This is what I was talking about – it’s here, and I am so proud and happy about all the magic that this amazing network has generated.
Take a look at Blogish! And do spread the word… :)
Blogging has given me something that I never anticipated.
I have a network of blogging women in Denmark. A network that I value ever so much. A network that always delivers a good answer to any question, a shoulder to someone who needs comfort, a caring push to someone in need of one, and a name to call for someone in need of the right contact. We share a naturalness around the internet that gives us a common feeling of endless possibilities.
And after all this is said, they’re also just really great friends!
We meet frequently, and our meetings always result in bursts of creative energy, ideas, jobs, dreams, and more still. Some of this energy is going into an e-magazine that is due to come out next week. I’m looking so much forward to seeing it – it will be in Danish (sorry you guys, who don’t understand Danish – it may still be a visual inspiration), and it will be our contribution to the Danish readers – giving something back to the internet that gave us a chest of lifelong treasures.
Can’t wait to see it!
(If you don’t know – hyben is the Danish word for Rosehip.)
In order to fit a bedroom and a nice sewing space into our bedroom, we need to be a little bit creative. I wanted to get an idea of how much space we had to work with, so on Mads’ recommendation, I downloaded Google Sketchup during the weekend. (As you may be aware, Mads draws 3D models professionally, but he left the design of this room up to me, so I took him up on the challenge.) Sunday night I made the below draft of what I want to do with the room. Google Sketchup enables anyone with a bit of patience to draw their projects up in 3D, and it works surprisingly well, although I would recommend going through at least the first 4 video tutorials if you haven’t tried drawing 3D before, which I haven’t. They helped me a lot. However, altogether it only took me a few hours (and a little swearing) to draw up the idea I had, using accurate dimensions.
It won’t be huge, but this could be a really nice sewing space, I think. The wall that is not there, is the one that holds our closets, which will still be the case after the renovation. The door into the room from the hallway is to the right – it’s easier to see in the picture below.
Mads painted the ceiling yesterday, and the walls had first coat tonight, so it won’t be long before I need my design to be ready to go shopping. I think it’s going to look something like this, but if you have good ideas based on what you see, don’t hold back! 
I’ve always been impressed with people who have the guts to start up their own business. My sister-in-law Jolanda is so cool – I recommend you take a look at what she did, even if you’re not from the Netherlands where she lives.
During 2009, my brother Jakob and his wife Jolanda who live together in Amsterdam, went to Mongolia for a wedding celebration. They spent some time travelling around the country, and when they returned, Jolanda brought with her a fascination of the delicious felt products that were produced by locals in the country.
She has now started a business called Esgii (‘felt’ in Mongolian) and a very nice looking webshop at Esgii.nl importing felt products from Mongolia, produced by individuals and small businesses, using the principles of fair trade. A large part of the population in Mongolia is still living below the line of poverty, and Jolanda’s initiative means that she and her customers will be contributing to a positive development in Mongolia.
It has taken a ton of work on her part, and the thing that carries her is that she is passionate about the products, the way they are produced, and sets high standards for how she wants to move them along.
She currently sets up stands in different markets around Amsterdam, while taking care of the webshop at the same time, so if you live in or near Amsterdam, I can only tell you to go get those gorgeous things. Take a look at the pictures here and her site, to see what you should be expecting. But for now – mostly for the Dutch visitors.
Here’s to hoping she’ll go international before long – I can definitely find a few things that I am adding to my wish list.
I made this skirt yesterday for Frida – very simple pattern from Ingelise – April 2008, nothing much to worry about. So of course, I managed to screw it up anyway. The skirt has two tiers, as you can see – and I accidentally cut the top tier twice the length it’s supposed to be. Doh…
I didn’t realize until the elastic was in its casing, and everything was pretty much done – only needed to sew the two tiers together. I have no idea why I didn’t see it coming – there is so much fabric around the waist of this skirt, you could fit an elephant in there – if the elastic was long enough. But I didn’t. See it coming, that is. I ended up gathering the top tier to fit the second tier, and now I can’t decide whether I should unpick a lot of seams and redo the whole thing. All that fabric around Frida’s tiny waist does take up some space…
I adore the fabric (baby corduroy) which I found at Malika & Rosa, but I only got half a metre, because that should be plenty for a small skirt – however now that I used everything making the waist of this skirt (yep), I have next to nothing left. What to do, what to do… In the meantime, Frida absolutely loves the skirt – I’m not sure she sees the problem!
A few days ago, I mentioned here that Rae is doing her Spring Top Week again – and it’s open for entries now! Being last years winner, she has asked me if I would like to be part of the jury this year, and of course I would love to! I am so happy and proud to be included, because the rest of the jury is made up by 9 incredibly talented women – I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun.
I’ll get back to that some other day – but right now I’m just feeling so internet-lucky! The internet is an amazing place to get together with like-minded people – online as well as IRL. During this past weekend, I was at my third bloggers meetup with an amazing group of girls who have their blogs and a great deal of creative talent in common – and then we have come to see that we really just share so much more than that, and I love being part of it.
Lucky me!
Actually, today has been more of a greyish Monday. It has been raining all day, but my mood really hasn’t been affected by it.
I had a wonderful weekend. Saturday, I met up with a bunch of open, creative, strong, sensitive, wise, funny, inventive, remarkable women. The day contained humour as well as seriousness and many good talks – it was a bloggers meetup, and though it took place a two hour drive away from here, it was definitely worth the trip, and it left me with a feeling of having connected to a bunch of wonderful women outside my usual circles. Thanks, girls – and Yay for blogging – did I say that before?
Sunday was all about kitchen (I’ll get back to that) and kids – and visiting good friends in the late afternoon.
So back to the blue Monday. I was tagged by Annette in a colour game, and I wasn’t sure whether I would find the time, because as you all know, time is a luxury around here at the moment. However, I started looking for light blue items in my home, when I wasn’t thinking about it, and finally I couldn’t resist getting out the camera.
I thought it would be difficult to find light blue around here, but while there may not be many totally light blue items, it’s still a colour that pops out here and there.
Like in the new issue of Ottobre, which arrived a few days ago – such a gorgeous girls tunic pattern in there, by the way!
There is one among Frida’s crayons…
In this painting by Ronja, a sweet girl has light blue arms – or is that wings?
And this blue wire will help spread atmosphere in our kitchen to be – they’re coming out of the walls everywhere.
I managed to find light blue – so I’m sending on the challenge:
Marina, Amy, and Lisbeth – would you play along and find 7 green items in your homes? 