Being crafty with Swedish furniture

We have a room between sitting room and kitchen, which would be a handy dining room apart from the fact that you have to walk right across the room. 

So we had an idea of how to make it a lot more functional / with 'edited' flat packed furniture - and doing this with cats is a bit tricky... 

Sofa - while being built: 

Sofa new covers in progress - with Zoe 'helping'

...and Sylvie testing the stitching yarn: 

Bench - before (or really, a book case)

Bench-in-progress, Zoe NOT helping 

'You're done with this, right?' 

Bench, finished

Whole room - ready!!

Gardening - puutarhanhoitoa

After several years of focusing on growing food in garden, we were keen to have more flowers in the garden.

Monta vuotta keskityttiin kasvattamaan ruokaa, joten tana vuonna keskitytaan enemman kukkiin

Flowerbeds - kukkapenkkeja

Flowers in pots - kukkia ruukuissa

Growing a green wall - kasvatettaan vihrea seina

...there's still food growing too those: greenhouse (with solar powered lights)
... mutta kasvatetaan yha ruokaakin: kasvihuone (ja aurinkopaneli-valot)

Potatoes - trying to grow them in sacks this year
Perunoita - kasvatetaan niita sakeissa tana vuonna

Strawberries will hopefully ripen soon
Mansikat toivottavasti kypsyvat pian

And my latest effort is making pathways
Ja viimeisin projekti on polkujen tekeminen

A sitting out area in the top of the garden
Istumisalue puutarhan ylaosassa

No more white cats... :( But a busy cat house still - Ei enaa valkoisia kissoja... :( Mutta on meilla kissatalo yha!

Our poor sweet Lily and Rose had to be put to sleep within six months of each other. That just left us with Johnny, who probably would have been happy to be the only spoiled pet in the house...

Me jouduimme lopettamaan Lilyn ja Rosen puolen vuoden sisalla. Meille jai siis vain Johnny - han olisi varmasti ollut tyytyvainen ainoana hemmoteltuna lemmikkina

... but we wanted him to have company - so we want to get Sylvie from a cat sanctuary ...and Zoe was so cute and desperate to come home with us, so we had to take her too

... mutta me halusimme hanelle seuraa, joten menimme hakemaan Sylvien loytoelaintalosta... ja Zoe oli niin suloinen ja halusi kovasti tulla kotiin meidan kanssamme, joten otimme myos hanet

The girls have settled in perfectly - they didn't know each other before hand but are the best of friends now :)

Tytot ovat sopeutuneet hyvin - he eivat tunteneet toisiaan aiemmin, mutta ovat parhaat ystavat nyt :)

Signs of spring...

Well, Finland is still covered in snow, I hear. And
here they say spring is weeks late.
...but there are some signs of spring

* Suomessa on kuulemma viela lunta. Ja taalla on kuulemma kevat jokusen viikon myohassa.
...mutta on jo kevaan merkkejakin



Spring flowers are coming up :) - with my latest attempt to keep the cats of the flower & veg beds!

*Kevatkukka! :) - ja kuvassa myos minun uusin yritys pitaa kissat poissa kukka- ja vihannespenkeista...


Our indoor 'greenhouse' with tomatoes, chillies and peppers growing, waiting to be moved to the greenhouse outside.

* Tomaatin, chilin ja paprikan taimet kasvamassa ikkunalaudalla, odottamassa etta paasevat muuttamaan kasvihuoneeseen















We've been working in our garden - a new raised bed with red onions and garlic in it

*Me on rakennettu uusi kohopenkki, missa punasipulit ja valkosipulit on kasvamassa.


Lily enjoying the sun...

*Ja Lily nauttii auringonpaisteesta :)

Malaysia!

Hot, hot hot!

More snow pictures - lisaa lumikuvia

Snowy backlane & garden



Getting logs out of the garden... from under the snow!

Christmas sprouts - Jouluiset ruusukaalit

Harvesting the sprouts on Christmas day - under heaps of snow!

Ruusukaalit saivat olla puutarhassa joulupaivaan asti...





There was a decent amount of them in the end - and they were lovely!



Ruusukaaleja oli ihan kiitettavasti - ja ne olivat herkullisia!