To support "my team" I painted flag of Germany on my nails. Today I let you know how I did it. So let's start!

How I to do German flag nails

 

You gonna need yellow, red and black nail polish. To finish you also need top coat. I added 4 golden stars on my thumbs. To add the stars you gonna need a glue. To make stripes you gonna need tape.

 Add yellow nail polish to the nails. Let the nail polish dry well before you gonna make the red stripes. To make red stripes I applied piece of tape to each nail and then painted the nails with red nail polish. Then again, let the nail polish dry well before adding black nail polish to tip of your nails. When you have added black nail polish let the nail polish dry well again. When the nails are dry I added a stripe of glue between red and black stripe, then I added the stars to the nails of the thumbs. After that I added top coat all nails. Voilà your nails are ready!

 

 

Voilà!

 

Till next time!