Pen and Paper

Dear readers,

we are still without internet at our new place. Living in the sticks makes me consider using pen and paper for messages. Carrier pigeons would be an option, too, or dropping letters in bottles in the nearby lake. Those alternatives to emailing surely are more reliable than internet at the moment.

Until the phone company has provided us with a proper internet access, we will continue climbing trees to catch a signal from the transmitter mast. The neighbours (who live five minutes down the road) provide us with cinnamon buns, miter saw and lots of positive energy. They seem to find it very normal seeing us high up in the trees in our pyjamas to check our mail accounts (from time to time we do succeed and can load half an email on the mobile phone). 

Please stay patient - and keep your eyes open for carrier pigeons, letters in bottles and the like, just in case. I promise to work off the virtual pile of emails as soon as possible (preferrably not in a treetop and properly dressed ;-)

Warmly,

Juliane

Favourite Spot

A new home, a new favourite spot.

An weathered bench next to the stairs with all the flower pots.

Seven o'clock in the morning, I sit here with soft sunlight on my face and bird twitter in my ears, 

with coffee and my sketchbook.

In the evenings, when the sun has taken its course around the house, 

I sit here again, watch the cranes and bid the day farewell.

Wood Anemones

A new place, an old garden. 

The meadow behind the house looks like a white sea of wood anemones. 

 Buschwindröschen in my mother tongue, vitsippor in Swedish, Anemone nemorosa in Latin. 

They grow everywhere, along the old dry stone walls, under the chestnut trees and between the quince bushes.

When we took a late night walk yesterday, the air was filled with the sweetest scent of wild orchids that hide in the beech woods. Soon the lily of the valley starts blooming.

I don´t have a proper workspace yet, but I am busy nonetheless. Painting walls, stripping old kitchen cupboards, unpacking boxes. The sewing machine has to wait.

Have a sunny day!

♥

Visiting Kajsa

Last friday I visited Kajsa.

Actually her name was Karin. But everyone called her Kajsa.

She lived in a yellow villa in Ballingslöv. Next to another yellow house called Haga Huset. Kajsa was born that house, 95 years ago, and when she got married, she and her husband built a house next to her birthplace, on the other side of the fence. A yellow villa, with a beautiful old garden and a small attic window that looks like half an orange.

Kajsa has passed away last November. Her husband had died many years ago, and the couple had no children. The local church parish got appointed as Kajsa´s heir, and inherited the yellow villa. They sold the house a few days ago, with everything in it, furniture, tea cups, table cloths.

I have never met Kajsa but when the house got a new owner, a member of the church parish asked me if I was interested in some vintage clothes. I didn't expect much, because nowadays the word vintage gets used quite often, but then I decided to visit Kajsa. Or at least her yellow villa, in Ballingslöv, next to Haga Huset, with the beautiful old garden where the rhubarb is growing under the apple tree.

It was a sunny day, and the first thing I saw when I came to Kajsa´s house were the many bird feeders in her garden, the neatly cut hedge. I went up the weathered stairs, entered a small hall and stood right in Kajsa's kitchen. The tea kettle on the stove in the kitchen, the dish drainer with two cups on it - everything looked as if Kajsa had just been out on errands and would come back any minute with cinnamon buns and a milk bottle in her string bag.

Dust motes dancing in the sunlight. The dining room, the parlour. Kajsa's woollen cardigan on the coat rack in the hall, the French soap in the tiny bathroom. As if the time had stood still.

I took a look at every small detail. The handwritten cards, a lavender sachet in one of the drawers, the ivory brooch on the bedside table. Beautiful old wallpaper, adorable stencil paintings on walls and doors, pretty accessories and lace curtains. Kajsa's husband had been a furniture manufacturer and he had made most of the furniture in the house, and probably he also made her a box for all the letters she received from her family and friends.

Thomas, the new owner, decided to keep most of Kajsa's things, he wants to gently renovate the house and try to preserve as many details as possible. Restore the 1930's wallpaper, paint the beautiful old radiators, fix the windows. He has no use for vintage clothes whatsoever, and I felt very blessed that I was allowed to take a look at every cupboard and wardrobe. From time to time I could hear Thomas somewhere in the house when he had found something that he thought I´d like. A pretty handbag, a beautiful collar.

Just when I thought I would have found the most adorable things, I discovered a small door upstairs. First I thought it was just another door, like for a cupboard or the like. But when I opened it, there was a teeny tiny staircase which led up to the attic. I had to crawl up the stairs because of the pitch of the roof, and I truly felt like Alice in Wonderland - everything seemed to be very small, as if it was built for a child. 

The attic was very dusty, and I couldn't stand upright, so I had to crawl on all fours.

I also found lots of empty boxes, old magazines from the 1930's and several old diaries.

Where the pretty little window was, the one that had the shape of half an orange, there was a clothes rack. Seven beautiful old dresses and three coats. It truly was like in a dream of a vintage lover!

Since the staircase was so tiny, I had to throw each single piece downstairs, which sounds horrible, I know. But I had a hard time fitting through it (and I am definitely not of the chubby kind), it would have been impossible to crawl downstairs with a pile of clothes on my arm...

I can´t believe that I went home with about 20 vintage dresses, with woollen coats and other beautiful little finds. Old place cards and lace, tea cups and a pretty collar - for a token amount of money, 100 Swedish Crowns (about 11€). Usually I don´t like writing about prices, but I felt so lucky - and so did Thomas, the new owner of the house, when he saw my shining eyes. 

I tried on each of the dresses, and they fit perfectly. Kajsa must have been of a petite build even as an old lady, and several of her dresses had been made smaller - I could see that someone had been done some changes to make them fit. There were one or two dresses which seem a bit tight though, they look like the dresses Kajsa has worn for her first ball as a young girl, with fourteen, fifteen.

I took a lot of photos when I visited Kajsa in Ballingslöv.
A chest of drawers in the master bedroom, a beautiful cupboard in the upper hall, the spice rack and a box with old letters, an embroidered heart with lavender on the wall - and the most beautiful doll carriage. I decided to share only a few impressions here on my blog, it feels a little private to share so much of someone else´s home, but I am sure Kajsa would have been fine with me showing a few glimpses here. 

Thomas has invited me to visit the house again in a few weeks, when he has done a few things. I hope the sun will shine so that we can take a cup of tea in Kajsa´s garden.

Sending you sunny greetings,

Juliane

Kiki in the Meadow: Shop Update

Two Kiki in the Meadow Dolls are looking for a new home in my webshop.

Each Kiki is 32cm tall and comes with a pretty dress, undies, leggings
and shoes in a matching tote bag 

together with a sewing kit and a lavender sachet.

Both girls can be found here. 

Please note that these dolls aren´t suitable for children 36 months and younger as they contain small parts which could be a choking hazard. Each of the dolls is thoroughly made with a lot of love and care.

Have a sunny day!

Juliane

Update: Both sets have found a new home. Thank you.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain
Go away

Come again

Another day
(...)

How to Preserve Spring Moments: Candied Violets

Spring has come late to our neck of the woods, I usually pick violets at the beginning of April.

This year, my little purple friends showed up three weeks later than they use to.

It will be the last time I picked violets in this garden and it makes me a bit sentimental.

Our new place, amidst the woods, has a wonderful old garden.

There are lots of beautiful spring flowers growing behind the house, such as wood anemones, crocuses, wallflowers and bluebells, but I haven´t spotted any violets yet. I might dig out a few here and plant them in our new garden...

As every year, I have made candied violets. I posted the recipe here on my blog one, two years ago, but a few of you asked just recently (when the first violets were showing up), so here comes a quick how-to:

• Take a spring walk, pick a handful (or two) of violets.

• Gently rinse the violets.

• Mix one cup sugar and half a cup water and one teaspoon with rose water and make a sugar syrup: Bring it to boil (gently!) in a smallish saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool.

• Add the violets, stir gently. Keep them in the syrup for at least 24 hours, rather a bit longer. (I kept everything in a jar and put it in the fridge). When you open the lid, you should smell a very intense violet scent. Lovely!

• After 24 hours, take each single violet out of the syrup and place it on waxed baking paper to dry. This will take two days or so. Remove from the baking paper and store in a jar. 

• Don´t waste the syrup. Either use it for other edible spring flowers or as a delicious violet syrup on ice cream or pancakes. If you want to keep it a bit longer, heat it until it is boiling and fill in a sterile bottle. Keep in the fridge. If you like to, add a few drops of (organic) food colour.

 This year´s violet pickings was rather small. As soon as the lilac starts to bloom (and the first roses), I am going to preserve a few early summer moments to put on cakes...

Warmly,

Juliane

P.S. It works fine to candy flowers with beaten egg white and sugar, but you can´t keep them very long. This is why I do it with sugar and water, the violets last much longer (unless you put all of them on one cake coming sunday ;-)

Teeny tiny cinnamon buns

Dear reader,

thank you for your sweet lines on Facebook and via Email after yesterday´s post.

It sometimes is easier (and more time-saving) for me to answer your questions here. Some of you wondered from which material the cinnamon bun was made or where I purchased it 

(to read this made me chuckle ;-) 

 The answer is: I have made it myself, and it is a real cinnamon bun, just a teeny tiny one.

When I bake, there are usually a few leftovers from the dough, sometimes two, three spoons full, and I don´t like to waste it. When I bake cinnamon buns, I use muffin trays because they look a bit prettier then. It doesn´t make sense to bake the last tray with just one single bun. Instead I roll the dough extra thin, spread melted butter and the sugar-cinnamon-mix, make a roll and cut it in tiny pieces (1-1.5cm). 

 In Sweden you can buy paper liners for knäck (homemade toffee) that look like wee muffin baking liners cups - they are perfect for teeny tiny buns. It goes quickly in the oven, four, five minutes I´d say, so you better keep an eye on the cinnamon buns (note to self: Please follow your own instructions, Juliane, and do not start doing laundry in the meantime ;-)

I do the same with almost any cake and use the leftovers for miniature goodies. If your children are old enough and do no longer "feed" their dolls with carrot puree, it can be fun to bake mini cakes together with your kids. Small buns and cupcakes or teeny cookies are great for doll picnics or sunday breakfast with teddy bears. Together with a little candle, they are a great gift for dolly birthdays, too. 

 I always keep a small container with miniature cakes in the freezer. I also keep a lot of other stuff there, a massive amount of bird seed cake, for example, or 58g of gingerbread dough (never used for a doll project) and a small snowman from one of the Kiki projects. I won´t bring that stuff when we are moving, fortunately, but it won´t be a big problem to fill the food containers with new props for my work. 

We need a bigger freezer, I am afraid ;-)

Warmly,

Juliane