10 March

I recently got back from a short and very lovely trip to Jamaica.I spent 3 days with an abundance of sand castles, jerk, water sliding, sunscreen and rum drinks -lovely !

The real surprise on this trip was all the craft and creative activities the hotel had planned for the kids. Everyday at 2:30 pm the kids did tie dye, on t-shirts mostly, but people ( some parents sneaked in too)
were encouraged to bring their own items to dye- one lady even brought a bed sheet to adorn !

I did do some shibori dye works back in community school a hundred years ago, but I had never tried to do tie dye before. I was very excited to make a t-shirt for August -a hand made souvenir from Jamaica. It was real easy and real fun to make this t-shirt, We simply tied the shirts up with rubberbands and then we painted on the dye with different colors. I could have stayed in that craft department, making t-shirts all afternoon long.

Well, as it turns out, I can see that there are more and more tie dye influences in fashion and design right now, interesting ! I think now when I am back here in Brooklyn I shall try some more tie dye, maybe with some colors that suits my personal color palette more…maybe I can find a workshop somehow?

10 February

Today I am on the last stages of planning my new website-criminy...it is SO much work ! I am almost there though.

It is snowing like crazy in Brooklyn today, I should be under the covers. Here is my view from my window !

07 February

Had a most lovely day yesterday:
First I went to my ceramics class for a couple of hours, started to work on some mugs. Then I zipped over to Flower School.

I signed up to Sarah’s and Coletttes workshop about a month ago after reading about it on Sarah’s very entertaining blog. I don’t read blogs that often, but I find Sarah’s very funny and entertaining:and she shares beautiful photos of flower arrangements that she has created. Sarah is one of the owners of “Saipua�, located in Red Hook here in Brooklyn. At Saipua they create nice soaps and arrange wonderful florals . They recently opened a new space that looks very interesting and unique. I decided I should go there, take a class and immerse myself in “Saipua land� for a couple of hours. Besides, I don’t know much about arranging flowers at all - time to learn this !
In the classroom , in the back of the house, Colette and Sarah had filled buckets and buckets of wonderful florals and blossoms. They casually, (but very informative) shared facts and tips about the flowers and how to arrange them. We ( 10 students) then got to play and experiment with all the lovely flowers. I really liked it, somewhat hard to think in 3d for me at times, but the whole process or arranging was surprisingly meditative.I very much enjoyed that. The session finished with prosecco and cheese.-Very civilized !
I walked home with a lovely arrangement (see below), a pair of clippers and with a real nice experience.
www.saipua.com

That same evening me and my significant sweetie had a brilliant meal.Do try this restaurant as soon as you get a chance : www.thefarmonadderley.com

05 February

August brought home a fabulous, and rather inspiring dino
from daycare a few days ago. I beleive we named it “momo�
I think of paper plates in a different way now.
-maybe “momo� can become a pattern one day?…we’ll see..

Oh, and tomorrow I will go to flower school…can’t wait

31 January

I spent most of saturday making things in the clay studio.
I feel that I could spend days and days in there right now, it is so calm and nice to be there, simply making and making.
Turns out I still know how to center on the wheel, but my lower back is not into that process right now: so I have discovered how many lovely things you can make with slabs of clay.
I lugged a small chunk of clay home and today August and I got messy and had fun with it. August mostly made snakes and cakes, and I made some sort candle luminary thing...we will see how that turns out.

One more thing : had dinner at an ABSOLUTELY charming and most delicious restaurant. I can not recommend it enough !
vinegarhillhouse

29 January

2 boxes filled with samples arrived,
it feels like christmas all over again.

28 January

Today we have been packing up all of our brown wool bags, ready to ship out to our kind donors.

Last Tuesday we had a real exciting afternoon here at the studio. We asked all our friends in our mailing list to donate any sum of money, to help us make a generous donation to Haiti. Every person who donatedreceived a wool bag as long as our stock lasted.

It took 22 minutes to raise $1501 dollars and for all of our bags to find an owner. WOW, I say it again: WOW!

We have some really passionate and generous friends. We are truly so excited and grateful. I would like to THANK everybody that participated, so very much ! It was a real wonderful event that added such a happy high in our afternoon.

100% of the donated amount goes straight to Stand With Haiti!

Please continue to give, make a donation to Partners in Health directly. Thank you .

22 January

A snapshot of what is on my inspiration wall right now
( it changes all the time: I am grateful for the japanese washi tapes,
that are not so super sticky ). I am currently creating stickers for japanse magazine, testing stencils and I am real into “neckerchiefs� .
Now I am off to a café to go through an edit of another book I am creating: due out 2011.

Wishing you a good weekend!

20 January

YES, I just booked a ticket !!
I am going in April- ( couldn’t resist )

I will travel with my friend Breck and the goal is to collect inspiration. (and most likely some other things as well, you know: a pair of shoes perhaps ?) - and to eat as many baguettes with gruyere as I possible can muster.

I am very excited, it has been 8 years since I visited Paris and I feel that I am terribly overdue.I shall share my findings and experiences with you here, so do check back in …April !

Also; I am certain many of YOU have brilliant tips and experiences from Paris. Do you want share them with me ? Email me your “must do’s, must see and must eats� to questions@jansdotter.com. I would be so grateful - Merci !!

08 January

I found a Saturday morning class .The class started in December, but I was lucky and they accepted me “mid term “ . The clay studio is located just around the corner from where I live, rather convenient. I am excited and a tad nervous: it was 10 years sinceI last worked with clay
( far too long)
- can I still throw? ..can I still center ??

07 January

Very cold in the studio today.
The heater is on and all of the heat goes straight up
to those high window ceilings, oh : well, they are beautiful .

Made an attempt to organize some of my piles and piles of magazine pages I have ripped out and saved. Oh dear; there are so many.

Well, inspiring for sure and exciting to look through, but
I better do this organizing project in phases otherwise I will be here all nite.

03 January

making invitations. august will have a party.

01 January

and resolutions:

-go camping, at least once this year

-go out dancing with my husband..at least once !

-pick up after myself, put things back in its place when I am done with them.

-drink more water

-write, and make, more cards..(and actually send them )

-take more works shops ( get back into clay )

-crochet with scrap fabric

-try to slow down ( this is a hard one )

-not swear in front of August

-travel to Paris or Buenos Aires ( or both )

24 June

Many of you have written and asked us for more...and now we have more: more remnant bags for sale in the shop. We sold out of the cotton remnant bags in a jiffy last spring.( I am so curious what projects got made out of all those scraps that flew out our door into your house? !!)

This past week I have composed linen remnant bags like a wild woman. Each bag has a selection of various sizes and colors. I try really hard to mix it all up for you and make each bag unique and special.
I really like doing this assembly work of the remnant bags actually. It is all about layout and design: picking patterns and colors from a big pile of swatches and then make it work together as a whole before I stuff them all in the cotton bag... sort of like laying out the swatches for a quilt.

There is also some bags with bigger linen swatches available, perfect for slightly bigger projects such as a totebag, cusion cover or such.

Please find the linen remnant bags here:
REMNANT BAGS

23 June

Well, it has almost been 2 weeks: but I really want to share my thoughts about the second printing event. This time it took place in my Brooklyn studio on Friday the 13th of June.
I was once again compleetely overwhelmed by the attendence...through the evening we had approx 150 people come by, really rather smashing, I just say WOW !!

Now , I had unfortunately lost my voice ( thanks to a cold), I couldn’t talk. Most of what I could do was do sort of utter some scratchy whispers. Cancelling the event was simply out of the question: I had looked forward to this too much and it wouldn’t be fair to people who showed up. So the evening started with me making a written introduction and presentation (aided by an eager young, little fellow who was so sweet and helpful...he read it all out loud for me).

The crowd just went for it...and this is the part I simply love: people are so creative and experimental. They started printing their swatches like no tomorrow. I find it very rewarding to see what people do: some techniques are new to me and I always pick up ideas and inspirations from others.

It was REALLY hard not to be able to talk, since these events house so many great peoples; there was the “three generation trio” that all came to print, the woman from Columbia who found her way to creating thanks to reading my sewing book, the sweet young lady that flew out all the way from Tenessee for this event ( !!!!!) , the editors form Red Book Magazine, letter press printers, fellow textile designers, students form FIT, babies in slings, ladies from Japan, my mother in law, young and old ....such a lovely mix of people: and all so nice, talented and simply so, so fun to interact with.
Doing events like these kind are so incredibly rewarding to me.
THANK YOU all for coming, and Thank You for making all of this work worth it !

23 June

23 June

10 June

It was with great joy that I returned to my old home "town" this last weekend. Blue skies and sunny weater welcomed me on thursday when I arrived. It has been little over a year since I last visited and I was utterly happy to be back.
I miss so many good food places and some special shops, and of course my dear friends that I have known well over 12 years. I caught up with good meals and conversations.

I was also very excited to launch my book "Lotta Prints". I decided to have a printing party and simply invite people that felt inspired to come to join for some casual printing. There were stencils, inks, lino cuts, wine, books and cottons swtaches and a tremendous amounts of people !! My gosh..I had no idea so many people would show up. I was delighted.
And people just WENT for it....they stamped, brushed, rolled, squeezed and pushed ink on swathes but also t-shits, paper , leather and silk that people brought. WOW. I was so happy to see that people had such a great time and they seemed so happy. It was so nice for me to have an interactive event and to join 70 or more people while they are exploring, making a beautiful mess, creating and playing. Well, I simple loved it !!

The creations were taped on the wall while drying and it did not take long before a fabulous collage of creations covered the wall. Most people were kind to share half of the final swatch with me. I want to combine them all in one in some nice way and make a collaboration piece...we will see what happens.

Craft Gym hosted this event and I cannot thank them ENOUGH for all their superb assistance. They are so generous and have a very cool space and they offer incredinbly fun and inspiring workshops.
Check them out: www.craftgym.com

THANK YOU San Francisco once again for such a lovely evening. It truly was so much fun.

Now, if you find yourself in Brooklyn this friday night ( 13 june) : come by my studio for some more printing, more ink, more wine, more books and more inspiring marks and blots.

10 June

23 May

I would like to invite you to join me and my friends to do some fabric printing together. I have carved out some of my designs in rubber and potato stamps and it would be lovelyif you wanted to join in and try them out. I will share some simple techniques and together we will print on fabric swatches. There will also be wine, plenty of inks and stencils and happy music to get inspired by. - it would be great if you can come, no need to RSVP or reserve a spot. Kids, in all sizes, are VERY welcome !

Go to the "news" section on my website for more
directions.

SAN FRANCISCO:

Saturday
June 7th
5-8 pm
at:
Craft Gym
1452 Bush Street
( between Van Ness & Polk)
My good friend Alicia will spins some happy tunes.


BROOKLYN:

Friday
June 13th
5-8 pm
at:
Lotta's Studio
119 8th Street , #215
(between 2nd and 3rd Ave)
Lawrence will spin some records and get us in the mood.

07 May

Well. April did go by fast indeed and it sure was busy.

Me and photographer Meiko have been working on my next book.
It is a books about "how to sew baby goods". We spent a packed week, we shot over 90 shots of more than 12 different babies in all kinds of surroundings. We were exhausted by the end of that week let me tell you.

My little August, who is now a year and 4 months tuned out not only to be a delightful model ( of course I will think that). He was also a great art assistant when it came to making some artwork for one of the shots in the book. The weekend before the shoot we rolled out some big paper on the floor, undressed him and plopped him down with some finger paint in his hands. He was pretty good at distributing that pigment...mostly he ate it. But: the result was brilliant and mom was very proud and grateful for a fabulous job done !

Every sunday of April we spent at the Brooklyn Flea. Even though it rained and was windy and cold we had a real good time. I think it is a rather great event and we are happy to have been a part of it. Not only was it fun to meet up with many old friends, it was super to meet people who have read some of my books and shared their thoughts, and to meet people you have been in contact with only over the phone or via e-mail. The real reason I was there was to shop myself (no, really: I am kidding). Though I am a notorious and eager yard sale shopper and I love flea markets !!! I bought a sofa (!!!!), a necklace from Mali, and a really super great bag from "Matta". I have used that bag everyday since it was bought !
Now. we have too many other things and events to attend to, so we cannot be part of any more flea markets this summer-but I truly recommend a visit: Lots of finds to be made.

I also had a chance to visit a gallery in Chelsea and see some sculptures in Queens. I have also been planning the fall collection for 08 and been busy taking photos of the new spring summer collection.

The new collection should be here anyday now, in the meantime, here is a sneak peak.

07 May

August went with his inspirations and let that creative side come out. This is his first ( of hopefully many) oversized wall pieces.

07 May

07 May

some process shots from the photo shoot of the new book

07 May

03 April

Back in October last year I worked on a project for the post office on Åland ( the island in the middle of the Baltic Ocean..I am born there..and most of my family still live there ). The commissioned post cards are now done and will officially be available to the public on
May 9, 2008.
Now, I have 25 postcards in 3 designs and I am offering them to you,
to your best friend, your aunt in Switzerland or to your sister in London.
These post cards will be mailed from Aland on the day of the release. They will be stamped with the "first day of the stamp date' . Each postcard will have a handwritten message from me and will be addressed to the person you specify.
The cards can be sent anywhere in the world.
This is a rather unique collectors item.I have a limited amount of these cards and this is a "one time" kind of opportunity. You will find these cards available on my website in the "stationery" section...go ahead...give me some writers cramp !
click here : collectors item

22 March

Jag har nyligen funnit att man kan enkelt och förmånligt köpa mina pappersprodukter som jag har designat tillsammans med Chronicle Books pa en svensk hemsida. På Adlibris.se hittar du mina brevpapper sets, dagböcker och de väldigt populära "sticky notes" och mycket mer. De säljer också i Finland och i Norge. TOPPEN ! Tack för tipset Jenny

I just recently became aware of this swedish website that sells my stationery and books that I have created with Chronicle Books. They also sell directly in Finland and in Norway.
Great News !! -Thanks for the tip Jenny.

Visit: www.adlibris.com

19 March

So many of you have asked, and you have waited so patiently.
The fabrics have finally arrived.
At the moment we can offer you some natural linen fabrics, some cotton fabric remnant bags and pre-cut one yard pieces. These fabrics are exclusively ours and you will find them only on our website here in Usa.
I am currently working on some more designs for cotton fabric to
be sold by the yard. My plan is to be able to offer you those fall 2008.
I would love to hear your thoughts about what kind of fabrics, colors, designs you would like to see in the Lotta Jansdotter collections- your input is always greatly appreciated and helpful !
I wish you many of happy and satisfying sewing moments !

Shop your Lotta fabrics: sewing

11 March

so, back in the studio again after travels. I have a lot to do: making more shelves, organize supplies, scraps of fabrics, piles of papers and sweeping, sweeping, sweeping. The space is so dusty form all the construction work !! This is also the time I get to decorate and "fine tune" the space: the fun part really. I have a lot of reference material: towers of magazines and far too many books ( I can part with any of them) I need to store them somewhere, and keep them close at all times. I do not really want to take up a whole wall with a books though,
I do not want a big shelf taking up a whole wall. I want to keep one of my walls completely empty: no clutter...just a big white space...it will act like a big pause, a breath, a blank canvas, sort of. And then I want to dedicate another wall entirely to my inspiration: clippings from magazines, sketches, print samples, notes, photos etc.
( more about this later), so...what do I do with the books? Finally I simply decided to line all the books on the floor, along one of the longest walls in the space. Who needs a bookshelf?! It looks really cool actually....and I am using some "dead"space and it works great ! ( I just have to be careful with all the dust on the floor)
I am very happy with it.

29 February

...Stockholm before I go back home to Brooklyn.

I always make sure to make a stop, a long stop , at "Åhlens City" department store, located in the center of the city ( tube station is "T-Centralen"). They have a very good selection of interesting well priced fabrics by the yard ( meter in Sweden) They carry nice home accessories, stationery, baby goods and food. Here you can also find a good selection of Scandinavian clothing brands. You can find truly good, fun and well priced design in this place.

Me and my good friend went out for a lovely dinner at an intimate little restaurant. It is located in the suburbs, in Aspudden. Last summer this restaurant used to be a cafe and recently they changed direction, and their menu...for the better really. If you find a way, please visit: WENNBLADS

And, last and most importantly: some thrift shopping.
"Stockhoms Stadsmission" is the Goodwill of Stockholm.
We went to the biggest store that they have, which is located in Gröndal. Aaaaahhhh, they have home accessories sorted by color and by type: glasses in ince section, silver in one section, wood in another , etc etc.-Lovely ! I had to pace myself some, since I do have to find a reasonable way to get it all home to Brooklyn without paying overweight on the plane. Here are some of my finds.
more info ( in swedish only I am afraid ):
STADSMISSIONEN

19 February

I visited my uncle the other day who lives in a wonderful old house in the country. My mother was born in this house which used to be a farm with cows, horses, chickens and pigs. I spent most of my childhood summers here. This place is filled with treasures and inspirations and surrounded by nature and wildlife. It was a wonderful place to grow up in. I still love to visit. I find treasures and gather inspiration everywhere in this house, where nothing gets thrown away.

19 February

16 February

I love to take walks. When I visit Åland me and my family often take walks together. Today on our afternoon stroll I found some inspiring berries on the way. I always smile inside when I take photos of these kind of plants; a very good friend of mine once commented on my designs and he said: "You love drawing blobs on sticks don't you?". And sure enough, here are some more "blobs on sticks"

15 February

An obvious visit for me is the herring stand in "Slussen".(in the smack middle of central Stockholm) This little cart sells fresh pan fried herring served on crisp bread or with mash potato. People eat their "stromming" standing up or sitting on the simple wood benches, come rain or shine. A cold beer to go with is a must!
I grew up eating herring and there was plenty. My dad was a fisherman for a living and herring was a staple at home. These days they seem to be much harder to find, so the few times I do get to eat them, it is a royal treat.

15 February

Last summer I discovered a , now, new favorite little clothing butik; "Wardrobe" is filled with sweet dresses and lovely tops. They carry many unique, independent labels from Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Also: super nice service and advice from Malin and Ida that started Wardrobe. Makes every visit exciting.
To learn more: Wardrobe

15 February

It feels so good to be back home. I have missed the clear air, all the trees and swedish food. I am spending a couple of days in Stockholm, staying with friends. Got some work done: I visited the Stockholm Furniture Fair and I also had a delightful meeting with the publishers and marketing at a prominent Swedish publishing company.
The "Simple Sewing" book will be published in Swedish this coming fall.
I make sure to do some proper market research while in Stockholm
= I go shopping !! Each visit I try to make a visit to one of my favorite clothing store in Stockholm: "bric-a-brac". Each season I easily find a couple of pieces from their collection that simply feels right. They are simple and made out of good quality fabric and stays timeless, not too trend driven yet feels very new and updated. Next time in Stockholm, make sure to stop by for a visit. See more info at their website:
bric-a-brac

03 February

It is a sunny, nice and calm sunday morning in Brooklyn.
I just made myself a fried egg sandwich ( a favorite staple ) and I am listening to a new cd I just got : " hello love" by "The Be Good Tanyas". It is such a good sunday morning album, fits my mood perfect right now.
The Be Good Tanyas is a canadian group with influences that includes folk, bluegrass and country. I keep playing this album over and over,
It is well crafted music that makes me feel comfortable and happy.The Prince cover was a fun surprise, simple and unique. On top of it: for the album cover they used some quilt patterns from Gees Bend.-splendid and beautiful !
Alrite, now I will continue to plan my upcoming trip to the "old country".
I am going back home in a few days, for some work and for some fun.
I will share some of my favorite places. Check back next week .

25 January

Got invited by DesignSponge to share a recipe form my kitchen.
Take a look here: soup

25 January

Now we have moved into our new studio, and now I have a new commute. One very important criteria for me is to be able to walk to work - or bike. I have a 25 min. commute by foot to my new office, which is a perfect distance really. The 25 minutes allows me to sort of clear my head from chores at home and get ready for my work day. It is also nice to be surprised during your commute with some visual experiences that can inspire, like these drawings that were made on a construction site. It made me so happy that some people actually take the time to adorn what would otherwise be a rather dull, plywood fence. The drawings are story and fairy like, sensative illustrations that are dreamy and sweet. You can see this nice public art for yourself on third street and bond street - in Brooklyn that is.

16 January

I wanted to let you know that right now we are giving away a sweet, apple green linen tote for free with orders over $ 50 dollars.(not including shipping cost) The offer lasts for 3 days, so make sure to place your order before Friday 18 January.

14 January

So this weekend was the big move. It went incredibly well and surprisingly smooth. I cannot wai to unpack, start organizing and begin to decorate...this is the fun part !

We have painted all the walls white in the space and installed some wood floors. Now we need more shelving, some plants, a couple of more desks and even more shelving !

Here is some shots of the space: a nice, clean empty studio and then moments later...not so empty anymore!

08 January

I have just finished up some rather exciting work for a japanese company. This company sells office supplies via mail order, sort of like a japanese "staples" or "office depot". They wanted me to create some custom patterns for several different kinds of packaging, paper boxes, some simple shopping totes and tissue box covers. For whatever reason this commission really got me going: I felt very inspired and came up with designs that I was very happy with. I did alot of collage work which is kinda of unusual for me - it was nice to get into a different medium than I am used to. I will probably do more of that in the near future. We are still going through some sampling and the final products should be done in March sometime. I would love to offer some of these products in our shop here in Usa, I will see what I can do. In the meantime, here is a sneak peak of my sketches for the job.

07 January

and Happy New Studio !

I am starting the new year with a bang.
Lotta Jansdotter is moving our studio and office space:
to a much bigger, much sunnier and brighter space. We are relocating to the Gowanas neighborhood here in Brooklyn, a bustling place with many creative and interesting people and exciting developments. I get incredibly tickled about the new opportunities this new space will offer
(I am thinking of hosting workshops for an example).

The new studio is located in an old textile mill where they used to produce sweaters and other knitted items. The new space is in need of some renovations and some up dating. Even though this is a labor-intensive process it is very exciting to be part of the transformation.
I look forward to get in there and start planning the layout and fine-tune the details. I love “setting up shop” and making the space personable and “mine”. I will keep you posted on the progress with some images, so keep checking in on the blog. I am aiming to be done with the new studio in a couple of months. As soon as we are done I will let you know, I would be delighted if you want to come by and visit.

Ok…back to the boxes. We have a lot of packing to do!

19 November

We are currently working on some updates to the website.
In the soon future, a couple of days from now, you will find some new goods, just in time for holiday shopping. There has been many requests for gift cards, and we are hoping to have that option for you real soon.
We had a photoshoot in Dumbo in Brooklyn a couple of days ago.
Dumbo is walking distance from my studio and still I do not go there often enough. There is a great park by the water overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge and some very lovely shops and bars there. I bought a scented candle at a small select boutique called Stewart/Stand. I so much prefer shopping at small, unique places like that. If you have a chance visit them: www.stewartstand.com

Here we are shooting some of our new wool bags, with some help from our four legged friends.

17 November

Last saturday I took a quliting class, or a workshop rather.
I have for a long time been interested in quliting...I even made a couple of them about 15 years ago. Back then I really did not know what I was doing, I simply went to town and sew a bunch of squares together in a haste. I was in a hurry and I wanted them done fast.
Well, ofcourse they turned out all crooked and uneven.
Now...as much as I admire so many talented quliters out there I simply do not think it would be something for me: most qulits are so precise- perfect squares and shapes put together perfectly even and neat.
I am far too impatient and love instant gratification...I could never spend hours sewing prefectly even shapes together.
About 4 years ago I saw an amazing exhibition at the Whitney Museum. They displayed some rather stunning quilts made by women in Gees Bend..Wow...I mean WOW. I loved those quilts. So free, whimsical and naive, artful and just plain fun. I bought the book and just pored over the images. About the same time I started to become more aware of this very talanted women, Denyse Schmid. She has a contemporary take on quilting, using fabric sparingly in wonderful combinations. She makes it look very simple, but let me assure you it is not. She plans those qulits well.
So here I am , a textile designer, with PILES of fabrics that I simply cannot throw away, what to do with it all? -Quliting seems to make sense.
I was excited to find out that Denyse offers workshops in her studio in Bridgeport , CT. I signed up, and along came my assitant Nerissa, my childhood friend from Sweden and my mother in law...what a splendid group !
The workshop turned out to be an extremly liberating excersise in "letting go". Denyse encouraged us to not plan our quilting swatches by making us blindly pick fabrics swatches out of brown bags. We had to sew those squares we picked together. argh...my inner control freak freaked out. It was incredibly hard to do that, and oh so much fun at the same time. ( I have to admit, I cheated-but only a little bit..
I sometimes tossed some ugly colors back in the bags).
The swatches turned out fun, creative and surprisingly nice. We were also encouraged to sew things crooked and uneven...hello, perfect !!! I loved it. I finally could sew fast and furious, making qulits swatches that are totally wacky looking, and oh, so great !
So here I am , back where I started 15 years ago...still making uneven quilting squares, and I still do not know much about what I am doing. But this time I dont try to confine to the frames of traditional quilting, neither compare my squares to others..I can simply let go and do it in my own crooked way. Thanks Denyse ! I really enjoyed that afternoon workshop.

to learn more do visit :
www.dsquilts.com
and
www.quiltsofgeesbend.com

23 October

I just finished working on a commission from the postal service on Åland. Finland. I have designed 3 postcards that will have the postage included. These cards will be released in May 2008.
It has been a dream of mine to design stamps, so I was happy when they contacted me about this work. I hope to create some more stamps in the near future.
I will do my best to make these cards available for you come next spring...let me work on it and get back to you on that.

19 April

Had some really rather wonderful food moments while in Tokyo. It is so nice to have friends there that can cook wonderful meals and invite us to "homeparties".
We ate out at some marvelous restaurants and ate some things I have never ever heard of, or things I never thought I would eat in my life-such great experiences !
The food presentation is ofcourse ,always, splendid.

19 April

Had a few hours to spare and took a walk through the park.
I got a last look at the cherry blossoms. I just love how japanese people celebrate the cherry blossom season: they have picnics with friends under the trees and bring food and sake-alot of sake !
I am also wondering why there are so many crows in Tokyo, and why they are so big?! My gosh, their beaks are so scary big !!!

19 April

I attended a Scandinavian event at a department store in Ginza. I am delighted and a tad stunned to see how many people in Tokyo LOVES scandinavian design and goods so much. The place was jam packed with people...hard to take a few steps through the crowds.
I was happy to find swedish bread and smoked salmon there as well and I sampled that many times, maybe to many times.

19 April

19 April

06 February

This last weekend we went to Long Island to be part of an family event.
It took place in a wonderful house located by the water. This house belongs to the mother of a friend of the family and it was the first time we all visited.
I was pleasantly surprised to find SO many different rooms in this house, and each room seemed to have a different wallpaper. Now, THIS was a textile designers dream...I ended up spending an hour just discovering room after room, bringing my camera and snapping away.
It was so inspiring and so much fun.
I admire the lady of the house: she was not afarid of patterns. she simply went for it and mixed and matched freely. It made me very happy and excited.

06 February

06 February

28 January

Once again I am working with Chronicle Books on some stationery.
This fall there will be 2 more items available: a small, cute journal and a "book" filled with cards and envelopes. I really like the card book, such a fun and different format, and jam packed with different motifs and colors.

21 January

Our sweet August Wyatt Anderson was born on the 11th of January.
We couldn't be happier !
I am spending some wonderful time with my boys: my husband, the cat Webster and my little son ! -What a splendid start on a new year .

13 December

This spring we had a great photoshoot in San Francisco.
Me and my photographer Meiko had so much fun shooting the images for a "how to" sewing book that will be published by Chronicle Books in april 2007.
I really enjoyed styling the book and it was a very creative process. Thanks to our lovely friends we had fun models and very nice locations to shoot in. THANK YOU !

13 December

In june I had an opening exhibition of my work at the main art museum on Åland. We had enormous trouble getting the boxes with the actual work to the museum, it was a combination of shipping and customs logistics that got complicated and delayed- it was a tad stressful. The opening date quickly approached..and we had nothing to show!
We decided to take our chances and we had the opening on our scheduled date, serving wonderful crab soup, champagne and good cheer. The boxes DID arrive, an hour after we opened the doors and we asked the visitors to then join in and help us to hang the show. They started hammering up nails and hanging bags, ironing pillow cases and displaying stationery.
It turned out to be a very positive event and people loved the interactive aspect of this exhibition. The next day the papers wrote about the very sucessful opening, and speculated that it was all planned this way to create a stir! well..it worked..a great (and very unplanned) publicity event.

13 December

13 December

13 December

13 December

In july I worked with one of my best friends, Jenny, on another book. She is a photographer based in Stockholm and I was so, so happy to be able to work with her on this project.
I am so fortunate to be able to work and collaborate with my friends. We still do the same things as when we were ten years old, taking snapshots and making "zines", except now it is actually our job- it is brilliant!
We spent a week in the country-side outside Stockholm. We took many shots, but also had a lot of coffee breaks with homemade cakes and trips to the ocean.

13 December

13 December

I had the pleasure to meet and guide a japanese team from a magazine in Japan. They worked on an article about Åland for the airline magazine "skyways' that gets displayed on all the Japan Airlines flights.
It was a delightful group and I showed them to my favorite places on Åland, including a visit to my grandmother Sylvia, who for the occasion wore a fabulous Marimekko skirt !!
(I had no idea she owned that skirt...what other treasures do you have hidden in your closet mormor?).

13 December

In july we had a big moving trunk/yard sale at our little shop..everything HAD to go, even my dear sewing machine. The shop was packed with people and hard to get into the door. People stood in line for 45 min...but they were happy anyway...such a brave crowd !

13 December