Lovely Surprise

I'm truly happy to show you this. A couple of days ago mailman brought me something nice from Detroit, USA. It is a give-away gift I won from Tricia Tharp aka Frizz. The print is the most adorable "In the Woods at Night" illustrated by Tricia. As an extra surprise she even included a generous piece of her cotton print for me. Her work is perfect for children and child-minded like me. You can find her shop here. If you have a moment, take a look at her blog too. Thank you Tricia!

Flickr Favorites

1. News From Far Away - eco-friendly gift bag, 2. Smith's Blue Butterfly - male, 3. Untitled, 4. IMG_3420

This week I simply feel happy because of nice summer days! The weather just turned warm, I've been cooking light meals, picked some wild flowers from our garden and placed them into a vase, started jogging again and already got some extra energy. I'll slowly shift towards vacation mode which means I try to use a little less time by my laptop but read more books instead. Maybe I could spend a bit more time outdoors as well. Oh, and there's some renovation work to be done this summer as well. It's a never-ending project, this house of ours. Don't get me wrong, it's fun too!

Enjoy these summery picks I found from Flickr today. And if you feel like it, pay a visit to Mitsy's blog too!

Back Home

We had a good time at the summer cottage. The only minus side on these trips is the long distance. We drove back last night and reached home after 6 1/2 hours on the road. The weather wasn't that great, in fact Saturday was somewhat rainy but it didn't really matter as we got a chance to relax anyway. We cooked nice summer food; smoked fish with boiled potatos and green salad, went to sauna and I dipped myself in a refreshing lake. We spent time reading books & magazines. And the kitten was excited with bugs and bumble bees (luckily she didn't get a bite though...).

Hmm, I didn't take many pictures on the weekend so I decided to share these I took at home today instead. They make me feel like a vacation had started already (I know it hasn't!). Is there anything particular that made you feel content today?

Happy Midsummer

It's about the midsummer time up here! It means the days are long and nights are light. It also means a long weekend as this is a National Holiday in Finland. It also means traffic jams on mainroads because everyone is escaping from cities to countryside. That's our plan all the same. I'll hop on a car with the kitten soon, drive to pick H up from his work and head towards lakeland. We'll stop to say hi to his parents tonight and keep on driving to my parents' summer cottage tomorrow. It'll be a bliss and I wont be complaining even though I know there will be tons of mosquitos, bugs and bees. I just want to go to sauna and take a swim in a lake. And enjoy the silence.

In case you are wondering what are these pictures on this post, I took them last summer on a tiny island here in Southern Finland. Maybe we get a chance to make a summer holiday in the archipelago again.

So I'm already wishing a lovely weekend to all of you. It feels like a weekend already, don't you think?

Flickr Favorites

1. Untitled, 2. capsula, 3. Untitled

This week's Flickr Favorites of mine are of purple shades. Why, you might be wondering. I'm a bit surprised myself too as I usually connect this color to autumn season. But the blooming tree and the flowers on a bag belong to summer in a perfect way. And tags with granny's crochet flowers looked so adorable all the same I couldn't resist. I picked all these from my Flickr's contact list this time. Because I like these talented people's work. And their original pictures were a pleasure to watch.

Go and see by clicking the links and visit Mitsy's blog too!

On A Rainy Day

We had a stormy weekend and it's not quite over yet. Today I could see just a bit of sunshine between all raining. I came up with something nice I'd like to share with you.

I remembered beautiful poppies in our garden I photographed a week ago.

Looking through colorful fabrics made me want to make something.

I did tear some upcycled cotton from my stash. I liked that a lot.

Cutting a bunch of petals was almost contemplative.

For ribbons I used my sewing machine.

A bit of hand stiching was needed as well.

H helped me with photoshooting. It made me very glad.

Hmm, and Poppytalk's Here Comes the Sun opened today. The name is promising so can't wait to see what it brings! I hope it wont rain much tomorrow anymore...

Summery Meadows

Isn't it a cliché that nature works as a source of inspiration? But what can I say? It probably does, if you want to call it an inspiration. Not that it would be incredibly extraordinary or original but I happen to like flowers! Thinking about wild flowers in a summery meadow brings me so many good memories from my childhood. I was lucky to visit my parents' childhood homes in the countryside when I was a little girl. It was good and healthy to see cows and horses and sheep in a paddock. And I always wanted to go and pick some wild flowers to make a wreathe. So it probably comes from there. Maybe it's a girl thing! I've always enjoyed sketching flowers. Just lately I have embroidered them by hand on clutches too. I'm in a process of experimenting a bit more and listing them in my shoppe. These three are already available there. So happy!

Flickr Favorites

1. RIding Hood Toss, 2. white flowers grey beads , 3. clothes pegs, 4. Furled

It was time for Flickr Favorites again! I'm apparently bad at staying on schedule, even with my own blog. And I have this regular update only once a week, eek. How do people manage with daily updates, just wondering.

I'm in a mood for crochet work (not that I could crochet very well myself...), soft greens and sweet tweets and garden flowers as always. And what about those dottieangle's cottage style clothes pegs, aren't they adorable? I had to peek into her blog to see more. And if you want to see more inspiring mosaics, go ahead and visit Mitsy's blog!

One more thing: Thanks for Brittany who featured Karuski on Feminist Review, the post was published on Sunday. It's an interesting blog, go and read!

Sunday Hike

On Sunday I made a nice trip to our surroundings with H. We bicycled, hiked the paths in an enchanting forest, climbed to a bird watching tower and took some pictures of plants & flowers & scenery. The bird watching tower is located by a small lake not far from my home. I just read that about 100 bird species nest there every year! I'm not an expert on bird species by no means but I could count at least 70 Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) and a few Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) at one end of the lake. There's another tower at the other end where we didn't go now. I could recognise the Sparrows too. They fly so fast and make quick turns, it's hard to catch one in a photo.

After this trip we did some garden work. My back did hurt this morning but it's getting better by now. I hope you had a refreshing weekend too!

Something New!

How did this week pass sp quickly (they always do, I know)! I was a bit busy sewing frame bags for a Finnish boutique in Oulu. Now I can finally say I have finished some new work. I started to learn hand embroidery a couple of weeks ago and many other things have happened along the way. So to start easy I decided to make some pincushions & summery little clutches (pictures of clutches may appear here later on...). These will find their way to my shop as soon as I get all pictures edited. I was also thinking about drawing a tea cozy pattern. Maybe the hand emroidery would look nice on that. What do you think?

Oh, I just remembered I'll be participating at Poppytalk's upcoming "Here comes the Sun" market. It'll take place June 15 - July 10. I really need to get more new stuff ready next week. Actually I better start with these already this weekend!

Do you have plans for this weekend?

Surprise Gift

In May I entered a give-away on Matilou's blog. Anne aka Matilou had illustrated a beautiful wedding invitation for her clients and wanted her blog readers to find hidden things drawn on this invitation. It was pretty cryptic but fun and my guessing was almost perfect. Meaning I didn't win the give-away but Anne was kind enough to send me a little surprise: A bagde with her sweet bird print. And I love birds so what would a better surprise gift for me?! Thanks Anne, merci!

p.s. You can find lovely badges and illustrations and jewelry at Matilou's cute shoppe.

Flickr Favorites

1. Untitled, 2. Closer, 3. Heart Ornament, 4. for my heartbroken friend

Hmm, I'm a bit late to post this but after being busy sewing I was away the rest of this Tuesday. I went to hear a great concert performed at Naantali Music Festival which focuses on chamber music in all its variety. Naantali is an idyllic little town by the sea, 2 hours from where I live. On my next visit I will make sure to stay there over night (maybe even visit the Moominworld, hehe)!

So this Tuesday's Flickr favorites of mine were chosen by inspiration towards love and hand embroidery. Together or separate, as you wish. More inspiration can be found from Mitsy's blog where she collects links to people's flickr favorites!