House love

House cushion, originally uploaded by -syko-.

As you might know I have a thing for houses. Here is the new house cushion I've been working on. It seems this Spring is very much about pastels here :) However I have something in a more natural colour scheme for those of you that are not so much into the nursery style (will post tomorrow)... I have listed a couple of Springy house ornaments in the shop too. I've been making a bunch for Janet's little gallery, so inspiring! My next project will be to make some soft boats for her. Here is my inspiration:
There is also some laundry to take care of, I wish there was a Cath Kidston shop nearby, I'm sure I would be thrilled to do some housework if I had something like this in the my laundry room. It is even eco friendly!

Working joy and a find

wip February 27, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I am having a hard time calling sewing work, since it does not feel like it. At least when I can create freely. Like today. The kids are gone and I am free to work how late I feel like. Before I had kids I used to hate being alone, now I can't wait for these moments. Why can't someone create some time balancing tool for us poor struggling humans?

I got so inspired by the cushion I did yesterday so today I have developed some three, or is it five, more designs using the same display.The one on the picture has a house appliqué and some Japanese clothesline fabric, very cute :) It is fun do a little patchwork for a change. I am creating a very creative mess here building a mountain of fabrics that might look good here or there maybe?

This piece of paper appeared when I cleaned my desk this morning. Had totally forgotten about this idea, but I might make some springy bird ornaments with fairy hair and feet bells... Talking about bells for feet, my mobile has reached its new home, and they liked it! Still waiting for mine, very exciting!

Hi

dino cushion, originally uploaded by -syko-.

The dragon-giraffe dino is ready and wanted to pop in and say hi! The cushion is for a boy that loves dinosaurs and cars (got to use the Japanese car fabric I got myself for my birthday in October, yay!). Here is the whole cushion and the gingham back together with a really scary dinosaur.

The kids are going away to their grandparents for two whole days tomorrow, who wants to party with me? First a lot of sewing with Aurora and then some wine and good music, anyone?

ABC

J is for jaguar - mini art quilt, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I am back in business again and yesterday I finished a wholesale order of ABC quilts. The customer wanted E and M for girls and C, T and J for boys. Some of the letters were really tricky, I had to squeeze the dictionary for good words, but the most drastic thing I did for this project was to buy fabric with a jaguar pattern :) I wanted the style of the quilts to be close to unisex, I am not so fond of the common colour codes for boys and girls. My son chose this shirt for himself.

Now I can move on to next order, today I am working on a dinosaur cushion, however T says it looks like a giraffe-dragon so I hope the new owner won't disapprove of it...
I also want to thank Chelsea for sending me this super cute unicorn print! She wanted to thank me for featuring this cute baby set in a treasury that was featured on etsy's front page. Chelsea steals her husband Nate's art and sells it on etsy. Don't you just love Chelsea's business idea?

Happy week-end

This morning I got an e-mail from Anna at Pulu who asked me if I had seen my robot scarf featured in the Finnish home deco magazine Avotakka (3 2008)! I ran to the shop of course, I think the display looks delicious, they have used it as a table runner in an article about meals for kids. A very happy ending to a not so fun week! Now I have to head back to the sewing machine while little E naps and big E entertains herself. I need to finish an order to be able to make a bunch of Spring stuff for Pulu, my favourite shop, thanks a million for the publicity!

Thank you all for your well wishes! I am back to normal again, I knew I was ok when I started the day by cleaning up the mess in the kitchen...

Sick business

I never get properly ill and am always cross with T when he gets the flu and stays in bed all day, it does not feel fair. Yesterday I got my fair share and was reminded of how it was to be pregnant in the early weeks and how happy I am with two kids I have...* In other words- the stomach flu hadn't given up its grip on our family just yet. I spent the whole day lying down with a fever and felt like our friend Nemo looks above. I got up once (after a bag of candy and some painkillers) to unpack my new computer. T then spent the rest of the day installing programs for me, thank you for being my nerdy secretary!!!

You might get the expression that I won the lottery buying all this new equipment, well I didn't. I got a loan for my business. A state granted loan with low fees for businesses run by women. Now I just have to work hard to pay it back. As a typical woman (I think) I gave the decision a lot of thought, but when one of the guys at my how-to-start-your-own-business-class took a
20 000€ bank loan to be able to get his business running I thought I could as well risk a little once. And it does feel great to have a computer that works as it should. Now there is just some cleaning up to do, both in the studio space and the rest of the home, a week of illness does leave its tracks.

*I did not love being pregnant. I felt sick and uninspired most of the time. But I love the result of my suffering!

mobile swap

mobile for elsie marley's swap, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Here is my mobile for elsie marley's swap. I am trying not to freak out when I look at the masterpieces in the flickr pool. At some point I felt like throwing it in the trash and start all over again with something more sophisticated. But when I look at it now I think it looks very much like MY creation. The receiver wanted it to hang in the nursery, she also wanted colour, which suited me since I am very much into happy colours for this Spring. The birds have small bells for feet, a little sound for the baby. I hope she will like it. It is easy to take away the tulle if it feels like too much...

A peek inside the studio

My studio window, originally uploaded by -syko-.

My son who has had a bad version of the stomach flu is finally up on his feet again. And he eats again! I hope we have had our amount of winter illnesses for this year now. Me and little E went out to play in the snow(!) and to catch some sunshine(!) and I thought my studio looked quite fun from outside. I'm making a Spring/Summer collection of house ornaments, my first project on the new sewing machine. I had to start out with something safe and easy. Which was completely silly of course, since I've been sewing on Bernina's all my life (well, nearly). I haven't tried the BSR system yet, which is an automatic stitch regulator for free motion quilting, I'm sure I will have a lot of use for it. The machine also came with a two sole walking foot for quilting. This I can't wait to try out, I've heard it is really good for larger quilts. Aurora is actually my first sewing machine, the one I've been sewing on until now belongs to my mum so it was about time she got it back. Even if her first Bernina from the 70's is still going strong.

I had an order for a shoe bag waiting so while at it I made a few laundry bags for the shop too. I got the romantic paper it is displayed on from Elvina, a very nice shop and cafe here in Turku, they sell danish home-decorating stuff, on-line as well.

Did I mention that I love my new sewing machine?

Hello from the sofa

Featured on Sew, Mama, Sew!, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! I enjoyed my day in Helsinki very much, but I came back with a cold :( I want to get back to you soon to show some pictures from my visit to Pulu and above all show off my brand new Bernina aurora 440 (which I've been too tired to try out yet). Now I will proudly direct you to the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog, my quilt was "quilt of the day" on Thursday, and I will head back to the sofa (I would do the happy dance if I wasn't so tired...). Check out the other featured quilts of Sewmama's quilt month, they have picked some gorgeous pieces of art!

Thanks for your comments on my crochet post, my collection of wonky stars is slowly growing!

New hobby

New hobby, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Since I saw Alex of Moonstitches crocheted hexagon blanket I have been wanting to try crocheting myself. I have knitted a lot, but crocheting is new to me. I needed something to do at night to be able to think of something else than my work. Which I love, but when you have the TV sofa in the same room as your studio it sometimes becomes a little stressful (need to hang a curtain in between). So I thought it was time to start a new hobby. I got this Norwegian wool yarn (Robust) on Saturday and am now working on star number six. I am hooked (haha!) I am using this pattern, since I don't own the Japanese craft book Alex was using. Check out this flickr group for more hexagon love!

Tomorrow I will go to Helsinki (alone!) to visit Pulu and to see my brother, the print maker. He will print a Springy postcard collection for me! I will also ask him to make a print of the bike for me. If it works out it will be available in the shop later.

Cloudy inspiration

wip, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I do have a lot of orders in line waiting for my attention and I AM working on them, but sometimes I have to take a break and follow an impulse. This cloud here is one of those. Got to use this lovely raindrop fabric from Blank textiles, that's been burning on the shelf since I got it. I love the feeling of inspiration, when an idea just pops up and has to be tried out. I think it is a similar rush people get when they take drugs. But don't worry, I don't need any, my brains do their job so well. I also love working as a factory, those days that are just ordinary and grey and all ideas have rained away I am very happy to have a pile of cushion-covers-to-be to take care of. The cloud is going to fly on a cushion too.

Here is another umbrella art quilt for the real optimist :) It's in the shop too.

At last

Lap top sleeve, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I am very happy to have friends that like my creations. Sometimes I am treating them very badly. This lap top sleeve was ordered in October and I finished it today. Sorry Tom! I really hope it fits. Tom is big E's godfather so I decorated it with appliqué of her drawings. His business name is Musta kirahvi (eng. the black giraffe) so a jungle theme was quite accurate. He is also a talented graphic designer and illustrator, click over to see his work! AND he has illustrated Djungeltrumman's record covers, one of our family's favourite bands :)

Interactive project stage 5

Interactive project stage 5 finished, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I want to thank you all for your creative ideas for the interactive project! I got so many good suggestions I decided to count them all in the draw this time. Originally it was meant to be the ten first, but hey, I set the rules and I do want you all to play with me!

The winning suggestion this time was given by paperfish who said: i am seeing her with a bicycle in the picture, like she rode to the country on her bike and in the basket is her fabric stash and her sewing machine is magic and works anywhere! I hope you are satisfied with the result, it was VERY challenging, I have never sewn a bike before. Nor did I think I would be able to draw one. But fabric and thread works wonders with my drawings, it continually surprises me. Click here for a close-up of it.

I am posting the rules here again if you want to play with me, next round is 6/10!

I will:
1. wait until I have got (at least) ten suggestions for the next motive
2. draw one of them
3. do my best to do as you wish using fabric and thread (and buttons?)
4. go through 10 stages
5. draw a winner among all the people who has come with one of the ten first suggestions at any stage

Feel free to join in! Can't wait to see what my next task will be! You can see the whole process in my flickr.

Gertrud and friends

Gertrud, originally uploaded by -syko-.

A quick note to let you know that Gertrud here and her friends are up in the shop, which from now on will be updated on a daily basis. Next week there will be more cushion covers with shoes.

Next post will be on the interactive project. I have been sewing a bike (oh, my was that a challenge)! Have a great weekend everyone!