I've moved!

I've kept this blog for about a year, and it's already full! You can find me in a new address:

http://potofrosetea.blogspot.com/

Studies in melancholy

There's something about homes where no one lives anymore. A feeling of emptiness. Like my grandparents' home.


Such a long time ago, my great grandfather was learning to write.


I rescued piles of photographs from the attic. No one remembers who they are, anymore.


My grandfather travelled to Japan back in the 1940s and 1950s, when very few Finnish people did. My love of Japan must be inherited!


Great grandmother's hands.


The weather clock is no longer functioning.

A snack

My babe fell yesterday, quite badly, and hurt his brow. It's awful seeing your own child with wounds on his head. He has mastered the art of eating the chocolate spread from his cracker, but not the cracker. Hmph. He's irritatingly picky. No bread, no cereal, no porridge, very little pasta. He only likes sausages and ice cream. It drives us insane. He's rather skinny, but very tall, so by some mysterious means, he grows.


I made a little teddy and a little red riding hood with the pictures I printed myself. The girl was a failure. I used the sort of fabric which frays very easily, so there's a hole in the doll. Oh dear.

Zakka

Yesterday I finally got my book parcel from YesAsia. I must say I wasn't quite satisfied. I placed my order abut two months ago. About a month from that, I got a message saying one of the books was unavailable. And several weeks after that, another message with the same content. So in the end it took them about 6 weeks just to get my parcel to the post office!





However, the books are quite lovely. There're no English description on YesAsia, so I had to judge a book by its cover.




In retrospect, I wish I had got more books with little zakka projects. I ended up with dressmaking books mostly. I'm a bit nervous about the sizes. I'm 12-14, which probably means I'd be a giant in Japan. I hope I can enlarge the patterns.















My only real misfire was this cat themed knitting book. I don't really know how to knit, and I'm not that fond of cats. I assumed it was a bag book. The book was about 14 €, but I will sell it for 10 € if someone wants to buy it.





I bought this owl shirt for my baby from a Me&I party. I love the owl design.






A couple of days ago, I took part in a discussion about chick lit. It made think, once again, how differently fiction by male and female authors is judged. Critics seem to overlook women's lit just because of the subject matter. Browsing on Amazon (you know how sly they are there, always suggesting piles of books you might ALSO like...) I came across the author Elizabeth Taylor. She seems really interesting. Perhaps on my next shopping trip on Amazon I will buy some of her novels.



Photo: www.virago.co.uk

Books

I did a stint at Helsinki Book Fair without pay, so I begged them to give me two crafting books as freebies.

30 trendy tofler (the o should be Danish ö, don't know how to make it on my Mac!) by Benedikte Rathmass Hansen is very lovely. Every pair is simply delightful and the book has a very pretty layout.



However, I was a bit disappointed at House Proud by Danielle Proud. The step-by-step photographic instructions are clear, but the book is rather chaotic and the projects are too quirky. I just don't like Proud's aesthetics, I suppose.






What is it about crafting books... On the way home I had to stop at a bookshop just to have a look, and I found a lovely little book on the traditional Japanese embroidery techinique called sashiko. The book is a Swedish translation of a French book by Agnès Delage-Calvet. It's the sort of crafting book I love: simple designs and technique, which, however, yield very beautiful results. The book looks harmonious ja peaceful. Maybe I'm just too old for quirky crafting?

How to be fashionable

Dear mothers. Do you ever feel that you don't have time to follow fashion in magazines or browse shops, with small children and little time on your own? Not to worry. There are brilliant fasions in story books!


This foxy police woman in a Richard Scarry book is wearing a pleated skirt with lacy bloomers. What an effortless blend of femine style with a vintage touch and a manly army style jacket.


The opulent slavic style is always in fashion. Take your lead from these ladies in Ivan Bilibin's Russian fairy tales and you can't go wrong.


For a touch of Eastern Block worker's chic, check out the Mole's baby blue dungarees.


Oriental style is in this season. Why not dress like this elegant lady from The Thousand and One Nights?


For the ultimate girly girl style, check out Mymble in the Moomin books. That lacy collar! Those buttons at the back! Remember: Mymble-like empire line tunics have never been so popular.


Sick of reading Maisy books for thousands of times? Don't be. Maisy books are filled to the brim with style advise. Pay attention to Tallulah's wardrobe, like this retro beach attire with polka dots. For your next beach holiday, remember the pink bow in your hair.

Yet another cloudy day

But not so sad today. A good night's sleep does wonders (thank you husband). Our toddler has learned to say his name! Must be a great moment in a man's life, just like learning to pee standing up (I'm envious, I always wanted to be able to do that!). He's lots of fun these days, very industrious, from washing his cars to stuffing my cardigans into the rubbish bin.

I'm working today, fighting with lack of motivation and taking breaks to order stickers and Shaun the Sheep (our favourite tv show!) dvds online. It's a vicious circle: I'm suffering (=working) so I simply must reward myself with glittery stickers. I would just want to sew and craft... Shopping online is too easy! And when you get the parcel, it certainly gives you an illusion that someone was thinking about you and wanted to send you a surprise gift, although you paid for it yourself! Pathetic.


But it's also handy, if you don't have time to walk around town looking for a certain cd, for example. Like Club 8, a lovely band from Sweden. Isn't their cd pretty? Isn't my iPod pretty? One day I saw a man my mother's age on the bus, listening to an iPod. I was surprised, I always thought there's a great generation gap in this matter. Just to imagine that when my mum was young (not so long ago, really) they only had a radio and there were only about two pop songs in a week, on a Saturday night. It really makes you wonder how pop and rock ever got so hugely popular! These day everyone my age (pre-middle age, heh) seems to carry a portable means of listening to their favourite music.


The toddler likes dancing. He wiggles his cloth-nappy bum, looking like a mad duck in a disco. Cute!



Oh, the demands of motherhood. Like having to kiss a police car!