tattoo empek empek

Last Saturday I spent in the habour and later at a great rocking gig in town, but this is what a few Saturdays ago as looked trough my phone:



09:00 - I wake up and start pin-curling my hair for a gig at a wedding I will have in the evening. I thought it'd be a lot faster now that my hair is short, but I need to make the curls smaller in order for the to actually be curly and not just a little bent. Alas, my arms still get tired during the procedure...







10:00 - do about an hour of yoga out in the garden. The cats are as awlays very eager to join.







11:00 - pick some left over wineberries to put on my breakfast sour milk.I wish I'd have had the time to pick some earlier are out in the freezer. (But the freezer did break down recently so good thing in the end I did not pick those berries on time; it would've pissed me off big time to have seen them ruined!)







12:00 - We're about to head back to town and I say goodbye to the lambs. They get to stay out all summer and are re-located a bit according to how fast they eat the vegetation up. Right now the female lambs are just outside our house.







13:00 - Driving home trough summery fields.







14:00 - Change of plans! Since somebody's ex wife has a little different way of comprehending schedule and agreements than the rest of the world we have the kids arriving a few days earlier to us rather sudden and need to re-organize everything and change the dinner plans I had with my sister; we'll do take away in stead and have it at our place after our show - which means a quick tidying up and cleaning! (PS: the bottle does say NON-toxic cleaning, although the picture tells it a little different :)







15:00 - Still panic-cleaning...







16:00 - Packing for our gig! I'll be doing my old Finnish movie summer themed number and Eddi will be part of the show too.Last time we did said number was in July a year ago.







17:00 - my sister and her hubby has agreed to do some extempore babysitting during our show. Here's their little Lily dog with it's huge bone! Lily is quite the hit with the kids, serving as a never ending source of fascination...







18:00 - Arriving at the veune before all the guests and hiding away backstage as we are suprise perfomers. Sir Willy Waterlily, Mis Sandy Jungle and Lola Vanilla are also performing tonight which means quality time make-upping and hanging out.





19:00 - Stil waiting... Here's lovely miss Jungle.





And Lola Vanilla, drag queen extraordinaire.







The staff at the place is great; we've performed there often at different events. They send us up some bubbly.







Showtime! Here's me and my co-star just about to go on stage. And oh yes I do this number to some good ol' rautalanka; my favorite.





Back home; pick up children sister and boyfriend and have lots and lots of sushi. And edamame and kimchi and wine and I'm telling you; I could have this every second day, at least!





A while after this I fall asleep on the couch.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

This is a re-post of yesterday's vanished post; as most of you know blogger's been having some problems. If I do get the old post and your comments back as Blogger claims I will most likely delete this version...

We're out in the countryside. Eddi and his brother are sowing and I am not doing any of the things I should be doing at my week off work. The cats get to spend some time outside and enjoy the sunshine which makes them a bit overwhelmed.


And it is warm I tell you, finally! First time barefoot this year.



As I've said before, although not that far away, the farm is very much out in the countryside. The neighbor's cows (Pekka's and Lulu's enemies, as they tend to see it) are just right outside the house.


Here's a little extra picture to demonstrate how close they actually are...


And THIS is actually happening!
It would almost have deserved a pots of it's own but since I actually haven't got that far yet (in my mind I'm already done) and started with other chores ("chores") I'll save the Yeys! and Heys! until I'm over the creek as the saying goes (in Swedish).

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

My kitty fabric arrived! Now, let's see what will come of it.
The biggest question is of course when.


For the moment I'm however working on this, a little thing I need to have ready soon. It's a bit stressful as I haven't really been home properly in two weeks and won't be home much this weekend either. (And no, no pattern papers for me, I usually draw straight on the fabric but in this case I went all hi-fi and use baking paper...)


I'm waiting for the time when one is able to be outside in other than winter boots! And yes, things are melting, but no, rubber boots don't count!


I want my heels. On dry ground. Now. Like these new very sinful red ones.


Oh, not to forget; the Helsinki Vintage give away!
As much as I like to do give aways I always feel a bit bad at this part not being able to let everybody win... But well, that's the way it is. And this time the lucky one who will get the two tickets was Pirita!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The internet, oh, the internet. A never ending source of information. And inspiration! And - disinformation, crap and bullshit. A space to spend time well worth, and also waist it. A place of gain and ruin. Heaven and hell. Hallelujah!

But. Although I might spend a little too much time and money online from time to time, the internet is very useful for me. Often thanks to my Freelancer's Fashion Facebook page - and to all of you. Why? Because you help me find the stuff I want!(A desire and need most likely created by the internet in the first place, but hey, that's peanuts at this point).

The most acute Must Haves are stuff that I realize I can very well live without if I wait one week and decide in fact not to give in to the desire.

But sometimes again the quick compulsive need to buy a certain thing can turn out very well, and become a long lasting well used item; I am mostly referring to clothes here now, but this actually applies to about half of my tattoos as well.

The latest in this case was a kitten dress - a dress with kittens on it! Not spotted on the web actually, but in real life, on a girl. And then it struck me - what the hell? A kitten dress? Of course! How had I been able to live my whole life without one so far? So I asked her about the dress, she told me the brand name, didn't quite catch it, then forgot it. As you know, here's where the internet comes in handy. But my friend Google was not able to help this time. The game wasn't all lost at that point though - post it on the Facebook page and woah! - some moments later I have the link.

Ta-taa! Kitty dress found.

However, after thinking about it I for a while I decided the dress perhaps was a little bit too expensive considering all the other things I am in a totally and very desperate need of (yes) and considering the fact the the cut on the dress was nice but not that extraordinary _ I should perhaps not buy it after all. But, in the same time I also realized I really had to have a dress with small furry felines on it. Well, now I needed to get my hand on the fabric instead; which I eventually did (also trough the help of some followers), after first browsing hundreds of kitty fabrics on ebay.
In the end I did go for anohter fabric instead, with retro kitties on. Meow meow!

This one right here, on it's way to me now.

I'd love to turn it into a two piece dress, or perhaps a shirt and circle skirt. Or a shirt waist dress.

Hmmm...

Now of course, another question is; will I actually ever fix myself that kitty dress?Knowing me, those of you who do, might have your doubts.

So, a little poll:
A. I will get the two-piece dress done in time for summer
B. I will skip the original idea and go for an easier version, but get it done.
C. I will get the dress done in time for summer 2012
D. I will have the dress done by someone else (which will make it a very expensive kitty dress in the end)
-or-
E. The fabric will end up looking really good among the other fabrics that are waiting forever in my fabric box.

What do you think?


PS.The kitty dress I did not get was by Limb clothing and the kittens-fabric by Micheal Miller Fabrics (great fabrics!).

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

(Long manicured nails and workwear don't go well together. Practically, that is.)

I talk about the contrast between burlesque and the harbour, among other stuff ( I babble on a lot, jeez!), in a documentary about the Finnish burlesque scene. It was shot over a year ago, but aired on TV4 this week. You can catch us backstage as well as members of Helsinki Burlesque / Hula Pirates crafting together, reflecting over burlesque in all its forms, as well as clips from acts in Helsinki and NY. (It's all in Finnish though so why not take it as a lesson in Finnish as well :)

View it here:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I am once again in a very familiar state - the one where I wish the day had more hours and don't have time for everything. (Or when I wish I were a millionaire with a couple of assistants doing all boring chores for me and me not having to work with anything else than what I want to). I'm still quite proud over the fact that I have achieved a lot so far- a part from getting up at 05:40 every day this week to go to work, I've sewn (and sewn very well!) not only one but two very nice burlesque outfits for my shows and even finding the time for a little lindy hopping in between!

You can see the first outfit in a re-vamped number of mine in Tampere, where I'm heading on Thursday with Lola Manchego and Tinkerbell to perform at the Sweet Jeena & Her Sweethearts record release party! There will be a lot of dancing, americana, swing DJ's, chocolate sweet hearts and lovley ladies on stage. (Getting up before six in the morning and doing the two-hours drive to perform in the late evening is less nice however...)

The second outfit can be spotted at Club Wanted VIII on Saturday!

Next week I'm going to sleep a lot.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Me and my sewing machine have produced the ultimate wiggle dress!

Originally made for a show of mine, it also works great as a party dress and fits like a glove, with buttons all the way up and a soft leopard lining. (But, to be honest, I can't call myself a genius though - I had to add fabric three times in order to be able to fit in and fasten it, which after some minor (read: major) swearing actually turned out rather nice with three fancy seams in the front that looks totally "meant to be". And I have to pin it to my bra I order not to flash too much of what's inside of it... )

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

That's me and my new (very snug) dress on last weeks burlesque cruise which was a total blast and success!
(The cruise. And the dress :)

Photo by Frej Linna.

The venue was a mix of hula girls, mermaids and sailors. Paula was dressed as a lobster girl in all- red from top to toe, lashes as well. (Even though she actually turned out a crab-girl since she never found a lobster for her hat as planned but had to use a glittered crab instead. Not that it really matters though, we just thought lobster girl had a nicer sound to it.) I wasn't really dressed as anything particular, just inspired by the pacific theme of the night. And it doesn't show in any pictures but I had matched my hair flowers with my dark yellow heels. (I just had to point that out since it looked very good and so I'd be able to sleep better at night. Phew, good, now you all know.)

Oh well, now I'll start preparing for a solo act show I'll do tonight. If you like me, and unlike most others, spend Midsummer in town why don't spend it at Bar Loose with some psychobilly and burlesque?
Either way and anyhow, for those of you that celebrate Midsummer's Day, have a great one!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

This fabric is going to turn into a tiki style wiggle dress somewhat inspired by the lovely sarong dresses at Vivien of Holloway!


The fabric dates back from (oh, here we go again...) the hippie days when I hanged out on Bali for a while, a long time ago. Just lying in my closet useless for years it has finally found a meaning - I'm getting a dress for free :)

The plan is to premiere the dress next Sunday at the From Helsini to Honolulu via Hysteria Burlesque party onboard Wäiski! As previously mentioned we and a lot of other gals will be performing there and I'm sure it will be a hell of a night! (I've heard there are still some tickets left so hurry up and get yourself one if you're around town!)

(it didn't start out so well though - I always cut all dresses freehand and this time I cut it slightly too small for myself; it's not always easy with a totally non-stretch fabric... Then one of my cats threw up on what was left of the fabric. But in spite of these minor misfortunes I think it will turn out pretty fine anyway!)

• 
• 
• 
• 
•