it's 2015 already?

i thought i'd pop in and say happy new year before it's too late!
my holidays were busy and festive, and bffbf and i rang in the new year at disneyland.  it was my first visit there ever, and i was surprised to find just how much i LOVE the place.   i will most definitely need to pay it another visit, and soon!

here is a glimpse at the nye countdown and fireworks display.  it was such a fun night.

i also wanted to share the only handmade gift i made for christmas this past year.  my mom requested that i make her a hand towel that she can tie to her oven handle.  she had been using the same one for probably at least a decade, and it was time for a replacement.  

i made her new (more modern looking) hand towel with some white terry cloth, marimekko fabric, and lime grosgrain ribbon that i had in my craft cabinet.   the construction was very simple.  you can't tell from the image, but i made each side a double layer of terry cloth for extra absorbancy.

unfortunately, i didn't take many pictures so i'm not writing a full tutorial on this one, but it would be pretty easy to replicate just from the ones i'm posting.    

here is the final product--oddly, this may possibly be the very first gift i've ever given my mother that she actually liked!

how were your holidays?

marimekko christmas stockings

when bffbf announced that he wanted christmas stockings this year, my mind immediately began whirling. 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS!!!

i have a sad childhood story that i won't bother boring you with, but the consequence of this trauma has been an unhealthy obsession with stockings and the tiny surprises inside.

in previous years i made felt stockings to gift, sell, and use, but i failed to move them to san diego with me.  so i got busy and extracted my three file boxes of fabric from the armoire.  after many minutes of obsessing, i found myself with a large pile of fabric, paired by type and style.

after some consideration, i reluctantly put back a couple before presenting the options to bffbf.  clearly, i could not be left to make such an important decision alone.

i had many non-traditional color schemes and patterns in the mix, and i hoped in vain that he would favor those.  but, as i suspected, bffbf voted for the traditional red and green, and with some negotiation, chose two marimekko patterns (i personally was rooting for gray and orange).

it's a good thing that i've been saving remnants of red on red marimekko samovaari fabric for you know, like, 5 years.  the marimekko karmiini fabric also wound up being quite fitting in stocking form.

here they are, hung by our white tinsel tree.  are stockings part of your christmas tradition?  what does yours look like? would it be crazy if i made different stockings every year?

crate and barrel marimekko store

crate and barrel has had a long partnership with marimekko, and every season i peruse their current line being produced just for cb clientele.  last year i heard that they were planning on opening cb marimekko STORES in select cities, one being new york (of course).  i immediately put it on my wish list of places to visit.

i finally made my way to new york recently (and really, what took me so long? it's only about 4 hours away, and if you're really really lucky you can get a $2 round trip bus ticket) and one afternoon, while wandering around soho, i found myself standing right in front of crate and barrel with marimekko plastered all over the windows. by found, i mean gps-ed my way there intentionally.

was i excited? you bet i was. walking inside, i realized that the marimekko store was within the crate and barrel store, and was very much like the individual stores you'd find in finland.

so bright and colorful. 

little did i know then, they also opened a cb marimekko store in boston, so i did not have to wait until new york.  oh well.

611 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

212.780.0004

marimekko guest post

i'm guest blogging today on marimekko (surprised?) over at imadeitso.com.

pop on over and take a moment to meet ana.  she has a fabulous blog, and also believes in the minimal use  of her shift key.   my kind of gal. 

marimekko unikko skirt

i have a tendency to buy multiples of clothing and shoes i am particularly fond of.  after making my marimekko samovaari elastic waist skirt (which, btw, had a dye-wash mini disaster... a story for another day), i thought it'd be nice to have two.  i whipped up one using marimekko unikko fabric and black elastic before we left for our trip to finland.  it seems so fitting to flounce around town and the cottage (as pictured here) in such a nationally recognized fabric.  for those of you unfamiliar with this pattern, it has been in print in different color and size variations since the 50s.  

these photos were taken in the woods by the family cottage (in finland), and is a very typical scene in finnish nature. i am always particularly struck by the beauty of birch trees.  i think they may very well be my favorite type of tree. 

so tall and sleek! it's difficult to say whether the finnish countryside is most beautiful at the height of summer or in the dead of winter... although i'd choose the summer temperatures over the winter in a heartbeat.  

a skirt for summer

the alliums in the boston public garden are starting to bloom.   this past weekend we went to enjoy them, and i went wearing the new skirt i just whipped up.  it was the kind of day that makes you appreciate being alive.

freshly picked has an easy tutorial to follow to make this very skirt.  i didn't follow her tutorial exactly-  the width of my fabric wasn't twice my waist.  i ended up just using what i had left of my marimekko samovaari fabric, which was more like 1.85 times my waist, and was pleased with the amount of gather and flare.  additionally, instead of pulling the elastic taut as i sewed, i did a basting stitch on the edge of the fabric and gathered it (to the same width of the elastic) before sewing it to the elastic.  i found it to be easier than her method, but that's just me.

in case you're wondering, i bought 3-inch wide white elastic and dyed it purple (with liquid rit dye).  the purple didn't come out as rich as i hoped, but still, good enough. 

my hidden pockets in a pale purple. 

boston public garden and commons were swarming with people, including college students with signs saying "free compliments, and hugs upon request".  a tall smiling girl called out to me and said she liked my skirt.     

hooray.   

how do you like to spend a beautiful summer's day?     

kindle case tutorial

"where's my kindle???" i asked, scanning the room.

"...did you just say your kindle?" the husband teased me in mock irritation.  

oops.   busted.  

this past christmas i bought the husband a kindle.  i was a bit nervous about the gift, because i wasn't quite sure how he felt about e-readers, so i was relieved and happy when he received it with great excitement.  

i was pretty excited too.   i had been interested in the kindle for a while myself, but hadn't been ready to take the plunge.  the husband still had some real books that he had lined up to read, so during our new year's trip to tahiti, he kindly let me use the kindle.  

i was totally hooked, as you can see, from the short conversation from above.   once i uttered those words, i knew it was time to get my own.  

simple tunic tutorial

now, i realize that it's october and that the majority of you are putting away your summer clothes.   i on the other hand, decided to finally cross off a long awaiting project on my list- this simple tunic.  the weather here between the months of october and december can be pretty unpredictable (read: annoyingly warm at times), so i'm confident i'll be able to get some use out of this top before the year is up. 

made with marimekko ritva fabric
v-side facing front

marimekko unikko tote giveaway winner

the winner of the marimekko unikko tote bag is....

congratulations, erin!  i will be contacting you to get your mailing information.   thank you to everyone else for entering. perhaps you'll be the winner next time.

marimekko unikko tote GIVEAWAY

back in january, i posted about my trip to a marimekko store in finland. one of my prized purchases was this large bag, below.

                                                                                                     marimekko.fi

the bag came out to be about 110 usd, which was a hard amount for me to swallow. but, since i had received a couple of gift cards for christmas, i decided to go all out.  i love the color scheme of this bag, with the pink and red boldly sitting against a black background.

recently, while i was doing some fabric research online, i came across another bag with this pattern in my image results. 

                                    avon.com

"how cute!" i thought. i immediately investigated further.  turns out, this tote bag is being sold at avon.com for a small fraction of what i paid for my other tote above (albeit, this one is smaller).  apparently, marimekko partnered up with avon last fall to create this color scheme for avon's breast cancer crusade. look, it's reese witherspoon sporting the bag (i had no idea she was a honorary chairman).

what was a girl to do? i couldn't possibly pass up such a great offer. so, i promptly bought... a couple. a few. several. okay, okay, i bought a LOT.  it's for a good cause right?  other people in my life would love them as gifts, right? plus, i could always use a couple more totes myself (can you really have too many totes?).  and surely... surely, one of my readers would love one. 

right?

do you want one?

because i am giving one away. to you! well, maybe.  if you're lucky.  are you feeling lucky?

to enter the giveaway to win one marimekko - avon tote, you have the opportunity of up to 3 entries:

entry 1: follow my blog + leave a comment to inform me (if you are already following, leave a comment stating so)
entry 2: leave a comment on this entry (tell me, do you like marimekko?  own anything designed by them?  are you brave enough to carry around a bag with giant red and pink poppies on them?)
entry 3: blog about this giveaway, and leave me a 3rd comment + link me to the post
make sure you leave a way for me to contact you on your entry/entries!

this giveaway is open until midnight, wed, may 19th, central time. open to u.s. and canadian residents only!
1 winner will be chosen via random.org on thursday, may 20th.

first serger attempt

in january i introduced  the serger i got for christmas (which you can read about here), and promised to share with you my first serged project-  and here i am, keeping that promise. you would think that with such a fun new toy, i would drop everything and serge everything in sight.  amazingly, i did just the opposite.  i've been so busy that i didn't touch the serger again until this month, when i finally sat down and took the time to learn how to thread the machine.  threading was only slightly frustrating, as brother has done a fairly good job with their manual and with the color coded, numbered guide right on the serger.     

i already had a throw pillow case i had sewn earlier this year that had been patiently waiting for me to serge the inside seams, so after i managed to successfully thread my machine, i zipped the edges through. 

 the pillow case is made out of marimekko lumimarja fabric in gold and white tones. it has an invisible zipper.

 eventually i will make a second or even a third one. in my dreams, i have a drawer dedicated to a plethora of beautiful, neatly folded throw pillow covers so i can change them out on a whim.  but. i digress.   

tada. a close up on a finished seam.  it makes me happy, even though no one will ever see it... unless i have guests with boundary issues who decided to dissect my pillow...  hey, it could happen.  

globetrotting adventures - finland iii - marimekko

downtown helsinki is relatively small. you could probably walk through it in 30 minutes. maybe more, maybe less, depending where you start from and where you think downtown ends. regardless, it's not large. yet, there are three marimekkos downtown (there used to be four). two are even on the same street. aside from their stand alone stores, their products can also be found at all the department stores, and even at the local grocery store. marimekko is the only brand i have ever come across where it's possible to find the same design on your clothes, bedding, mouse pad, coffee mug, umbrella, tv, paper napkins, upholstery, purse... the list goes on.

with such a presence in the market, it's no wonder that marimekko goods can be found in nearly every finnish home. marimekko, like some of the other finnish brands such as iittala/arabia (also one of my favorites) is fully ingrained into finnish culture. and as i am sure you are fully aware of by now, it has completely sucked me in.

pictures from one of my several visits during our trip below.

oooh.

ahhhhh.
eek.
i broke down and bought one of these bags (the big one toward the bottom). don't worry i had a gift card.

!!!!!!

o.m.g.

i. spent. a lot. of. money.

happy new year!

marimekko fabric wall panels tutorial

the walls in our home are pretty bare. i think it's partially due to the frequent moving we have done, but mostly it's because i'm overly picky. our bedroom walls have always been exceptionally naked, and last weekend we finally decided to do something about it.

if you know me personally, or have taken a peek into my shop, you probably have noticed that i'm a fan of marimekko, a finnish design company. already possessing many marimekko home and personal items, we thought making some fabric panels would be a great addition to our home. plus, i always enjoy adding hand made touches.

our supplies:
2 art canvas (16"x20" and 20" x24" - could have also used wooden pieces for stretching canvas, but i was too lazy to look for them)
marimekko samovaari fabric (available in my shop)

light weight staple gun

the project didn't take very long. the hardest part was trying to decide how to place the pattern.

i cut the fabric and then overlocked the edges:

unfortunately i don't have a serger, but my sewing machine does have a basic overlocking stitch that's a bit fancier than the zigzag. an unnecessary step, but i wanted the back to stay tidy and not fray everywhere.

i ironed the fabric with a bit of starch before stretching it onto the canvas. i first secured the fabric to the board with some pushpins so that the design would fall exactly where i wanted it. i began stapling from one side, then alternated sides as the fabric stretched (taking care to tuck in the edges so they looked neat). shockingly, i did not hurt myself.

voila. my husband put on the necessary components and then hung them on the wall (not pictured).

the spots in that last picture are from my camera, not the wall. i think i'll have to add staples later, as some of the fabric is a little too loose. but overall, we're pretty happy with the results.

what kind of wall art do you have in YOUR home?