Overcoming the stage fright

I have suffered from something closely related to stage fright the two days I've been working full-time with the kids away at school and daycare. Suddenly I have all that time I have been longing for the last weeks. Where to begin??

I started off making a bunch of houses for the fair on Friday. Today I allowed myself to make a little art quilt. You can see a peek of it above next to my granny's old dress that I took out to get some air. The photo is taken on our balcony outside my craft room. The white wooden wall is the only decent background to take pictures against in this house. Have I mentioned before how much I hate our greyish white rented walls? Well, I do. Can't wait to move to a home where I can paint my walls! While I am waiting I will be going over to my friend Sofia (who, speaking about stage fright, is an actress) next week and take some pics for the shop against her turquoise walls. She's got a beautiful home, I'll take some pictures of that too with her permission. The quilt is called Autumn in the park. I used brights on a raw unbleached linen background, I like the effect very much.
Today I got art prints of the 11 birds (above) and the tree, I think they look gorgeous, the stitches are much more visible than on the postcards. They are digitally printed on Finnish Terreus 250 g/m2 paper, which has a lovely matte textured surface. It is the same paper that I chose for the postcards. They measure 21 x 30 cm, which is the size of a regular paper so it should be easy to find a frame for them! Available in the shop.

Cheer me up part 2

Just when I needed some cheering up I got this parcel in the mail from Lesley, aka Moogsmum. And it helped! All of you who took the time to leave a note on my last post helped too, not that I loved to hear that many of you had crappy Mondays too, but it is such a relief to be reminded of the fact that you're not the only worn-out mum (+ a range of other not so flattering titles) in the world. Hope you are feeling alright today, and if you're not, just allow yourself to have a grumpy day!

Lesley used her 7 year old daughter's drawing as base for this cheerful little quilt for Lucy locket's swap. I love the simple and fresh design! But I adore the wasps, they are brilliantly drawn and sewn, such great cooperation:And the label in the back is also a masterpiece, Lesley even stitched my logo, thank you! And thank you for these goodies. The recycled home made felt by Monda will be used very soon and the blue fabric will go into one wave or too in one of the quilts I'm making for my little exhibition this Summer. Now I have a week left to make my quilt, tomorrow I hope to have some time to sit down and play with fabrics and decide which idea to work on...

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?

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!

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.

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.