Me and Emily of New Moon

I have two older sisters. I had my 40th birthday a couple weeks ago and my sisters are on their way to 60. The big age difference has caused that we have not always been the best soul mates but recently we have got along pretty well. It probably means that I am getting old, a terrible idea to be honest!

I have to praise my oldest sister this time. She sent me a poem which she wrote herself, to gratulate me. And that's not all, she had bought me a wonderful book!

The book's title is freely translated: "The Year of Girl Poets". It is about Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels and written by two Finnish women. The book is like a collage: it has beautiful illustrations, stories and calendar pages - all about Montgomery's great novels and their influence.

L.M. Montgomery was very popular in Finland when I was a child. My childhood was spent reading about Anna, Emily of New Moon, little women etc. I feel very nostalgic about them and just love the book, made for women from the 60s and 70s.

I got so nostalgic that I named my next folk bag "Emily". If there's a color of my childhood, it is this deep blue. I used to have a velvet skirt, cotton jacket and cotton hat sewn by my mother - all blue and I loved wearing them.

New fabrics!

I received an exiting package on Friday! My newest fabrics!

My favorite from these is the one in the middle. I call the design Silverbell. It looks like a big warm knitted blanket even if it's cotton fabric! The other two are experiments in using paper collage in the first phase of planning a new design. I love designing fabric!

There's more fabric than those three. I ordered some new versions of the previously designed fabrics and also some previous versions that I like.

Oriental carpet

Here's the first project I have made using self designed fabrics. This is a special order, a bag for craft projects, where I have combined real crocheting and knitting to the fabric that has corcheting and knitting printed on it. I think the result is like an oriental carpet!

I have a lot of going on this spring. Last but not least is my bachelor's thesis for industrial design. It will take a lot of my spare time. To be honest it makes me a bit sad that my studies are over soon.

On the other hand studying has brought me so much good in my life, a new job with design challenges, the courage needed for opening my Etsy shop and many skills I have longed for all my life. I could not ask for more.