japanese sewing books and christmas markets

my crafty friend Sandy went to Japan and got me this gorgeous sewing book. It's all in Japanese so I doubt I will ever use them but I love just looking at the pictures and getting inspired. It's hard to see in these pictures but I love Japanese sewing books for their genious simplicity.

We had a lovely day today. Alvar has a bad cold and cough so he woke up early and came into bed with us for a early morning snooze. It was a cold, sunny winters day and it was quite fitting that we had planned to go to the annual Swedish Christmas market in the Swedish Church. It was heaving with people buying very expensive Swedish cheese and herring (including me). I always feel sentimental and a bit displaced when I go, but that's just part of it. After that we went around Borough Market to take in all the smells and have coffee at Monmouth coffee company. Now we are all tucked up warm and cosy at home and I think we are having butternut squash risotto for dinner!

apple season

On Monday, it was such a gorgeous day so after having finished all the boring house tasks it was still only 2pm. So we got in the car and went to Hewitt´s farm in Kent to pick some apples. The air was so cool and crisp and the smell of apples so sweet. Alvar sitting like a little king on a throne, chomped his way through several varieties with gusto. Now our freezer and fridge is stocked up with apple sauce until next year. As the Swedish song goes...abundance in August, enjoy it in November. Or something like that. This is the point where we wish we had a larder (one with frilly things at the end of the shelves!) where we could store it alongside with our strawberry jam and tomato chutney. I am starting to view my parents cool cellar in a new light!

autumn

a few autumnal images. Alvar in his Swedish outdoor gear (the picture is a bit fuzzy but its impossible to catch him standing still at the moment and also i love his expression in this photo),

a fat pumpkin from the alottment, a plump little mushroom in wet moss, and early morning mists in Sweden. And the last image is from my parents garden, which was overflowing with apples. The biggest harvest for a long time. I havent worked out how to turn the picture once they are uploaded. I will get there eventually...