syko

What to wear?

Have you ever struggled with the question above? I have. I do know what I like and what I would prefer to wear, it's not that. But I hate to go shopping and to try to find my kind of clothing among the wear and tear fashion. So I am so very happy about where I have landed! 

I share my workspace with Saaga design, which is a local brand of well-fitted, well made linen clothes for real women. It is a joy to sell these clothes to women all ages and sizes in the little shop we have in connection to the studio. We are doing a shop redo next week, will show you pictures when we have made some progress!  

And I now know what to wear everyday! I love my linen dresses, they are easy to wear and I feel pretty and comfortable. This is my new favourite colour combination: pink and grey! I am making something in these colours in the studio, will show you later! Shop Saaga on Etsy.

After working alone for some time I appreciate the company of my new colleagues very much! They like coffee A LOT and inspired me to make this print. It is available in the Etsy shop. There will be postcards too soon!

What are you wearing today? Any new favourite colours for Fall?

Yes you can KNIT

I have re-opened my Etsy shop after the Summer break and listed this new print that I designed for the knitters and especially all the aspiring knitters out there :) A warm knitted scarf also seems to be an appropriate garment this Summer, brr!

 

The story of a bag

I have a bunch of stuff left from the market last weekend so I have updated my Etsy shop!

I am trying to use second-hand fabrics in my work as much as I can, it does not feel wise to keep on buying new in a world that is filled with abandoned textiles in good condition. This means that the fabrics that come to me can be in colours or patterns that might not have been my first preference if I had went shopping for brand new fabrics. However I love the creative challenge that working with second hand materials gives me. Very often it helps me to step outside my comfort zone. 

My friend Tuija was very kind to give me these fabrics in burnt orange and yellow from her great stash of second-hand fabrics when I had run out of cotton canvas for my handbags. One of my favourite colours right now is turquoise, so I decided to combine it with the orange. And dots, of course! I am very happy with the 60's look it got. And I had to make a zippy pouch to match it, a little circus bird. 

Kimara pop-up shop at Kinuskilla

Image credit karuski

Last Sunday I was very happy to spend the day with my friends from kimara. We had been asked to build a pop-up shop at Kinuskilla (page in Finnish), which is a charming café and shop in a converted old mill. I am the one climbing the ladder, I made a bunting from old, embroidered napkins that we are mounting to the roof :)

The owner of the café had lots of old doors, ladders and other props that we could use. It was very inspiring! I am so happy with how my cards look against the old door with the fading paint and my birds look so pretty flying on the wreath in the old window!

I also made a little bird bunting. And I finished my dream cushion.

Pretty lace earrings in candy colours from loru, vintage earrings from karuski and chalkboard plates from tuuni.

Rosa Viola, the fairy-angel, came along and was very excited to climb this ladder!

Prettyness from tuuni.

Jewellry from repurposed spoons from beloved.

Image credit Kinuskilla

And there's the whole gang: me, Päivi, Susanna, Tuija and Minna! Do like us on Facebook if you want to make sure to know where we pop-up the next time!

All pictures by tuuni/flickr, unless otherwise noted.

Bad and good news

 

 

This morning I got a very disappointing call from the estate agency, to make a long story short, we will not be able to buy the house we wanted to. Crappiest crap EVER. Since I am me I had already decorated the whole house in my mind... I guess we will just have to keep on looking, I am hopeful that we will find the house this Summer! So that was my bad news.

And the good ones? Obviously I was feeling quite down about my broken house dreams and it didn't help that it was raining wet snow outside. And then I got an e-mail! I got a grant from the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland for writing my next book! Woohoo! 

Oh, and if you're wondering who that is in the picture, it is Rosa Viola, another one-of-a-kind fairy angel. She is a true romantic and refuses to wear anything else but a dress, by the end of the day she often ends up with green grass patches on her knees and tends to lose her gingham hair-bands. She loves to climb in trees too! Right now she is hiding in my Etsy shop.

What a very strange day! I hope there will be no more surprises. Any happy or bad news you would like to share? I'm all ears!

 

 

Wee shop up-date!

When I was a kid I used to say that Autumn was my favourite season! Now, I have changed my mind, it is Spring! I love Spring and the sun and how alive it makes me feel after the long winter. Yesterday the Spring sun helped me with a little shop up-date.

 

 

I know have a few of these Springy, pastelly houses listed in the shop, all made of vintage or upcycled fabrics with some details from my quilt fabric stash. 

 

 

This little bunny loves Easter and cannot wait for the snow to melt so that she can poke around all those yummy tulips in the garden...

 

 

And a brand new design -- a little coin/card purse! I can't seem to get enough of those leafy wines!

 

 

I have to show you the inside, I got to use one of my favourite vintage floral fabrics, it comes from an enormous night-gown, which means there was loads of fabric= lucky me! Love those teeny meadow flowers against the pale pink, so romantic!

 

 

This is Magda! She is a one-of-a-kind fairy-angel doll. She will have friends too, just wait!

And the shop? It's here.