Gudrun´s World

Last summer days

I can't believe a month went by this fast! It's mid September and I feel like we were just flipping our calendars to August! The saying "Time flies when you are having fun" is very true. The past month has been so busy with fun stuff. We had a lot of friends visit us from Iceland and I was able to take some time off to enjoy their company. Since then, it's been knee deep in work, trying to get things done before Quilt Market which is less than 6 weeks away! I will be able to show you some previews very soon!

It's sad to see summer go although we are sailing into the most beautiful season here in Minnesota. We got our last boating/beaching day in last weekend.

It was a gorgeous day with perfect temperatures to play!

Gisli had to do some last rope swinging of the summer!

Maybe I will have to try this next summer!! It looks so much fun. Although, I will definitely not have the gorgeous gymnast dismount like he does:/

One thing I am going to be sad about with summer leaving.... no more Hummingbirds outside my window. I have had so much fun watching them this summer, we put up a feeder right in front of our house and we have a few birds coming to it on a regular basis.

I got these shots through my front door window!!

I was pretty amazed to catch these photos because these tiny creatures are super fast!

I hope you have had a great summer and are gearing up for fall. Are you sad to see summer leave or excited for fall and winter?

Summer is on!

Hello friends. I hope you are enjoying your summer just like I am. I had a very busy June so July has been the regroup month for me. As bad as the weather was in June here in Minnesota, July has just been heavenly with lots of sunshine and heat to warm my bones.

I have started working on new things for the fall here in the studio, slowly but surely. I am trying to get my routine going again with blogging and keeping up with the social networking. I will get there. It's always a challenge when the kids are home and they want to do fun stuff in the afternoon. So we have been swimming, boating, bike riding, going on ice cream runs and all kinds of fun stuff too.

Graduation went great! Atli did a greeting in Icelandic at the beginning of the ceremony. Very Cool.

I wanted to quick show you my June quilting project. This was the only thing I made in June....it was kind of important though....the T-Shirt quilt for Atli's graduation. It was worth the late hours...he loved it!

Here it is hanging outside for the grad party

I used all of his soccer jerseys to decorate with....he has quite a few!!

Now that I am officially back....I won't keep you waiting for another blog post...promise!

 

Iceland in December - part 2

The rest of our trip to Iceland was all about Family, Friends and Food! All the good F-words!! Instead of boring you with the same story about this party and that party, this food and that food....I decided to show you pictures. 

If you see me get more and more bloated in pictures as this post goes on....it´s because of one of the F-words.......FOOD!! 

Too much and too good!

Here goes......

Family

 

Hanging out with my brother and sister

Gisli and Arnor

This kid!! I just love him to pieces. I love the way he talks, he can´t say R or S so when he is calling Gisli, its "DITLI" and Svana becomes "FANA". My name...he doesn't even attempt...I am just Auntie...that's my name!! There is never a dull moment with him around.

Playing the "Horse" game, his favorite game to play with Torir.

The Icelandic Santa's are almost like family....oh, wait.....they actually are family!!

They do some goofy things around the kids!

My sister and Svana

Gisli Senior and Gisli Junior

Us kids and dad with our paternal grandmother, Sigga. I think (hope;) I inherited her hair...she is 88 years old and has never colored her hair! There are just a few grays among her black beautiful strands of hair!

 

On December 26th the extended family meets at my grandparents house. This is a part of their backyard, my grandpa painted this wall decades ago and I just love seeing it every time I visit.

Here are my grandparents with "all" of us grandkids. This same picture has been taken on this day for over twenty something years, with us kids at different ages. 

And here they are with all of their great grandkids! These photo's are super special to me since they were the last ones I have of my grandfather.

Friends

I got a lot of "Girl" time with my lifelong friends.

Can't live without great girlfriends!!

The kids had fun with their friends too!

Food

Luckily for you I didn't take pictures of all the great food I had on the trip....this post would have been endless! Here are some highlights!

We need to add one more F

Fireworks

New Years Eve in Iceland is like no other. You can buy lots of fireworks there and everybody starts shooting off right before midnight....it is nuts!! My dad and brother are super crazy about their fireworks. As a matter of fact, in between shooting them off, this is the position my brother is in for that hour!

Next year I am buying him a gift card to go to the chiropractor for Christmas!

Some of the stuff they shoot off requires 2-3 people lifting the thing!!

After they finish their show, Torir shows up with his one wimpy firework and gets all the applause!! 

Showstealer!!

I am going back to Iceland in April to teach and I will try and take some different photos for you then. At least we will have more daylight!!

 

Iceland in December - part 1

Finally, I am writing about our family trip to Iceland over the holidays. It is always very special for us to be in Iceland during this time, we get to see a lot of friends and relatives and spend some quality time together. 

This time, there was a very special event the day after we arrived. My niece and goddaughter, Anika Lif was baptized.

This is my mom with her two granddaughters, my daughter Svana and  the star of the day, Anika.

She is just so precious, I just want to eat her up every time I get to see her.

Her big brother Bjarki just loves her to pieces too!

On day 3, we flew to northern Iceland, where my husband is from and stayed at his grandmothers farm where he spent a lot of time as a kid. This was the view from my window....gorgeous! The farm is right on Lake Myvatn, which is one of the most beautiful places in Iceland to visit. I love being there in the summer but the beauty of the landscape in the winter is just as breathtaking. 

 

The attic is a magical place and holds many treasures. One of them is this doll that used to belong to my mother in law, Svana. She passed away when Torir was 19 so I never got to meet her. My daughter was named after her and one of the first things she does when we come is to go and check on the doll.

My sister lives in eastern Iceland so they came and stayed with us for a couple of days. This is my nephew and godson, Arnor. He is 3 and has a lot of energy....as a 3 year old should. He was so busy that he barely had time to look at the camera.

The kids had lots of fun in the sheep barn.

I think Svana would have moved in if we had let her!!

It was pretty cold when we were there, because of it's high elevation, Lake Myvatn records some of the coldest temperatures in Iceland. It was around zero degrees Fahrenheit when we went to Dimmuborgir. 

Dimmuborgir is a hot tourist spot in the summer; it is an area of unusually shaped rock and lava formations with caves and such. 

This was the first time I have been there in the winter and it was pretty cool!

Before Christmas you can find the authentic Icelandic Santas in Dimmuborgir. We met Kjotkrokur or "Meat-Hook" there and chatted with him.

This is overlooking the Dimmuborgir area. 

I wanted to take much more landscape photos while we were there, but it was getting really cold. Another challenge is the lighting outside. If you visit Iceland in December, you will only get about 4 hours of daylight and even then, it never gets super bright outside because the sun doesn't get very high in the sky. The sun came up around 11:30 am and was down around 3:30. This is taken at 3pm and as you can see, this is sunset!

I had some fun with my sister....give us some cool accessories and we are entertained for hours!!

More to come....

 

Even bigger week

Just when I thought that the week couldn't get any bigger....it did. My grandfather passed away last Thursday and now I am back in Iceland. We had a wonderful funeral service yesterday so now I am just enjoying spending time with my grandmother and the rest of my family here.

My grandpa was a very special guy. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house when I was a kid and we were always doing fun stuff together. He taught me to read when I was only 3 and he taught me to be creative every day. In later years, my kids got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and loved every minute of it. He always paid much more attention to the kids visiting than the adults. Here are some photo's I found at my grandma's house this week and scanned them with my new portable scanner.

 

Me and grandpa....I'm scared to tell you when this was taken!

 
Me and grandpa playing with my new toys.

 
Grandpa showing my oldest son Atli all of his scary masks with some drama!

 
Grandpa and Gisli joking around.

 
Grandpa with Svana....I think he is also showing her the masks!!

I am going to miss him dearly but am so thankful for getting to have him in my life for so many years.

 

Big week

This has been a big week already in this household and it is only Tuesday! The worst part is, I have been in a fog for most of it because of the sinus infection I had in the beginning of the month, returned on Friday! I guess the doctors are correct when they tell you how important it is to finish your antibiotic prescription. I don't think I have ever done that, I start to forget a dose here and there and then when there are 6 pills left, I stop thinking "what's the point when I'm feeling good"! Well, today it seems like the fog is starting to lift again so hopefully I am on the mend.

The weekend started off on Saturday when I took Svana to the Wisconsin Dells for a gymnastics meet. This is only her second meet and her first out of town meet. 

She did great and got a medal for placing 4th in All Around.

On Monday it was Atli's birthday.

He turned 18!... What! ... Really?

Can this really be? Do I really have a child that is now officially an adult?

I wish I could tell you that I had him when I was 11...I'll just have to face the fact that he will always make it impossible for me to lie about my age.

...at least when he is with me..

...and when people know he is my son and not my brother...

Even more exciting than his birthday, tomorrow is signing day for high school athletes receiving scholarships for College. Yes, Atli will be signing but unfortunately I can't tell you anything about it until after tomorrow....we are sworn to secrecy!

I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. Congrats Atli, I love you to pieces. You will always be my little boy.

Today, Torir had an MRI to check if the tumor had been doing anything naughty in the last 2 months. The MRI days are always a little stressful but the news were good. The tumor is still stable so it seems like the chemotherapy is working really well. He only has 2 more rounds to go which we are super excited about. There will be a big celebration in March when he is done.

This picture of him is taken in Iceland on our trip up north. I haven't forgotten about posting from our trip....I'm working on it! Right now I am working on the next fabric line and thinking of using some new color combinations. 

What are your favorite colors at the moment?

Birthday Boy

My son Gisli is 11 years old today. For some reason, 11 just seems so old all of a sudden and it made my mommy heart skip a little. I started looking at old pictures from when he was little and they made me all emotional....

..I would love to hold those chubby fingers again...

...I wish you still needed me to lick the drippings from your popsicles...

...and needed me to kiss your toe to make it feel better...

...I wish I still found you sleeping in odd places...

...I wish you still asked me to play cops and robbers with you.

You are the greatest helper ever...you always have been...and I think always will be!!

You make me smile every day!!

You make me proud to be your mom, every day!

Happy birthday sweetheart, I love you very much...

...and if you would only do this one thing for me....

...please stop getting any older!!

2nd Day in NYC

Here is more from our trip to Iceland this Christmas....

Our second day in New York started out early. My daughter Svana´s main goal in New York was to go see the Today Show! So at 8am we were walking to Rockefeller Plaza, temperature was only about 10 degrees, brrrrr it was cold. We made it there right after Meredith and her crew went back inside.

The camera guys did come over to our side and took some crowd shots....we weren´t sure if we had made it in there, but a few minutes later, Torir called us from the hotel and told us that we were on national television....Svana´s goal accomplished!!

We did get a little closer to the action, since Svana wanted to see Al and Matt.....A few minutes later, they came back outside with Natalie.

There was no way to get Svana away from there until the stars were back inside....

I think she was hoping for an interview!

Back to the hotel we went to warm up. When we (adults) think of hotel perks...we think of comfy beds, room service, glorious bathrooms, spa offerings and so on right?  Not so if you are a kid! The main attraction at the Marriott Marquis were the elevators! The elevator tower is freestanding so all the elevators are on the outside, with glass walls so you can see outside.

On top of that, they go super fast so it feels like being on a ride at the amusement park!! At least it did for a ride wimp like me! My stomach hopped up into my throat every time! The kids loved it and could have ridden the elevators all day!!

What do you think was the main attraction in the hotel room?

The Entertainment Center!!!

After warming up, we hopped on the Subway. Very exciting if you are riding it for the first time!! They were even more excited when they saw a huge rat on the tracks when we were waiting for the train! Yuck!!

The limited time in NYC only allowed us to visit one museum and the kids chose the Museum of Natural History.

The favorite displays were the Rose Center for Earth and Space...

...and the African Mammals.

We weren't able to go through all of the displays because we had to get to the airport for our flight to Iceland. 

The hardest part about flying to Iceland, is the time difference. It's only a 5-6 hour flight but the time difference is 6 hours. The flight takes off at 7pm and lands in Iceland at 6 am the next morning. We always hope to get some sleep on the plane to make the transition easier, especially for the kids. This time around, the excitement was just too much....

There was no sleeping on the plane! Especially when the airline offered iPads filled with movies and games for rent during the flight!

December whirlwind

I feel like the calendar jumped two weeks since Thanksgiving without me noticing. The days go by faster and faster and I don´t know where it will end! 

The whole month of November was a mad work month for me. I have been writing a book for Kansas City Star which has been a great process so far. This will be my first book that I write with a publisher. It is scheduled to be released this spring and I am sorry to say that I can´t really tell you much about it at this point, other than I am really excited about it! I do want to give you a little sneak peek if you promise not to tell anyone. I was so fortunate to be able to work with my friend and photographer genius Paula Charchenko. Her work is so great and we have so much fun together, styling and getting the shoots done. Here is a small little teaser:

Paula took some fun photos of the family for us too, attempt at getting a Christmas card photo. We got some snow in November which made everything look so pretty.

First there was the test shot which turned out really cute...

...we got one where everyone was looking at the camera...

...everyone still looking at the camera....no way for all to have their best smiles on though...

...then we added props...

...and thats when things started going downhill...

...uhhh yeah...

 ...really, no turning back!!! 

Sorry, Paula!

We are preparing for our big trip to Iceland for Christmas. We are stopping for a couple of days in New York to have some fun on our way there. I will be posting some fun stuff on our travels, both here and on the fan page on Facebook, make sure you are a fan so you can experience Icelandic Christmas with me.

Now...back to packing, wrapping and checking the massive list.....twice!

A year of "Lasts!!"

I got these 3 off to school yesterday. I think we are one of the few states in this country that don't start school until after Labor Day. I do like it a lot for the kid's sake because summer just goes by so fast. For me....it's a tough one, because I tend to procrastinate a lot over the summer time to do stuff with them and then come September, it's crunch time for market prep and I have to really dig in.

This is going to be a school year to remember though. Atli started his Senior year so this is the last time I have all three children at home starting school....YIKES!!

This is also the last year that these two are both going to Elementary school....DOUBLE YIKES!!

Gisli just started 5th grade.

Svana just started 4th grade. (It took her about 45 minutes to figure out which outfit to wear for the first day of school along with the hairdo and accessories!!)

Off they go!!! Now that means that I really have to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I'm already making progress....just look at my scraps left over from a new project: