Hitting a jackpot

After taking one look at my thrift store findings my daughters declared me officially deranged. I on the other hand was extremely satisfied. Ever since I was in London and saw all the exiting stuff made out of vintage embroidery I have been on the look out for some of my own. Today I got lucky, so lucky that I got a bit carried away buying most of the stuff they had. It felt like hitting the jackpot on the slot machine……My youngest said “ Mum, what on earth are you going to do with all the stuff. Some of it isn’t even finished”. But that’s the thing you see – I have a plan! A perfect plan!

These two are going to be a wee bit slaughtered and made into patch work pillows. They will be perfect in my vintage armchairs in front of the fireplace at the country house.



With these four I can’t really decide whether I want to slaughter them too and make pillows or reframe them and hang them on the wall. Hanging them on the wall would look so ugly that it would be kind of kitsch….



I fell madly in love with these two gigantic unfinished embroideries. I like the fact that they are unfinished. They are more interesting that way. Especially the piece of yarn hanging from one of the flowers like someone just left for the loo and would come back any minute to continue their work again. I want to make a mannequin out of them and plan to make the “torso” out of wire netting and then cover it with the embroideries. It would look just perfect in my country house bedroom.




More findings! Two new small table cloths with embroidery that I want to add some text to.



Maybe something like

Same shit, different day

or

I learn from my mistakes and is thinking about making some more

or why not

Normal people worry me

You can’t have too many wall hangings with sayings in your life. That’s my motto anyway.


Finally a nice big stack of knitted squares in really, really ugly colors. I am thinking about making a throw by crocheting them together and adding some flowers, buttons and pearls. Ugly goes kitsch once again maybe….




Speaking of kitsch. Had to let this little guy follow me home.



I`m going to glue him to a lamp!

I think that’s when my daughters lost it….


Hope you all have a great weekend
Jeanette

Happy feet

Easter is around the corner and the weather forecast say that the lovely warm weather we are having is staying over the holidays. My heart is filled with joy and my feet are happy….

….on my garden lawn covered with lilacs.



…..on my walk through the woods filled with wood anemones



…..and at my daughters school together with real live bunnies.




If you think my daughter looks happy….



….then just take a look at me!



Six tiny little bunnies only five weeks old, all cuddly and warm and not afraid at all. They just fell asleep in my lap all six of them. They belong to a friend of my daughters and are part of her school project. How come I never had that kind of project in school? I remember we had to desecrate frogs at my biology class. Uck. That’s about as far from bunnies as you can get.

Do you remember when your kids where young and wanted a pet saying “please mum, can we have one. We promise to take care of it” ? My daughter took one look at me holding the rabbits and said

- No Mum, the cats would eat them for lunch.

Guess she is not a kid anymore eh?

Anyway, me and little Miss Bunny wish you all a happy Easter!



Hope you have a lovely holiday!
Jeanette


PS Thanks Martina for letting my cuddle them!

Books, Bunnies & Cards

I dabble in a lot of different art forms. I am easily inspired but also easily bored and I will probably never stick to one type of thing and become really skilled at it. But I like it that way. Just about anything around me can spark my creativity and I love to visit exhibitions and fellow bloggers but also nature, animal life and the city streets are a constant source of inspiration to me. The craft department at Waterston really got me going. It was terribly hard to choose but I finally settled for four books.

Radical lace & subversive knitting by David Revere Mc Fadden
Indie Craft by Jo Waterhouse



Altered Art – techniques for creating altered books, boxes, cards & more by Terry Taylor
Kaleidoscope – ideas + projects to spark your creativity by Suzanne Simanaitis



I have just had the time to take a quick sneak peak but this weekend I plan to spend a great deal of time on the couch with a cup of tea and my books. Oh joy!

Remember my bunnies? I got started on the painting yesterday evening. Some have already got there faces on and gotten a personality but some I have yet to figure out who they are. I give them names too. Guess you can figure out who Dottie and Jack Sparrow is?



While I was in London I received four more cards from the DIY postcard swap. From Cynthia in the US and Dusty in Canada. Both so beautiful and they gave me a nice spring feeling.



The other two cards was from Melanie in the UK and Marie in the US. I just love the colors!



Thank you so much all of you. I loved them!!!

Take care
Jeanette

London highlights

I went to London with my twin sister and although we were only there for two days I’m amazed of the amount of shops we managed to cover without feeling totally stressed out. My feet were killing me though but that’s a small price to pay. We even had time for a long walk in Green Park and to relax in the sun chairs enjoying the sun and an ice cream.

Here is some of the highlights

Anthropologie on Regent Street. An amazing boutique filled with beautiful clothes and home design. The shop is fantastic in it self with beautiful displays and a wall entirely built of plants – 12 000 of them I think.

I fell in love with this Sari throw made of recycled saris and linen yarn in vibrant colors. It was a bit to expensive for my wallet but very inspirational and got me thinking that maybe I should try knitting something similar, a sweater maybe, made from my old thai silk scarves and linen yarn.

Photo by Anthropologie

I also fell head over heels in love with this elephant. Made out of old news papers. Me want!

The furniture floor at Liberty
Extremely expensive but oh so inspirational. How about this Elk lamp? It is called Moo and designed by Trond Svengård and Ove Rogne. Me want that too!!!



They also had a lot of furniture made with recycled embroidery or wall hangings. They where similar to these chairs although these are made by Swedish designer Johan Lindstén . A homage to all the old ladies that once put so much work into the embroideries. Now that is something I would like to try out myself. Guess if I am looking for wall hangings at this summers jumble sales…..

Photo by Sköna Hem

Or beautiful redecorated armchairs and sofas made of “quilts”. If I only had more time I would love to make one of those too.

Photo by Designers Guild

And last but not least….

Waterstone`s bookshop at Piccadilly Their craft book department is to die for. I spent a fortune in there but still a lot less expensive than in Sweden and above all - way more titles to chose from. I`ll show you some of the books tomorrow.

Take care
Jeanette

London

I am back from a two day trip to London. I landed late last night. My heart is filled with the joy of spring and the hope of summer!

Just when I was about to give up.....

Tell you more about it all tomorrow!
Jeanette

Bunnies & Cards

I bought three different types of paper clay the other day and last night I decided it was time to try them out. First I was planning to make Easter eggs but I just couldn`t get the shape right. How hard can it be I mumbled to myself. Well damn hard. They kept getting either too round or too oval but since Easter is just around the corner I was quite determined to get that Easter feeling going….hm what to do, what to do? Ah, I can make Easter Bunnies. So I did! Dozens of them.



Or not actually Bunnies more like tiny Bunny heads. I made them very fast and without focusing on getting a real rabbit look. I was just trying to get the feel of the clay and let the clay take me where it wanted to. I had so much fun it was hard to stop.

Looking at them now I must admit they all look a bit grotesque staring at me sort of accusingly with their chopped off heads. Not quite the cozy Easter feeling I was going for. More like the Chinese terracotta army but with rabbits instead. Or a single ticket to the loony bin....



I plan to paint them in all kind of different colors though and that will put a smile back on their faces again I am sure. Or at least on mine....



I got two new cards in the post today. They both were very beautiful. The top one is from Corinne in Canada and the bottom one from Judy in the US. Thank you both. I loved them!

Take care
Jeanette

No bills in sight

Getting the mail is fun these days. For once I actually get letters that are meant for me and not just ugly brown envelopes containing bills. Today I got three letters and I still have seven to look forward to !!!! All thanks to iHanna and her DIY postcard swap.

The first one is from Ann in Sweden. A cool embroidery postcard. Thank you so much – I loved it.



…..the second one is from Caatje in Netherlands. Since LIVE, LOVE & LAUGH is what I try to live by her postcard with the word love on it was perfect for me. Thank you Caatje!



…and the last one was from Kara in the US. I love butterflies – how could she know? Thank you Kara it was truly beautiful!



Will there be a new one tomorrow I wonder?

Take care
Jeanette

Battle of the unfit

Today I am suffering from a severe attack of gardening induced muscle ache. I feel like I have been run over by a truck. I walk like I am 80 going on 95. Absolutely everything hurts – even muscles that I didn’t even know existed. Why this ache you may wonder? Well I spent the entire day yesterday working in the garden at the country house. Clearing out winter and say Hello Spring!

Weeding, raking and digging up the vegetable garden for 8 hours non stop is hard work even for the fittest. Not that I am – fit I mean. I am as unfit as you can get!

This morning my husband took one look at my pain filled face across the breakfast table and then told me to order one of these. The Wunda Weeder! A solar cell driven planting gizmo!

It just has to be American right? Wrong. It’s Australian. Anyway I could never order such a thing. Even an unfit lady has her dignity.

As I was raking up leaves in the front yard I accidentally woke up this little dude. A salamander.

He was a cool guy just waved at me with one of his tiny little toes and then he went on sleeping in the palm of my hand. I made a nice and cozy bed for him out of new leaves, put him down, told him a bedtime story and said I would wake him up in a month or so.

Animal life and flowers, now that is the fun thing about gardening!

Take care
Jeanette