i wonder who made this tiny bicycle

i think about the person who bent and twisted this wire to make this tiny little bicycle. it's just one piece, so it's like one of those line sketches, where you draw the whole thing without the pencil leaving the page. it's slightly wonky, but it's also utterly wonderful in its tinyness and level of detail - the kickstand, the handlebars, the wheels and the chain, just a little wire doodle, but somehow perfect. i wonder if they made other things? i found this in a bowl of tiny things for 10kr. in a strange secondhand shop where we bought a little yellow boat. when i saw it, i knew i had to have it. it's very tiny, about 3cm is all. i keep it up on a high shelf, because i'm afraid the cats will play with it and then it will be lost underneath something or get vacuumed up because i don't see it on the floor. but it makes me smile whenever i see it. and i think about that person who made it, wondering how many attempts they made before making this perfect specimen. dozens? or perhaps they just got very lucky on the first try.

stitching identity :: kgb museum vilnius

we had three teenagers with us in lithuania, so we told them we had to visit a museum. after perusing a swedish brochure we found at our rented apartment, they chose the museum of genocide victims, mostly due to its other name - the KGB museum, owing to the fact that it is housed in the former KGB headquarters (look at me, capitalizing KGB...hmm, i'll have to ponder that) of the soviet state of lithuania.

it's a moodily-lit place, in keeping with its sober subject, and has a big focus on the lithuanian patriots/revolutionaries who resisted the soviet yoke, especially in the decade after stalin and hitler sealed their fate without consulting them in a secret agreement in the early days of the second world war. the green cells in the basement, where prisoners were held, interrogated and tortured and then, quite literally, taken out back and shot, were stark.

but i think it was most struck by the stitched objects on display. most were made by prisoners who had been exiled to camps in siberia. they obviously used scraps of fabric and thread that were at hand. stitching to hold onto their homes, loved ones and traditions. and the stitched items were made by both men and women, both having a need to cling to their home and memories.

the sign said that this little black striped pouch contained some lithuanian soil and that the prisoner had kept it with him throughout his confinement in a siberian hard labor camp. i have a jar of stones from south dakota, where i grew up, so i could relate to this. we have a need to hold onto something tangible of where we come from.

some of the stitched cloths were large and all were beautiful. each stitch holding a memory of home and comfort and family. such beauty coming out of such adversity. it's amazing.

it was also a way of keeping their religion and belief alive, as sometimes the cloths were used in religious rituals and at holidays, like easter, which they surely practiced at great peril.

there were other objects, made of materials at hand - birchbark containers and the like, but i found the stitching most fascinating. especially since it wasn't just women who were stitching, but men as well, in a human need to hold onto beauty and home.

there were many pouches, which surely held precious mementos, like the wrapped-up soil of home or a photo of loved ones or a locket. there were also sayings, carefully stitched in lithuanian, a way of physically holding onto language and culture. each stitch a small act of defiance against the oppression, each stitch a way to hold onto an identity that was being torn away.

and i wonder if my soft guns aren't a similar way of coping with the sense that my very foundation has been ripped away by that ridiculous clown that cheated and colluded his way into the white house, robbing me of any pride i may have had in being american. maybe not, but they are definitely an act of defiance and mocking of the gun culture that has so strongly taken hold. not as deep as the items in the genocide victims museum, but a small act against the regime nonetheless.

little treats

a new one of cathy cullis' beautiful brooches - these faces speak to me of all the voices in our heads. they do it in a good way, sort of embracing the madness and making it beautiful and wrapping it all into a coherent whole. i'm in a navy blue period clothing-wise (i think everything has to match my glasses), so a little splash of red is welcome.

chanel nail polish is always an affordable luxury. especially if you get it onboard a ship in the duty free. i got the two dark, rich colors of autumn, a beautiful deep green and a luscious dark brown.

salted chocolate caramels from my friend shelly of #stuckinplastic fame - a welcome surprise in the mail.

and another beautiful cathy cullis brooch - if one is good, two is better, right? and finally, the scarf i ordered ages ago from skinny la minx showed up. i think i said this before, but i do wonder where it was hiding all these months. where does lost mail go?

and my most recent addition? a fine little ceramic cat brooch. you can never have too many brooches. or cats.

unexpected lego-related goodness in the mail

look what my bloggy friend ariadne sent to me! we haven't really known one another that long in this bloggy world (we met through the ever-fabulous lisa), but she obviously totally gets me. and she lives in thessaloniki, which is one of my favorite places (and a place i've been many times, always under blissful circumstances). in general, greece is wonderful, and obviously, so is ariadne. thank you so much! it was absolutely the perfect surprise gift for me! and i absolutely adore the tiny houses postcard.

a few of my favorite things

inspired by npr's favorite things piece, i give you a few of my favorite things.  1) little felted amanita by lisa. 2) the chicken-suit guy minifigure that started my whole minifigure madness. 3) herbert the bobbaloo by the fabulous kit lane. 3) my faces brooch by cathy cullis. 4) ohrid pearl earrings i got at lake ohrid in macedonia years ago. 5) my twiggy silver ring, made by a jeweler in frederikssund (where we used to live) and given to me for christmas by husband 5-6 years ago. 7) whirling dervish ink drawing from istanbul.

and this is actually different than my earlier likes/dislikes post. really it is. because these are things and some of that list was food. and feelings. and abstract stuff like queueing manners and the temperature of tea.

a big closer view of the rings and the earrings

why not share some of your favorite things too? it's actually rather fun to gather them up and arrange them and think about them. i was having a rather crap day, what with a facebook feed full of ignorant, racist, homophobic bible thumpers, the continuing refusal by post denmark to release our christmas presents and the grey, rainy weather. but thinking about my favorite things, plus a surprise lottery windfall of 3400 kroner (and i thought husband was nuts to create that online lottery account) and a lunch date later in the week with my new boss turned it right around. the weather may not have improved, but my mood definitely did.

please let me know in the comments if you do share some of your favorite things. i'd love to see them!

and on another note, ikea hacks

and to sort of smooth over my earlier ranty post, i thought i'd share something bright and cheery. i had some fun embellishing some ikea pillow covers for the big girls for christmas and now i can share them, since they've been given. i added felt circles to these simple linen covers for k's couch at her new apartment. the pillows have colorful printed circles on them already, which i just covered with the felt, sewing a simple line down the middle, so they have a bit of dimension to them.

and i added thick black felt details - mustaches and an m for mathilde to these cute rainbow covers. i didn't get as much handmade done this year as i wanted (do i ever?), due to paralysis induced by waiting to hear about my new job (i got it, you know, so the paralysis is over), but i did manage a little bit and that makes me happy. there's always next year.

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creative amazon reviewers strike again.

this time, hilariously reviewing a book called how to avoid huge ships.

the best one is from the point of view of a rock,
it's by jamie and is about the 5th one down.

all wrapped up

professional wrapping job by the sweet guy in the shop in germany.

he said he'd studied wrapping for 5 years.

it's so beautiful, we're thinking about not opening it at all.

i am not known for my wrapping skills.

but using my own little felted acorns and keeping it simple

with silver and gold-toned kraft paper, string and a few little aspen cones,

i think i've finally managed a wrapping job i don't have to be ashamed of.

this acorn cap, i experimented using purchased felted balls. 

they were a bit too big.

i'm so glad i gathered these little cones and acorn caps

out in the yard while they were there.

it's about time i grew up and learned to wrap.

i'm so proud of sabin.

she put together totally handmade presents for her friends.

she made the boxes, filled them with wood shavings from far's workshop.

and she made homemade body scrubs, body butter and lip balms.

a couple of my homemade honey soaps

and these are little pamper kits fit for teen divas.

we're even going handmade for the cats.

these felted toys have bells inside.

about time they had some felted things they're allowed to play with.

they've been hard on the bobbaloos.

tomorrow it's christmas in denmark.

it'll be just the three of us.

we're going to bake cookies, watch home alone, eat some good food.

and then open presents in the evening.

hopefully, husband will finish the chimney so we can use our new wood-burning stove.

on the 25th, otherwise known as real christmas,

husband's big girls will come, as well as his danish sister and her family.

we'll have turkey and all the fixings, according to my traditions.

modified for my location, of course.

in that our turkey came from the danish butcher stuffed with minced pork and cream.

it's a lovely bird and i can't wait to see how it will turn out.

merry christmas, one and all!

may your loved ones be close, the wine be plentiful and your stocking full of goodies.

with sleep, optimism returns

what a difference a day makes. and a good night's sleep. awoke this morning, throat still store, but feeling like i shook off the cold before it really came on. when you're rested and not feeling drained, it's amazing how much more optimistic you can feel towards the world. i made these little felt trees during the market (at least there i used my time wisely). they're to inspire a crafty couple of hours at my local library next week. i hope a lot of kids will come and want to make their very own little felty christmas trees. simple discs of felt, a bit of yarn, a bead, sticks from the yard and a glue gun. simple and sweet. and making me feel like i can face the world again. one sweet little felty christmas tree at a time.

more soon...

just listed in my shop

i participated in a christmas market on sunday. it wasn't nearly as much fun as last summer's farmer's market (which oddly enough, i utterly failed to write about), even tho' we nearly were blown away that day. people weren't really in a buying mood (i've noticed this before in denmark, especially where handmade things are concerned), so i have a few items left over (there are more in addition to those pictured above, they are just a little sampler). i've just listed them in my long-neglected shop (i even rather ambitiously redesigned the whole thing). so, please do stop by and have a look. handmade is the very best way to say "i care about you" to those you love at christmas. i know it's how i'm going to show my love to those around me. thank you for looking!

a beautiful handmade wooden airplane

we were invited to a 70th birthday party on saturday at our neighbor's house. he's become a good friend and so we wanted to give him something more special than the standard three bottles of wine in a gift box. since he had been a commercial pilot for SAS for years, i suggested to husband that he try to fashion an airplane out of driftwood. we looked through our driftwood collection and didn't find a piece that whispered airplane to us. so husband turned to the firewood pile and found a piece of birch that was just right. he sanded and smoothed and attached oak wings and tail fins (i'm suddenly in doubt that that's what they're called). i was planning on painting some stripes and call letters on it, but it was so beautiful and pristine in its naked glory that we left it. but now, at least, i can say that i've given a meaningful gift.

snazzing up your headphones

a little how-to, since i've not done one in ages. i pinned this on pinterest and was inspired to adjust the idea a bit. we have loads of perler (beads) lying around and sabin doesn't really use them that much anymore, so we decided they'd be perfect for decorating and protecting our iPhone headphones.

so here's what we did - we sorted into the colors that wanted and placed what we thought was approximately the right amount into small bowls.

then we took a sharp, small knife and carefully made a cut on one side of each bead. we tried to do it with nail scissors, but found that our thumb and forefinger quickly became too sore for that. a knife and a small cutting board were much better.

you can see the slice in this one - it takes a little bit to get the hang of it and not accidentally slice both sides, but you'll quickly catch on.

sabin did almost all of hers, prying the cut bead apart with her fingernails - that also became painful after awhile and there were tears and a temper tantrum. i told her sometimes you have to suffer for your art. but then she hit upon the idea of holding the bead open with a bobby pin so that it could be slipped onto the cord much more easily. ingenius, i tell you.

what takes the longest is sorting and cutting each bead - with the bobby pin technique, it only took about half an hour to actually put them all on the cord. it looks cool, protects the cord and makes it much harder for it to tangle up. plus, we can tell whose is whose at our house now. sadly, husband won't let us do his, even tho' we promised to choose boy colors.

on the cord - i don't think they'll fall off, nor can you really see the cuts once they're in place.

my pattern was random, but sabin chose to do regular rainbows, all the same. both work very well.

it makes a  great sunday afternoon activity on a grey and rain day.

tiny houses

we stopped by a historical market today at our favorite little museum. one of the artists who was there was making these sweet little ceramic houses - each totally unique. i've had a tiny houses board on pinterest for awhile, so i had to snatch up a few of them. funny to run across them, right as i'm contemplating a tiny house of my own in the garden. a space in which to work. so it felt like fate to find them. i stupidly didn't get a card, so i can't even tell you the name of the artist. i'll tell you more about the visit soon, as it was an inspiring day, but now, it's time for bed.

husband the builder

husband has a habit of going slightly over-the-top when i ask him to build something. i mentioned one day that i needed a nice little rack for my thread, so i could see what colors i've got when i'm sewing. i imagined a little rack of 3-4 rows that would maybe hang on the wall, but husband made this instead. it's at least a head taller than i am, holds 104 spools of thread and features a turning base so i can turn and see what i've got. right now, it's completely unworthy of the old dining room where it's standing, and it leans thanks to an uneven floor, but it's just completely awesome. and it, along with an old-fashioned three-layer pot for extracting juice using steam that he picked up in a second-hand store, made for some of the best christmas presents he's ever given me.

he also recently built this over-dimensioned (and not quite finished) little shelter for our mailbox and trash can. they passed a law last year that the mailbox had to be out on the property line and accessible by vehicle (if you live out in the country) by the end of 2011. many people put theirs out earlier, but after our postwoman asked chastised sabin one day last summer in a most decidedly churly manner about how we had to move our post box, we decided to wait 'til the very last day.  i mean really, yelling at a child about the post box? please. the weather turned ugly before husband could finish painting it, but it's already passed the hurricane-force winds test, so it's a good one. those poles are sunk a good meter into the ground - husband doesn't build things halfway. what he doesn't know is that once he's painted it with that weather-proof paint, i'm going to dress it up with something a bit more colorful.

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happy weekend one and all!

the tyranny of the gift list

there is a tyranny afoot in denmark. it's the gift list. families ask one another for a christmas wish list. and while it's all well and good to let those who love you know what you'd like, it seems that these lists end up chiseled in stone. not a single item that's not explicitly on the list will make its way under the christmas tree or into a christmas stocking. and frankly, that stinks.

it means that no one's going to get these gorgeous, durable, well-made, hand-woven tea towels or these beautiful one-of-a-kind knives. i've been participating in a handmade market this weekend and last and tho' many people pass through and look - and they especially stop and talk to the man who is making these beautiful knives - they're not buying anything. and i find it very frustrating. these are beautiful, unique items that no one else will have. and that's actually the problem. i heard a man say yesterday that he thought his son would love one of these knives, but he didn't dare to buy one because it wasn't on his son's list. it's not even that the knives are prohibitively expensive - they're well within a normal family christmas gift price range.

i despair a little bit about what to do about it. the handmade movement that is sweeping the world is definitely skipping denmark. it seems that if it's not over-designed, industrialized and exactly like the hansens next door have, it's not going to sell. unique, beautiful, one-of-a-kind items just won't do. and people are afraid to use their own imagination in buying gifts for their loved ones - they won't buy anything that's not on the wish list, even if they think the person might like it. i heard a man on the radio yesterday say that if his grandchildren didn't get their wish list to him in time, then they didn't get anything for christmas at all. can you believe that? he was so resistent to knowing his grandchildren and what they might like that he'd rather not give them anything if he had to think of it himself?

the wish list takes all of the fun out of gifts - both for giver and receiver - there's no surprise, there's no imagination, there's no creativity needed. and i think it renders the whole thing rather empty for all concerned. i'm not going to participate in it anymore. we have to start somewhere.