Travelling with "Hurtigruta"

WARNING! This is going to be a loooooooooong post, so please be patient!! :D
This time I will tell you about my trip with "Hurtigruten", M/S Polarlys. Norway has a long coastline, if you stretch it out, it would go twice around the earth! "Hurtigruten" is not sailing this long, but some of it! Hurtigruten" is running in regular service between Bergen in south to Kirkenes up north. The ships have 35 port of call on the way up north. It has an 113 year old history of bringing mail, travellers, freight etc. to small places and cities along the route. It is possible to do this as a cruise. It is called "the worlds most beautiful journey"! The newer ships have calm and beautiful lounges where you can sit and enjoy the amazing scenery passing by. You may also sit outside on deck if the weather is good. And the food is wonderful!
Every fall, in september, the Norwegian Medical Assosiation, arrange classes for physicians on "Hurtigruten". It is possible for partners to join, so I was lucky to go with my husband. For me this is like a vacation. I don't need to do anything, just eat, sleep, relax and enjoy the beautiful and amazing nature in our country! I hope you will too!
We flew up to Tromsø on friday 21. sept, where we boarded the ship. This view is from the port toward the bridge and "Ishavskatedralen", which is a well known church. Tromsø has also sent an application to the IOC, hoping to arrange the Winter Olympics in 2014. Good luck to Tromsø and the Arctic Games!
Ready to start sailing...... Several times during the journey, you meet other of the ships like this, M/S Nordkapp......Saturday morning we arrived in Honningsvåg, where there were busses waiting to bring us out to Nordkapp-platået. (The plateau of North Cape)North Cape.....The view from the plateau is amazing.....Goodbye, Honningsvåg.....Heading for Kjøllefjord, which is the next stop..... On the way to Kjøllefjord, we were passing some special rocks..... The cliff you see underneath is called "Finnkjerka" (The Finn Church), said to be the most graceful sea cliff in Norway! It is also said that the Samis used to worship here.
Sorry for this lousy photo, my camera was not strong enough to make it clear....

Sunday morning we arrived in Kirkenes. Kirkenes is only a few kilometres from the Russian border, and the border of Finland. Kirkenes was heavily bombded during the 2nd World War. It is said that there were only nearly hundred houses left in the city that were possible to live in. After the war, they had to rebuild cities and villages several places up north in Norway, because the germans burned them down, when they were escpaing from the russians and the allies during the end of the war.
One of my cousins live there with his family, so he picked me up and drove me around a little so that I could see more of Kirkenes. This is the view from "Kjerringstupet" ("Wifecliff"). I am not sure about the history behind this name!
Here you can see the Sør Varanger mine far away to the left in the photo! It is not active today, but they hope to start again some day. Enjoy.....My husband went on a safari on the river up to the Russian border.....Colours.....Later on sunday, we arrived Vardø which is Norway's easternmost town and is situated on Vardøya, with an underwater tunnel link to the mainland. There we had the opportunity to visit Vardøhus fortress from year 1737. I just couldn't resist this tiny little church.....Leaving Vardø, a little lighthouse..... Next day, monday, we arrived Hammerfest, which is the world's northenmost town. Here you see Melkøya, where they bring in gas from Snøhvit-feltet (Snowwhite-field) and transport the gas in pipes to southern Europe and Alaska.Øksfjord, had to share the colours.....We left the ship next morning in Harstad and flew back home again. The last photos are here for you only to enjoy! I am so thankful we didn't have much wind because I am so afraid to get seasick! We had sunshine, we had rain, and only a little wind! I didn't get seasick at all! I hope you have enjoyed the journey!

Home again!

Hi there! I'm back again after a few days on M/S Polarlys! This photo is just a little appetizer from the trip. I will post more photos later. We had a great and relaxing trip, a trip where we saw a lot of nature! As I said, more to come!

Travelling

For the next few days, you will find me here on this boat. My husband is going to a seminar on this ship, and I am so lucky that I can join him! We are flying up north to Tromsø to board the ship.I will not be able to post anything on the trip, but I will take photos to share with later! Have a nice week-end!

This'n that

I've seen lately on different blogs, quilters showing their sewingroom. And those sewingrooms allways are neat and tidy, well almost allways tidy. Well, some are actually showing all the mess! Honour to them! I shall spare you the sight of my sewingroom ( for now), because it is a complete mess, actually, it is not a mess, it is creative clutter.............
Why is it allways like this, I clean up my sewingroom, fold my fabrics, all bits and bobs are in the right place, and I am enjoying my tidy room. Then I get this great idea, I start pulling out fabrics, thread, pattern etc...... and my room looks like a complete mess again, no I mean, filled with creative clutter, again.... I wished there was a kind of fairy that was flying aroud and allways kept my sewingroom in a tidy condition so that I allways could find what I need when I needed it!
I think my mom is feeling a little ashamed about me! A couple of years ago, she gave me this sign which now is hanging in my sewingroom. Some months ago my husband and I went on a trip, an my parents came to look after the children. My intention was to clean up my sewingroom before we left, but in some way I ran out of time.(Like I allways do!) My room was a complete m....

When we got home, I found this little note sticked to the sign........! Do I need to say more?
( I did the room quite quick!)

I am sorry that this post turned out to be "a complete mess"! I am so tired I can hardly think clearly!Finally I want to give you a sunset where you can rest your eyes......PS. How can I expect that my children will manage to keep their rooms tidy when I'm not able to keep mine.....? Hey, I really need that fairy.............! DS

Autumn

Now the autumn definetely is here! We had our first autumnstorm last night. Yesterday night I had had to help my father in law to secure our boats, because the wind would be to tough. And I can tell you it was tough, but things went ok!
I usually like the spring the most, but what I do like about the autumn is the long, dark nights when you can have fire in the fireplace and feel the heat when it is cold outside, candles burning( I love candles with spicy fragnance!), read a good book(or a quilting magazine?), do some sewing.....
What I don't like about autumn and winter is that you have to put on so much clothes on both yourself and the kids before you can go out, but that is another story.......! As you can see I've allready been doing a little autumn decorating. I made this set a couple of years ago. Usually I do not use autumn colors, but when I saw some of these fabrics, they were shouting at me; please, make something of us! And so I did! And can you imagine, I love them!
They fit my kitchen perfectly! Pillows, tablerunner, small tablecloths and platemats.

Book, handbag...

I have made myself a handbag, actually, I think you can call it a shoulderbag.

I found the pattern in this norwegian book. There are many nice quilts in the book, using reprofabrics as well as fabrics designed by Kaffe Fassett and fabrics with romantic floral prints, quilts to make and enjoy. The authors, Rie Norum and Hilde Aanerud Krogh, have made a nice and inspiring book!

But there isn't only quilts in this book, there are several handbags, too. And I made one of them.
The bag was quite easy to make. Since the bottom is so wide, you can carry a lot of stuff!

Finally, I want to show you some "flowers" my little seven year old princess brought home from school today. She was so happy to give them to me, and like allways she wanted a hug, "kooz" as she use to say!

The flowering of the heath is almost finished, it is a pity, because the flowering is a beautiful sight!

Finishes

Some time ago I showed you the photo of this make-up purse, and told you I had two more to do.

Well, here they are! Both finished! The turquoise purse has allready got a new home with my sister. The green one is waiting for a new home, I just don't know where, yet! All three are sewn with Bali batics, Kaffe Fassett fabric and baby-cord (as we call it here in Norway), velvet with stripes, I am sure you know what I mean! The size of the purse is app. 8"x 8". The pattern is bought at Kreativ Quilt in Kristiansand, which is a great quilt-shop. They are designing and selling their own patterns.

What did I buy?

Do you wonder what I bought to treat myself on the trip with the quilting guild? Well, let me give you a little look!

Two big paperbags! The blue one is from Lapp-Elisa Quilts, and the pink one is from
Kathrines Quiltestue. So let us see what's inside these paperbags!At Lapp-Elisa's I bought some books, charmpacks from Moda, a Jelly-roll from Moda named Chelsea boutique, magazines and a quiltingframe.
Hi A, now you can get your frame back! Thank you for letting me take care of yours for all these years! Hihi.....
At Kathrine's I bought fabrics, and fabrics..... and fabr..., no, I mean a couple of cute patterns from Bareroots, needles.......
......and I couldn't resist this pattern and fabrics.......! If you go to her blog there is a photo of this quilt. Enjoy!
I think I did very well, lots of nice "stoff"(that is fabric in norwegian!), I mean stuff!