There will be flowers

I am on optimist. Also when it comes to gardening. I came up with this design for one of my new pouches. A gardener needs a bag to put the hand lotion in, don't you think? I haven't got much of a garden myself at the moment, but I love reading garden books and magazines collecting knowledge for the future. There will be a time when I will have more time for a garden. You can't do everything at the same time (I keep telling myself).

I thought I might use the design for a sketch book/diary for gardeners as well, what do you green fingered people think? I am thinking that the water should be blue or aqua. It might look too dull in black on a white background...

My favourite Spring shoes are out! The snow is gone and it is officially Spring.

Gifts

A gift!, originally uploaded by -syko-.

Katy surprised me with this little pincushion as a thanks for the much loved raawr cushion I made her son. I like the toadstool so much! Thank you! AND it is from Cath Kidston! Katy remembered this post I wrote about cleaning with Cath awhile back :)

I got a mail from craft for china so I thought I'd give a little too. I will donate the carpe diem quilt that was featured on sew, mama sew! in February, for some reason I still have it in my possession, I usually sell or give away everything I make. I hope the exposure it got on sew mama will help to raise the price. There will probably be an action on ebay later this Spring for the two little Chinese girls they are sponsoring. I will make sure to tell you when!

I have been working on a shop up-date this week. I ran out of soft houses so Monday was dedicated to making these. Then I made some make-up bags (or whatever you decide to use them for!). I like the shape and size of them, not too big and not too small! Here is one for the tea lover.

Spring has finally Sprung!

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?

Danish dreams

I talked so much yesterday so today I will just leave you with these small quilts I made from a linen Jackpot dress I bought second hand much because of the beautiful fabric. It never fitted me anyway. I adore the faded flower pattern on it. Reminds me of nostalgic dreams, very Danish ones... So I added a few cotton patches, cotton batting, appliqué, quilted dream, dream, dream, used a vintage pillow cover for backing, threw them in the washing machine and voilà!

And thanks for the response on my last post, it was very appreciated, as always! Happy Easter to each and everyone!

Original me

When I was young, sorry I meant younger, I used to try hard to be different. I had a strong belief that normal was bad (and deep inside I knew I was one of them...). Trying to be different applied to clothing and creativity as well. I wished to be creative, but since I had some difficulties with getting in touch with the deep suffering me, I could not make ART. Though I had read The Idiot by Dostojevski and a range of other Russian classics. The advantage of getting old, sorry I meant older, is that you start to understand the meaning of community and interaction. That people don't live in a vacuum, even not the very creative individuals. I started to think about this when I excused myself for jumping on the owl trend making this cushion a while back. I got another reminder of this yesterday when I received the etsy finds newsletter and found my house scarf featured in it. Hurray! In the newsletter Anda says: I'm an applique maniac (you can see my whole Etsy shop here, I used to sell full time back in 2006) and thought I was being original when I made some house appliques a few months ago...turns out I was tapping into another Etsy meme.

This made the deep teen devil on my shoulder crazy:
"-And you have been making pouches with house appliqué on today!"
"-You are just like everybody else!"
"- So what!" I replied. I love appliquéd houses and my appliqués look just as original as I am. And a lot of other people share my joy. Which makes me happy :)

Spring fashion

7 birds scarf, originally uploaded by -syko-.

It's snowing again, but I am doing my best to help Spring to fly in. Todays contribution is this Spring scarf, I made it a little wider than my previous scarves. This one is in the shop, but I think I'm going to wear one myself next week, when we go to the first night of this opera. T has made sound design for a robot they will have in the foyer. So cool. The project is. AND the fact that I am going to a first night with grown-up people. I hope I will behave myself.

On Friday I will get the postcards I've been waiting for (one with a flock of Spring birds) + a few other printed products my brother has helped me with. Yes, a bike with a pile of fabric too, thanks for asking! I'm so excited!

Carina was kind enough to interview me, please head over to her craft blog, if you are curious to see what I had to say about my craft! And check out her shop too. This crocheted blanket is so beautiful and well made!

*edit* for those of you who haven't seen the origin of my crazy birds, it can be found here.

R is for rabbit

R is for rabbit - mini art quilt, originally uploaded by -syko-.

This is the most fresh member of the ABC-family. It is for a little girl, obviously. I think this is my personal favourite so far. I am thinking of printing cards of these, but I will have to see if the scanner likes them, it can be a little tricky with fabric. At the moment I am waiting for another collection of postcards with my designs, I will hopefully have them next week.

I just talked to a friend from Åland, who is engaged in a local museum where I worked for two Summers when I studied. I was trained to become an Ethnologist, you know :) Freya (I love that name!) asked if my mother and I wanted to have an exhibition in the attic of the museum. Of course we want! Mum will make a summery collection of paintings and I will quilt, of course. Very inspiring. I will probably be making a couple of larger quilts similar to the baby quilt I just made, but with a Summer feel. A fun project to look forward to!