Jessica Brannen.
Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Lately: Making mobiles, asking people to draw me a piano, longing to have a garden, hibernation mode, baking a disproportionate amount of biscuits, looking up words, scrawling in notebooks, chasing whippersnappers, making lists, making collages, looking at tree branches with spring waiting in their wings, 9 am Saturday morning dance class. (tooooo early)


Listening to: The Radio Dept., New Order, LCD Soundsystem, The Drums, Max Richter, Fourtet, Krakel Spektakel (kids), The Kerplunks (kids), Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter (kids).

Reading: Natalie Goldberg- Writing Down the Bones, Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, Virginia Woolf- A Room of One's Own, Tove Jansson- Trollvinter, Solveig von Shoultz- De sju dagarna.

Watching: In The Night Garden with tired kidlets at bedtime, and a little Portlandia.

Scotch tape, play doh, book pages and freshly cut grass on top ranking smells list.

Persnickety yet easy-going?
And no more naturally austere than you are naturally vicious. (Charlotte Brontë)

Middle child.

You can make me a Mexican feast and bring me cosmos or tulips.

Bookish, journal-writin' type.

Husband from Scandinavia and 2 kidlets.

Grew up in Chezzetcook on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, playing on the beach and in the woods. Still spend a lot of time there. You can hear roosters.

Lived in Sweden for many years and speak Swedish. Love Sweden and Finland. Visit every year.

Hollyhocks and delphiniums.

Studied art, photo, film and textiles. Have a love of all things arts and crafty. Also gardening, sewing, and writing.

Remember rolling down the hill?

Remember picking Fool's Gold out of the road with butter knives?

Remember that time we sneaked into that white abandoned house and saw a wedding dress in the closet?

Let's go swimming in the ocean.

And go thriftin'.

I can peel carrots really fast.
I'm left handed.
I wish to find secret letters or notes hidden in old walls.
I love good old-fashioned letters.
I love quilts.
I love scraps.
I make a mean pancake.
Collective nouns are funny.

Over and out.

Posts tagged with marimekko

Birthday

There was Swedish birthday cake and champagne in bed first thing in the morning

Nice fresh cheerful tulips

This awesome card, in the tradition of cards made on the computer with simple paint program by Per (it’s a laptop! and says Grattis Jessica)

A smashing Marimekko pattern on a bag

An afternoon in the country getting a nice fix of poking at the fire and sitting in rocking chairs

And a nice visit with my sis Eva, here playing a pretend game about a fairy and someone trying to capture her and bring her to the museum to make lots of money charging people to see her

A relaxing browse through this library book about hideaways- oh how it made me long for a hideaway!- and there were good quotes and one I liked about a little girl and her garden hideaway where she asked her grandmother to plant thorny plants around the outside so she would feel safe and protected there

Both asleep in the car once home meant I read a magazine leisurely while waiting for them to wake up

And then at night there was a snowstorm, and we all went out to play in it, which was refreshing and happy.

12 notes, Comments

Pocket curtains

I sewed these curtains about a year ago for Astrid’s room. She loves them, she likes putting little things in the pockets that Axel can’t have like playmobil and barrettes.

I sewed them pretty quickly and quite simply (no time for measuring or pattern tracing) but they’ve held up quite well.

And okay, I like putting things is the pockets too!

Fabrics are a mixture of vintage and Marimekko.

3 notes, Comments

Handmade by Pia

Auntie Pia made this dress for Astrid while we were visiting. The fabric is from Marimekko. She even made a little pair of pants with back pockets for Erik Axel:

Love handmade kids clothes but never have time to make lately- that’s where a crafty Auntie is perfect!

4 notes, Comments