Going on with FOREST FRIENDS

Awhile ago, before the baby boy was born I'd been doing some funny decorative panels to put to the crib - click here. 

Now, as my baby boy got one of those and I like the way it looks like in his crib, it's time to change and make something new. Hence I'm now busy making another one - longer (like about 28 x 80 cm), featuring FOREST FRIENDS - same old, same old. And introducing a couple of newcomers - a fox and a hedgehog. 

I've coated in mixed green the piece of coarse silk to create some interesting background, appliquéd, printed some flowers and now it's all going to the sewing machine. 

Coming back from holidays

Another couple of weeks have gone, but this time there was a reason - we were on holidays in french Bretagne. Today I'm back and here's a short preview of an upcoming project - cannot reveal more than that right now. Stay tuned!

Going on with the blanket

I'm almost done with that blanket, which stayed in the line for months (here  and here was the start). Not that I avoided it deliberately - I just didn't have that special teddy plusch fabric for the backside - the warm and cuddly soft cotton plusch, that I knew existed, but couldn't find it anywhere in Finland. So I brought it from our recent trip to Berlin and - yep, the blanket is going on!

As you see, I'm hand sewing the binding. And soon we're gonna have something fun and warm to play onto.

Memory game - NEW

And here the just finished MEMORY game. Actually it was done yesterday, but I didn't want to show it without a bag - a draw string bag, with matching applique. All the usual materials, all the favorites - linen (natural finish and some dyed blends), corduroy, a bit of cotton, some coarse silk. Those memory chips are pretty sturdy, because of heavy wool inlet between the linen fabric pieces (appr. 3 mm thick each).

The bag is fully lined. 

This afternoon we're gonna start to play with the baby boy, unless my little girl wants to be the first in the line. Positive side effect - I could use them as coasters if one day we end up loosing some of chips - nice and fun coasters for small and not-so-small (big enough to place a mug on top - they're appr. 8 cm (3") in diameter).

They come soon in the shop and would be a nice christmas present - the price is 40 EUR (excl.shipping costs). Included are: 12 memory picture chips à 6 different motifs (two bears, two birds, two flowers (pink and blue)) and a draw string bag. Dimensions: appr. 8 cm each chip, 14 x 21 cm the draw string bag. 

Wednesday randomness

Currently there're couple of projects which I'm finishing now - the memory game, the blanket (started in..hmmm... somewhere back in summer, when my baby boy was very small and slept a lot), the canvas (this on is going on), I also need to paint new pages to finish my album about our recent trip to Berlin. 

But today I'm sharing another quick drawing made while my baby boy napped. Can't change, won't change - nothing beats the drive to draw, my friends. That's my passion, that's my oxygen, that's my therapy, that's what I'm living for (of course my family, sewing, and one-thousand-other-more-or-less-important-employs exempted). So please be indulgent with me. I got back on drawing train, and nothing is compared to the feel of real paper and pencil slipping over it.

Around here

Hey, friends. Who'd think that a child half-day at a kindergarten plus a baby at home, plus a couple of extra activities/clubs/music lessons/sport lessons after noon would use up the most of my day. I'm not even talking chores and all the rest about grocery shopping, cooking, gardening etc. I'm happy if I get some bites of work done here and there. Only some bites. Mostly interrupted.

So what? If I cannot change things, I change my attitude, as some wiser folks have told long time ago. Yes, I'm gonna play LEGO, and yes, we're gonna mess paint in studio, read books as if there're no tomorrow, and take time to make it all again and again even if it means no decent working for myself in days. My baby boy will get fun stuff to read as well, to see, to hear and to play with, to get out to see his little buddies, we're gonna take walks (rainy or not).

And yes, I do spend my time cooking instead of grabbing some ready-made meals to save time, and take less work time into account - we cook seasonally, with local products, more fish, less meat (most lamb)  - I try to take responsibility for what we're consuming/eating/buying, for what my children learn to do in their free time, to have less, but something meaningful, to be inventive to fill the gaps, to be sensitive for cheap/bling-bling stuff and avoid it as far as possible, to be spare, to make things with hands. The list is going on - everything and anything about sustainability, about esteem for other people's work, about significance of work, respect and awe for craftsmanship - and it's challenging and thrilling to see my little girl adopting those attitudes - something that I truly enjoy right now and wouldn't like to miss. It's working well, my friends. It's working pretty well, all you need is time.

And it takes time. LOT of time. And I have less time to work (but I still do work, that's important). And I accept it. This is life, and we're pretty lucky to have what we have. So now it's about my children learning to take roots to become sane and sound personalities. 

P.S. A preview of an upcoming mixed technique project. 

Memory game

When was the last time I've last sewn/ free-motion-stitched something? I guess, it's been a loooooong time! Aside of some quicky projects. Yep, it was July - I had to browse through my own blog to recall myself (and how sad is that!). I've sewn a couple of pillows for my little girl's room back in July. 

So now it's really time to get back - with a MEMORY GAME. A sewn memory game that we're gonna play with my baby boy. Following the FOREST FRIENDS serie. Quite simplified, bold and using different sorts of fabric for more haptic and visual interest. More photos soon.

You make me happy

I was not quite sure what I was making this piece for - it might stay in our bedroom, I guess. I didn't have any particular idea for it except of playing around with golden lettering to see how it works out. What I like about the golden is the changeability - it doesn't constantly pop up, but only if the light is right, so sometimes it's the layered image that stands out and the words are melting into it, and sometimes it's the phrase that catches the eye.

Doodles free style

Sommer's gone. But as you see, I guess I refuse to accept it. So I'm doodling butterflies. With lots of flowers to top out at the summer feeling even more. On scraps of silk paper - to finish the canvas that you see here underneath.