I'm too old to be young

I am so tired. I got to spend the day out with good friends on Friday which meant I did not get much sleep and the two hour drive back home in the dark yesterday was exhausting! Turning 32 is hard work :) What is a joy is that I picked up the new Christmas cards from my brother while in Helsinki, so here they are! I've kept a few of the designs from last year that I showed in my last post, but printed them on quality paper this time.

And there is more good news, since the dollar seems to be recovering (or is it the Euro going down) I have reduced the price on all printed products in my shop, the price for shipping is also lower since today!

*edit* Turned out I have a fever, so I'm off to bed hoping to feel a little younger tomorrow. Good night everyone!

And the winners are...

I must say I am quite overwhelmed by the interest in my give away. I got 77! responds to the post, so I have decided to send three little surprise packages to these lucky winners: jacquie, kristin and kristen mary! You will get an e-mail from me very soon!

I would also like to thank all of you for your kind words on my sad post yesterday. Hugs to everyone! I am sorry that I haven't been able to get back to all of you personally on the last posts, I can assure you that I appreciate all comments and read them all!
The shop has been updated with house brooches and the home cushion cover above. I will be making more cushions soon, but I'm waiting for my fills to arrive from the factory. Many customers want to buy a fill for their cushion cover so I thought it best to stock up with some. I want the covers to fit perfectly so I won't start cutting til I have them at hand. The home cushion is supposed to be part of the word series :)

Some of the fairy-angels left from the show have also moved to the shop. Dagny, Hilda and Agda are lying next to me very excited inside their envelopes waiting to fly to their new homes in France and Australia :)

Summertime

vinden drar, originally uploaded by -syko-.

We are back home after a wonderful Midsummer with good friends in the archipelago. The exhibit is now hanged so I am free to move on to the next (secret ;) project. The kids are home so I will try to take some time off too, the best way to relax is to get away from all projects. Today I hit the Summer sales with little E and we had a really nice time. Big E turns six tomorrow so we got her some nice clothes. We stopped at a café for a snack and took the bus home (taking the bus instead of the car is a great adventure for the little boy!).

I have posted more pictures of the exhibition at flickr. I am sorry that I did not take any close-ups of my mums work! The actual hanging was more challenging than making the big quilt, I thought, but I think we finally managed to hang everything quite nicely. The mostly white backgrounds of our textiles look great against the old logs.

I got the opportunity to exhibit at Pellas because I worked there as a museum guide 10 years ago when I studied Ethnology. Since that the house has burned down and been rebuilt again! The fire was a great tragedy in the small community and it feels very good to see the house rebuilt again. This year it is open to the public again and I am very happy to be part of it!

A wreath and a quilt

I have been very lucky recently. A couple of weeks ago I won this beautiful yoyo wreath for Mother's day that Nathalie made. It arrived on a day I really needed some cheering up, thank you!I had a very nice coffee break the other day, sitting out in the sun enjoying the Askinosie chocolate Nathalie enclosed, I also took the time to read the facts about it and learned that it has 65 times more antioxidants than broccoli! And it is ecological and fair trade. So you people that can get your hands on this goodness, eat as much as you can if you want to live long! The trims were very much appreciated too, of course! I have borrowed Nathalie's beautiful photo of the wreath, (hope you don't mind!), I wish I had a red wall like that! You can find more great shots of the wreath (and the sweetest tutus!) at Nathalie's blog!
This is a sneak peak of the little quilt I made for Lesley Moogsmum (as you can see from the monogram) for the Lucy Locket swap, I am very happy to have finished it. At one point I thought I wouldn't be able to make anything, after spending weeks making custom work I felt overwhelmed by the opportunity to make whatever I felt like. I decided to take a deep breath and play with fabrics, I hope Lesley will like the result! If anyone would think of asking: Yes, I think the sofa makes a great pin cushion, I have at least five pincushions but this is so practical! T does not agree...

Cake for everyone!

We are back home after a long weekend spent with my parents in Vaasa. The weather was warm and sunny so we almost felt like we were on Summer holiday. Yesterday morning we celebrated dad's birthday by having ice cream and waffles for breakfast. A heavy, but oh so yummy start of the day! The cake is for all of you kind people that take the time to read and comment on my blog, thank you! Thank you for all the nominations and memes I've got lately too! I highly appreciate it, but I will not nominate anyone particular for anything today I am just serving all of you some tasty fabric cake. The cake will become a printed card soon. I told 7 seven random things about myself a year ago, I am still quite the same (except that I'm one year older...), you find my answers here, if you're interested.

I am very happy to tell any Finnish passers by that some of my stuff is now available in Elina's new web shop patio.fi with beautiful things for your homes and gardens. This lovely message board is on my wish list!

If you are not yet in the draw for a pikapackage, be sure to visit Pikaland today!ck

I'll be back soon with some crafty news!

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!

syko in print

As many of you have already noticed I have received the first collection of paper goods from my brother. I am very excited about our cooperation and I really like how these first cards turned out. It feels special to see your designs in print. I developed a special technique for these with appliqué on paper. Rasmus and I have big plans for other printed products with my designs, everything from shopping lists to wallpapers is on our list :) I have had some troubles sleeping, planning future paper products... What is your favourite kind of paper goods? I think napkins would be so cool...

I was overwhelmed by the response my cards got on flickr and etsy. Thank you so much my friends for going shopping!!!

Now when I got this back from the print shop I will be able to go on with the interactive project. I'll be back in a few days!

It's a very cold Easter here, the wind is freezing and we just got some snow! How is the weather in your part of the world?

Inspiration!

I love to inspire, so today I would like you to head over to Carla over at Thriftin' and Craftin' and see what a little quilt of mine can do! So exciting!

The quilt is ready, I spent a horrifying 40 minutes expecting the worst while it was in the washing machine, but it made it and the clouds look just as fluffy as expected. Will post a picture tomorrow when it has dried!

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?

And the winner is Ruth

fairy angel with dots 2, originally uploaded by -syko-.

I am honestly happy that my son picked Ruths' name from the basket in the give away. Ruth is one of the wonderful persons that always takes the time to write nice and encouraging comments on my posts. Thank you! Ruth is an Australian living in South Africa and I very much enjoy reading her blog; Ruth's place, about life in Africa. She also shares my joy for crafting (so this will be a great opportunity to send those scraps for you that I promised :)

I'll be back soon with next step of the interactive project, if I can get through the task I've been given...

Interactive project stage 2

I must agree with Jules that it is more fun to watch someone else do a project like this, or at least it seems much easier :) It is very challenging to work with a picture when you have no idea how it is going to turn out in the end. However I thought I picked an easy one (I did not cheat) when I picked Anina's suggestion a bunch of wild flowers. But then again, how do you sew wild flowers and what kind of flowers would the girl with the sewing machine like? While I was thinking and breaking my camera (I got a new one, thank you very much!) Summer faded away and the only flowers that felt right were sunflowers. I hope they look wild enough... I placed them on the left hand side of the girl when I realised there has to be room for eight more things, what they will be it's up to you! Can I have ten more suggestions, please! Sorry for the rainy day colour of the picture!

I love sewing! And tea too

I'm doing what I should. I'm sewing, sewing and sewing. Except today is Saturday so I will have to entertain my family a bit. I have been working a lot in linen again and it feels very much like me so I will probably continue this way. I got a wholesale order for cushion covers so I decided to reuse my animal designs. I placed them on a line of patches that matches the fabric in the back. The back is made from floral cotton to brighten it all up. More pics in my flickr.

I also made the first of a set of alphabet quilts I have planned. Thought they would be nice to decorate the kidsroom with, or why not a work space for a grown-up with a sense of humour and a love for the cute. In other words some happy and naive individual like myself :) The next letter might be an H, thinking hippo, hat, house, hedgehog, horse...

I also did a little teacup quilt inspired by a piece of old lace I found in an old sewing table from the 1950's that I got recently (need to take a pic and tell you the whole story soon)! My friend Laurraine is the master of quilted teacups, go see her shop! She also has a flickr and is the founder of a flickr group for tea related craft stuff. Go there and get inspired!

Thank you everyone for your nice comments on my last post! Your support means a lot to me. And I promise that my next post will be on the interactive project!

Stage 1 completed

It was great to come home after a busy week (I was a bride's maid at my best friend's wedding!) to complete stage 1 of the interactive project. Of course I drew one of the yikes, life in yonder's suggestion "a girl like you with a sewing machine". But I must say it was quite a relief I did not happen to pick the Schnauzer Anina suggested... That sounded really hard. So the girl is ready. I hope you like her, I placed her in the left corner of the white background piece. Now I would like to have ten more suggestions please!

An interactive project for you and me

etsy is running a poster contest which I enjoyed making an entry for. Here it is , whimsy, happy and childish. As me :-)

Julie has just finished a fascinating project on her blog (go see her shop too). I have decided to copy the great idea but I will do it all on fabric. So here' s the deal. I have a piece of white fabric waiting to become a little arty quilt and you are going to help me fill it (I hope). I will use appliqué and embroidery (and hopefully some buttons too). So please tell me what YOU would like to see on it by leaving a message here! I will:

1. wait until I have got ten suggestions
2. draw one of them
3. do my best to do as you wish
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

I hope you would like to join me on this, I'm sure it will be great fun! I will be away for a week, my very good friend is getting married but after that I will start with the first task.

Mailday!

Today was one of those great days when I got a note from the post office that I had a big letter waiting for me. I had to pick up big E a little early to get it sooner... And I was so spoilt!! Thanks a million Kristin! As I said I really hope the fleamarket collection I put together for you was worth it... I need to take better pictures tomorrow of everything. You can enjoy them in my flickr album later. In the meantime you can look at the wonderful little pincushion I got! Thanks Ellia for organizing a great swap!

Me and big E started a dinosaur project this weekend, it's going to become a quilt finally (or maybe we'll end up with a small cushion, who knows.)

Kristina asked me when I craft. I admitted I don't clean my house so much... And if you look closely at the picture of my daughter's jam-hearted porridge you can see what my kids do to my antique table while I'm crafting. This might be a good idea for us... And speaking about chalk I made another little bird quilt. I just don't know how to take a good picture of it!! I thought it would make a fun graduation gift :) Acctually I was thinking about my own situation when I got the idea...

And the winner is...
Kristin! I promise I didn't just pick you because I'm going to send a package your way this week anyway (Kristin is my swap partner in greenbeanbaby's valentine's swap). My daughter draw the winner. Of course I would like to give away stuff to all of you now! I might make it a tradition to give away stuff I have destroyed :-) I wonder if you would like the little white quilt I managed to make brown with my old iron the other day... Check out Kristin's igloo pincushion everyone! It is amazing!!

I'm working on a "wholesale" order at the moment, I am so happy that a few of my pouches will move to this lovely little shop in Brooklyn, NY!!!

Another good thing with giving away stuff was that I got 15 comments on my last post, my record! Thanks for all the symphathy, the rash is much better now, hydrocortison did the thing. Off to save the house from further destruction, Little E (15 months) loves to draw on EVERYTHING.

Sun!!!

No snow, but sun, sun, sun today! I've felt so energetic just beacuse we got a few hours sunlight today. And I do realise that I've become one of those old farts that talk about nothing but the weather... But when you only have six hours of so called daylight you get like this. But I will talk about other things! Now.

I found a linen fabric that was exactly what I was looking for for my bags. It is firm enough to give some structure, the price was very ok and it was even Made in Finland. It has a quite strong natural smell, but that just adds a country feeling to it, MOOH! The picture is a sneak peak of my first bag Queen of the road.


I thought it was time to do some swapping so when I saw this I had to join and I'm very excited! I love putting together colour-themed packages so I got a great partner :-)

I've started to collect fabrics for a robot- and space wallhanging design . I have a bunch of pouches waiting for zippers, but they can wait, I need to do other stuff in between. As if I had the time... I love the 1930's print (I think it's Laura Ashley) I found in my favourite fabric store. The buttons are robo-eyes.

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!

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...

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!