Blog of the Month - A Hundred Billion Stars

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

I found A Hundred Billion Stars quite recently through Rainbow Around the Block group on flickr. I just started to click through her photostream and was hypnotized by the vivid colours and the amazing designs. The blog offers tutorials to some very unique fabrics projects like this picture holder or this fabric decorated tray. Besides crafting, the topics include book reviews, some fascinating writings on science and beautiful photos of various objects from amazing desserts to nature. A Hundred Billion Stars is a visual feast for the eye that has opened a new world to me what it comes to combining  colours and shapes. Melissa P behind the blog is one very talented woman! 

Prosperity Tree

Finally I have something to share that is all made by me (design and all). Please meet the Prosperity Tree. This is how Wikipedia defines the word prosperity: Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, success, or good fortune. ^[1] Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes others factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health. The tree symbolizes all of these things to me.

I embroidered the tree on organic single jersey cotton using different kinds of threads that I had in hand; 6 strand stranded thread split in three, perle no. 8 (that was actually a bit too thick) and thread called multi work. All except the multi work are from House of Embroidery. I also combined one strand of blue multi work with 2 strands of orange thread from House of Embroidery.

I didn't draw any stitch line or pattern, I just started to embroider and followed my instincts. Most of it is done by back stitch. I had borrowed books from the library to have some stitch instructions at hand, but did not use them this time. 

I  just love crafting. To learn a technique and enjoy the learning and doing you can pick up a pattern and follow the instructions. Then if you wish to create something of your own  you have a set of skills to work with. I used to paint and draw and I always had this pressure on me that I should not only paint but also create some fantastic piece of art. Craft has freed me from that pressure. Speaking of drawing, I can't believe there was a time when I thought it is easier than sewing! 

Beans part III

Yesterday it was the time! The beans are all full grown. Love the colours, too bad that they both turn green cooked.

Here my biggest garden enemy got to the picture as well, the small white flower. She is trying to take over the whole garden. Isn't she cute though?  

Piecing it together and why I love it

Block for Rainbow around the block

Once upon a time in 2009 I:

- wanted to design my own fabric

- bought some scraps from Noeks for inspiration

- used the scraps to make a blanket to my daughter's doll

- bought magazine called Quilt Mania

- was blown away with all the beauty


I believe this is how I discovered and fell in love with patchwork and quilting. But I could be wrong since it is kind of hard to recall how this all started. Anyhow, I caught the quilting fever from somewhere about a year ago and have been hooked ever since. In 2010 I followed my first quilting course and in September I will start the next one.

Why do I love it?

The fabric, beautiful beautiful fabrics! I just love them and they give me so much energy. Then breaking them apart and combining back together. Sitting and cutting, measuring, thinking, making mistakes, starting over. Finally having all the pieces and being ready for sewing. Seeing the little pieces slowly but steadily becoming a whole new thing. 


I also love it that patchwork and quilting are such a great metaphors. In everything in life, being it loosing weight or starting a business, the advice always is to do it one step at a time. Rationally that is of course the only way to get anywhere, but really believing it and actually starting to take the first steps is much harder. Working with a piece of patchwork is just a wonderful non-abstract proof that it really works. Piece by piece and stitch by stitch you will eventually get there and if you learn to enjoy the process you don't even mind that it might be slow. 

Beans part II ...and some carrots

Update from the garden. The beans have flowers! Beautiful beautiful flowers! This year I planted purple and pink  beans, so exiting! 

And then the carrots. It took forever but they are ready to be pulled out. And after all this waiting what do you get? A carrot. I just can't get very exited about carrots. My kitchen garden is tiny and I can't believe that I used two whole rows of it for carrots. The carrots where suppose to be purple but mine are only a bit purplish. They do however taste better than the regular ones from the shop. 

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.