Childhood Treasures from Down Under

I found this fantastic artist on Etsy when I was looking for Christmas gifts for my two neices.... aged 3 and 1. All of my family lives in Canada, while I live in Norway, so sending gifts can be a bit of a challenge. If clothes do not fit properly, they cannot be returned. We have to think of size and weight when shipping. We have to consider that items might be broken on the way... although of course there is not so much we do about that in any case.

I had considered for some time of perhaps sending these two girls art work that they could hang on their walls and look at during the quiet times of their days, namely in the morning and evenings. There is a artwork enough on Etsy geared towards children, but when I saw the work of Lloyd, who goes by the user name of TummyMountain on Etsy, I knew I had found exactly what I was looking for.

TummyMountain's work is appealing on a lot of different levels. The pictures are simple and without a lot of complicated visual details. The simple faces of the children could be *any* child. The pictures themselves are not static, but have an energy and an expectant engery that flows through them. Something is always about to happen or a new world has just been created. It's something that all of us can recognize from out own childhoods, and in the lives of our children.

And who can not smile at the full fury of a little youngster that doesn't have his or her own way? There's something precious and beautiful about even this.

And finally, the small disasters that come about from trying to be adults in a world children don't quite have access to yet. Even when we know we should be angry at them, they have our full sympathies.

I purchased two paintings for my neices, and have been informed that Lloyd and his wife have gone to the extra effort to find the perfect holiday wrapping for two small ones, who probably will only appreciate the wrapping paper at this stage of the game.. This is perhaps not so easy to do at the end of September, when the rest of the world is still getting used to the start of school and the upcoming of Halloween. They have certainly made my day and I just felt I had to share my treasure with the rest of the world.

Another Textual Sensations Scarf

Here is another one of my Textual Sensation creations that will be put up for sale tomorrow, September 19th, 2008. I was given everything used to make this scarf by two different people.

My next door neighbor is also an advid crafter (mostly sewing, but some knitting as well). She has two children that are smaller than mine and receives all of my clothes that do not fit my children anymore. To show her appreciation to me (although I thought it was her who was doing me a favor - it's much easier to go next door with bags of clothes instead of driving 35 minutes to the nearest Salvation Army Drop Off Center) she bought me a large bag of different types of wool from the Dale Factory that's located north of us.


The material I used to make the appliques (Dreaming of Sunshine) came from a number of cool curtains that a friend of my sister-in-law's was wanting to get rid of. She certainly did not want to throw them out as there was nothing wrong with them. She just didn't want to have them anymore. And in Norway we pay for all the trash that is taken away from our houses (meaning if you only set out your trash container once every two weeks, you save a lot of money), so these curtains would be filling up a large space in her trash container she could be saving for something else.

All in all, it was a win-win situation for everyone. This includes the lucky customer who will decide to buy this product one day. :)

Industrial Knitted Postcards with Environmental Message

My quest to use up every single piece of material that I would otherwise throw away has really forced me to use and stretch my brain in ways I had not imagined. And I hope this is just the beginning.

Below are various knitted postcards that I have produced. They are made from wool leftovers that are too small to make gloves or scarves from.... or are made from other items that have outlived their usefulness for whatever reason. These may include but are not limited to the kitchen curtains and last years Christmas table cloth that Uncle Louis permanently stained. I am also looking forward to making more of these from my store as well.


The above is made from kitchen curtains from our cabin that no longer could be used, but which had some really cool colors. I have also made a hat from this material and gave it to a little girl down the street.

The above is part of that Christmas tablecloth mentioned above - it is mixed with green yarn. I did this on a whim and felt like the result looked wet, slimy and murky. Hense the old 50's movie title popped into my head.

And here's something to do with all my left over green bits that actually looks cool.

And finally one of my favorites. I plan to make lots of these appliques to help get the message across!

Upcycled Appliques that Bring Forth a Message

Another thing that has completely absorbed me through last few months - making my own hand sewn appliques that deliver a message. Suddenly it's so fun to pull up old sayings, cliches, song titles and movie titles from the far, far past. Phrases that I remember from my early childhood that are deeply connected to important parts of my life... I feel in my heart that this must also be true for others who are of the same generation as me.




On this warm and cozy scarf I've added three appliques that spell out the phrase: Dreaming of Sunshine. For all of us who try to make it through the cold, dark winter months sometimes we need that bit of extra to put a smile on our face and give a bit of warmth to our hearts.

Now that I've started on this path, a plethora of ideas of phrases have started to emerge from my head. I certainly cannot sew that fast, so I've started keeping a diary just for these phrases to be used at future time. I am looking foward to the weeks ahead of me.