Recovery and consciousness

I am very slowly getting better, thanks to considerable amounts of tea and chicken broth.

The good thing about staying at home for a bit is that you get to do all the things you've been putting off for quite a while, due to tight work schedules, dates, appointments and whatnots.

Like listening to music. Not while you do the dishes, ride the bus, seek for inspiration or write your blog posts. I mean consciously listening to good music, taking the time to merge into it. There's music that seems to be asking for your undivided attention to allow you to be drawn in. And most days I don't really have the time or patience to do that. To just listen.

Mada surely knows how to appreciate some tunes on an oldschool turntable. She also likes to take extensive naps on my amplifier. Her good taste in music makes me rather proud.

I also spent some time in the sewing room and prepared a little something for my next blog post (because it will be my 100th!).

I'd love you to stick around and celebrate with me.

A creative day off

I'm having a day off on short notice, and enjoying it in the sewing room. Which is most of the time a real mess. My mom says it's a creative mess, though, and I like to mention this to surprise visitors, prior to any probable eyebrow raising when entering my craft room.

Did I show you my calendar for this year? It's filled with illustrations in the naive art style, which I adore so much. I once bought a painting from a street artist in Brazil, which had a rather inconvenient size for traveling. It was quite a struggle and left a few raw edges here and there, but I'd always do it again. There's just so much to see and explore in paintings of this style.

Another pair of wrist warmers is born, for a friend of a friend. I'm so moved that my creations are already arousing attention without me presenting them personally. These are very similar to the ones I sent to coco for the autumn gift swap. Which has received so much good feedback that I am already thinking about a handmade summer gift swap. You should definitely send me a mail if you'd already like to be part of the gift circle, but I'll also mention it again on my blog as soon as I can set proper dates.

Weekend is almost here, and so is our short trip to Amsterdam! I'm still yearning for your recommendations on what to see/do/eat there!

Have a lovely Thursday!

Preserving summer

Spent the morning on my little balcony garden and planted a few more flowers, trying to preserve a bit of summer before it slips through our hands. Mada has been chewing on all my plants constantly, so I assumed it was time to get her her very own cat grass. Looks like she's rather fond of the idea!

I was in a bit of a spring cleaning/renovating mood and painted one of my bedroom walls blue. I had bought this paint ages ago, and when my friend spotted it (back then), she asked: "Oh? Baby blue? In a baby mood?", so I refrained from using it. She was quite right. I initially wanted it to be more matte and slightly smokey or slate, a bit colonial-style (if that makes any sense). I even bought some extra paint to tone it down a bit. 

But it's still blue. Baby blue. Very much so.

Evoked desires and memories

the adorable house we stayed at in Sweden last year

I have rearranged my apartment and exchanged the rather big bedroom with the increasingly decreasing studio. Space, I need space. A lot of it. So far it feels good, even though the place is still a terrible mess.

While browsing for ideas for very simple yet smart curtains, I came along this Swedish blog and can't stop scrolling through all those posts. I am not sure what it's really about, but I can't get my head around why the Swedish have So Much Taste! I could curl up and get comfortable in every single picture here. Even the ones where houses are just in the midst of renovation (I adore renovation - turn old into new!).

A rather cluttered place like this still looks so clean and tastefully arranged.

And cleaning the house is probably a blessing if you have a cupboard like this holding all your cleaning supplies.

I am in awe. And secretly wish for a cozy wooden house up there, where I could stay during the winter, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate, red cheeked, after a good stroll through mounts of snow. I am also keeping up the illusion that every single household in Sweden must evidently look just this tasteful.

*picture by Marek Bruns