cutie patootie

meet patoot the jacabob by kit lane. i couldn't believe my luck. i've been stalking admiring kit's work since she left a clever comment on one of lisa's flickr photos before christmas and the other day, i happened onto her etsy shop at exactly the right moment to make patoot mine. and patoot arrived just in time yesterday to help me make some birthday bunting for sabin's upcoming birthday. featuring little danish flags, of course (the danes are such flag-wavers on their birthdays).  kit is super clever, check out her etsy shop and be sure to read her hilarious profile (just don't take a sip of your coffee before you begin unless you've got applecare on your macbook). but if you want a jacabob, you'll have to be quick, they go very fast.

ikea is more than just meatballs

i hadn't been to ikea in several months and i went the other day to stock up on the throw pillow cases i use for my etsy pillows. i wandered into the fabric section and fell in love with several fabulous fabrics. ikea has some seriously great fabric designers. in addition to the one that i got to make a bedspread for sabin's new and improved big girl room, i found these beauties as well (please forgive the pictures, our light sucks this time of year):

this makes me think of dr. seuss.

this has a dr. seuss-ish quality as well and i love the colors

birds and cages in cheerful colors. i can think of lots of good things to make with this.

and a seaside scene to remind us of warmer, lighter times.

i've finished sabin's bedspread and made a couple of pillows as well. i "quilted" the fabric to a fleece (also from ikea) and put a binding around it, which i sewed on with the machine to save time. i've decided that what kills me about binding is that hand sewing takes forever.

#86 - bedspread for sabin's bed

the fabric is designed by lotta kühlhorn for ikea.

it's so cool i decided she needed credit.

i know this picture is blurry, but the light is horrible these days and i wasn't patient, nor can i hold still.

also blurry, i realize. again with the lack of light. yet i show you the crap pictures anyway

because i want to count #87.

fabulosity all around (and a giveaway)

i'm all for looking at the world differently, with fresh eyes, from a new perspective. wearing orange tights with red shoes and taking photos of my feet against the green grass in front of a snotty spa hotel in skodsborg while i wait for husband. but seriously, i have to draw the line somewhere and that somewhere is here.  apparently nancy reagan gets regular visits from ronnie during which he talks to her. i always knew the woman was nuts. tho' admittedly running the US by astrology does seem better in retrospect than the 8 years of the bush administration.

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A VERY BIG THANK YOU!! so big, i had to use actual capital letters, so that's big. thanks to all of you and your votes, my story will make the print issue of disco underworld. i quite literally couldn't have done it without you, so to celebrate, i'm going to give away one of my helleristning stones.  if you want to be entered to win, please leave a comment on this post. i think i will make an entirely new helleristning on one of my stones from my recent trip to norway, so this picture is just a sample. you will get a totally new, unique to you, very own helleristning. :-)

so, to review: leave a comment to win a helleristning stone on a stone from norway. it's my thanks to you for helping me make the print issue of discounderworld! and speaking of discounderworld, there's a new issue out now, full of cool people and things! you can go read it right after you finish reading here. :-)

my lovely assistant (i haven't decided yet whether it's sabin or husband) will draw the winner on friday.

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did you know that you're limited to 200 characters in labels? it's practically a tweet. i'm feeling restricted!

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and while i was sitting here, killing time waiting for magazine proofs and in between last-minute edits and trying to shoo a bumble bee out of the addition (they get totally confused by the big windows), the mailman knocked on my door. he brought me this:

a package from the fabulous (i know, i'm overusing that word, i can't help it, there's just so much fabulousity) lynne of wheatlands news. and look what was inside!

rocks and toys and cards, oh my!

and lynne's 82-year-old mom made the cards.

i love that!!

these are seriously cool toys!

husband is gonna love these.

and so is sabin.

i might have to hide them and play with them all by myself.

and each of these rocks is cooler than the next!

lynne calls us stone freaks rotsifarians--b/c rots is rock in afrikaans--i LOVE that too!

the flat one is from namibia

the others are from diamond diggings at alexander bay

the red one is a "red luck stone" because it indicates the presence of diamonds (cool!)

and the little one is covered in eyes!!!

i love the little beaded doll too. 

it appeals to my superstitious side.

THANK YOU LYNNE!!!

i love having these little pieces of africa right here in denmark.

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blog camp note:  don't forget about blog camp II scheduled for september 4-7 here in denmark. i have room for 4 and one spot is tentatively booked. all of you north americans should be checking ticket prices right now (i hear air france is having a sale (ha, bad joke, but i couldn't resist)). but seriously, there are some good prices out there, so do book ahead! and if you're coming all that way, we can arrange for spending a bit more time than just a long weekend.  there may be one more blog camp during 2009 in the US--we're in the tentative stage of planning a trip and just might make time for a few days of blog camp fun sometime in the autumn. stay tuned for updates on that one.

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don't forget to check out the latest issue of disco underworld now.

there are lots of cool and creative people featured this month!

glorious weekend

it was a glorious weekend. sunshine and definite scent of spring in the air. time spent with an old friend i hadn't seen in ages. freshly-baked bread for dinner. a major clean-up/air-out of the studio. gathered a whole lot of stones on the beach (some of the ones below we had before, so not ALL of those in one go), but plenty of new materials/inspiration.

why yes, that is a metal basket full of rocks hanging out conveniently just outside my studio door.

do you think it's possible to fall madly in love with a rusty old pickup that's sitting by the side of the road?

gorgeous polish embroidery found at det blå marked in haslev. major treasure!

evidence of sunshine in my studio today. it looks so beautiful shining on my sari. i had the sari out, looking at and wondering if i should just have a bollywood party or turn it into something else...

and these, the coolest (and starting to be biggest) 8-year-old feet on the block. she's so hip with her red converse all-stars.

and the first report of brazil just in from husband: "so far, brazil looks like the balkans in the jungle."

i found that hilarious beyond belief. 

if you've been to the balkans, you would too.

more tomorrow. our time changed today, so i'm going to try to adjust.

so far, it's been great, but i'll be sorry tomorrow morning.

the stuff i should have written about this morning

i was so busy getting in a last laugh at our nearly past-president and the shoe thing that i didn't really write about or share all of the things i should have, which actually turned out to be good, because i have even more stuff to show you now.

you are all well aware of how much i adore design for mankind, but now i have even more reason to love it! last week, i left a comment on a giveaway posting for this great print from nicole lecht at freshly blended press. and i actually won!! it's so exciting! i said i would give it to my friend who just had twins, since it's a stork picture and now i really get to do that! thank you erin, nicole and design for mankind! there are more giveaways this week, so get on over there!! maybe you can be a winner too!

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the mailman brought me my back-tack today. my lovely partner mo, sent me these beautiful handmade tea towels and oven mitt, plus a bunch of other goodies (including brownie mix from trader joe's (one of the only things i still miss from the US--having a grocery store like trader joe's)). it's just so nice to get a package! (and speaking of packages, those jokers from DHL showed up today as well.)

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i've been talking endlessly about my writing house. that was the original idea with it, but the room, which is really a 24 m2 building in the garden has become much more than just a place for me to write. as the fireplace guy who came to have a look at where he will install a woodburning stove in there said, it's more of an atelier. i like that idea. it's a place where, despite the fact that the electrician came only last week and the lights aren't really hooked to the switch yet, we want to spend all of our time. and i did spend a lot of time there this weekend. hanging our family paintings from last weekend and painting a liquor cabinet (then filling it with liquor--of which we have a rather shocking amount thanks to how often i pass through a duty free (cocktails anyone?)) and arranging the camera collection.  check it out...

love, love, love the hamngren print we inherited from husband's father and now we finally have a great place to hang it.

masses of beautiful fabric waiting for the muse to strike and looking mighty pretty in the meantime.

and strike the muse did. yesterday's late afternoon big-ass mug of coffee didn't only result in balderdash and laughing at bush, but also in some painting and a pillow design...

i'm pretty pleased with the pillow. it's for my sister-in-law for christmas, but it may be difficult to part with it. more pix of it tomorrow in better light (not the bright work light that's shining on it here, looking like the sun, which i only vaguely remember anyway, since i haven't seen it in weeks) and when it's finished. which i'm going to do now.

fake americans prevail!

i have never been prouder to be a fake american. ever since i heard the news, i have had a lightness in my step and a song in my heart. in a celebratory mood, i bought mathilde some shoes that are one pair of only 500 made in the world (some skater brand from LA, starts with an "s," escapes me at the moment, i'm lame and old, so sue me EDITED:  it's Supra). and i bought myself this:

is that not just so extra cool? it will possibly also enable me to connect with my home planet when i'm on the road. :-) it will no doubt be fantastic (i'm trying to get off fabulous, i know i overused it) at the tangobaby cabinet meetings, tho' now we may not need her to be president in 2012 quite as much, because obama (i get goosebumps just saying his name) will surely have two terms.

seriously, watching just pictures, without sound, on CNN across the room in the club floor lounge, i get goosebumps all over my entire body..like on my feet as well...i didn't even know you could get goosebumps on your feet. i loved when clinton was elected, but have to admit that the joy i felt then wasn't anything like this. this is the beginning of a whole new and exciting era. i actually feel proud to be an american for the first time in more than 8 years (more than 8 because it was bush + the monica lewinsky crapola, when frankly, who wouldn't have done what monica did, given the chance (sorry, hillary)). can you imagine, living outside your country and wincing a little bit every time your nationality came up? i had actually recently been mulling over applying for danish citizenship. now it looks like i won't need to. i don't have to hide my passport in shame anymore when i'm in line in the airport!

i've been overwhelmed today by congratulations emails and SMSes. it's so exciting and wonderful. it makes me so happy that both my in-person friends and my blog friends have been so kind and thought of me on this historic day! i wish we could all simultaneously raise a glass together, wherever we find ourselves in the world and toast in celebration. we did it, my fellow fake americans, and i am so proud of us.

p.s. i'm going here tomorrow morning and i might be offline...just think of me, lying on the beach with a cocktail and celebrating the triumph of the fake americans! catch ya on saturday if not before.

randomness from a jetlagged brain

i made it to manila. i'm sitting blissfully on the club floor, enjoying tea and scones and watching CNN broadcast the daily show episode with barack obama. who knew CNN broadcast the daily show? cool, it looks like they're changing over from afternoon tea to snacks and drinkie poohs. have i mentioned that i love this hotel? indeed i have.

i've been catching up on my blog reading as i fight to stay up and not give in to the desire to go to bed now (it's 6 p.m.) and then wake up at 2 a.m. i think there are new random character algorithms that are more word-like than they used to be. have a look at these:  cogismat, hypercen, geducen, patturo, vemputis, subedi. amanda actually noted this last week and even managed to offer cool definitions for the words. that is currently beyond the capability of my jetlagged brain.

on my flight, my seat malfunctioned and wouldn't lie down all the way. i thought at first that i was just too stupid to operate it (on singapore airlines once it was a good two hours into the flight before i figured  out the seat), but it turned out to be broken. business class was totally full, but, lucky for me (and unlucky for him), one of those people was a KLM employee, so they had made him trade with me, since i was a paying customer. that was cool, tho' i only slept about 3 hours of the 12 hour flight.  i have to say that KLM is very service-minded.

i watched mamma mia! on the plane and must slightly sheepishly admit that i totally loved it and even cried several times, i was so touched by it. it is a testament to abba's music that pierce brosnan's singing can't ruin it. it also seems there is an abba song appropriate to any and every occasion. i am so having an abba-themed party when i get home. everyone will have to dress up and maybe we'll even watch mamma mia! at the party.

since i arrived in manila, i have had a pedicure, manicure and a fabulous facial. actually, i had them all at once...there was a whole fleet of people working on me. it was wonderful! i have also visited the gap (it's a weakness, i know, but borne of the fact that where i live there is no gap, so it seems special), where i bought jeans. they have the best jeans, it's like they're designed specifically for me.

i have a 13-year-old with me who looks like she's going on 25...tall, willowy, draping herself all lolita-like around the place. and it has struck me several times how hard that must actually be...to be still a child, but not look like one. people have expectations of a certain maturity level and it just isn't there. and by people, i mean me. i have to keep reminding myself that she's only 13 and 12 hours is a really long flight. but it's really interesting to see this place through her eyes. i'm certain that i can learn from it.

ok, freak 50-year-old american men nearby discussing bible class and church teachings...gotta run...

just the eyelashes

i haven't packed a thing, it's 10:37 p.m. and i have to head for the airport at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow, so just two quick pix of the highlights of the halloween party (more tomorrow from the lounge in AMS)...and ok, so the highlights are all about ME. :-)  or maybe they're about the eyelashes.

seriously, i think i'm going to wear them all the time...

monday links and ramblings

i've expended a lot energy, not to mention time, being outraged about sarah palin, but will admit that it's cooling. not least after reading this article about how all of her antics should make us laugh, not cry. is this whole thing just because we crave entertainment? of course, we should remember that she's most definitely not harmless, but we must admit that it's been pretty entertaining.



at first i wondered how i would survive until election day and now i'm wondering what i'll do to fill the void when the election is over. although we don't yet know the result, i suppose i already feel anticlimactic because i've voted and sent off my ballot. not to mention that i vote in illinois, which is a pretty sure bet obama state. i've done my part and i know you'll all do yours.

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lest you guys think all i do is read about politics, i hereby offer some of the other, totally non-political things i've been reading:

1. will we eventually download books from amazon directly into our brains? this is a discussion that husband and i have very often...where evolution will lead humans and whether the internet is in fact the stirrings of the next life form?

ok, i looked around and realized that's pretty much the only non-political, non-work-related article i've read of late. man, it's bad. i will be glad to have my brain back when this election is over, so i can fill it much more stimulating things...like why madonna and guy ritchie are splitting!?

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the mailman just came and brought me this and this:

tangobaby's fabulous chinatown book!

and a beautiful print

and two of those little moo cards

(NOW i know what they are, even if i still don't know what it stands for!)

thank you, tangobaby, madame president!

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and because it was a rainy, dreary weekend, made for staying indoors and baking organic chickens and squash and making warming curries, and because this blog has become way too much politics and way too little inspiration, i hereby share the weekend's creativity:

working with mathilde (husband's middle daughter), we made two pillows for her bedroom, using some cute japanese matrioshka fabric (the fabric is japanese, not the matrioshki, they're russian) from etsy (which can't be linked to at the moment due to scheduled maintenance) and a couple of lush anna maria horner fabrics.

and i'm working on a small lap quilt, made entirely of anna maria horner fabrics:

i got the top done and will reward myself today with a trip to get the batting and backing fabric, if i finish the writing i need to get done (and which is fast becoming urgent, which may be just what i need to be able to finish it). but yes, i've reached the point where i have to threaten myself and then promise rewards. i'm clearly a bad parent.

on that note, i'm off to write...it's the same piece i've been struggling with for the past several weeks. i think i'm struggling because i actually care too much about it and want to get it just right. do you ever have things you do that with? and if so, how do you get out of it! i'm open to any and all good advice! because i've written about ten different versions of this thing and none of them are right and thus far, i've been unable to combine them into something i can live with. but, today, i shall succeed!!!