true to myself

last time we went to Stockholm, we went for a (long) walk around Södermalm. in order to keep me happy (said my husband), he reminded me about this second hand store that we once went to but didn’t have time to look around. he remembered that i wanted to stay to see the stuffs, but we had to go back that time already, so now he suggested we go there again. (this was quite rare of my husband to actually suggest we go to a store, so yes, it really was just to keep me happy! :D) without any map, just depending on our shabby memories, we tried to find the place… and found it!

the store is called Emmaus Stockholm, and as i said, they sell second hand things. i went to the basement one (there were 2 entrances to 2 separate stores), because that was where i went the last time. i’m still not quite sure what the difference was, but from Google translator i found out that the basement is where the vintage stuffs are.

there was one area full of designer brands, like Moschino, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Just Cavalli, and many more. i went straight there and sorted through them, hoping i can find something cool. i’m definitely not new to shopping pre-loved clothes, but i can honestly say that i had never succeeded in grabbing an original designer branded item when shopping for second hand items. i’m always amazed at people who can find these branded items in second hand stores.

i found a few things from there and tried them on. the first one was a pair of Moschino jeans. they fitted, but they were too long. they needed to be shortened, and they costed about 35€. next one was a Chloe top, simple dark blue jersey with colourful flower embroidery at the hem. it looked good, and costed about 30€.

i showed them to my husband, and he asked, “are those really what you want?”

i gave him my reasons (“they’re branded stuffs!” “all i need to do is shorten these jeans” “this is Chloe top!”), and all he said was, “that wasn’t what i asked. to be honest, i can’t even see the difference between the ‘branded’ stuffs and normal clothes, but i can see that there are nothing special with those clothes. the clothes you bought in Pasar Senen in Jakarta were better looking.”

wow. for those of you who are not familiar with it, Pasar Senen is a biiiig big area in Jakarta that is full of second hand markets (used to be, at least. don’t know what it’s like these days!). it was THE place for me to shop for second hand clothes, where i could get 10 different clothing items for as small money as less than 10€. my husband never went there himself (he would die from the heat), but he knew that it was a dear place to me, and that i bought most of my clothes there when i was still living in Jakarta. the clothes there were not branded, but sometimes i found Japanese brands in the midst of the sea of second hand clothes, like Lowrys Farm and the likes.

anyway, what my husband said reminded me of my old self, shopping and having fun with my girlfriends in Pasar Senen. who cared if none of the clothes were branded? if it was cute, we bought it. if it was unique, we bought it. after all, that was how i see clothes: a way to express myself. would i really be able to express myself in plain black jeans with the word “Moschino” stamped at the back? i’m not even a denim person. or in a simple jersey top that costed 35€ even though it’s no longer new, which no one can see is actually Chloe brand because the label is inside the top? are those really what i want?

as i came back to my senses, i put those items back on the rack. as much as i love fashion, i don’t think i can forgive myself for spending that much of money for second hand clothes that don’t show my true personality.

and almost immediately my eyes fell on to something else on a different rack (non-designer brand area): a cute black and white cardigan. i pulled it out, and right away my husband said, “now THAT’S more YOU.”

i agreed. and since this one costed 6€, i ended up getting it.

Monki cardigan, self-made jeans, custom-made shoes, Mango belt, Oasap earrings, & Other Stories clutch.

i can’t really say it’s unbranded, because it’s from Monki brand, which i also usually love. i like how the colours are actually quite basic (reminds me of a classic Chanel cardigan), but the bow details at the front make it more my style.

the earrings worn on the pic was my other purchase from Oasap.com which was another cheap find at less than 3€.

soon after grabbing this Monki cardigan, i saw another too-good-to-pass item.

COS top, self-made dress (worn under top) and skirt, shoes from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, necklace gift from mum-in-law.

it’s an asymmetrical top from COS, yet another brand i love. both Monki and COS are from the same group as H&M, along with Cheap Monday, & Other Stories, and Weekday. and yes, i love them all. i especially love COS because they almost always have feel-good materials, such as cupro, silk, high quality cotton, merino wool. but because of the use of such materials, they are usually a bit out of the budget for me. so getting this high quality cotton COS top for 8€ was quite an achievement!

the necklace worn on the pic was a little something i got from my mum-in-law last Christmas (other than the Marimekko tights).

she said she bought it from a place in Finland (can’t remember the name), but i think the fabric looks a lot like Indonesian batik. what a nice coincidence. 🙂

i am happy with my shopping, and the fact that i stayed true to myself (thanks husband, for the reminder!). sure, they weren’t any designer brands, but they look more like me, who i am, and how i like to express myself in dressing up. plus, they’re a lot cheaper than those designer brand items!

maybe one day i will be lucky enough to find a good designer brand item(s) for a good price that still reflect who i am. but until that day comes, i’m happy just being silly old me.

Queen of Late

once every blue moon, i do also buy ready made clothes. these days i don’t get too much tempted by clothes sold by fast fashion stores, though i do enjoy a trip to these stores just to keep myself updated with what’s on trend and what’s out (i tell myself it’s for my job, but i really enjoy seeing the cuts & small details in these clothes to help me in my own sewing projects… and shamelessly copy them). the only exception that would make me want to buy a ready made clothing item is if a) the print of the item is something hard to get as a fabric, and b) it’s really cheap. 10€ is the maximum limit i set for myself, unless if the store in question is actually a higher-end kind of clothing store.

so when a clothing item falls into both a and b categories… well, you know i’ve got to take a chance.

Oasap dress, Marimekko tights, Up shoes, Miffy watch.

i had never heard of the online store Oasap until The Fashion Huntress started posting a few of her clothes from there. i browsed their collection, thinking that i probably would still find them too expensive, but suddenly i saw this dress with quirky Queen print that i had seen before from another brand (who sold it for like… hundreds of euros). the price i got from Oasap that time was around 7,50€. i also found a pair of earrings for a mere 1,50€. plus, they were having a free delivery around the world campaign.

so i thought it was worth a try to order from there. they accept Paypal, so that made it even easier. this was in mid November 2014.

all i had to do after that was wait. and wait. and wait. and waaaaaaait some more. i had planned on wearing this dress at my workplace’s Christmas party, but nope, the dress did not come yet by then. so i thought okay, i could probably still wear it on Christmas dinner. but nope, the dress did not come before Christmas holiday yet either. so i thought, fine, i suppose i can wear it on the cruise to Stockholm. but the dress arrived exactly on 31st of December when i had to go to work, so i could not pick it up from the post office until AFTER new year’s holiday (and after the cruise). bravo, well done!

the Queen (of Late) print in close up…

i hereby dub thee the Queen of Late. i was finally able to hold it in my hands by the 5th of January 2015. no more parties or dinners coming my way, so the dress is basically late for everything, but whatever. better late than never.

so am i happy with this dress? i am, especially since i only paid 7,50€ for it. but if you are planning to wear something from that store any time soon, i suggest you find it somewhere else. otherwise, if you don’t mind waiting 1,5 months for the item(s) to arrive, this online shop is a great place to get quirky & cheap clothes.

i’m also happy with my new Marimekko tights, which i got as a Christmas present from my mum-in-law! ❤ she knows my style well, don’t you think? 😀

reading the tarot reader

after all these years, i do still read my tarot cards. and after all these years, my Fantastical tarot cards still haven’t failed me. (to read about my background in this whole tarot thing, click here.)

i still love seeing tarot card decks whenever i see them on display.

last time i went to Stockholm, i went to my fave clothing store, & Other Stories, with a mission. they were having summer sale at the time, and days before we left for our holiday i already noted down the things i wanted to get. it was for my own birthday present, you see. so while we were waiting to check-in to our hotel room there, my husband said we should just go to that store, “to get it over and done with” (= his exact words. men and shopping really don’t go hand-in-hand, do they?). but whatever. i wouldn’t want that to get me down, because i had actually been waiting for these items to go to the sale rack for exactly half a year.

the bag is always colour-coordinated with the items inside ❤

they asked if i wanted them to be wrapped in silk paper. yes, please!

and luck was on my side, because they actually still had these things i wanted to get.

the first one is a blouse… with tarot card print! can you imagine this tarot reader’s excitement when she first saw it online? it was quite expensive for my taste in its original price, so i decided to forget it. but i guess it was meant to be that they finally marked this down and there was still my size left in the store (there were only 2 pieces left, one was 3 sizes too big for me, and the other was just my size). it’s made of viscose crepe, very comfortable to be worn even in the summer. 45€ was the original price, and i got it for 22.50€.

the second item i got was from the same collection.

it’s a 100% silk scarf, with the size of approximately 80 x 80 cm. this was also on sale from 35€ to 17.50€ (i just checked, now it’s even cheaper at 11€). you probably know me well enough to know why i wanted to get this scarf, but i’m still going to spell it out.

because i wanted to turn it into this.

self-made shirt, Benetton shorts, MercuryDuo bag, leftover from silk scarf worn as headband.

i combined it with another fabric for the whole back side, neckline, & hem, and voila! i got another piece of clothing with tarot card print. 🙂

a close-up of the lovely print

there was even a small piece left unused, so i use it as a hairband. i didn’t use any pattern for this. since i love, love, LOVE the print, i didn’t want to add too much detail to the front side of this shirt. but for the back side, i decided to add a bit of a twist.

yep, i painstakingly did braids on the back side’s upper part. first i cut the part that i wanted to have braids in vertical fringe (like when you make fringe for a Native American costume), and only cut the bottom part of that area without cutting the left most and right most of the fringe (because they’re for the sleeves). and then i made braids for every 3 strands, and sew the braid ends onto the bottom part of that area. it was tiring, but i kind of like the hippie-feel of the outcome. my husband summed this shirt best: the front side is a Gypsy, and the back side is a hippie. 😀

 

the fabric i used for the back side is cotton jersey. i found it on the sale box of a fabric store, full of dirt and discolour here and there… it was only for 2.60€ for a big piece of it! after washing it in hot temperature, the dirt and discolour disappeared. 🙂

the bag that i used for the photo shoot was a free gift from a Japanese magazine called Cutie. it was another find from our last trip to Stockholm, when we were walking aimlessly in the Old Town and stumbled upon a bookstore called Science Fiction Book Shop. it has manga, novels, anime dvds & blu-rays, kits & models, and to my pleasure, a section of Japanese fashion magazines.

so you see? my cards never fail me. ❤

parting gifts

when i decided to accept the offer of being transferred to another workplace at the end of last year, i was excited, but also nervous of what would become of me. will i like the new place? i mean, REALLY like it, that i would stay there for as long as i stayed at my old workplace (5,5 years) or even longer? did i make the right decision?

and then there were the colleagues. they were the first colleagues i have ever had here in Finland, some of them i’ve worked with for as long as i’ve worked at my old workplace. will i be able to make as good friends with my new colleagues as i did back there?

i thought it would be an easy thing to just pack my stuffs from the old workplace and go to the new one. but when one by one my old colleagues started to give me parting gifts, i began feeling that maybe it wasn’t so easy after all.

it started with chocolates, because it was nearing the Christmas time anyway, and usually we would give one another some chocolate as a friendly gesture. and then the next thing i knew, they started giving me other things: a Moomin Christmas mug, candles (so many of them, and yet we’ve used up most of them that i couldn’t even take pics of them anymore), earring (just one of a pair, because she knows i love asymmetrical/unidentical things), shopping bag with bikes pattern (because she said she got reminded of me when she saw it, since i only learned how to bike about 1,5 years ago), a wooden box with ceramic decoration, Melli Mello zebra napkins (because i told her that the design matches our black/white-themed interior) and tealight candle holders.

i’ve always wanted a Moomin mug! and i’ve always loved Iittala design (the tealight candle holders)! these gifts were all just perfect, and they’re all especially for me! :’) i wanted to cry. thank you again, all of you, dearest colleagues! i’ll always remember you when i see these things in my house. 🙂

after all these, it felt like Christmas came early for me, so much that my husband & i decided not to give each other any gifts last year. instead, we got ourselves a little something to add to our new house.

the classic paperdoll was a greeting card i got for one of my parting gifts. i just had to show it, since it’s SO ME! i’m crazy about paperdolls! but anyway, the Christmas present we got for our house was the soft fluffy white thing underneath the paperdoll & my feet (= that pink/black stripey woolly thing).

it’s a very nice carpet that goes with our living room. FYI, we’ve always only had the kind of carpets that aren’t hairy (?), and they usually have some kind of graphic/pattern. now we decided to “grow up” a bit and get a solid-coloured one, and hairy. and we love it! it’s so soft that all we want to do is just brush it with our feet (yeah, we’re kinda silly like that).

now it’s been about 2 months that i’ve worked at my new workplace. it’s been going OK, though i still have quite a bit to learn & some things still need getting used to. sometimes i get down at work because of something silly, but then i would remember the parting words from my old colleagues and get positive again by thinking that one day, i will be as good as i was in the old place. one day, my new colleagues will also be my “old” colleagues, and they too will mean a lot to me like my old colleagues did.

yesterday was the end of my winter holiday. and to say goodbye to the holiday, my husband & i also got some “parting gifts” of our own!

ahem, looks like Christmas came late after all. :p

we blame it on the crazy sale at Akateeminen bookstore. it began last Friday, we’ve just spent a day in the city and decided to stroll over to the bookstore, thinking we would flip through some magazines & books just for fun. (yes, we’re geeks, going to bookstores is our fave pastimes.) and then i “accidentally” found The Casual Vacancy hardcover book with a 5€ price tag. excuse me?? 5 euros?? and i haven’t read the book. so, quickly i went to the cashier… and was almost flabbergasted when i only needed to pay 3€. it turns out that on top of already discounted prices, they added another 40% discount.

so we went there again yesterday and went all out. the Dog Breed book was something for both of us, and the final price was 8.94€. now we’ll have no problem identifying dogs anymore! 😀 the Contemporary Fashion Design and the 100 Years of Menswear books are for me, which costed 5.94€ & 7.14€ respectively. the Computer and the Aircraft books are for him, priced at 11.94€ & 5.94€ respectively. and i mean, these are all thick books with hardcovers, except for the fashion books. and they are all published circa 2012-2013, so yes, they’re NEW new. —> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we’ve never gone this crazy before for books, but it was definitely worth it! (the sale is still going on until this Friday, do check it out! unfortunately during the sale season, they don’t ship anywhere outside Finland, but for Finnish residents, the shipping fee is free.)

so bye bye holidays! thank you for the great fun! see you again in the summer!

wishlist #3 – for home

i know, i said that i won’t publish any blog post for a while, but i guess i lied.

i just got too excited now about the possibility to redecorate our house (after more than a month of living in this junkyard) that i made a simple wishlist. and just like wishes often are, these things are wayyyy too pricey for our budget, but anyway: it’s okay to dream. 😉

i often notice quite a lot of similarity between Scandinavian/Nordic and Japanese design. they’re usually very simplistic, functional, and the colours are either white, black, or natural wood. and i LOVE them. thankfully, my husband also love them, and even said once that he couldn’t think of getting something for our house that’s NOT Scandinavian/Nordic or Japanese. 😀

so now please allow me to explain my wishlist, in clockwise direction, starting from the top left picture.

1. Marimekko Pirput Parput floor cushion. i’m pretty sure you’re all familiar with Marimekko, a Finnish design brand, mainly known for their bold & colourful patterns. with their patterns, they design interior stuffs and also clothes. for the longest time, i’ve always dreamed of having a living room with no sofa at all, just a big cozy carpet and lots of cushions… including floor cushions. don’t ask me why, it just feels kind of nice to sit on the floor. this Marimekko one steals my heart (though i’m afraid somebody has to steal the cushion for me, because it’s certainly out of our budget).

2. Iittala Vakka stackable boxes. Iittala is another Finnish design brand, mainly for glass and porcelains, but they also design other stuffs for home (you’ll see what i mean soon). this one is just a very sleek and nice-looking box for keeping small stuffs or whatever, but when you stack multiple boxes together, they look like a small table.

3. Iittala Meno felt bag. right, so how did a bag end up in my wishlist for HOME? well, because this is actually meant to be put on the floor, to collect your magazines and newspaper, or your knitting stuffs, etc. this is made of very thick & hard felt, which is also actually strong enough for you to put your groceries in if you want to carry it to the supermarket. i WANT!!

4. Ikea Regolit floor lamp. i definitely won’t have to introduce Ikea to any of you anymore. so yeah, this is a floor lamp that is quite huge in real life, and the paper-lantern shape is just nostalgic for me (used to have something like that at my parents’ place, i believe). i love the curved stand, it reminds me of a fishing pole, and it also almost gives the kind of relaxing/peaceful feeling to the whole lamp shape. (yeah, i know. it’s just a lamp, for crying out loud! but still.)

5. Kartell Componibili storage unit. this one is NOT Scandinavian/Nordic nor Japanese, it’s actually an Italian brand. seeing the picture along with the Marimekko Pirput Parput floor cushion at a website made me want to have them both, so that’s why it made its way to my wishlist. 😀

6. Artek Kanto magazine rack. this is, like, some ‘luxury’ brand of Finnish design, created by none other than Alvar Aalto himself. this has the same kind of purpose as the Iittala Meno bag, except that you can’t  carry your groceries in it. :p other than magazines, you can also put wood logs for your fireplace (not that i have one, but thanks for the idea).

7. Marimekko Oiva/Siirtolapuutarha teapot in Räsymatto pattern. i’ve wanted this teapot for years now. in my opinion, this is like the perfect marriage of Finnish and Japanese design. *sigh*

8. Iittala KitchenGarden table garden. i’m not a plant person, AT ALL. in fact, i have a teeny weeny phobia of plants. that’s why we don’t have any plants at our house. yet. but this one actually looks nice. and the most important thing is, the plant is in a CAGE. haha! well, actually, this is supposed to serve as a “jar” to the herb you’re planning to plant, or when you buy a ready-packed/potted herbs from the supermarket (they sell them a lot here). the idea is that you put this on the dining table (or kitchen), and when you need to cook/use the herb leaves, then you can just pick some of them from this thing, and then put the lid back on so it stays good (and sterile. another important thing! especially for when you make salad, or anything that you don’t need to cook the herb leaves). nifty, isn’t it? i wouldn’t mind that at all!

9. Muji aroma diffuser. Muji is a Japanese brand of no-brand. the name is actually short for Mujirushi Ryoohin, which literally translates to “no brand quality goods”. anyway, we saw this aroma diffuser on our short trip to Stockholm this summer, and we both kind of fell for it (but didn’t buy it back then for some reason). it can serve as an air moisturizer too, i believe, and that would be very handy for Finnish winter! (= extremely dry weather.) it uses ultrasonic waves to vaporize water, and it has a built in lamp so it would also look nice in the dark.

and that’s it. if you’ll excuse me, i’m gonna continue on dreaming about these things now.

going ‘crazy print’-crazy

i’ve always had a soft spot for prints. looking at all my sewing projects, i very rarely go for non-print fabrics. that’s why i keep buying new fabrics as well, because the bad thing about prints is that once you wear it, people will remember it. and so when you go the next time to meet the same set of people, you’ll have to wear something else. (actually, that’s probably not true, because really, who cares? it’s just my own fake reason to buy more fabrics.)

to me, the crazier the print the better. that way there’s less chance that anyone else would dress the same as you. this past month i’ve bought several crazy-print fabrics already, but since i haven’t sewn them yet, i’m not gonna share them with you. instead, in this post, i want to share my other findings of somewhat crazy-print stuffs (= NOT fabrics, but ready-to-wear fashion items). and because i’m that bored, i even did a photo shoot for them. :p

second hand t-shirt from Pasar Senen – Jakarta, print trousers and studded flats from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, pearl detachable collar from Indonesia Wholesaler store, Miffy watch.

the pants were my first purchase at the Dappermarkt, Amsterdam. i love how the print is asymmetrical, since it goes upwards on the other leg, and downwards on the other one. 😀 for some reason, the print reminds me of a Marimekko print (the Raanu or Ryijy print). i got them for 15€ and thought that was a good bargain… until i saw another tent selling them for 10€. well, at 15€ they’re still cheap, but i just wished i had seen the cheaper place before making the purchase.

the studded flat shoes were at least (i hope) real good bargain. they only costed 6€. 🙂 there were of course also other shoes that only costed 5€, but after lots of thinking (= less than 15 minutes) i decided to get these instead because i didn’t have any black shoes that i can wear to a semi-formal occasion and yet casual enough for every day use.

second hand t-shirt from Pasar Senen – Jakarta, Zara kids mini skirt, leggings and studded flats from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, self-made collar/necklace, batik bag given as a gift from my aunt.

leggings are my other addiction. can’t seem to get enough of them, nor tights! so of course i couldn’t resist getting print leggings! especially not when they only costed 5€.

the left picture is unfortunately a bit blurry, but what i like the most about these leggings is that those parts on my left & right knees are actually from 1 picture, so if i put my legs next to each other, you can see a woman’s face wearing big earrings & sunglasses. yeah, i know, who would ever notice something like that, right? but I do, and since i’ll be the one wearing them, it’s what i like that matters. 😉

Hema tank top (kids wear), Esmara tank top (worn under the Hema tank top), self-made vest, Marimekko-H&M shorts, Dutch-print socks from a souvenir shop in Amsterdam, studded flats from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, moustache bracelet from Indonesia Wholesaler store.

i wrote on my previous post that the Jip & Janneke tank top i got from Hema was meant for 6 year olds, and seriously, it looked so tiny that i was so sure that even i can’t fit in. but i tried it anyway, and lo and behold, it fits! 😀 i wouldn’t wear it just like that though, since it’s so short and tight. i’ll probably sew something to the bottom part of the tank top, or then just wear another top underneath it. i think i got it for 4.50€ or something like that, thinking that it won’t be such a big waste even if i couldn’t wear it. but i’m glad i can! 🙂

the socks were actually something i didn’t even plan on buying. it was our first day in Amsterdam, and it was still a bit cold that after visiting some book shops downtown, we decided to warm ourselves inside a souvenir shop. i wasn’t wearing any socks, so seeing these on the shelf made me want to get them (so i could wear them right away). i can’t remember now the brand of these socks, but i like the print! (actually, the pattern is woven, not printed, but still.)

maxi dress from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, tassel earrings from Indonesia Wholesaler store, Miffy watch, Spirit sandals.

okay, so this one isn’t exactly a crazy print, but i just wanted to put it in here anyway. i very rarely wear maxi dresses, because it’s not that easy to walk in one (and my job is the kind that i walk around all the time). but i was interested in this one because it was just so darn cheap! 😀 5€! sure i can get a fabric for 5€, but with all the time used to sew it, a self-made maxi dress would worth more than just 5€. plus, my husband said i look good in this yellow one. 🙂 so i got it just for the sake of it! and if the length of the dress starts to bother me, i can always tie it to one side like on the right picture.

Logo dress, leggings & studded flats from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, H&M necklace, Miffy watch, & Other Stories straw hat.

after years of wanting a galaxy print fabric, i’m now so satisfied for having found a galaxy print dress and now these galaxy print leggings. bought these from the same place as where i got the photo leggings up there, and also for the same price. there were actually more galaxy print leggings there, but i decided that 1 pair should be enough. and for a few minutes, i was so happy and proud at myself for scoring these leggings for only 5€…

… until i found another tent selling almost the same product (also galaxy print leggings) for only 2.50€!!! 😥 upon further examination though, i found out that those cheaper ones have a slightly lower quality of fabric, so… yeah, let’s hope mine last for a long time so i can feel a bit better about paying them double the price!

Esmara tank top, loose pants from Dappermarkt – Amsterdam, second hand blazer from Pasar Senen – Jakarta, tassel earrings & moustache bracelet from Indonesia Wholesaler store, green plastic bead necklace from Legian – Bali, second hand chain belt (worn as necklace) from UFF, Marimekko fabric bag hand-sewn by my late grandmum, Spirit sandals.

the  loose pants were, in my opinion, my greatest find at the Dappermarkt. the print is just too crazy for me to miss, and the price? 3.50€. i mean, hello???? that has got to be my lucky day! 😀

the bag also has its own story. when i first came to Finland for a visit (and to meet my then-future-husband’s family for the first time), we went to a Marimekko store together with my then-future-husband’s mum. she heard how much i love the prints of Marimekko fabrics and offered to buy some for me, and also for my grandmum since she also knew how much my grandmum loved sewing bags/pouches/cushion covers. i chose one for myself, and chose this strawberry print for my grandmum.

when i gave it to my grandmum, she was pleased and thought that the Finns must be quite colourful (little did she know! :p). for some time afterwards, i saw that she kept the fabric inside her cupboard (which was also full of her other fabrics), and i almost thought she forgot about it completely.

about half a year ago, i heard from my mum that my grandmum had been telling her how she had made some bags for me, and that she wanted me to have them as soon as possible. but since i wasn’t going there, and no one from my hometown was coming this way, it never happened. after my grandmum passed away a few months ago, my mum had to sort out a few of her belongings, and among all of them she found, of course, the bags that she had made for me.

when the White Shoes band was coming here a few weeks ago, my mum asked our ex-tabla classmate (= the drummer of the band) to bring a few stuffs over for me. and she told me that she sent at least one bag that my grandmum made for me (apparently there’s more than just one). when i received the package, i was so touched to see that the fabric my grandmum chose to make a bag for me was actually the one i had chosen for her. 🙂 i guess she knew that i chose it for her because i myself love the print, and since she wasn’t going to be around that long anymore to actually use the bag herself, she decided to make it for me instead.

so thank you, Oma! even now, i’m still the number one fan of your handmade bags! 🙂

and that’s it for the ‘crazy print’-craze for now. just one more picture for close-up views of some of the accessories & shoes: (click on it for a bigger version)

clockwise from top left: the Dutch print socks, Miffy watch, studded flats, moustache bracelet.

about the Miffy watch… i wasn’t even planning to buy anything Miffy (or Nijntje, the famous rabbit character created by Dick Bruna), because even though i do like it, it wasn’t as nostalgic for me as Jip en Janneke was. if anything, i wanted a Miffy stuffed toy, LOL. but that was before i found this store at the airport that sells Miffy watches for only 5€! so instead of a stuffed toy, i opted for a watch instead, because you can always wear it & it doesn’t even look that childish (what a surprise, me not wanting to look childish. :p).

now all i gotta do is sew those other crazy print fabrics i have in my cupboard. 😀