Welcome new year of fabric play!

Hello blog! I've been looking forward to this moment, but at the same time it is hard to decide where to start after a long break. The last two months of 2008 were very hectic and the theme seemed to be "one flu a week", so I decided to take a break from work to get well, be a full-time mum and recharge my batteries. It seems to have worked, even the weather is on my side this year, it is freezing and sunny so I think I will have to take a walk at lunch to catch some of the beauty before it disappears!
It has been a challenge to stay off the sewing machine so I have had to express my creativity in other ways. Big E got a very nice cookbook published by Unicef for Christmas so I have enjoyed exploring kid's favourite foods from different corners of the world. So far our favourite is adobo, chicken from the Philippines. We celebrated New Year's Eve at my parent's place and I didn't even bring a ball of yarn with me! Luckily my mum is a knitter so I made Big E a winter cap, I got to take a pic when she gets home (she actually wears it to school, which must mean it is a success)!

I also took up my crocheting hobby again, the progress is slow, but the blanket is already warming my knees at night :) I am using this pattern for my hexagons, but I'm sure I would have used the pattern from attic24, if she had written it down when I started, the progress would be much faster! Explore more loveliness in her flickr album. I use thin washable wool yarn instead of cotton, because I wanted to make a warm lap blanket, that wasn't too heavy.
And since I am know officially allowed to play with fabrics again I started planning a quilt inspired by the lovely piece of bird fabric I got in a Christmas swap with Anna. Can you spot the red fabric with the flying white birds? I found that at the fleamarket the other day! I love it so much! I think it might be made in Finland, probably in the early 80's. You rarely find fabrics with small patterns second hand so this made me really happy, I would probably have bought this if I had found it in the fabric store too.

And of course I had to join Katy's FQ swap!

Wishing you all a joyful and crafty year of 2009!

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.

Beware! I'm talking about Christmas!

Sometimes it is good to be early. These retro Christmas cloths will become the 2008 tomte collection. I bought them on sale in a thriftstore right after Christmas last year, darn cheap. I can't wait to start cutting in them! I know they are really cool as tablecloths, but they are a bit too much for me, so I'd rather make something fresh and new out of them. I am especially fond of the one on the right, the colours and patterns are just amazing! I have also finished my last Christmas cards today so now they are off to the printers. Hope they end up nice, it is always as exciting!

I think one of the advantages with having a craft business is that it is ok to start early with the Christmas crafts, I love it!

Post 170 and a cushion

This is post 170, I had to check! The 169th post give away is still going on, so scratch down a comment after my previous post if you want to be in the draw for a little something made by me! It is so nice to see that so many people find there way to this blog and take the time to read about my doings! You have time the whole weekend! I will spend my weekend at Aura Street Market, which is a new event here in town, I am crossing my fingers that it will be a success. This town has a lot of events that emphasizes the local history, but we need something to bring us forwards too! I find a lot of inspiration in stuff from old times, I especially love textiles with a history. I decided to study Ethnology at the university much because of my love to old textiles, I was obsessed with knitting at the time. What I didn't understand back then was that I am more interested in creating and finding inspiration in old crafts than preserving and working in a museum. And all this I am telling you just because I wanted to show you this cushion I made for the fair at the museum last week. I used a beautiful thrifted embroidered table cloth (with coffee stains and holes in it) and linen. I think the English version of the expression on the cushion would be: Things used to be so much better... A little self-irony here :) More pics on flickr.

Happy weekend everyone!

Results

No I did not spend my family-free days in front of the telly eating goodies. Only. I did get some serious work done too. 40+ finished pouches, yay! I had forgotten how much you can get done in one day without interruptions. The giggling owl here is the new member of the pouch zoo. I thought I told him not to taste that mushroom... I used one of the cute ribbons I got from Farbenmix last week. I also used some cool vintage fabric samples that I got a thrift store a few months back. I think the fabric this one got for back goes very well together with the state of mind of this birdy... See it in the shop.

Talking about mushrooms, lucyellen has made one of the cutest I've ever seen made from fabric, here. The weather is just right for mushrooms, it's pouring down so we've spent our time building a lego zoo and drawing. What do you do with the kids when it's raining?

Rebuilding the zoo

I got an invitation to a small craft fair here in town in August 15th which I could not say no to, even though it came on a very short notice. So I have made myself busy cutting pieces for animal portrait pouches. They are my bestsellers whenever I sell at craft shows so I am trying to build a little zoo for Autumn and Christmas fairs. I try to be efficient and make A LOT to be able to make those quilts I'm dreaming of soon. However I AM very happy to be going out to meet some customers in person again! I thought I'd make some key fobs with birds like these, I need something to hang on this ikea tree I got at the thrift store.I have done some shopping, just to make my mailbox happy :) It must want some exceptions from the white envelopes with complete boredom inside, don't you think? But the first happy envelope that came was a very welcome surprise from Moogsmum, who decided I needed some of this gorgeous cloud fabric after I had left an enthusiastic comment on her blog. She made this gorgeous quilt with it, you see. I love it so much, thank you!The lovely ribbons above I got from a German web shop called farbenmix.
I also found HEATnBOND in a Finnish web shop, I want to try out if it is any better than the Vliesofix (at least I think it is that) I buy from a local store. The glue keeps coming off the paper of it, which makes me go crazy. This stuff is what I use for my appliqués :) Are you all familiar with it, or would you be interested in a photo tutorial on how to use it (/how I make my appliqués)?

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!

Greetings from Switzerland

I don't feel like being on a break anymore so I think I'm back! I went to Switzerland alone with my two kids last week to visit my sister. It was an exciting first flight and trip abroad for them but everything went fine and we had a great time. I can highly recommend Zürich as a safe and nice place to travel with kids. Two big toy stores, zoo, trams, water and big green parks. AND they have some great souvenirs to take home. I chose a SOUVENIR as you can see... I also found a treasure box full of buttons at the cleanest thriftstore I've ever visited. More pictures from our trip here.
I am happy to tell you that I am a proud owner of this teacup print by Seealso. It is the first in a collection of etsy teaprints I'm planning to get for our kitchen wall. Any suggestions or any tea-art of your own to offer me?

I'll be back soon with a little new crafting. I'm working on a big wedding gift, three more weeks to go...

Linen and a tulip

Sorry, but you'll have to wait awhile for the Finland part2 post. Thanks for all your nice comments about my Finnish lion anyway! I have a couple of other things on the same theme that I will show you soon-ish. I just have another project that feels more tempting right now. Or maybe two... I made another make-up pouch that I quite like, I found a great dotty shirt second hand that I lined it with. The follow-your-heart-theme will continue in my next project, i bought some wonderful linens today. And I left some wonderful ones back in the store, buuhuu... Anyway I can't wait to get them washed and to start cutting them up! Little E broke that tulip for me. I like them very much, they were planted by a previous owner and it was a nice surprise when they showed up.

And since I am not digging where I stand today go see artist Janet Bell in Chester, UK. Her house paintings are just wonderful! She also has a blog.

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.

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.