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.  

land of the midnight sun

there is something nearly magical about finnish summer.  the hours of daylight linger on and on, never quite fading in some parts of the country, even in the dead of the night.    here, i am standing at midnight, on the pier of the family cottage.   it is the perfect place for quiet introspection, for joyful reflections, or melancholy brooding.

hoop handled handbag

my friend (thanks, anna!) sent me the link to this great tutorial: hoop handled handbag by delia creates.

she made one.  i made one.  you could make one too. i used one of the fabrics i bought in taiwan.  

and a peek at the inside. i sewed in a lot of pockets.

one can never have too many pockets.

i wouldn't ordinarily choose this style of fabric for a handbag, but it just seemed so fun and so right.  

craft room revealed

one of the challenges and annoyances i've discovered as a renter is dealing with furniture.  it's hard to find pieces that are versatile enough that will fit in the next space, and even worse, hard to keep furniture in good shape after it's been moved from apartment to apartment. inevitably, things get dinged up, and once nice looking chairs and tables start looking pretty grungy.   nearly all the furniture we actually brought to houston suffered cosmetically and/ or structurally.

because of this, i have been generally hesitant to purchase expensive or long-term furniture.  with this most recent cross-country move, we decided to sell about half of our furniture on craigslist, and put the money toward our joint craft/office room.  the goal was to create a completely white space (please humor me and pretend the walls you see are stark white and not cream- our landlord didn't want us to paint) that was inexpensive, functional, and minimalistic.

it's not always fun and games

i'm not exactly sure why, but i take great displeasure from altering my clothes, even just a simple hemming job.  maybe because it's so tedious.  which is why it took me three months to hem these jeans.   despite them being "ankle" length, i still had to take them up nearly two inches.  in my next life i'm going to have longer legs.  or be wealthy enough to have my own live in tailor.   

what are your plans for your next life? 

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.