Shop update

After quite a bit of cleaning yesterday at the shop I have listed the new pants.
I hope, in the future there will be a listing of new things every two weeks or so, so if you havent already put Flødehesten on your blogroll, now would be a good time. If you are not in to all this blogroll thing send me your email and I will let you know when there are news.

I will be making clothes in the size range from 0 to 6 years, but will be making the individually pieces in sizes, I find suits the actual design. There will be no sold pieces in the shop, but if you want to see them it will be possible at here

The pants below are in sizes 68 cl. (6-12 months) and 74 cl. (1-1½ year). all vintage cotton, machine washed and line dry, each piece unique.

Have a nice day... I will have now a latte and donut to celebrate !

Once upon a time...

There was a girl who made kids clothes... well she actually made things people really liked, but she knew that if she wanted to grow up and become a real DESIGNER she had to study, and so she did... she constructed patterns over and over again, tested them on crying babies and she did a lot of thinking... life is no fairytale (well, sometimes it is... but that's another story) just a lot of measuring, drawing, cutting, calculating... and still no actual clothes to tell about... But then one day she was done with all the preparations... she could actually sit down by the sewingmachine, switch on the radio and enjoy being productive again. One happy girl who just cant wait to show you the 18 pair of new flødeheste pants !










Oh... by the way a little bird had found its way down the chimney, and insisted on being invited into the studio. It was a sweetie to have around for a couple of hours, before it found its way out to the place where only the sky is the limit... good for birdie...

Let me introduce "THE OFFICE" ...

This week I finished the office area in my studio. This is where I hang out with all the other secretarys giggling and drinking latte and discussing the last night downtown... well its not quite like that... You see, John just bought all the episodes of sex and the city, and I think we have just watched a few too many. In real life this place is mostly used for reflecting and once in a while a little book keeping ( yak... ). Normally I need a little time to consider how my work is progessing. Should the colour be different, maybe the shape or...
Or maybe my head just gets blank. Then I look in old folders filled with ideas. Some are good but has that "something" missing, some I thought was bad, but then something happened and it evolved into something else and certainly to a lot better and then there are some, that just doesn´t make any sense, but that I still keep because maybe in the future they will make sense. Am I making any sense...




The different cabinets are all thrifted except the one on the right side of the table. That one is from Ikea and holds my printer and other technical stuff. On the left side of the table I have all the transformators for Ipods, PC, kamera etc (very practical). I also collect information I need for some project and leave them hanging on little hooks.




I like my desktop to be rather empty... At least before I start new project. I have a few things to make the place a little cosy. The plant because it is just nice not to be the only thing alive around the place, and a little sign to remind me of how dark and unpractical my old studio was... And how much I just love this place, my new studio, just perfect.




Oh yes, the last picture... dinner : Tabbouleh with melon and tomatoes... Served on one of my favorit plates. Have a nice weekend

Flea market...

This weekend I went to the flea market. Sometimes I get lucky. I found a lot of things I was looking for and a little ekstra, I didn´t know, I needed...

The chairs are electroplated and have wooden strips. They are gonna be used in front of the shop. It is really practical; they can be left out year around. All I have to do is to replace the wooden strips when they get in bad shape... Nice with things, you feel are going to stay with you for the rest of your life...




Here are a couple of the things, I didnt know, I was missing. The sewing mashine and the tin box were just too cute to be left behind. I wish I had a sewing mashine such as that when I was a kid... Instead I had a full funktioning "grown up version" which was probably also a lot better ( but didn´t look that cute... ). I didn´t play with dolls. Nope, I made clothes and furniture for them. I guess the only things changed since are the sizes of the things being made.

The bamboo table is for the sitting area in the back of the studio and shop. I need to replace the glass part; it is cracked. And off course, I had to have those zink buckets when the price was just $ 2 for each. It can be hard to find good quality zink. Usually the new ones contain iron, meaning they will not work with plants because of the rust. It feels a bit wrong to make holes in the bottom of them, but it is nesessary. One of them I will give to Seth to play with in the sandpit, since I find it hard to see the beaty in cheap and faded bright colored plastic toys...





These electroplated trash cans are old municipal ones from the city of Århus. Not yet yet sure what I will use them for, but since they can hang on the wall, I migth use them in the hallway for storing gloves, scarves and the like.




All in all it was a nice trip except the fact that I went there with Seth; he´s bit too young to find the charm of flea market. At once he was trying to crawl out of the pram, I had an angry wasp after me, I was trying to haggle a good deal with the vendor selling the buckets and my mother called ( she was taking care of the shop... nice mom... ). She had a customer there having some questions for me... It was pretty stressy all this happening at once, but it made a couple of spectaors to laugh... and that is not a bad thing at all... I think, next time I will close my cell phone and leave Seth at home. At least until he´s starting to find things for himself.





By the way... Yesterday I was wearing a pedometer. At the end of the day it told me I had done 22000 steps, estimated to the distance of 14 km. Pheeeewwww...! Once in a while I´m thinking how my life would have been if a had a job wearing high heels and a business suit. But can you imagine 22000 a day steps in stilettos...

Seth´s nanny is sweet... and I´m finally WORKING...

After a short visit at the day care we knew inmediately, the place would be really good for Seth... 3 kids and lots of noisy and ugly plastic toys to play with... So the plan went out like: He could start allready this week, but only until noon in the beginning, so he gets used.

A lot of organizing & stuff like raincoats, boots, thermo clothes, diapers and so on ( they give you a list...which is quite practical ), but we are all settled by now. The first two days were great, but today I had to pick him up early. He got homesick and sad so we went home, read a couple of books, had some raisins and everything was fine again... Tomorrow we try again...




AND me...? It´s raining every day here, so I have left the outdoor activities and have spend hours cleaning up the studio. It feels really good, like conquering the space back from to be a playground to working purposes.

Before leaving you I would like to ask you something: For a while I thought nobody was posting because of the summer, or maybe everybody were just busy, like me... BUT, it turned out my RSS feed reader was malfunktioning... It bothers me a lot, because I´m really enjoying to follow what everybody is up to... So any ideas how to fix this little problem are very welcome.

when things are slow...

It has been a while ago... but sitting again here and writing a blog feels really good. It has always been some kind of reward for me to sit down with these pictures and write about one more finished project... John uses once in a while the phrase: "Now the world is a bit more complete". It can be after any small thing, like vacuuming the floor... But it is not quite that easy when the project is a real big one; like totally completing my shop and studio with every single little thing that's missing... but I am slowly getting there.
The picture below shows the area in front of my shop. You park your car on the other side of the building and walk around the corner following the path with the big windows of the studio on your right hand. The shops´ entrance is covered with tiles. This winter a 30 square meter greenhouse will be built there. It is going to be a part of the shop; I am dreaming of a little area for selling things for garden, and a little place to sit down with a cup of coffee and a muffin... we will see...




But as it is, here is a lot to be done. Trying to finish most of it myself with a little kid around, takes time. Against my own rules I am publishing plans of an unfinished project. I want you to be part of it and share it with me, wondering how it is going to be... ?




Maybe the most important part of the project takes place tomorrow. We are going to visit a day care nanny, hopeful sweet, suitable and willing for taking care of Seth who´s longing to play with other kids and giving me the time to be more productive in my shop and with my shop...

The mocca cup candleholder... or something about doing things with an ease

This is by so far my favorite candleholder, and yes, I made it. Not in the studio, but at home at the kitchentable, using bits and pieces from the kitchen cabinet. It is assembled with a very strong clear two component glue. Using an element for something else than it was originally intended to, makes it all fun and easy.

There is just something about candleholders... they are complicated. Stubborn little snobbish creatures, not really wanting to have anything to do with others, except that identical one standing next to them. Hmmm... they nag me... But I love candles and I NEED candleholders and this one says: I come in peace...
So, wellcome.





It is the time of the year, where the studio's filled with pots... I throw pots in big patches to fill an order. Something happends after I have thrown the first 20. The repetition, the rhytm , the flow, those tiny variations. At the same time it is 120 small stories and one long one. All I want to do is doing things with an ease because it makes it easier for others to approach it.

Simple living...

Whenever I see these books about simple living with a cover showing a woman (apparently not wearing any makeup...) sitting in her white clothes on a lawn, looking over the green green hils, it always makes me laugh. That is not simple living. Simple living is wearing dark pants if you´re planning a picnic in the park, without spending the next day trying to wash the stains of, eventually give up and spend a day shopping (which I hate), trying to find another pair, you like as much. Simple living is practical, but maybe not so pretty waterproof plastic containers, you use to transport your food when you´re going to park... Do I have to continue... ?

Simple living is also trying to use whatever you have by hand, may it be yarn, food or cooking books. In this world many things circulate too quickly... Even information... Sometimes you just have to stay put, get the job done and think...




The vests are for Seth and I used yarn left from other projects and some old buttons from my grandmothers stash ( She took all the buttons of clothes before throwing them out... no she did not give them to charity, because what was left, would not be usable for anyone ). The pattern is a traditional vest, used for decades...

Now I will go and scramble a meal together of left over vedgies and what I may find from the fridge. Simply.

Much more than a bookshelf....

This might just look like a normal bookshelf, but it is not. The upper 3rd part contains Johns' books, mostly prosa and quite a few about vintage watches. The middle section is for my books; mostly factual literature, notes of my various projects and some magazines. The lovest part of the shelf got 3 cabinets in it. The one on the left is for all my clothes I wear daily, the one in the middle hides a movie showing device, ( well it's a television and then again, not really, - we haven't got a cable or arial ). The last one on right is for Johns' clothes.




So, what does this say about us ?... John loves literature and books and thinks it as rather excentric that I have sorted all his books by color ( I am not the only one who has done that... ). But my eyes are getting quickly bored. Too many colors without no specific order feels like a big black cloud avoiding me to think. But then again, I use colors, I like colors, and I also love books. So, all MY books are wrapped in white matte foil. I might tell you it is because they need to be strengtened; I pull them in and out of the shelf all the time. But that's not really the reason... I use them as manuals and I just want the maximum esthetic unclutternes and peace for whatever I am working with at the moment...




Yes, we don't have TV. I haven't had one for 10 years, and guess what... I met John, and he didn't have one either, and now we have a child that doesn't watch telly. I think though, when he's about three years, we might get a cable, so he can watch a little once in a while... Why ? Is our anti-telly attitude some kind of religious or ideologic believ... Not really... I just like life more without a TV.

Something I will actually wear... in a while

I have decided, this year knitting projects got to be something classic... cables... tweed...

This cardigan has been in my mind for about ten years, and I can see myself using it with jeans or just loose and relaxed over a dress. Really nothing spectacular, but something very usefull.

My plan is to make 2 of them... one long and one short. The long one in thin grey blue Shetland Wool combined with thicker cream coloured wool. Needle sixe 6 and with 14 stitches on 10 cm. I have started planning the pattern; drawing the patterns and cables on a grid. For the short one will be some kind of cream or oatmeal tweed. I also need to get my hands on a real good book with lots of knitting stitches. I have made a reservation at the library for "Vogue, dictionary of knitting stitches". Coming back to that book whole the time, I might have to buy it.



So much planning. In the meantime I am trying to use all the bits and pieces of yarn for socks and vests for Seth... show you that later...