Tuesday, April 25, 2006

I have been tagged - All that history


I have been tagged by Norma. What a nice way to get to know fellow bloggers a little better :-)

Here goes:

20 years ago - 1986

I had been married to DH for 6 months.
I was living in Oslo, the capital of Norway, and we had just bought a bigger flat - moving from a 1 bedroom flat to a 3 bedroom flat across town. Babies were yet a glimpse in their father's eyes, but planning never hurts ;-)

I worked full time as an accountant at Norway's biggest whole sale firm for clothes fabrics - hence the growing interest for fabrics. I also knitted and cross stitch embroidered a lot.
In my free time I had a strong interest for youth politics, and were doing it well in my association.

For vacations we traveled by car long distances - to North Norway, through Finland and Sweden one year, criss crossing southern Finland the next.
Autumn 1986 we traveled for a late honeymoon to Rhodes, Greece.

At the time I made some of my own clothes, and I owned a simple Pfaff 300-something sewing machine with preset seams.
1986 also was the year I started quilting, rotary cutter and mat not yet know,
and 1/4" seam allowance not yet heard of in my parts of the woods.
Scissors and tearing fabrics was how we did it back then,
and one patch applique, simple squares and Log Cabin was what I did the most.
I had a couple of craft books and patchwork patterns could be found in one of the women's weekly magazines.
I bought some fabrics at work and also had the luxury of picking fabric samples from the rejects in the sales office - not all 100 % cotton all the time, but what did I know.....

Sugar sweet colours were in fashion - soft pink, soft leaf green, mint green, light blue, soft yellow and pale purple. Our wall paper was textile, soft leaf green, and we had soft pink table runners and pillows in our living room.

My favourite cloths were dresses in soft fabrics - preferably pink or wine red and jeans of course.
Jeans style - narrow legs and baggy. Skirt style - 3/4 long and narrow - not made for walking ;-)
Hair style was perm curls in long hair.

10 years ago - 1996

2 DDs, 8 and 5 years old - one in school and one in kindergarten 3 hours a day.
We had lived here, outside Oslo, for 1 year.
I was a staying at home mom, with quilting as a very important part of my life.
We were always working on something in the house, very worn down as it was.
Money was tight, but we made do.

Home decorating in style was country colours -
we had yellow painted walls and deep red curtains.

Clothes style was comfy clothes and jeans. For more dressy occasions the skirt style were short.
I wore my long hair in a French braid or pony tail.

I had traded my Pfaff 300-something in for a Pfaff 935 with dual feed the year before we moved.
The patchwork style going now was Debbie Mumm and the country colours,
and a lot of the fabrics I now use for random pieced backings dates back to then.

I joined the local quilting guild in January 1996,
which meant a lot for my quilting life, positively.

5 years ago - 2001

Both DDs in school.
I was teaching quilting locally and and had also traveled some with my patchwork and ideas.
Creatively I was more and more going my own ways,
and I loved to find new ways to do well known things.
My specialties quilting wise was miniatures and purses.
I have sold my Pfaff 935, bought and sold a Pfaff 7510 and my current sewing machine was a Pfaff 7570 with embroidery unit, bought second hand. I was paying it off through the spring and had a ball with it and with EQ4.
I felt I lived in an avalanche of Ufos and fabrics and decided to do something about it -
finishing one Ufo at a time, and using from my fabric collection - at least using more than I bought and finishing more than I started project wise.
I used to say I had more than 50, less than 100 Ufos. I think it must have been closer to or more than 100, but I never counted. I just counted my finishes, with great joy and pride :-)
I enjoyed making my Dear Jane blocks as well.

The house decorating style was still country inspired moving towards lighter colours
The cloth style was more sober, darker colours.
Everyday clothes was still jeans and t-shirt.
I wore my hair short.

1 year ago - 2005

We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary.
Both DDs are still in school.
I was still teaching a lot, but have cut back some.
I have made more purses, totes and bags, and sewing wise it was a busy year, preparing for several new classes.
I sold 3 bear furs without having shot a single bear, as we say here, so I had to work very hard through spring and summer. In retrospect I can admit I did not have a bear in sight, but the classes came and went and they were Good ! Not very humble said, but........... ;-)
I was still working on my Ufos and fabric collection, both with joy.
My Dear Jane quilt get finished !
House decoration wise light colours are very much in fashion, and we have painted our living room a shade of white called Caffe Latte, the curtains are white and plain, from Ikea. Knick knacks from years back are put away and the style is plainer.
I wear my hair very short and have not changed my cloth style very much for a long time.
I enjoy strong coloured tops, like turquoise, red, purple, pink and still uses jeans for everyday use. For more formal occasions I prefer black slacks and jacket if I can.
For very formal occasions I use my national costume, Kystdrakten, which I embroidered for myself for DD1's church confirmation in 2003.
Norway has many national costumes, from different regions, and it is a pride to wear them for weddings, church confirmations, big aniveraries and National Day May 17.th

1 month ago - March 2006

We are planning for DD2's church confirmation in May this year and we are waiting for spring.

Yesterday - 24. April 2006

I celebrated my 46th birthday

Today

I am finishing the Bento Box quilt :-)

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Ooops - this became long - but now you know a little about me and the style in my country.

I am tagging Barbara and hope she will tell about herself :-)

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:09 pm

    Hanne, It's so interesting to hear about your life in Norway. My husband and I would like to take a trip there some time. I really like your Kystdrakten, it's beautiful. Happy Birthday as well.

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  2. Nice to get to know you better.

    I've never been to Norway but my husband works for a Danish company and I've been able to travel to Copenhagen twice. I would love for him to get transferred for a couple years so we could explore Europe and Scandinavia but I guess that's not likely at this point. Maybe we'll be able to visit Norway on one of our Denmark trips.

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  3. Wow! I really enjoyed reading about your life. Thank you for sharing all the pictures of your house, studio, traditional dress, etc. Thank you for sharing so much. I hope to some day visit Norway. Also, your Dear Jane is quite an achievement!

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  4. 1. Happy Birthday!
    2. Love the "National Costume" thanks for sharing the pictures.
    3. Take a look at my blog, your thimble collection reminds me of a quilt that I just blogged about!

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  5. Hanne, I feel like I know you so much better now! Your post may have been long, but I enjoyed reading every word. I also enjoyed looking through your webshots album - what wonderful work you do. Your national costume is incredible!

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  6. Oh, Hanne! I hope you had a very happy birthday! I am off to see the pictures you linked to now.

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  7. First - your National costume is truly outstanding!!! Austria also has National costumes that vary a little bit by region - and let me tell you - they are VERY expensive in the stores. Women only need 1 and wear it over and over again - to special church events, weddings, fancy formal dinners, etc.

    And, I can't believe you have such a good memory for what was happening at certain times AND what sewing machine you had! My time lines all blur together.

    Happy, happy birthday!!!

    Cheers!

    Evelyn

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Wishing you a wonderful day, wherever you are!