Back in town

Warning for long post! =)

Me and Marita at New Years Eve.

Finally back from my long Christmas-break! I've been to my old hometown Stockholm, celebrating Christmas and New Year's with friends and family. I love living up north, but I have to say that I really don't like seeing my nearest and dearest so seldom (a few times a year). That's why it was so great to have almost two weeks in Stockholm. Plus the annual swing dance camp "Snowball" runs from 26th dec to 1st jan, and although I didn't feel I had time to attend classes (it wouldn't have given me any time for the family) I did dance socially every night, most of them until 5 in the morning! I had a truly splendid time =) All the dancing and the wonderful people made me a bit wistful and almost got me thinking about maybe moving back south, but then I came home and the wonderful calm that runs through life up here went right into me and no, I will not move back. I am however eagerly awating the opening of the new railway (in August), which will hopefully make it a whole lot easier to visit the southern lands.

Me and my mom at my cousin's wedding.

The lately very slow updating of this blog is partly due to that I lost my camera during New Year's Eve. I'm currentley making a last and probebly futile attempt to retrive it, but if I don't find it I will have to admit that there are some very dishonest people out there. I mean, my camera is an ancient and not so well functioning compact camera! Why on earth would anyone want to steal it? It's not even worth the expense of buying a new charger, which they would have to do as it uses custom batteries. *sigh*

So, I lost my camera, but I did get a lot of very nice Christmas gifts, most of them relating to vintage or sewing =) Here are a few of them:


Some cookery. The pot and the big one in the back I already had, I just let them sit in the picture so you could see the whole ensamble.


Linen napkins, handwoven by my great-grandmother (the same remarkeble woman who I inherited my lace-pillow from). A bedsheet that comes with a story; my grandmother got a set of these when she was married 50 years ago. This one was never used, so now she has put my initial on it, and given it to me. She says she's been sleeping on hers for 50 years, and it's still in good shape =)

Mad Men season one AND two! (My brother and sister must really love me, that feels nice =) ) And the classic "How to marry a millionaire" from dad.

There were more, both heirlooms and great new and old finds, but they will have to wait a while.

Have a great weekend!
Love, Erika

P.S. Thanks Kajsa and Marita, for lending me the use of your cameras!

A nice little blogaward

Cute Bettie Booh gave me this lovely blogaward, Thank you Bettie! I'm quite overwhelmed and very flattered.

There was some questions to be answered:

1.Where is your phone? Next to the phone-hole in the wall.

2.Your hair? Strawberry blond-ish (for a few more hours) and cooperative (most days)

3.Your Mother? The best! Talented, smart, loving, understanding, fun etc.

4.Your Father? Great! Funloving, bookish, and a great hugger.

5.Your favourite food? Homemade

6.Your dream last night? Never remembers them

7.Your favourite drink? Tea!

8.Your dream/goal? To dance!

9.What room are you in? The one I have.

10.Your hobby? Lindy hop, sewing, baking

11.Your fear? The dark.

12.Where do you want to be in six years? In a bigger appartement.

13.Where were you last night? At home, trying to cure my fever with sleep.

14.Something that you’re not? Quiet and timid.

15.Muffins? Yup!

16.Wishlist item? Mad men season one.

17.Where did you grow up? Åkersberga, north of Stockholm.

18.Last thing you did? Baked for the dance tonight.

19.What are you wearing? Warm clothes. We hit minus 20 degrees (celsius!) earlier this week.

20.Your TV? Neglected a lot latlely.

21.Your pets? Non-existent. Except... does younger sisters count?

22.Friends? A great joy.

23.Your life? Wonderful, but a bit stressful. How to choose away fun stuff?

24.Your mood? Starting on the Christmas panic =)

25.Missing someone? Friends and family in south of Sweden.

26.Vehicle? Bikecycle. Even in -18 and snow.

27.Something you’re not wearing? For the moment, a hat.

28.Your favourite store? One?! Perhaps Tehörnan, the local tea shop.

29.Your favourite colour? Red and dark forest green.

30.When was the last time you laughed? Today.

31.The last time you cried? A few weeks ago.

32.Your best friend? Yes. Two of them since childhood. Love you guys!

33.One place that I go to over and over? Stockholm.

34.Facebook? When I remember.

35.Favourite place to eat? At my mom's place.

Whew! Done! =)

I'm supposed to pass this on to ten people, but I have a mild fever and don't feel up to choosing amongst all the great blogs there are out there, so if you've made it this far in the post, consider yourself tagged! =)

Love, Erika

Christmas-y skirts!

Igår var Swingum Lindy Hoppers (vår lilla uppvisningsgrupp har fått ett namn! =) ) med i Snowflake singers julkonsert! De är en barbershopkör, dvs sjunger a capella och har mycket rörelse och små danssteg, klädbyten etc, ochbestår enbart av kvinnor. Det var första gången vi stod på en riktig scen, framför en sittande, betalande publik. Innan har vi dansat för förbipasserande som stannat till, eller andra dansare. Så det var allt lite pirrigt! Men såklart väldigt roligt =)
Då vi var en del i en proffsig konsert så ville vi se lite proffsiga ut vi med, så jag sydde röda juliga kjolar åt mig och Rita. Det var eg meningen att min skulle vara en klänning, men tiden tröt. Får se om klänningen dyker upp senare. De är eg inte så märkvärdiga, men är ändå lite stolt. Dels för att jag lyckades sy något som satt bra till någon annan, och dels för att jag sydde min egen kjol rekordsnabbt (klippte ut den i onsdags och har varit rätt så upptagen sen dess).
Så vi var matchande med röda kjolar, vita toppar, vita blommor i håret och svarta skor. Väldigt juligt, inte sant?

Yesterday Swingum Lindy hoppers (yey! Our little dance perfomance group finally has a name! =) ) danced in the Christmas concert of Snowflake singers, a local barbershop choir with only women. This was the first time we stood on a real stage, with a paying, sitting audience. Before, we've only danced for people passing by on the street, or our fellow dancers, so we were a bit nervous. But it was so much fun!
Since the choir and their concert were so proffesional, we felt we also wanted to appear a bit more proffesional. For me, it meant coordinating our outfits =) So I sew skirts for me and Rita, quite basic, but I'm still a bit proud of them. First, I made something for someone else and it fit! Secondly, I just made mine very fast.
Don't we look Christmas-y in our red skirts, white tops, white hair flowers and black shoes?

Dessutom: en liten glimt av min ljuvliga underkjol från 50-talet, ärvd från mormor. Blev väldigt förtjust i kontrasten mot kjolen.

Also: a peak of my lovely 50s slip, from my grandmother. I was quite pleased with the effect of the white contrast against the skirt.
I realised that I've promised pictures of the slip, so here it comes!

Love, Erika

Dance and roses

Förra helgen (jag ligger visst lite efter...) hade vi kurshelg med externa lärare. Dvs även vi intruktörer fick stå och klia oss i skallen i tappra försök att förstå vart fötterna skulle gå, och i vilken rytm! =) Mycket trevlig helg, Daniel Heedman och Åsa Palm är några av de bästa lärarna i världen, samt några av de bästa dansarna. Kurs lördag och söndag, socialdans på lördagskvällen till ett riktigt bra storband, massa trevligt folk. Helgens höjdpunkter: adrenalinkicken under vår uppvisning (det är så kul att dansa inför publik), några aha-upplevelser under kurserna, Daniel och Åsas uppvisning (jag blev helt uppslukad, de är så otroligt bra! Jag bara satt o stirrade, försökte klappa händerna, men man ville inte missa en enda sekund) samt såklart de två danserna med Daniel under kvällen. Så himla skoj! =)

Last weekend (I'm a bit behind it seems...) we had a weekend class with Daniel Heedman and Åsa Palm, two of the best lindy hop teachers and dancers in the world. It was so much fun to be taking a class again, and also fun to be in the same class as our students =) It was a great weekend with classes, social dancing to a great big band and lots of nice people. The weekend highlights: the rush of adrenaline during our perfomance (I love dancing on stage!), some great moments during classes, Daniel and Åsas performance (it was just amazing! I just sat and steared, too busy with following every movement to really be able to clap along, although I did try to) and of course the dances with Daniel during the evening. It was so much fun! =)


Kajsa kom över på fredagskvällen, hon sydde på sin kjol medans jag bakade till helgen. Den blev klar! Så himla bra gjort, det första plagget hon sytt själv utanför slöjden, och det blev klart på en vecka och blev superfint! Jag fick dock ingen bra bild på den, så ni får nöja er med en bild Kajsa i en fin vintage blus jag köpt åt henne via Tradera, samt pin curls lockarna.

Kajsa spent the friday evening at my placce, she worked on her skirt while I baked for the evening. She finished the skirt! Quite impressive, her first clothing sewn all on her own, and she did a really great job on it. Unfortunatley I didn't get any good pictures on the skirt, but here's a picture of Kajsa in the cute blouse I found for her at Ebay (the hair's done with pincurls).

Slutligen: en ros och en tablettask med en käck pinuppa, en fin present från underbara Karolina som tack för terminens danskurser. Tusen tack! Jag blev väldigt rörd över omtanken i den.

At last: a rose and a pillbox with a perkt pinup, a very nice gift from the sweet Karolina as thank you for this semester's danceclasses. Thank you, dear! I was very moved by the idea behind it.


Love, Erika

Nice packages in the mailbox this week

Last week I shopped a bit at Tradera (Swedish Ebay) and thrifted some very nice things. The blouse above is a 50s thing for my sister (her very first vintage item! I'm so proud =) )
Below is a "fake blouse" with a cute huge collor (what are these things really called in English? Anyone knows?)

My dear friends Malin and Johannes were married in August, but as it was a surprise wedding I of course didn't have a gift, so I came up with the idea of sewing them some dance clothes from the Swing era. Johannes will get a vest (I've got a pattern from -51 for that, a bit late, but it'll work) and a pair of pants. So imagine my delight when this zoot suit pattern turned up for auction! I'll probably alter the width of the pants to be more 30s, but it's going to be so much easier with a pattern to start from.
And last but not least, a pair of vintage stockings with seam, made in wool and nylon. So practical, and actually possible to wear a bit longer than the superthin stockings. I've been wishing for a pair, but thinking it an impossibility that any would appear at the market.
It's such a great feeling getting packages with the mail, it somehow feels like a gift, even though I've already paid for it =) Anyone else gets that feeling?
Have a great weekend!
Love, Erika