syko

Handmade business and a late Christmas present

There has been no time to wonder what to do lately. It might be because of this little interview in Finnish home deco magazine Maalaisunelma ("Country dream", which is the Finnish version of Swedish Lantliv) that I have been contacted by a few Finnish shops this month. So I am keeping myself busy making pouches and pouches again for the Finnish market, even if I am sorry that it meens that my own shop is still waiting for an update. But handmade takes time! Find all shops that carry my goods on my home page!

*edit* I totally forgot to thank Liinu who made this interview with me, kiitos!

 
Selina Lake's Bazaar style (ISBN: 978-1-84597-626-2) came in the mail last Friday (finally), a Christmas present from T. I first stumbled upon Selina's beautiful interiors on flickr, where she shares some of the pictures from the book. What I like about Bazaar style is that the interiors show actual signs of life, I often get stressed (or an urge to become a better person) browsing through interior magazines and looking at the clean homes with no signs of clutter and STUFF. If you are a creative person and/or living with kids you most certainly have both. The most horrific is the beige and white kidsroom with the only visible toy being an old teddy bear lying on the neatly made bed. Let's leave teddy there and get back to enjoying the bazaar style!

This book got me inspired to go thrifting. I visit thriftstores quite often, usually on the hunt for fabrics that I use for my products. And old tins. And more tins. This book has recently been released in Finnish, so those of you who live here in Finland can happily go to the closest bookstore and ask for it, no need to wait a month like I did! Here's the newest addition to my tin collection. It became the home of the 63 hangtags that I made today. Back to crafting, I want all four packages sent this week! See ya!

Project Improv part 3

This is how my improvised bird quilt looks like today. I joined the blocks together trying to form coherent areas with the same fabric. I added some white around it all and will add more to make it fit a single bed, it needs to be a little wider. I hanged it by our bed to be able to take the picture, not sure if I will be able to sleep with it there though... T thoguht it looked Japanese, which I took like a huge compliment :) I still like to look at it myself, but I'm sure ar some point I will wonder what to do with it.

I also made the first block for Project Improv, I call it goat tv :)

If you are waiting for a shop update, I must ask you to be patient, I have gotten a few wholesale orders that are taking up my time at the moment, but I will sneak in some projects for the shop too. I hope to have something new in the shop by the end of next week.I would like to update my shop more often, but at the same time I am very happy that I am being contacted by shops here in Finland!

Thank you for your input on my what-if-book! I appriciate all ideas and thoughts!

Library love

This post is all about books, the crafty kind of course! The old library here in town was renovated and reopened last year, it got a new modern wing, where the children's department is situated. It is an oasis, and the best thing is that they are open on Sunday! I managed to get a shot of these amazing appliquéd curtains in front of the play area for the smallest booklovers. The lamps are just amazing, the whole interior is, if you ever come to visit, this is a place I would be proud to take you to.
At the library I found this lovely book Maja (Hut) by Mari Savio & Kati Rapia (who is also a great comic artist) with fantastic projects for kids and their parents.

This hut/castle is so simple and clever! Such a great way to use those vintage teatowels you love to collect, but just don't fit your modern kitchen! The prince and the pea. If we ever get a bigger playroom for the kids I will most certainly store our extra matresses like this!
ISBN 978-951-0-34518-4

I was wondering --- if I ever was to publish a book, what would you like to find in it? I am thinking 4 seasons of syko crafts, inspired by the seasons in Scandinavia; Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn... White, bright, whimsical. Appliqué tips of course, quilts, cushions,smaller projects. Have you got a favourite among my projects that you would really need a pattern for or that should definitely be in a syko-book? Any thoughts would be very appreciated!

Project Improv part 2

Seven Improv quilt blocks are now finished. I still have one piece of bird fabric to sneak in somewhere. I used eleven different fabrics for all blocks (I write about that in yesterday's post).  One thing that just happened while putting the blocks together was that I used the white strips for the edges, I wanted the bird patches to stand out so I didn't put any whites around them. Today I have spent some time composing the quilt trying to create bigger areas with the same fabric, the eye has to have some place to rest in this crazy creation! The rest of the quilt will be white (with black print) so that the colourful amoeba (couldn't think of a better word) will stand out as a graphical form. I think...

I am still trying not to plan too much. This is not going to end up on the can't-decide-on-the-next-step-shelf, I am determined to make a quilt out of it asap!

Improvising a new blog home and a quilt

The Syko blog is moving! I decided to spend a few dollars to get myself three columns and syko in my domain-name, hope it will be worth it! A fresh new start! Links, blogroll and design willl appear as soon as I learn how this functions! My old blog can still be found here.

What I really wanted to talk about is my new quilt project. During the holidays I sneaked into my craft room to pick out a bunch of fabrics to match the  lovely piece of bird fabric I got in my Christmas swap with Anna. These fabrics have been lying on my desk since that and when the kids had gone away safely to school on Wednesday and I was back in my studio I knew I needed to do something crazy to get started for the new year. However it wasn't until I found this post on Jacquie's blog and this on Victoria's that I could get started. One of many reasons why I decided to change carriers to become a full-time artist/crafter was when I realised I had become one of those good girls that are very good at fulfilling other people's wishes and following rules (I blame school for this! More creativity into education, please!!). In quilting/creating with fabric I had finally found a place where I could make up my own rules. Now I haven't changed much as a person, I still want to be in time and put my waste in the right bin on the yard. BTW isn't it strange that we are the only ones in this house company of 22 families that use the bin for bio waste??

Back to quilting! Jacquie's idea with the Improv project was that we would allow ourself to improvise and express ourselves as artists. There is also a good course, all contributors are making two blocks for charity quilts, with over 100 participants there will be many quilts to give away! I will enjoy making my red and aqua blocks!

I'm usually not very good at showing process pictures of my work so I thought I would do differently this time and show you how I work on my Improv bird-quilt.

My inspiration was this bird fabric, Starling by Alexander Henry. I started with picking out fabrics, all in all I have around 25 different fabrics, some are small scraps only.

I cut the bird fabric in eight pieces in different sizes, I tried not to cut any of the birds in two... I then cut strips in different widths from my other fabrics (strips vary from 1½" to 6"). I then stared a while at Erin's quilt that I think is just gorgeous. Thanks for the inspiration! She used 5 solids and 6 prints so I decided to use 11 different fabrics in every block, just to have one red line. All with prints, beacuse I never manage to shop any solids. For every block I use:

- 1 bird square

- 2 reds

- 2 greens

- 2 black and whites

- 1 aqua-ish

- 1 pink

- 1 white with black print

- 1 free of choice :)

I sew the blocks together designing as I go, trying to be spontaneous and not plan too much. I go on until I have used 11 different fabrics and the block is square-ish, I have not decided on a particular size. Here is block nr 1.