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Often from one thing comes another. As you have noticed, I´ve been away from the blogland for a while. First I had some technical problems. My computer suddenly decided he (or is it a she...?) had a mind of his own, and refused to cooperate. After that was in order again, I found out that I was having a big problem with writing. I just could not scrabble a word, my mind was totally blocked! What an odd feeling. That must be really terrifying for those persons who write professionally. Has anyone of you ever experienced this kind of difficulties? But, now I feel I´m back in business again! Thanks so much to you all for bearing with me!
A good reason to write a post is a surprise I received from Jenny from Daisychain few days ago. In her blog Jenny showed once some funny plastic spoons, and she told they are for eating kiwi fruit. With the sharp end you cut the fruit and with the spoon in the other end you can scoop the delicious fruit in the mouth. I told that I had never seen such spoons before, they must be very handy. And so Jenny very kindly said she could send some spoons to me.
This week I received her parcel, all the way from Australia. But it was much more than the kiwi spoons! Jenny had included so many other lovely things there, too:
- shells from a nearby beach, where she often goes to
- a fine origami work
- cute, cute buttons
- beautiful fabric with my favourite colour pansies (I love the colour violet)
- a sweet card with a vintage Pinocchio picture
- and of course the spoons, in bright yellow and green colour, like the fruit themselves
Now it´s time to do some groceries today, and I´m going to see if they have any kiwi fruit in the supermarket, so I can test the spoons. Thank you very much Jenny for these lovely surprises!
Lovely spring weather has pampered us this weekend and I noticed that the cheery wagtail has arrived here as well. Today we had lunch out in the garden, which was very nice again after the winter. It is as if everything tastes so much better outside than inside the house.
Thanks to Anja from My New Classic Home for organising an interesting challenge. And then, I have finally photos of the thrift store finds to show to you. So here comes....
A skirt. I love turquoise colour and this retro/vintage fabric really caught my eye. There is also some metallic thread in the fabric, giving it a lustre effect. I paid ca. 6 eur for this skirt.
A pillow. Another fabric with retro/vintage pattern. The pillow was in excellent condition and I really fell in love with this combination of blue and orange. To me this fabric looks so delicious I could almost eat it. But I won´t. And the pillow was a bargain, only one euro.
An ornament. I found this ceramic ornament with influences from ancient Greece (9 eur). The height of this piece is app. 25 cm and it has holes in the backside so it is easy to hang on the wall. It is big enough to hold a vase with flowers, for example.
Cups & saucers. I seem to have an endless love affair with old-fashioned, romantic cups and saucers with flowers and golden or silver patterns. These cups didn´t have any saucers left and the saucers missed the right cups. But that´s not a problem. The saucers (which are a model of Swedish Rörstrand) are very good for example under flower pots or for soaps. The cups would make a lovely addition in our garden pavillion (or tea house;theehuisje in Dutch) to make a flower arrangement. I was also wondering if I could cast candles in the cups, but I´m doubtful whether the cups will break when burning the candles. Do you have any experience of candles in cups? Did your cups break or how did you do with them? I would be happy to hear your advice on this. : )
2 beds. Although we bought these old beds (I have only one pictured here) at a local thrift store before Anja´s Thirft Shop Challenge, I would like to show the beds here, because they fit so well in this theme of thrift store finds. The beds were used in a hospital in the beginning of the 20th century and they are all iron and very strong. The paint is not perfect any more, but I think it gives them a nice vintage feel. A very handy detail is that the bed ends are very easy to detach from the middle part, so if you want to have them stored in a smaller place, that is not causing a problem. Another plus point to my opinion is that these beds were also a great bargain, 17 eur a piece.
Last but not least. Well, this is not a thrift store find. It is my dear hubby fulfilling his lumberjack instincts... There are so many trees in our garden that have to be cut down. Here goes one of them. He was so seriously in action with his chain saw that he was an easy target for my camera...
It´s that time of the year again when sweet liverflowers, Hepatica nobilis, are popping out of the ground. They are one of the first wild flowers in Finland that start to blossom after the winter. With their typical blue colour they are like big bright blue eyes looking and smiling friendly at you among the leaves, branches and moss. So beautiful! But as with the lily-of-the-valley, liverflowers are also poisonous, so it is not a good idea to decorate a cake with them.
The thrift shop challenge organised by Anja has resulted in some good finds that I will want to share with you as soon as I get the photos ready. That is the most difficult part in the challenge for me!
In the meanwhile you can take a look at Paperiaarre. Kaija has come with another great challenge, "A Matchbox a Day" . Each day she will make a matchbox with a new theme or decoration. She has also started a Flickr group about this and everyone is welcome to join. I will try to make a matchbox each month and already joined the group, but the matchbox isn´t ready yet. But I know what the first one will be about. It will be a cosy shelter for my "Snake Stone".
Via Something White I found Anja ´s blog My New Classic Home. Anja is organising a challenge week from April 9 to April 16, called Next Stop Thrift Shop. The purpose is to explore thrift shops, flea markets and such, and hopefully everyone who participates will make great finds. It´s about recycling and respecting old things and finding a new life for so many items other people don´t need any more. Please check Anja´s blog for more information about this exciting week.
Continuing with the theme of using old things, I was so lucky to get some lovely vintage fabrics from a friend of mine. Eija was sorting out her cupboards and chests and she found some fabrics she could not use herself, but wanted to give them to me. Needless to say, I was thrilled! I guess we crafty people get all excited when we get fabrics, buttons, ribbons etc. from others who don´t need them any more. So, Eija, thanks a lot ! : )
This is a lovely soft cotton flannel fabric. 
This is another cotton flannel, so soft too.
And a very stylish damast fabric with special warm colours. On the top there is a picture of a delicious looking fabric with fruit.
Hmmm.... I forgot this fabric, so I´m adding it here now. A festive one with shades of blue and grey.
Since my last post about the snow fall it has been a whirlwind of 1001 things, so unfortunately I had to take a pause in blogging! But it is nice to bring now some good news, at least I think they are good - and I am so excited!
Last Friday I got a friendly message from the ever-energetic Jena from Modish. She featured me and my workspace in her column Handmade spaces. You can find the article here and also take a look at her fabulous blog! Thank you so much, Jena! : )
The other surprise last Friday was that one of my Alina handbags was chosen for product of the month in Taitoverkko, by Finnish Crafts Organization, and my bag was published in their magazine as well. In Taitoverkko you can also find lots of other artists and artisans representing various disciplines, like ceramics, woodwork, textile etc.
Yesterday evening I was attending the monthly meeting of our Astronomical Society Ursalo. We had a great evening with a guest lecturer PhD Rami Rekola from Tuorla Observatory (of which I´ve had a picture here,too).
He told us about the history and future of the universe and what all kinds of things there have happened in the cosmos. To me it was a fascinating idea that my wedding ring literally comes from the stars. All elements are the result of the life cycle of the stars. When active, they produce different elements and when they die, by exploding and bursting the stars spread those elements all over the space and to the planets. And then we make wedding rings of the gold that comes from so far... Am I being terribly romantic?
(Picture from Wikipedia article about the Sun)
