new book!

difficult to choose which images to show - a brand new book by the same women who made "Juju" sewing book. M Savio and K Rapia.
this one, "Maja" is about making huts, costumes, circus, decorations etc from stuff lying around the house. i used to know the photographer a bit, funny to see her kid grow up in the books. (we're also reading a comic about their family life, by her man... K Laitinen: "Kafkan tutti") very inspirational and beautiful to look at. much more so than the previous book.



V just had a masquerade today. besides the princess, the most uplifting thing today:
listening to Bob Hund!!!

that day

we were off to M's 4-year old birthday. we also had a nostalgia walk in the old neighbourhood...


i made these from a new book and V made her first collage and drew fingers for the first time. my philosophy has been to not tell her how to draw, but now in the kindergarten she's getting influences. a very happy moment, me sewing, V cutting, gluing, drawing next to me. M also got a book that was featured a long time ago on this blog; "Makkarapiruetti"

today we woke up and saw 3 deers outside. they are the ones using those little paths!
today i will miss the chance of meeting my Icelandic friend, as i don't feel strong enough to go to town. horrible.

listening to Animal Collective, not getting any work done

details

Sunday evening self reflection... tag from Yasu. in the picture is my favourite cup, or one of them.

1. clothes
Y buys for me from flea-markets. or i get his old ones... this is of course not the whole truth, but funniest part, i suppose. (my ideal wardrobe would consist of second-hand, self-made and quality design clothes. i could write an essay about me & clothes...)

2. furniture
all Y's, except for my grandfather's old chair. i dream of old special pieces, worn out, handcrafted and loved, Shaker furniture, some contemporaries and furniture of old shops, schools etc.

3. sweet
chocolate and ice-cream; maple syrup and indian sugar. Japanese sweets, thanks for reminding, Yasu!

4. city
to live: Tokyo, New York, Berlin, Helsinki
to visit again and again: Kyoto, Lisbon, Reykjavik

5. drink
Finnish water, fresh juices, rice milk

6. music
i hope it is evident that i'm into music, a lot. preferably on vinyl. Sonic Youth.

7. tv
i wouldn't say that i'm into tv. or admit it. the best thing i ever saw on tv was the documentary "Grey Gardens".

8. film
i live with a movie collector, which is pretty lucky. i have been quite serious about cinema since teenage. at the moment we're having a Hou Hsiao Hsien festival at home. i'm a bit sad to have missed Love&Anarchy festival this year, all of it.

9. work-out
yoga, walks, bicycling (work-out is not in my vocabulary but i wish i was as fit a ninja. or a cat.)

10. pastries
not-so-sweet full-corn self-made pies and cakes

11. coffee
with 2/3 milk

i was tagged before by Marie and Mieke Willems, but i never tagged anyone. i think i should, as i have been moved that someone would ask me. so i tag Anette, Karen, Ola for everything.

Sunday sewing

a Sunday of 2 skirts. i've been doing so much mental sewing (translating! yes!) that i needed to do some real sewing too. i never made skirts for V before, so now there's two of them with the same pattern. surprisingly, i think, she likes the white one more. they are super girly and crafty looking (= she looks like a kid from a crafting family). i should take some photos of her wearing them.
i also made an apple pie with V and a pizza of 3 cheeses (that's a peculiar thing for me to make).

detail: i bought some old bias tape at the autumn fair some time ago - i regret i didn't buy more of it, instead of thread and buttons, and why didn't i borrow from someone as i only had 1,20€ left (i got 1,2 meters). there was another colour too...

this is the shirt from some time ago, to show for Line!

a day in the life

a rainy day last week:
coffee at the bakery with I and T
staying indoors making cake, crocheting little hats and scarves for doll-house people (there IS a doll-house now, bought in sale. it's wooden quite nice, but the dolls are nothing compared to Ruusu and Papu), V drew the system how everything becomes mull (in our toilet) and sew a cape for Papu. in the photo also V's winter hat.

Telda

i just realised that crocheting is the perfect way to make clothes for dolls! especially this straight and flat doll who is living a renaissance. i have only made this one (last October), even though i wanted to make a new better one after the first try. but now i am so pleased about her hat and shoes. the shoes turned out to be ballet shoes because of the colour and the stories my friend told me about her 3-year old "ballet-flicka". nobody knows where she got the ballet fever.

listening to Le Tigre "This Island" and Ellen Fullman "Change of Direction"
boiling lentils, carrots, onion, quinoa

newest and finest

details at home. a lock to the door! and the other thing to open and lock the other side of the door(?). the door has also been straightened and "candled", no more screeching and banging, opening and closing has a velvety feel.


golden keys!

my present (more like a present to Y himself): a little shelf for work etc, current books and papers. it's a narrow shelf between rooms, an idea we've seen in some other houses. some shelves for V, one for Y. i say that it's mine alone and the lock too.

i love to be able to lock my house. i'm not a trusting countrysider. (earlier we only had a hanging lock on the kitchen door, so the old side could be locked)

nice days

this is how it looks like on most mornings now

there's been some especially nice days, i haven't reported.
i finally had a private date with F, went to Helsinki only to meet her. and her new baby B, who was mostly sleeping. i'm happy nothing happened to us even though we have lost the extremely regular meetings we used to have. i guess we will manage, and have a grown-up relationship. even if they would move to Sweden at some point. i remember from childhood how we always visited my mum's friends here and there on holidays or weekends.

i'm knitting a hat for me, for once. and i found a cute little woolen skirt for V - she always gets presents from town, i can't help it. here she's taking a photo of leaves, when we had a trip to Karkkila. (two wonderful flea-market finds there!)
she's using my beloved Ricoh GR1s, with real film. (only under supervision though)

yesterday we planted flower onions, or bulbs, and had soup, cake and pie with a friend family who came for a visit. it was a pre-party. i was born on a Sunday afternoon 34 years ago.

oh, and our neighbour's house is still for sale, now it's empty, and so beautiful.
listening to Devendra Banhart "Oh Me Oh My The Day Goes By The Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit"

bread sculptures

bread glasses. bread shoe. bread baby shoe. bread undershirt. standing bread. what did it become now?

today is the first ever parents' meeting. i'm so nervous my stomach aches. i have so many things i would want to change... i wouldn't want to seem very negative and demanding and annoying. happy i don't have to go there alone, Y is a mastermind and socially skilled. (obviously he's not as nervous as me. not at all. and his sense of esthetics and morals doesn't drive him crazy.) V will stay with Y's mum, which hasn't happened very often so far, but she's willing to do it.

(moral of the story: always check camera settings, even if you have to act fast)

listening to
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band "Dust Sucker"

works and

a cat from V appears every time after shower

i started my new work, trying to be organised right from the beginning: notes in one notebook, not here and there, and especially not on random pieces of paper

veranda fi-nal-ly got windows! they have gotten into lousy shape in all this waiting time. my favorite ones came from Eerikinkatu, Helsinki (from a big window renewal, in the middle). having windows means a big change for the cats - until now they could get in, to the veranda freely, but if they go out now, they stay. out. we should invent some kind of system, so that they could knock on some other window

and well, looking at other blogs is dangerous... "A Year of Mornings" is beautiful, but i think the small photos are too small. "Come home!"s make me want to clean. so i guess that's good...
i also have a new pen-friend!

more orange, and green

a wonderful organic pumpkin.

some green work at the village autumn fair.
a week of lots of mail: this arrived in a green envelope, and the previous one too. thank you, E!
a lot of green in movies: a Thai film and a wonderful Taiwanese film by Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

other:
my mum has turned 60
my ex-boyfriend had a second boy
another second baby boy was born last night
(i wish "the second baby" issue was done in this family too, i don't know when would be a perfect time. i want my baby to be born in spring...)
i am number 35
i am still 33 for a while
new translation work starts tomorrow!!!!!!!! (the forever unclear one)
old work continues...
N was here, it was so nice and cosy, sisterly. and V and her don't mind any language barriers. lots of laughing.
N and me, we recommend lingonberries+coconut-pie! we didn't invent this combination though. we made also an apple pie.
S, M, A came by too. little girls hugging is the most cutest thing to see....

therapy

some rainy days again, so i take out the sunny pictures.
but the dark clouds are not so bad, the yellow of the leaves is so strong.
nice week even though there was only one working day.
sunny and no fighting (the difficult age), new forest path, lots of mail, real mail.
today we had a coffee date with I. they will get sheep soon! there's already 2 goats.
i thought we have to start going more regularly so that V doesn't forget her café manners.

goodbye

yesterday our friends C and O and the little M left. quite sad. but i'm relieved for their decision and that they will be living in Berlin where one of my best friends lives. me, V, C and M went to Tuusula to see beautiful houses, a painter's house (my favourite) and a composer's house that i had been recommending for him to see before leaving. it was a goodbye trip. the autumn has been so beautiful these past weeks.

with O we wanted to go to the Daniel Palillo fashion show on the weekend, but didn't make it. we got there too late and it was a popular event. it was a windy goodbye evening.

but on Sunday we picked mushrooms with Y's parents. it was great and a bit of a revelation to me. i'm not a mushroom person, but i will be. favourite mushrooms. V was a professional mushroom-forest girl. then we ate our own potatoes and self-picked mushrooms.

listening to CocoRosie "The Adventures of Shoothorse and Stillborn"