Features and Factory work

A few notes about what's been going on in my crafty life this week:
My road cushion was featured in Koti ja Keittiö 11/2008! This is actually the only home deco mag I order so it was a very pleasant surprise to open it at my lunch break yesterday just to find this beautiful picture! And as if that wasn't enough my friend also spotted my house card in Glorian koti recently.

This is one of 60 fairy-angels I started making yesterday. I quite enjoy working like a little factory sometimes and along the way I still come up with new embellishments for the dresses so there is some room to be creative anyway! The one on the picture is decorated with a piece of a handmade lace cloth, one of my thriftstore finds. Talking about secondhand shopping I realise that the vintage polkadot ribbon is a find by my sister and the seashell button comes from the treasure box I got from a fleamarket in Zürich, Switzerland where my sweet sister lives. She gifted me with more treaures when she visited last week. I also got a pair of zig-zag scissors as on early birthday gift. Got to show them off soon, they are sooo great!

Verner, Alfred and Melker are already on their ways to their new homes in Germany and the US, so exciting! This is Lars, a new member of the tomte family. As soon as I get more stuffing the family will continue growing. I have six fellows looking at me from the shelf right now, I wonder what they are up to during night time....
These are the fabric squares I sent in Chickpeas's Spare Change Swap. Click on the picture if you want some information about the manufacturers! I can't wait to see what I receive! I've seen some pretty awesome fabrics in the flickr pool.

Tomte 2008

The children have been on holiday since Thursday and my attempt not to work has not worked very well, I've spent far to much time by the sewing machine. We did however visit the old castle and the art museum here in town, which was very nice, so I haven't neglected my family totally. At the art museum I discovered a local artist, Teija Lehto. I love how she pictures everyday scenes in her woodcuts. I couldn't find my favourite pieces online, but I did find a few that I think are representative for her work. Here is a kitchen mess, and another messy kitchen scene :)

What makes it hard to take it easy is the long to-do-list that I have in the back of my head. I need to stock up for Christmas and have a bunch of orders to take care of. So I need my time in the studio! I got a call from a home decor magazine a few days ago, they wanted me to send over some stuff for a photo shoot for their Christmas issue, very exciting and on very short notice! I have had so fun combining fabrics for the new tomte* collection! Since the fairies have girls names I decided these will be boys! Names is one of my "hobbies" so I enjoy naming my tomtar very much! I just love browsing though the name book. Some names I love so much that at times I think we will have to get another baby just to get use for them. Not a very good reason to get children, I know... I will be listing tomtar in the shop over the coming week(s). More fairies are on the go too. And a holiday edition of house ornaments! Oh, and the feet you see above belong to Melker!

*gnome, elf, Santa's little helper...

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!

Nightlife

Summer houses in a row, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Yawn. I didn't get my beauty sleep for a couple of nights so I'm a little off. My happy little baby E is showing that he will son be 2½. He has major mood swings during the day, cry attacks at daycare and apparently processes this during night. Last night he woke up several times screaming: "No, it's mine! I had it first!" Which led to me lying awake thinking about the best ways to arrange papers for the bookkeeper.

Next week I will quilt and write the instructions for the baby quilt I am making for the LARK book (Baby quilts) I will participate in. It will be published some time next Autumn. They wanted us to send a baby photo of ourselves so I have had a fun time looking through old pictures. My mum has tried a lot of different hairstyles :) I hope to show you some quilt progress next week! Cross your fingers that Aurora does her job well!

I have added a few fishing boats and Summer houses to the shop.

Happy weekend!

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!"

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!

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...

Forget-not the light

fairy-angel Forget-me-not, originally uploaded by -syko-.

One of the most important things when you sell your things on the internet is good photos of your products. A winter without snow and a lot of rain has very poor natural light to offer so I finally built myself the light box I have been planning for so long. I still need to get a better spot light outside the box to get a clear light, but I think this box will do the trick. I really want to have decent pictures of my work in the shop.

I came up with a new angel design for Christmas and felt I was not just ready with them yet so I decided fairy-angels would be as great for Spring and Valentine's day. I found a vintage pillow case with Forget-me-nots that I used for the appliqué, isn't that a sweet flower for Valentine's day? The dress is made from linen in light turquoise. Here is a sister dressed in pink. They will appear in the shop February 1st or hopefully sooner. The beautiful wall paper in the background is Saga from Sandberg, I was happy to get a leftover piece when our friends decorated their little boy's room :)