Snow!!

Today was a great day in many ways. Big E has been eating and talking again (she's had stomatitis), she stopped doing both last Friday and before we learnt what she suffered from we got quite scared. We rushed to the hospital when she even refused to drink strawberry juice with a straw! We are so happy she got well before Christmas! AND we got snow yesterday! They say it will melt again, but I am quite sure the forecasts are wrong what do they really know, of course we are going to have a white Christmas now. It is so light and very beautiful! Since we have onle six hours of sun right now it really makes a diffrence. Christmas lights a little here and there in the house is my favourite decoration this year as you can see. Light, light, light!


Me and big E got so energetic with all the good news that we started to rearrange the whole household... We changed bedrooms, the kids are going to have the bigger room and we are having the small one. And while I'm on it I'm going to go through my closet and sort out all the clothes I never use. We moved in well over ayear ago and its been a mess ever since. My mum and sister are coming here for Christmas so I rely on them :) Mum promised to help. This is the only way of cleaning up I really enjoy, feels like a new start. I need to have a go with my sewing corner as well... So, no christmas tree here yet so I am not to blame...

Tulips in the mailbox

Look at these flowers I got in the mail today! As the etsy addict I have become I made a treasury list (learn more about it here) with the theme Christmas flowers. I love fresh tulips at Christmas so I added these lovely napkins by margotbianca to my list. And after a while I got a convo from someone telling m e my list had reached etsy's fromtpage. Margot got so happy she decided to send me these georgeous napkins, please go visit her shop, it would make me happy too! I can convince you that her work is very well done!

The only Christmas present I have managed to make this year is this cloak and crown I made for a little six year old prince (his sister just turned three and got a princess dress that made him green...). The top is a pathwork of velvet fabrics and the lining is golden satin, I quilted stars with golden thread on the velvet, great fun! I decorated the crown with buttons, of course! If M doesn't like them, he doesn't want to be a prince ;-) I'm hoping to get a better picture later of the prince himself!

It's been nearly a month since my last post. I've been using most of my spare time for sewing stuff to take to the Christmas fair (Kvinnornas julmässa - Naisten joulumessut) that I attended last week with my mum and sister. It was very fun and also surprisingly tough to stand from 10-18 five days in a row. Little E joined us and behaved like a little prince. I got many compliments for my pouches which made me very happy because they are really fun to do and I have plenty of ideas for new designs. The ones I have left are now up in my etsy shop. The monkey pouch is the most fresh produce, ruby crowned kinglette suggested I should put a banana on his head :-) I have a few tote bags that I will add soon too. I need to develop a better pattern for bags (reminder for myself). It was so inpiring being in the middle of a crowd of creative women so we started to plan products for next year already the first day at the fair :) I am thinking about fabric bowls of some kind and then I want to make mini wallhangings/ fabric paintings. First out will be a robot I think, I want to make something for small boys.

I'll be back in a day or two to tell you more about what we've been up to. I've promised to do some Christmas crafts with big E so I'll show off the results soon. We bought a Christmas tree for the Barbie dolls yesterday and have started to decorate it :-)

Kuckuu!

Just wanted to tell you I'm here. One year older and 11 gnomes richer... I'm trying to be productive with the Christmas fair coming up in only four weeks!


We went to Helsinki last weekend and I found these lovely old aprons at the fleamarket, only 20 cents each! I got some fabrics and clothes for the kids too, great! Can't wait to cut them into pieces... The aprons I mean :-)

Quilting frogs and some cleaning

Cow, dog, rabbit, bear, monkey, giraffe, alligator, elephant, furry sheep, angora rabbit, gecko or lizard, spider, octopus, troll or ant. Thank you for all those great suggestions for coming pouch designs! I ended up doing frogs... Which no one of you suggested. Sorry, but the idea just came up while working on this baby quilt, a custom order for a friend. I will have pouches ready soon with a couple of the suggested animals ;-)

Making the crib quilt was great practise, I wrote down every minute I was working on it. Good for the future I thought (good to think once in a while...). It will be easier to estimate the price before making the quilt next time. I had it ready about an hour before my friend picked it up so I didn't have the time to take any pictures in daylight. We have all been ill so that kept me from quilting it earlier, I had the top ready two weeks ago. Once I was ready to start with the quilting I realized the 505 spray (for gluing fabric) bottle was empty so I went to town to get some more. Nope. You can't get it anywhere. But they will order it for me and I will have it next week. Thanks but too late. So I ended up working with lots of needles again. I wont do it again.


I have started my first Christmas project, I had small scraps of fabric with vliesofix on which looked like gnome caps (=tomteluva). So I decided to make some greeting cards. I like this fresh color combination. And they can be used after Christams as well. A garden gnown for a gardener maybe? Find some more gnome inspiration here. They are so cute!


And since it's Friday, some cleaning tips for other desperate housewives... Take a brush, make a pile of everything that's lying around the floor. Collect everything that belongs to the same category, put it in its place. Saves a lot of steps. And my 4-year old agrees to help a little when we do it this way.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Fresh produce

Ms Piggy is ready - and my first sold item on etsy! (I know I'm like a kid (or myself) at Christmas, but I'm just so excited) I have a few more nearly ready waiting by the sewing machine if anyone is interested. There has to be more animal friends of course and I already got some good suggestions for the next animal on flickr, but do you have any ideas? I have to admit that I've never been much of an animal friend, but made of felt and fabric they are quite all right, no strange smells and bad behaviour here...

Anger management and happy things

Where should I start today? Maybe with my name... Robyn asked me how to pronounce my name, I had a hard time finding out how to explain it in words without using fonetic writing, but I think you will have an idea if you pronounce Kysa in English.

I'm adding products to my new etsy shop everyday, but the kids got ill again so my spare time is, yeah, you know, you've heard that song before :-) The first (and only) mail I've got from etsy since I opened my shop a few days ago was from some rude bastard telling me my prices were too high. Which of course made me lie awake thinking about it. Luckily I'm quite used to sleepless nights with those two cuties around. And I decided I didn't have to explain my thoughts and values when it comes to quality, design and handicraft to her. But acctually I've already forgotten about that.

I continued my series of zippered pouches with the cat above, I'm participating in the Pack it up small swap and my partner seemed to be a cat person. I quite like how it turned out myself (I used to be afraid of making too cute stuff, maybe I thought the art police would come and get me...) so today I've been making piggy pouches too after seeing these. My wise sister came up with the brilliant idea to put removable shoulder straps on the pouches. That would make them more usable. Party bags for those people who go to parties. I might wear a piggy when me and T go out for dinner in two weeks! A christmas present we got from his parents last year (they will look after the kids). Dinner and cinema just the two of us, can you imagine! So know with my birthday coming up we decided its time. Can't remember what the last film I saw was (TV does not count).

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! One year old little E has not taken his first steps yet, but the list of words he knows is getting longer everyday. It's so lovely to be able to communicate with the little guy.

And I also finished my first navy bag.

And a skirt for big E that's been lying around for a year or so.

And a birthday present for another one year old. They are called streamers in English, aren't they?

And check out this link, great inspiration and such!

And thanks again Kirsten for those cute tags you sent me!

And I shouldn't really be complaining, it looks like I got a lot done lately, maybe I should spend more time with my kids...

One year

Little E is one year old, the guests came and went and now we are just taking it easy. And my studio will be back in the livingroom soon. Two days without sewing and my fingers are tickling ("det kliar i fingrarna, as we say in Swedish...). But I think the ugly black box will win over the sewing machine tonight. Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post! I think that my promised etsy-shop will be a few days late. I tend to forget that time ticks faster with two kids...

wip

I found a bunch of cut pieces of fabrics in marine colours (I was making doll quilts a few years ago) so I decided to make those bags I've been planning following Mum's advice to do what I feel like - not what I think I should do. Summery bags in rainy Autumn, how great!

I read this post by tiny happy the other day and noticed the big similarity in our lives at the moment. (Two small kids, trying to stop breast-feeding the younger one (my hair is falling off), making crafts when you have the time, trying to find the time for blogging...). You've been in my thoughts! I would like to post more often but there is so much life in between... I keep telling myself that my blog is just that kind of blog that is updated once in two weeks. This is something I do because I want to, not because I'm obliged to. I hope you cyber friends out there have patience with me!

I'm planning to open my own etsy shop this weekend. I hope you will come window shopping ( at least)! I've been so productive lately it would be great to earn some money to buy more supplies and some fabrics...

Little E turns one this Friday (the 13th!) This year has passed by so quickly!

Bird in the dots

I made this bag last night, it was great fun and I couldn't stop before I had it finished. I had these scraps with Vliesofix on them that I wanted to get rid of, they became dots and then there had to be a bird. And then it lacked something, a carrot of course? Seems to be my favourite vegetable, proof here and here. Have a nice day! Eat vegetables!

Poooh!!

Anyone else getting tired of Winnie the Pooh? I don't mean the book and drawings by A.A Milne, I mean the postcards, toys, books, children's clothes and so on decorated with the Disney one. What is it about that bear, really? I have been trying to find stuff with Moomins on for a few swaps and you would think that it's easy to find Moomin products in there home country. It's about 100 times easier to find stuff with that Pooh bear on, and they have the same stuff in all shops. I guess you can find them where you live too. From now on I will try to be a consious consumer and buy local stuff when it is possible. Really. I hate not to find anything local in the bookshop! I was looking for elks the other day for a swap with my lovely new friend Didine in Belgium. I thought I had seen some nice Swedish linen fabric with elks printed on it in the local fabric store. -No, we haven't got any of that, but we do have a fabric with the Koda bear on it, and look, there is a few elks on it too!! Sigh...

September has been like Summer here, big E picked beautiful flowers in the garden in the weekend. Global warming? I hope not beacuse we are enjoying this weather!

Today I finished two more house bags, to send to my Mum's new shop. She sold one of my pouches yesterday! Curious people keep dropping in to look at the stuff though they haven't really opened the shop yet... A good sign anyway :)

Life is a mess

Do you think all other people have nice and clean homes all the time? I do. So I was very happy to read Alex of Moonstiches post about the threadening situation in their house. The bad thing with flickr is that people (me included) only show the beautiful and clean parts of their homes. I will not show you any pictures either, I just want to tell you (and maybe comfort someone) that while I am sewing my kids play with their toys everywhere in the house an leave them there for several days until I feel I've had enough. We often leave our plates on the table after eating because I am too lazy to put them in the dish washer or too eager to run to my sewing machine. We have a messy kitchen and piles of paper and clothes here and there. And we have threads on the floor. The threads are acctually the least probem, they are just proof of someone being creative here. But that kitchen, I would really like it to be nice and clean. But I just have so many better things to do all the time...

Like making bags for my mum's shop (I wonder when it will have a proper name), this is another housebag in progress, I made it a little smaller this time. The door is made form a piece of fabric I recieved in a swap with PatchworkPottery, she also helped me finish my Autumn wallhanging by sending me the beautiful leaf button. Swapping is great!

Talking abot swaps, is there anyone of you Moominfans out there that would care for this thrifted pillow case? I bought a bunch of them beacuse I liked this and this, but I am not too fond of the pastels in this one. Please tell me if you want it and I'll be happy to send it to you! Moomin is (almost) on his way to Portugal and is no longer available!

Sewing not cleaning

I have been trying to finish a few projects to send to the new shop so this household looks very much like 'call before you come to visit me or I will not let you in'. Tomorrow has to be a cleaning day or else... Instead of showing you messy corners of my home I chose some close-ups of my finished objects. Clever me. I had a piece of elk fabric lying around and I had been wondering what I bought that toile print for? So why not combine them and let the Scandinavian travel to Paris. (Do you think anyone in a small town will buy elk-goes-to-Paris pouches?). I've been admiring this log cabin pillow so I wanted to make my own version. Acctually I made it for my own sofa, but with this shop project coming up I'm sending that as well. Need to make more, it was great fun combining fabric strips.

Thank you all for the kind comments about my robot jacket in my guestbook! I'm planning to make wall hangings for the boysroom with robots, rockets and... When I have the time.

Great news!

I got wonderful news a few days ago! My mum (who is the one who thaught me to feel passionate about fabrics and such) and her friend got a studio with a window at the busiest street in the town (Vasa/Vaasa ) where she lives. They are hopefully going to turn it into a shop/café in the future. AND I have a place to show and sell my stuff, hurray! The theme for the first shop window will be Autumn so I made this wallhanging for it. I loved Charlie Pop's mushrooms and had to try to sew some. I'm going to make more, I just need to get some brown fabric for the background. I have sent and recieved three swaps during the last weeks, the leaf button on the wallhanging came all the way from Canada, take a look at all the goodies I got from PatchworkPottery! Will show you more soon.

Autumn!

It's coming, you can feel it in the air! The beginning of Autumn has always been my favourite time of the year. It feels much more like a fresh start than a new year does. Everything is back to normal after Summer, the air is fresh and crispy but it's still warm on the sunny side of the street and the colours in nature are so beautiful (not yet, but anyway...). My ideas are flowing and it's just great. Mostly. I need new clothes, a year ago I was pregnant and now, after breastfeeding 11 months my trousers are too big (and so out of fashion, why do I hate fixing my own clothes when I love sewing so much?). I am really going to make myself a pair of jeans, I found a pattern designed by Lustwear that I had forgotten about that looks allright. (p.s. I don't mind being a few kilos lighter than I used to be, it's just that I don't like to shop trousers, somehow I just prefer to go crazy in a fabric store.)

The Autumn winds made me finish the robot jacket I started to make for little E last Spring. It got lost in the projekt pile when Summer came to stay. But now it's ready and it still fits him very well. I'm not that fond of toys these days, though there is a real boom in making soft toys, I guess I am just so tired of collecting toys from the floor that even cute ones are my enemies these days. One exception is this robot made by Bitter betty (maybe it's a toy picker).

Naive, me?

I haven't bought any fabrics during Summer, because I simply couldn't afford it (=to go shopping on the internet). I'm not very sad about this though, I think it makes me very creative to use what I have (the only negative thing is that I cannot sleep at night with all those ideas bubbling in my head). The fabrics I bought last year for a project I didn't have time to start can look much better somewhere else combined with a fabric I didn't even remember I had lying around. I have this strange relationship with fabric, I often get stomach ache when I see new fabric lines, but I also pity the poor leftovers that end up in the sale department... And I would like to think there isn't any fabric that wouldn't look good somewhere (I DO have a few pieces I think I will never like). I remeber how I always had to play with the ugliest doll when I was little, because I was feeling sorry for it. So I always give the cheapest ones a chance. For example I think I paid 2,98 $/yard for all the fabrics in this. Not too bad. And I love getting fabric someone else chose for me, it is so inpiring and challenging. I am waiting for three swaps, I hope they will arrive next week and I can't wait to create something of the goodies I will get, if I dare to cut in them...

I would like to have a blog I can be proud of so I am making this logo for it, but it may take a while to get it ready because I want to make something that I really like and that I can bring with me when I go to craft fairs. The picture gives a hint of what I'm making. The one with glasses is me, my daughter drew the portrait a few days before she turned four and I turned it into a redwork embroidery last night, cute isn't it?

Big plans...

Big E has started playschool again, so I am alone with the little one three days a week and it feels like I had all the time in the world... Little E's nap at noon is finally getting longer (used to be ½ an hour max), he even sleeps for two hours some lucky days! Now i will have some time to think about starting my own craft business, little E isn't that talkative yet, though he is learning. One of he's first words is "knapp" (button), as you can see we share a hobby. In the picture he discovers my drawer for fabric scraps :-)

My brother asked me what I wanted for my 30th birthday in October. I said I wanted to go to Stockholm so now we are planning to go the four of us, me, my brother and my two sisters together with my children. It will be so fun to do something together!! And there is a Kaffe Fassett exhibition at Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde!
I met Kaffe Fassett in person last year when my friend and I went on a Viking Husqvarna promotion tour (a cruise to Stockholm). It was very inspiring to hear him and take part in his workshop, but we where both very pregnant (one month left...) so we were quite tired all the time and I really can't remember so much of it, but I've still met the guy!

3 things ready in one day!!

Yesterday was a good day except little E was whining all day. But he slept a few times in between so I finished big E's placemat. Thank you Moonstiches for the inspiration! Elsa wrote her name on it and I did the embroidery on it.

The small pictures of details of the placemat and one of the pouches I also finished are supposed to symbolize the fact that there is a macro button on my camera. And I found it. It was very easy. It took me half a year. And I'm so stupid. I have to do some practise using it as you can see on the bird.

Just wanted to show you I'm alive... We where invited to a birthday party today, little E's friend turned 1 so I had to make something for him. I decided to make a simple bag with room for lots of stuff. I always end up using plastic bags for our stuff so I should make some for us too...




I'm really hoping to win a piece of this
great fabric that Moonstiches wants to give away to us poor people living in the undeveloped west (I'm talking about fabrics now of course.
)!

I made something!

It's been ages since I made something so I had to sew something! I found some leftover pieces and made this 'cotton house I've been thinking about for a while. It's a smaller version of this. Now once I've started I'm going to make lots of stuff... The football final is tonight so it's time I find something useful to do instead of staring at the black box during the evenings. Little E has decided to go to sleep at about eleven so I don't have THAT much time of my own though.

Det har varit hett så vi har mest svettats och surat de senaste dagarna, men idag verkar det äntligen vara lite svalare. T lagar köttfärs och det doftar härligt!

Varför göra det lätt när man kan göra det svårt?

Sydde påsar till metet på Elsas kalas av material jag hade hemma. Kul! Men det skulle ju nog gå lika bra med papperspåsar. Men "halvat on hullun huvit", som mamma brukar säga. Mutta aikaa vievää tämä hullun touhu kyllä on.

Made these bags for the fish pond at my daughter's birthday party. I tend to make things more difficult than I would have to- but it was fun and the kids will have something to take with them home. AND I reduced my stash; I used material found at home. You can't really see the change though, maybe I should make them some clothes too...

Edvin gungar i Koffparken

Emma- this one is for you. Är han inte söt? Igår vaknade han och lärde sig vinka. När man klappar vinkar han med båda händerna mot sig själv :) Idag har varit en bra, solig dag. Min romantiska ros, Maiden's blush är planterad och jag fick gammaldags narcisser och en akvileja av Ts gumor. Imorgon hämtar vi ett lass mylla så ska det bli grönsaksland. Jag tog fram gitarren på kvällen, gick bra att spela fast en sträng fattades. Barnen diggade.

Och Lordi vann. What can you say? Hallelujah!

Ready!

Always so nice to get something ready. This is just a small pouch, but anyway. I'm planning to make a collection of different pouches to sell next Christmas. Would be easy to transport... And they're fast and fun to make. And cheap. Need to buy more zippers. I started on SisS ' s bag too, I think it's going to look great, I've been planning it for a few months now. Black and white checkboard is the keyword...

Nu måste jag återgå till teven, kan man låta bli att se på Eurovision songcontest när Finland deltar med Lordi?! Hallelujah.

En sudokudde - a sudocushion

Sudoku är ett perfekt tidsfördriv för en småbarnsmamma. Går att göra med vänstra handen medan man gungar vagnen. Har länge tänkt överföra det till lappteknik och fick ett bra svepskäl då vi behövde en inflyttningspresent. Så det blev en sudokudde, varje block motsvaras av en färg. Hoppas mottagarna är så färgsprakande som jag har för mej. Paps union jack-kavaj är färdig, men jag hade så bråttom att posta den att jag inte kom ihåg att fota den- hur dum får man bli?

This was a really fun puzzle to do, my daughter enjoyed it too. And I finished a project the day after I started it! Hurray!

Thinking about sewing for kids

I used to make lots of clothes for my daughter and I have been getting Ottobre design for a few years back now. I like the patterns very much. The design is very good, they make an effort to make the clothes both look good and fit real children (wearable clothes in other words). BUT my time for sewing isn't what it used to be so I wonder why I have all this magazines when I never get the time to make anything. However. My son won't be 7 months all his life I hope... I posted a list of the sites that I go to get inspired when sewing for my kids, I might come up with more later. I wanted to post a picture despite my lack of time so I'll show you an application on what is/was supposed to become a Spring jacket for Little E. I got inspired by this light blue fabric that I've been saving for a while.

Things I Love a Thursday like this

Forgot it's Thursday! Today I love this frog that was stretching his winter legs in our garden. I love that my tulips that I planted being VERY pregnant last autumn seem to be a success, can't wait to see them in bloom! And I love that I have lost all my pregnancy kilos and enjoy looking at this picture of me and Little E!

Spring is finally here, we have had +15 C the last three days and it's just too wonderful. So we've spent most of the time outdoors. We made a cottage for big E with sprays from the appletree (it looks much better now), the cottage is going to be coverd of Lathyrus oduratus 'Royal White' and pink too, have to buy some more. The last snow melted in the shady corner of the garden (to be) yesterday. I have to wait a couple of weeks before I can plant my flowers, but there is whole lot of digging to do before that... On the right side of the 'cottage' there is going to grow vegetables...

Tussilago!


Ett säkert vårtecken finns på vårt matbord, tussilagon blommar! Kanske för att stora E och jag sjungit sången om lilla tussilago varje kväll den senaste månaden. Eller så för att det äntligen är vår.


Signs of Spring on our table.

I have a confession to make... I've promised myself not to buy any crafts supplies in April, but I had to buy some yarn for Easter and I don't feel sorry at all :) We went to visit my MiL so I had to have something to do, I decided to finish the dotty socks for my sister and ran out of yarn so I just had to buy some more because I really want to finish this project! BUT with MiL looking after the kids I spent most of Easter reading Girl With a Pearl by Tracey Chevalier... Wonderful book for a Mum who want's to take some time off and dream away! Have to get her newest book too!

I've been working on reducing my stash, I'm making small pouches, I can't finish them though cause I don't have any zippers. There is one of them on the picture, had to show it togehter with the unfinished socks when I realised how well they go together :) The dotty fabric is for the back.

Here comes the sun!


Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting, little darling, it feels like years since it's been clear. Here comes the sun, here comes the sun. And I say - it's allright!

Yesterday we had our first sunny Spring day and I was singing Beatles all day long! Today big E tried out her bike after a loong pause. Her friend "the Easter rabbit" enjoyed his ride in the yellow house. Little E turns 6 months today so here is a picture of him too in his Polarn o Pyret pyjamas, I love their clothes, they never get out of fashion! Little E got a new Spring hat- made of his dad's old trousers, so I'm really using what I have!

Spring what is that?


We're all tired of waiting now. Spring should be here. Now. And then it starts snowing. We took a walk in the forrest yesterday, that helped to calm things down a bit... And I finished my Spring table cloth (the picture) in time for Easter! I'm quite proud of the quilting, I never get enough of green vines! I love to get stuff out of the way! Today I finished one of the dotty socks I started on a few months ago, a good TV project, I WILL make the other one now. I'll show it when they're both ready. My project for the coming weeks will be to cover a jacket with Union Jacks for my dad. It's supposed to match his drum set :) His birthday 4th May is my deadline. I got a flag from him, I'm thinking about making a softie out of it as a surprise gift to go with the jacket... I haven't found any buttons with the Brittish flag, anyone have a clue where I can get any?

Yellow and orange

I joined the color-iffic swap-o-rama for May and got inspired. The theme colours are yellow and orange. I made two handmade itmes already, I'm not sure if my partner will like them though... I have anotyher thing in mind for her too, looking at her pictures and flickr-favs I think I know one thing she really loves... And of course I used what I had at home when I made them!

A springy pouch and a rosy patchwork keyring with a surprise in the middle...