Blog of the Month - kirin notebook

So many nice blogs out there and I feel like sharing. It is time for blog of the month!

I love love Lara's designs. She is a fabric designer co-owner of Ink & Spindle, a screen printing studio in Melbourne Australia. The fact that she lives in Australia makes me sometimes feel like she would live in another planet talking about autumn in the spring and having pictures of native flowers that I have never seen before. Her style on the other hand reminds me of Finland, where I'm from. For me it is a funny combination of familiar and strange at the same time. Most of all it is a great inspiration source and reminder where following your dreams can take you. 

Oh I wish they would invent the Start Trek Transporter already so that I could just stop by for a coffee on one of those open days they have. If I ever will visit Melbourne I hope I can pay a visit. 
ps. did I just mention Stark Trek in my blog???

Process Pledge

I took the pledge! And now it is time to not just talk the talk but also walk the walk...
Let's start with some pictures, although often when I'm busy processing I forget to take them.

Here is a beginning of a picnic-quilt that I'm working on right now. The fabrics are all from IKEA, randomly selected from the discount pieces. I really need to have that kind of inexpensive fabric lying around to have the courage to just start experimenting. It is thick upholstery fabric, and I do realise that quilting it will be a challenge, but I will figure out something. I have this general idea how the quilt will look like, but I have not planned anything on detail. I started by using the instructions from Anna Maria Horners's second book, Handmade Beginnings It was a very smart thing to do and I learned some new tricks, but I'm not planning to follow the pattern all the way through. 

This one is me just doodling on a piece of fabric. I have an idea what I will use it for, but that is still a secret ( I have to first see if it works out). First I used embroidery needle but that was a mistake! What a horrible thick thing it is leaving holes to the fabric. There probably are some other ones better suited for the fabric I was using, but for now I will stick to my quilting needle.  More posts coming of both of the projects in the coming weeks. (...did I just make a commitment to work on these? Good for me:)

And here is a bonus picture, my home made bread!

I'm so proud! It took several attempts to get to this. First I did not have a bread pan so I used a cake pan. Not quite the same. After I had bought the bred pan the first time baking bread with it I killed the yeast by using too hot water. But this time I really nailed it! The next challenge for me is to incorporate the bread making into my daily schedule without it taking over the whole morning. The children would appreciate that. 

Pink and orange

One would think that I got inspired by my new fabric when picking up the flowers but in fact it is just a coincident. The orange flowers where for the Dutch football (..soccer?)team playing on Saturday and the pink ones where chosen by my daughter. Beautiful nevertheless, the flowers and the fabric!

Fabric shopping

I just went click click click and bought myself some new fabrics! That is not easy for me, I'm so afraid that I make a wrong choice or buy too much - which is of course impossible because I will without a doubt use every piece of it at some point. So of course I end up buying too little. Well, it is a process and I'm working on it. One day I will trust that this sewing craziness is not just a phase. 


Other problem I encountered was that I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to order from the United States? It feels so outdated to have all these regulations between countries in this internet era, but I guess we won't be rid of them any time soon. 


Unrelated but very important! The roses are blooming! I was so happy and thought well, lets smell the roses - but these ones doesn't smell at all...had forgot about that. 

Rainbow blocks

Here are the two first blocks for the Rainbow project

This one turn out to be quite ok

This one looks a bit wrinkly , I don't know what happened.

Rainbow Around the Block

Rainbow around the block

I'm participating in Anna Maria Horner's quilting project for families in Middle Tennessee who lost their homes to flooding in May. So exited to be part of this! I have now finished two blocks and it has been so much fun. I will try to take some pictures tomorrow of the ready blocks. Here a small impression of the work in progress