A lesson in taxes

Sailing - work-in-progress, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Sometimes I would just like to sail away to a place with no bureaucracy... My bookkeeper called me today just to let me know that I need to charge VAT (sales tax) not only from my national customers, but also from my customers in the European Union. This means that EU residents will be charged 22% sales tax (yes, that's what we pay here in Finland) when they buy something from my shop. Sorry to bore you with this, but some etsy sellers within the EU might need this information too, if they have been as ignorant as I have been about this until now! To celebrate this very unofficial tax day I have reduced the price of some of the items in my shop. All the house scarves left are now 22,50 USD (+ tax if you live in the EU ;)

The little boat is a detail of a mini quilt that is going to be displayed at the exhibition I will have with my mum this Summer. But before I quilt it I will order some postcards of it. I hope to have a new little Summer card collection to offer next week. Here is another quilt/card to be with a herring theme!

Trend: Happy folklore

Trend: Happy folklore, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I am part of a trend that I was not aware of! In fact I didn't think I was very trendy at all... I got the new issue of Koti & Keittiö (Home & Kitchen) today just to find these beautiful pictures featuring my creations in very nice company! I want that dotty shirt! One of the reasons why I chose to study Ethnology at the university was that I loved traditional crafts. I used to knit a lot using traditional Scandinavian patterns and at some point traditional cross-stitch was my passion. I have always admired folk embroidery and appliqué and I think it's really cool that a journalist has found something of this in my work. Koti & Keittiö was a positive surprise too. I hadn't read it before, since the front page does not look very tempting, but the inside was a nice surprise! I might consider ordering it, they enclosed a very good offer...

This week I have been making stuff for Elina's new web shop patio.fi. I am very happy that she will be selling some of my creations on-line in Finland. Here are some garden fairies waiting for scarves and wings; something to do in front of the TV tonight! I hope you like them Elina!I hope the sun is shining in your corner of the world, my trendy craft friends!

Pika

Syko sketchbooks & postcards, originally uploaded by pikaland.

Pika is Japanese for bright, shine and happy so when Amy from Pikaland asked me to take part in project pika package I had to say yes! Pika is also Finnish for fast so there was no time to hesitate :) I feel flattered to be amongst all the talented illustrators, especially since I don't consider myself an illustrator. I just sew doodles, you know! There is going to be a give away on the site in a few weeks so if you are interested in receiving a package from one of the illustrators be sure to sign up for the newsletter! Amy shows off all the goodies people have contributed with in this flickr album. Above is some of the stuff I sent.

We've had great Spring weather today and I have spent the whole day cleaning (I even washed a few windows) and sorting out stuff. My friend and I are going to the fleamarket to sell some stuff tomorrow morning, it opens at 7 a.m. so we have to get up at 5.30 so it's quite an adventure. Anyway I think both of us enjoy the little escape from our families, she's got twins the same age as little E (2½) so it's not everyday we can chat away together without getting interrupted. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Where is grandma?

The first things I sold in my etsy shop were zippered pouches with different appliquéd animals. I accidentally came up with the design for a swap with a cat lover 2½ years ago :) The pouches still sell well in the little shop in Helsinki that sells some of my creations. So I am trying to provide them with a bunch of them for the rest of Spring this week, before I take on next project on my list (reminding myself to take one project at a time). The wolf is the newest addition to the pouch family. I used Finnish 100% organic felt for the head. Someone requested an animal with a teacup on its head a long time ago and I thought granny's teacup would look great on the wolf's head... Can you spot Little red riding hood on the blue ribbon? It is from Rosa Pomar and it is gorgeous! I ordered some cotton batting from her shop some time ago and had to have some of that ribbon too! While I was making these yesterday I popped in at Kennedy & Friends just to find the cutest little red riding hood, what a coincidence! I admit being inspired by Natascha's illustrations when I designed the wolf, unfortunately her wolf and little red riding hood print is sold out, but her dogs are not bad either...

Mailday

Thank you Emily!, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I was very fortunate to win a a 100th post give away at Emily's blog Ravenhill and yesterday I received this lot of beautiful fabrics in the mail! She also sent a little matryoshka ornament. You probably can't see it, but her face is beautiful and very carefully drawn! Thank you so much for everything!

I am especially fond of the two fabrics on the left hand side. It is so inspiring to get fabrics someone else has chosen for you, I think!

I'm off to town to spoil myself with lunch. I need to write the "about" text for my home page so I have to change environment to clear my head. My mum is making me the home page and it is going to be great, can't wait to show you!

Dots, dots, dots

7 birds scarf in red polkadot, originally uploaded by -syko-.

The 7 birds scarf is now available* in this happy dotty colour scheme! I'm modeling again, without a wig this time ;-) The beautiful piece of art you see next to my, ahem, shoulder, is by Betsy Walton. The little bird quilt in the background was the first thing I made with these happy birds that I never seem to get tired of. I'm glad many of you like them too! Talking about small quilts I decided to take part in Lucy's quilt swap, despite of my decision not to take part in any swaps at the moment... The subject was too tempting! Thanks for organizing Lucy!

I think I might make another set of house scarves on this dotted fabric too. When I have the time...

*the first one sold already, I promise to list more in the shop tomorrow!

Bright head(ing)

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Big E learned how to ride the bike she got for Christmas so we had a very happy Sunday. I decided to take on my crocheting project again, after abandoning it for some time (after 8 hexagons I realized I had made them all wrong so I had to take a break...). The blanket is now the size of a small doll quilt so it will take "some time" to finish it, but I'm in no hurry, this is supposed to be my relaxing, slow project. T says the colours are crazy, but I like it, and I am using white in all of the hexagons to lighten it up.


I went fabric shopping last Friday, I needed fabric for more bird scarves (will be available in the shop tomorrow Tuesday) and I found this aqua ribbon to a bargain price so I bought a few meters. And found a (p)syko way of displaying it :) The mobile in the background is from painted fish studio.

Wishing you all a joyful work week!

*edit* If you are a lover of dots, take a look at Julie's blog dedicated to dotty things. She features my piggy cushion today in very good company!

There will be flowers

I am on optimist. Also when it comes to gardening. I came up with this design for one of my new pouches. A gardener needs a bag to put the hand lotion in, don't you think? I haven't got much of a garden myself at the moment, but I love reading garden books and magazines collecting knowledge for the future. There will be a time when I will have more time for a garden. You can't do everything at the same time (I keep telling myself).

I thought I might use the design for a sketch book/diary for gardeners as well, what do you green fingered people think? I am thinking that the water should be blue or aqua. It might look too dull in black on a white background...

My favourite Spring shoes are out! The snow is gone and it is officially Spring.

Gifts

A gift!, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Katy surprised me with this little pincushion as a thanks for the much loved raawr cushion I made her son. I like the toadstool so much! Thank you! AND it is from Cath Kidston! Katy remembered this post I wrote about cleaning with Cath awhile back :)

I got a mail from craft for china so I thought I'd give a little too. I will donate the carpe diem quilt that was featured on sew, mama sew! in February, for some reason I still have it in my possession, I usually sell or give away everything I make. I hope the exposure it got on sew mama will help to raise the price. There will probably be an action on ebay later this Spring for the two little Chinese girls they are sponsoring. I will make sure to tell you when!

I have been working on a shop up-date this week. I ran out of soft houses so Monday was dedicated to making these. Then I made some make-up bags (or whatever you decide to use them for!). I like the shape and size of them, not too big and not too small! Here is one for the tea lover.

Spring has finally Sprung!