Red and pink

I wrote my art history essay about women's hand bags in the 18th century. Wow how inspiring that was! I got plenty of ideas for my bags and other creations.

Another uplifting thing: Finnish television is showing the newest version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Love it! If you are a fan of Jane Austen too, see Vic's wonderful blog Jane Austen's World.

I have some new fabrics coming soon, very exciting to see how they will turn out. I will post pictures when I'll receive them.

My newest folk bag is a little thing but I just love the combination of pink and red. It is very hard for me to not to keep it myself. I have received some really wonderful photos from my customers showing how they use their bags. Thank you all, I am really lucky to be surrounded by the similar minded people.

Last weekend I attended a doll making course held by a Finnish doll artist Sirpa Ala-Louko. Unfortunately I got flu and had to leave a bit early. She is an amazing artist, see "Galleria", in her web site Nukkepaja.com. My doll is not quite finished yet but she will be soon.

Bag to fabrics!

I started quilting as teenager. First by hand, then by machine.

I have always admired knitted quilts and have made a few myself too. But we all know the problem is that they are fairly heavy, knitting gets stretched and is difficult to wash.

When I started designing fabrics I thought of materials. I find it very inspiring to think about different materials and their qualities! I started thinking about paper but then it hit me! My bags!

Do not get me wrong - there was not a short way to make these fabric designs. Okay, the half of the work was done: I had tens and tens of photos of my knitted designs. But mixing and matching, replacing one stitch here and the other stitch there (digitally of course) required a lot of accuracy, trials and errors. But here they are!

These were just what I hoped and even more. My favorite is the second one at the photo. It is called Karelia and it reminds me from the Karelian people and their characteristics. Always in good mood, filled with stories and traditions.

I cannot wait to find some spare time to start a new quilt!

One dream

When I was a child I was constantly playing with yarn and fabric. My mother was very strict. I had to learn to do everything The Right Way. There were so many things to learn and my mother thought I was very impatient and was treated like one.

For example: Before I was able to knit a sweater I had to prove myself. She required I first learned how to knit mittens in The Right Way. Then socks in The Right Way. Finally after making tens pairs of mittens and socks, often decorated with fair isle patterns, my mother graciously purchased green acrylic yarn for a sweater.

After that I made tens of sweaters. We seldom bought any as I made most myself. I wanted to learn how to machine knit and my mother bought a second hand machine for me. I made a lot of sweaters with it but nowadays I knit only by hand as I prefer to take the knitting with me.

My mother did support my hobby. She just did not like failures. Maybe she was afraid that if I go ahead too fast I would quit and never start again.

When she was worrying if I did everything using the one right method she had learned from her mother, I was worrying if I could never let go and be creative. Knit all those images in my head, so far from what I then produced.

Some things that have happened in the past have a bitter sweet taste. At the same time they are so appealing and still painful. This controversy is something I nowadays get my creativity from. And many times, like in the bag in the picture, I can recognize the melancholic tone. Maybe it is me, but I just love that melancholia combined with strong colors! It has somehow heroic after taste!

But did you look the picture carefully? Can you see the fabric behind the bag? My first three fabric designs have been printed! One dream has been filled! More in the next post!

Inspired

I have had a long Christmas holiday from my day job and I have enjoyed my life tremendously with all kinds of creative activities.

First, I am so inspired by the old plates and bowls. Just went to see Arabia's 135-anniversary exhibition in Design Museum at Helsinki. Arabia is a Finnish porcelain factory and all Finnish have their kitchens filled with their cups and plates. I had to knit something after the exhibition, time will tell how it'll turn out eventually!

Second, I have designed my first fabric prints and sent them to Spoonflower. I am so excited to see how they'll turn out! If they'll look terrible, I have promised myself to try again, as I am so excited by the idea of designing fabric!

Third, I have bought a new camera, Canon EOS 450 with all the bits and pieces, and am just thrilled playing with it!

Fourth, I have millions of ideas for my knits, can't wait to get them all out. My newest bag is so romantic, you have to check it out!

I hope all of you most happiest new year ever!

Living is creating

I do not know the verb "relax". I often wonder if that is a verb at all. My verbs include working, crafting, designing, knitting ...

Am I crazy? Probably so but I am having too much fun to really realize that I miss all the time that people usually spend doing nothing or socializing.

So I had some ideas for the new folk bags a couple of days ago and there they are.

You must wonder what is that beautiful, most ornamental pot ever seen! It is my newly purchased treasure from Etsy. It is made by Constance Finn from Past Embraces. I could buy all their painted stuff, can there be anything more ornamental?

The more I make things myself, the more I want to spend my money on hand made items. And regarding to my studies - after learning how to design plastic, mass-produced items, everything hand made has even more value. I hope that the recession contains the possibility for all of us to think more seriously where we put our money to.

Yesterday I read about a wonderful Finnish artist Anni Rapinoja, who uses natural elements in her art. I am astonished by her creativity, I love her willow shoes especially. She is a real proof of the fact that living is creating but it does not all have to be cheap plastic.

Kalevala rocks

Forgive me not to post any Christmas photos, I just have to dedicate this post to the folk bag I have made just before Christmas. It was ordered by a person who did not want her bag to have flowery style. Instead, she gave me two themes: Finnish rock music and Akseli Gallen-Kallela's painting Lemminkainen's Mother.

I found the design process very challenging but also wondefrully interesting.

Lemminkainen and his mother are characters from Kalevala, the finnish national epic.

Finnish rock music is often very hard and earthy, trying to reach somewhat heroic atmosphere.

I ended up creating very melancholic look. The bag is called October as it is one of the saddest month in Finland, very dark despite of the firsts snowfalls of the coming winter.

I do not know how the bag would be received in other countries. For me, it is very touching in its honest melancholy.

I painted the fabric myself as I was unable to find anything appropriate in my stash. I find it more and more appealing to try to design my own fabrics. I have lately joined Spoonflower and might try that soon. They offer fabric printing on JPEG image which is a brilliant idea for business I think!

Bumblebees and glass

Some people hate primitive country style. You know those pictures of enormous bodied cows and bigs, dolls that have long legs and flowered cotton dresses and kitchens filled with towels and shelves for plates.

My husband is one of those people who think it is just too childish and represents bad style.

I probably should think the similar way - studying design and all.

But I think primitive country has something so feminine, so relaxing and fun. I just had to make a folk bag from Debbie Mumm fabric and think about naive country things like bumblebees and homemade honey!

Talking about design - another new folk bag has a theme that has been on my mind for months. One day at the library I was browsing books of designer glass. Finland has a lot to offer regarding to glass vases, we have great designers like Timo Sarpaneva and Tapio Wirkkala and many more.

Seeing a picture of Oiva Toikka's Bambo inspired me to try to create a textile that takes it's concept from glass.

I used only mild contrasts and complementary colors to great a light and brisk feel. The result is very different than most of my bags but I am very happy with it!