Snailmail

I like sending postcards and letters. In a world full of e-mail and text message where everything is sent and received in an instant I think we tend to forget how nice it is to long for something. Or someone. Don’t you think it is so much nicer to receive a handwritten note that says I love you, maybe even with a faint sent of the writer than a text message accompanied only with a beep? I do anyway!

That’s why I am attending ihannas DIY postcard swap and that’s why I have been making postcards this weekend. Ten postcards for ten different persons from all over the world and I will receive 10 in return.





I used handpainted paper with vintage lace, buttons and photos. I had so much fun making them! I will start sending out mine tomorrow and they will be sent to the UK, Australia, USA, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Japan.

I don’t know what I enjoy the most – sending or receiving? But what I do know is that I will enjoy the waiting very much!

Take care
Jeanette

The year of the Tiger

There is a Sewing, Yarn & Fabric convention in Malmö this weekend. I had planned to go but when I left work today I didn’t feel like it at all. I’ve had a long hard week and all I wanted to do was to get home to a glass of wine and some serious amount of chocolate. As I drove by the convention center on my way home I suddenly changed my mind. What a heck, a tiny peak just might cheer me up and it wasn’t like I was going to buy anything!

I entered the convention center determined just to look around – no buying. Nope not me. Not a single ball of yarn was to accompany me home. Ha bloody ha. It took about ten seconds before I had bought my first ball…..and after buying that first one everything was sort of lost anyway and I just kept going. Two wonderful balls of spider web thin mohair in red and orange, a beautiful cotton yarn in mixed green colors and a funny green mohair kind of yarn with tiny pieces of silk ribbon added to it. Just when I told myself that it was ENOUGH I found a woven fabric in the same color as the red and orange mohair that would be just perfect for a spring skirt and three pieces of wool perfect for making some brooches or wrist warmers. I looked at my watch and saw that I had been there for exactly 20 minutes. Way to go Jeanette!

Then I turned round a corner and stopped absolutely amazed. I saw the most beautiful and colorful quilts. I had never seen anything like it before. Quilts with a twist, filled with embroidery, buttons, bottle caps and with so many details that you just looked and looked and still found something new that caught your eye.





I turned around another corner and that’s when I got really lucky. I found the artist herself, Ulva Ugerup. We had a long chat about her art and she was just as interesting as her art pieces. It turned out that she also held classes and I would really, really like to attend one of those. She was truly inspirational!



Her she is standing by a piece that almost brought tears to my eyes. In my mind I call it the year of the Tiger but I am not quite sure that it is what it was actually called. Ulva told me that everyday a Tiger is killed. Her quilt is a calendar with 31 different beautiful and colorful Tigers on it.



You start the month with all the Tigers showing but everyday you turn one Tiger around and on the back is a sad and dark Tiger with a cross over it. A sad homage to the Tiger that had died that day.

Just think about it. A tiger dead each day makes 365 dead tigers a year. That is so sad!



Thank you Ulva! Your quilt was a real eye-opener to me!

If you want to see more of Ulvas work you can visit her blog


Now I am going to have that glass of wine and some chocolate and then I better get started on my postcards for ihanna DIY postcard swap.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend

Jeanette

Lazy weekend

I spent yesterday at the countryside. It was cold but sunny with spring desperately trying to win over winter but not quite succeeding. As we drove slowly through the landscape I sat watching the birds. A kite flying low over the ground looking for its prey and three cranes resting on a field or maybe they were hiding from the big hawk that was circling over them. We saw deer everywhere gracing on the fields. They all looked so content. Probably happy that the deep snow was finally gone and they could eat grass again.










Today I did some spring cleaning in the garden raking up old leaves and drank my first cup of tea in the greenhouse. I also finished the “Dala häst” embroidery that I am making for T & B in New York and made a ATC for i hannas ATC embroidery swap.





A long and lazy weekend!

Take care
Jeanette

Get that creativity going…

As many of you know being creative is a necessity for me, as important as breathing, eating and my heart beating. Without it my life is grey and boring, my days long and my future bleak. I am always looking for new projects and eager to get started when I find them. So eager that I more often than not forget the project I am currently working on for the joy of starting something new. A deadline is therefore always a good thing and gives my creativity that extra dimension of a competition against myself! LOL!

Today I found the I hanna blog and two new creative projects, a postcard swap and a ATC swap. Both with a deadline. Wohooo! The last day for signing up for the ATC embroidery project is today but the DIY postcard swap is open until the 18:th of March. If you are interested go check it out.

Now I have to get started….



Take care
Jeanette

Playing with icons

These are two Swedish icons - the Dalahäst ( Dalahorse) and the tube of Kalles Kaviar ( Kalle´s caviar). They are more Swedish than the Swedes themselves.The caviar tube is for the Swedish family what Campbell’s soup was to Andy Warhol. Sort of.

Today I combined the two by making a Dalahorse out of a caviar tube.



I also used the Dalahorse pattern for some wet felting.



Here it is hanging to dry. I am making a pillow case and plan to add a whole deal of embroidery to it when it has dried. It is going to be a gift for two American gentlemen - a small thank you for bringing gingerbread cookie dough ice-cream into my life. An ice-cream to die for!

Now I have some tedious waiting to do before the really fun part starts – the embroidery!

Take care
Jeanette

Teletubbies & Team work

Have you ever heard about a Onepiece?
My daughter came home yesterday and said she wanted to make one and I looked like a gigantic question mark. So she explained what it looked like and I said
- why do you want to dress like a Teletubbie? You didn’t even like them as a kid?
Luckily for me my daughter has a sense of humor and wasn’t offended. Instead we made a deal. If I cut out the pattern and the fabric she would make her homework – deal!




Cute fabric eh?



I think she will look very cuddly in it when it’s finished.

I will keep you posted on the progress.

Take care
Jeanette