The summer is here, again

...and it´s wonderful even the holidays are over. I am off to enjoy the very
last free weekend of this summer, and wish you a great one too.

The Busy Bee says HI! to everyone.

Down memory lane

ME: I think we dress like two old bores nowadays...
MY SIS: Yeah right? And what are we then?
ME: No, I mean do you still remember the 90s? We used more accessories...
We had some hats and skirts... I had many fancy bags...I even wore heels!
MS: That was 2001 or so.
ME: Was it?
MS: Yup, in the 90s you only wore black and pink together, and that includes your make-up.
ME: *horrified* No!
MS: Take it from me, pink&black it was.
ME: Thank goddess I do not do that any longer.
MS: Precisely.
...

ME: Look, sis, I got myself a new pair of trainers. They´re fab, dontcha think?


MS: ...

...

Happy Monday, everyone!

Wow

Wow, just look at those! (Oh, I was not supposed to start with that line but could not help myself.) Just look at those!

You, who thrift and go flea markets and charity shops regularly, are familiar with the wow effect. It strikes when something catches you eye, maybe a corner of fabric or just the colors (like on those Smurffs, I just saw one corner, recognized the colors and wow). Your heart starts to beat faster, maybe your hands start to tremble (not to mention moist, even) and you know there´s something just for you. Oh happiness.

In my hometown there are not that many charity shops and they´re quite quickly seen. I try not to visit them too often as I want to be surprised. I constantly dream about the thrifting tours to England, Belgium and even all the way to US but...they´re just dreams. I enjoy (read: love) reading other bloggers stories and finds (and try my best to be genuinely happy for them).

And you, who do not thrift, this is quite hard to explain. Why an old pillowcase or two might make one´s day? My only advise is to go and find out. I guarantee you´ll be surprised. Let me know how, please!

Raindrops are falling... Happy Tuesday!

Old and new-old

I have made quite a few totes of this fabric earlier (and some other stuff too), but still every time I use it, it makes me smile. It´s old and reused alright, but the pictures are just so cute. And on this version (oh yes, I haven´t been using the same fabric, it´s always yet an another piece I manage to get my hands into) there´s my all time favorite Moomin character Sniff and a little view into Moomin Valley, too. Lovely.

The other fabric is a newer find (an old fabric, reused), so it´s a new-old for me. It´s pretty yellow with guaranteed-make-you-smile Moomins who seem to be dancing. I could not be happier for my today´s sewing, and I hope that they will make someone else´s day too. They´ll be in the shop later.

Have a great Sunday!

The shawl

The shawl is finished and it turned out beautiful. The pictures do not do it justice even the model was the very best. This was the only dry minute here today, otherwise it´s been constant rain, so I could not make it into an another photo shoot. So I´ll leave you with these images and my words: it is truly wonderful!

Wonderful weekend, everyone!

P.S. The lovely pattern was from here.

Happy birthday!

My shop turned two today! I joined etsy exactly two
years ago and listed my first items on July 22nd.
Thank you all, you lovely people, who have visited
me during these past two years! It has been great!
Now you, who have not been in there yet,
go and check it out, please, I have a birthday sale on!

Happy birthday to me :)

Little birds with cute friends

The sun shines first time after days so I am going to go out and enjoy. I also am going to take some more pictures while the weather lasts (the shawl also) but I wanted to share some of my latest little friends first. Some birdies and bees, together and on their own. Some at the shop, already.

Happy Wednesday!

Treasures

My moomin magnets made it into a etsy treasury today - hooray! The picture is not the largest (my bad) so it can be seen better here until 15th July. Thank you, ziemabir!

***

My moomins travel all over the world and make many Moomin-fans happy. Many of the happy owners have also let me know when their bags and pouches arrive and how they liked them (and I love to hear their feedback). Some also blog about their handmadebyMia´s, and that makes me smile so wide as I can show those to you, too. So my own treasure from New York, here you are! Check out her fantastic blog also - thank you so much, Ksenia!

***

I have finished the shawl days ago but haven´t taken the pictures yet. It turned out beautiful and you´ll see it tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

The world is a lovely place

I have been around the blogland for some years now, and it has been great. I have made some new friends, got myself a shop and I have seen and learned of many, many things I for sure would not found anywhere else. What still amazes me how wonderful people are around here.

The other day I was contacted by one of those wonderful persons and asked to do a little swap. I have read about swaps and seen some wonderful packages sent between swappers (is that a word, really?) but never participated. Still I jumped in and as she hoped, packed one of my felt cozies with some Little My´s into an envelope and sent it away. Very little did I know...

...that all this would wait for me in a few days. Oh my. When we talked about this swap, I was more than happy with the idea that I would get some ribbons as an exchange to my Hal the bird cozy. Some I did get, indeed. And some more...and more...And some other goodies too. Chocolate, some deco tape, iron-on´s and what had the most personal touch in it (and what touched me the most) was a little handmadebyMia stamp. Hand carved just for me. Sniff.

It was a package filled with love and happiness and will make me smile years still (I think I actually cannot use any of the ribbons a s they´re too sweet for that). My sister also gasped when she saw them so I might need to share some. Actually I have to as this whole idea of swaps is about sharing, I think.

This last photo says it all. Thank you so much, Maike!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

A perfect find

The other day I read on someone´s blog about the greatest thrifting finds ever. For some it was a large, wooden shelf which can be pimped to perfection and someone had find that last, missing book for a childhood´s favorite series. I started to think all my findings too (and there a quite a few).

I found this pretty, pink basket (it was 0,5eur which is about 0,7usd) while thrifting some time ago. I did not think much of it then, just liked the color (and the price) and as my sister (a wise mother of a wise, quality conscious boy) says "one cannot have too many baskets" I bought it. I took it home and it sat on my closet for a while before getting into action.

See that now? It is perfect. Perfect for my little felted pretties. So that is my perfect find (for now) but I definitely keep looking still.

And what´s in the basket then? Most you have already seen but here´re the latest:

Have a happy Thursday - and the weekend is just around the corner!

It grows...

I think it´s autumn already. I mean in my mind. I went to shopping today and even all the summery dresses were -50% off, I wanted to buy yarn. So I did.

I have wanted to knit this Lehmus scarf (designed by very talented Sari Åström) for a long time but I have always been too busy or up to something else. The pattern is easy to follow and the leaves are just so pretty. I wanted to try it with little thicker yarn (I have done most of my bigger scarfs using mohair or something very very light), so I was very happy to come across Finnish yarn manufacturer Novita`s yarn which is 65% wool & 35% bamboo. Feels like silk, it´s wonderful to knit and it was on sale. It´s always great to get something Finnish, even for a one little project.

I´m off to knit -happily doing my k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, skp, yo, k3´s probably until the wee hours. Have a great Tuesday!

P.S. This yarn was also approved by my adorable nephew (10months), he dropped the cheap-acrylic-also-included ball immediately and would not let me pick it up again. What a wonderful and wise boy, I must say, biased or else.

Pretty in pink

Oh my.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Weird (but good) taste

Oh, those cuties up there are some of the fabrics I found while thrifting the other day. I am in love. Some of the fabrics look like they were originally parts of a fabric book, there are page numbers and all. But just see the figures. Oh my! There were some with alphabets also, and some more cute animals. I am definitely going to make some pretty tote bags out of those.

Then the other wonderful finds. I came along with a huge piece of unused (?) pink linen, and just had to grab that. I see bags, pouches, cozies and more bags... Is it strange how different things one might like? My house is more of that pink-white-blue-shabby-chic-sort of style but I also adore everything with children-like-seventies-giraffes on it. Is it that I have a wider range of possibilities (for making cute things) or ...? You decide and let me know, please.

Sunshine to all!