Winter wonderland and a magazine to give away

I'm here again! I felt an urge to tell the world about this view outside my window! We woke up to winter wonderland this morning, the kids have probably never got into their clothes so fast before! Please Santa, or whoever decides about these matters, let us have a white Christmas and winter this year! The last winters have been awfully wet and grey, let this stay! By the way, did you now that Santa Claus lives up in Finnish Lapland? They fly in hoards of tourists every year that want to deliver their wish lists personally. I uploaded more pictures from my wonderland walk on flickr, if you want to see more snow.


So this means I'm officially out of the Christmas closet, what can be better than serious Christmas crafting to the tones of The most relaxing Christmas album in the world...ever! with the view above outside the window! In the evening I enjoy a cup of glögg while stuffing tomte limbs in candle light. Everything to make working at night more joyful.


Last but not least this magazine with my tomte sitting on the cover came in the mail today :) I've got two issues of it so I thought I'd give one away to one of you. Just leave a comment here telling me about one of your Christmas projects and I'll draw a winner early next week.

31+ reasons to be happy

I'm home alone tonight! I will sell at three outdoor craft fairs in Aug-Sept so the family was kind enough to leave me alone with my sewing machine for the night to get some serious sewing done. I am enjoying myself. The timing for my new quilt fabrics arrival couldn't have been better. I had a little Christmas by myself opening the two envelopes stuffed with fabrics, 31 pieces to be specific (more pics in my flickr). I also made me lentils (which the family do not eat) served with rice and feta cheese on top. Which I ate in my bed in front of the TV. Freedom!

As time goes by

Days just seem to go by while I am waiting for everything to get back to normal (school starts in two weeks). I am making very slow progress on my craft projects at the moment, some days I just choose to give up after 136 interruptions by needing kids. But hey, I wanted to have them so what am I complaining about! So then I just talk to my flowers on the patio instead and try to zoom in the nice spots in our cluttered home. And I go on to do all those things mums usually do while my head is boiling with new ideas (yes, it's been HOT here!).
I am very proud to tell you that Holly from decor8 has picked my shop for her Etsy Take Five Tuesday today! She talks so nicely about my work, thank you! Thanks so much Malka for letting me know about it! Malka makes the most amazing quilts from a mix of her own hand dyed and batiked fabrics and commercial fabrics. If you haven't seen Malka's quilts already you should move on to her flickr or her shop now! Just look at this Great Aunt Irma Patchwork Mini Quilt, I love the faded colours, but I also adore the lime green wall that she uses as background for her shop photos!

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!

Fishing boats

Fishing boats, originally uploaded by -syko-.

The boats I made for Janet Bell's gallery are finished. This was a very fun project and I am quite pleased with how they turned out. Might be making more if I hear someone shouting... See close-ups of boats here, here and here.

There was some great news in the paper yesterday, the play The King in Moomin valley at Svenska teatern next Autumn! With the traditional music by Erna Tauro. Very nostalgic, we used to listen to the music when we were kids. I made some muminmamma food the other day, strawberry dessert, it is so easy to make, but it is one of those things that makes me feel like THE moomin mum with all the necessities in her handbag. In real life I am the one that forgets to bring a spare diaper and has to ask a stranger to borrow one. Making a strawberry dessert, or even better, pancakes every once in awhile gives me some mum-points that allows me to go on being silly me most of the days. But as my dear daughter says: "Mum, I like you because you're silly!"

100 and 1 for free

lunch, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Please join me for lunch! This is post 100 on this blog and as I like to celebrate everyday life we'll do it my way (there will be a give away too so you just have to read through this post...). One of the dis?advantages of working at home is that you have to make your own lunch. I think it is very important to make a warm meal for the kids at night and to serve them appropriate breakfast, but I tend to forget that I have to eat myself. Sometimes I have so fun playing with fabric that I suddenly wake up to a screaming stomach, run to the fridge and find it EMPTY. Or is it empty really or are we just facing another creative moment? Please serve yourselves:

Pasta Carbonara for one à la Syko

1 egg yolk
grated cheese
garlic
pepper
ham, sliced and diced
frozen green beans
caprice
pasta of any kind, I found some very cute animal figures in the cupboard :)

Cook the pasta and the frozen beans. While the pasta is cooking stir the egg yolk, grated cheese, sliced ham, pepper and pressed garlic in a bowl. Drain the pasta and immediately add the egg mix. Add the beans and the caprice on top. Voilá!

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Lark books, they are making a book on baby quilts and asked me to send in an entry. I will! I actually had a wip with fabrics from this project lying around that I think would be great for the purpose. Cross your fingers!

And since this is my 100th post I want to thank you all for taking the time to comment with such an enthusiasm that even at bad days makes me want to sew and sew more just to be able to share it with you. Oh, and I thought I would give away a fairy angel to celebrate the occasion. Just comment here and you will be in the draw. The winner will have a few different fairies to choose from :)

Btw I would never had forgotten my lunch hour while I was working (for someone else).

Making it happen

making it happen, originally uploaded by betsy..

I love Betsy Walton's work and had a hard time choosing which print to buy. This however had both the colors and the theme I was looking for. It will be part of a collection of etsy art (yet to be hanged) over our sofa, the colour scheme is white and rainbow :) Now I just need to get them all framed. Shop Betsy Walton art here.

And about making things happen. Today I've taken one more step for my little business, later this week I will know if I will get the loan I've applied for which will mean a new sewing machine and a computer!

Hello my name is stupid

I broke my camera! Left it on the floor during a photo session and accidentally kicked it. And obviously destroyed the zoom and lens thing. No kids involved. Just me. HOW CAN I BE SO DAMN STUPID? Just when we have a huuuge car bill to pay. And just when I got my shop up and running again. Does this mean that I can buy a new and better camera now?

The picture is from my kids drawing corner in the living room and has nothing to do with the accident. When we moved to this apartment I decided to try to furnish our home after our needs and what we actually do at home. One thing was the issue with the crayons and drawings that used to live on our dinner table. So they got this table next to my sewing corner. We also have room for a sofa and a tv, an armchair, a play kitchen and a bookshelf. So this really is a family room. You can make a lot of a small space. It's just a matter of organizing an being open for solutions out of the ordinary. Damn camera.

On my own

I'm tired and it's late but I just wanted to celebrate my first day as an (almost) full-time crafter with a few lines. Little e spent his first day without mum at daycare and everything went fine, he seems to enjoy the company. And the food. And I spent the whole day sewing like it was the last day of my life. I still have a hard time believing that this is for real and that I will be able to do it all over tomorrow again. It might take a few days before i can KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON like on Kirsten's new poster. But who knows if I will have to get a real job someday soon and this will just be a beautiful dream... So carpe diem! I say. Go to bed! You say. But I have to tell you about the vintage book my MiL found at the fleamarket. Lillemor gets a quilt for her birthday and every patch in it has a story to tell, so every night she gets to hear a different story. Wonderful inside and out. Good night!

Mood swings and a sale

In August my little baby boy will start at daycare and my career as a full-time crafter will begin. I can't wait to have the children away for a few hours a day and have time to craft and think without getting interrupted. At the same time I feel excited and nervous and these cold Summer days has given me a little too much time to think about the future. (We are also planning to move to a new town, buy our first house and take a huge bank loan...) Please give us some hot and lazy Summer days, my brains need to slow down!

I am having a little Summer sale in the shop to give room for the "Autumn collection", which I have had lots of time to think about and no time at all to start working on. I am not alone! Look at Jenny's beautiful way of putting it!

Oh, and if you need to brighten up your mind too, go and look at Marc Johns's drawings. So brilliant!

Happy day
I have had Greek salad for lunch, cut three dresses, looked at my flowers growing, been quiet, made a pear tree pouch (a custom order), watched TV in the middle of the day, talked a long time in the phone without any disturbance, had sandwiches for dinner, finished one dress, taken some photos, surfed the internet, laid on the sofa dreaming of a future in a house of our own in a small town close to the sea... I am home alone and I love it!

These linen dresses will be up in the shop this week. I used the bird big E and I created together again and used our favourite materials too. I love linen, she loves tulle. And checkout my homemade tags! Couldn't decide on what to order, where from and how many so I just made some myself. Easy.

I hope you are enjoying yourselves too!

Diet

I did not think it would take this long for me to be back in business with my sewing. Now I'm finally getting there. I just can't work if my space and my stuff is not in order. I googled clean desk and found out I'm not alone... You wouldn't believe this if you saw my home. Really.

Little E and I built the new ikea shelf together, he gave me one screw at a time :)
I had to take a smaller shelf than planned, our car has its limitations. I'm quite happy with it anyway. AND I got to spend a whole day in Helsinki with my best friend (and no kids), trying out wedding dresses for her. We had a wonderful time!

I'm on a diet, not because I have a weight problem but because I want to get rid of my rash. I want to get well NOW! No grain, no sugar, no milk. I've made it two days and it feels better already! My kids love the smoothies I make to get something sweet an healthy. This is frozen strawberries, 1 banana, 1 apple, some almonds and rice milk. Served in a thrifted strawberry bowl.

Yellow new home

It's great to be back here after a long period of packing and unpacking and then a short period of living without an Internet connection (1½ weeks that felt like a million years... I know I'm a spoilt kid). However I feel a little empty since I haven't had the opportunity to do anything crafty in our new home yet, except a few chicks for Easter. Everything else is nearly in order here, but my favourite part is still very unorganised. I'm waiting for time and money to go and get myself a new shelf. So since I haven't got anything crafty to show you I decided to go look for some yellow. I'd like to call my photo "how to justify a yellow ashtray". Thank you Stephanie and Julie for the inspiration!
AND you can see a hint of a very typical house in the area we live in. There was a time when I was convinced I would never live happily in the suburb. Here I am, three bedrooms (rented though), two kids, one partner, one car, no dog ;-)

I don't want to forget to thank you all for your very kind comments on my last post! You are great!!! Have a wonderful weekend!

*oh, and it's not me that smokes...*

House projects

I've started a new project. As I usually do. Since we're moving to a new house I thought houses would be a suitable theme. It's an idea I've had bubbling in my head for a while now (it's kinda crowded in there...). One block will move to this wonderful little shop, sometime this Spring. Take a look at Catherine's own houses, they are adorable! I got a fun idea for numbering my house quilts. This first quilt will be house number one obviously. It's still missing in the picture. Number two will be ready soon. Stay tuned if you want a house with your number (I'm not sure how far my inspiration will take me...) or contact me (kajsa dot wikman at gmail dot com) if you want one in your favourite colours!

Yesterday there was an interesting add in the paper - there will be a craft exhibition in my hometown this Summer, applications should be handed next Friday. Should I try my luck and get something done until Friday? It would be great if they'd pick one of my pieces, but the time schedule is a little... tight. I was thinking about a large version of this, any opinions?

Talking about numbers I just noticed this will be post number 52 on this blog. I was quite surprised, didn't think I posted that often and I've only been here since last Summer. Anyway, thanks so much to all of you for your kind comments and encouragement, it means a lot to me!!!

Sunny Spring days to all of you!

Birds

Never get enough of them. This piece is based on an aquarel I did together with my 4-year old daughter. I first drew the bodies and then we coloured them together. She got the brilliant idea to draw claws and beaks for them. And punky hair! She's so clever! So I had to start a new sewing project... More pictures on flickr. I think these birds will fly on coming quilts of mine, I like how they look so much! One is already flying over a house I've sketched.

I found some human friends for my animal-and-bird-pouches here. So cute! And take some time to look at miss Pompon's photostream, these pigeons for example. Her creations are amazing!

I'm going away with the kids for a week, don't know how I will manage without my sewing machine. But I will meet good friends, and there ARE fabric shops where they live too :) So I guess it will be all great. Then I have to come home and start packing. Have I told you a million times that we are moving already? Well we are. Only a month left. Tomorrow I will take a bunch of stuff to the fleamarket. I will. But can I just make a small house quilt first?

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...

Greasy give away

Inspired by the wonderful winter weather I made this little quilt. Which I am going to give away. I have a terrible rash on my hands (and all over my body) for some reason. I have always been allergic but this takes the prize. Stress? Something I ate? Evil mind? I managed to get some greasy stains on the hills from my hand lotion. So I can't sell it. If you don't mind the grease (it's not that bad), comment on this post and I'll send it to you! If there are more than one who likes it I will have to draw a winner :)

Tea please, now!!

I'm going to kill someone. Soon. I have so many ideas, but the family wont leave me alone with them for a second. Arrgh. I think I'd better do it the English way and make myself a cup of tea, and join Risa's teaparty (which I acctually missed, but I still need some tea and company, join me here if you like! Any angry mothers out there?). I did some really good finds at the fleamarket yesterday. The mug I'm having my tea from is a great addition to my collection of cups with numbers on, I got these coffee cups for Christmas last year. The tin I have my teabags in is from Marimekko (shop Finnish design on sale here. Look at Rinne Niinikoski's great clothes for example!). I will have my favourite tea, Keisarin morsian (the Emperor's bride) from Nordqvist. To celebrate the teaparty I'm going to put this tea cosy up for sale in the shop today.
I know my expectations are too high. I acctually got 15 minutes of sewing time and got this drapery made for the kid's room. Finally. I hate sewing straight seams. But I love the Designer's guild fabric and I love the price I paid for it in the favourite fabric shop I always talk about (desgner fabrics, vintage buttons, zippers and trims and a lot of rubbish). So I guess I should feel happy I got this finished. Now tea.

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!