taking a deep breath

That’s what I’ve been doing this weekend. And it felt so, so good.

Give me a few days to settle back into the life of offices, internet and appointments and to sort my photos before coming back here with a full account.

precious

These moments.

I don’t know if anyone can see in these pictures what I see in them. Maybe all everyone will see is some badly lit, grainy everyday pictures.

To me they are utterly beautiful.

For some more clean-cut, colorful easter shots, head over to my photo-blog :)

springtime

It’s slow coming this year, but every day there are more blossoms on the trees.


We’ve had temperatures up until 19°C for a few days, but now they’ve dropped again to barely above 0. The quick temperature and weather changes have us all pretty tired. I took a day off work last week on the spur of the moment and spent it at home in my pj’s, cuddling the cats, sleeping, watching movies and doing some potting and planting on the balcony. It was just what I needed and I felt tons better on Saturday already.

I can’t wait to have the world green again.

my other (new) blog

Just a quick note today to say that my new photography blog is online! I will be sharing current photoshoots and some earlier work there in the coming weeks, so keep an eye one it. I will be blogging in both english and german. After three years of blogging in english I find expressing myself in german in writing quite difficult :)
Head over to www.fotografiekoehler.wordpress.com right now to see my latest photoshoot with a friend.

Don’t worry, I will be keeping the tidytipsy blog just the same (minus a few photoshoots). This blog means a lot to me and I consider it to be very personal, private even…funny thing to say about a blog visible to everyone, I know. Still, I write things here that I don’t even really talk about in daily life! My photography blog will be less personal and wordy, but I hope you’ll like it too :)

sundays

It’s about time I posted some random horse shots again, right? There’s a new boy at the barn and he’s gorgeous.

Sometimes the sunday I spend at the barn, in the arena or going for a relaxing trail ride, is the best part of my week. Definitely this week.

I don’t like to be negative in this space, but the truth is, I’m plain exhausted this week. There’s some family troubles right now (or still I guess), coming at us from different directions. Some days I think it’s going to be ok but often it just feels as though we’re all falling apart at the seams.
I’ve always been proud to say that I’m a person people can rely on, that if someone asked for help, I’d be there. Now I find myself drawing back, trying to proctect my emotional balance, fragile as it is anyway, to be able to keep on going. I guess there’s a fine line between self-protection and egoism and I can’t see it.

Anyway, that was just waiting to get out. We do have a lot to be grateful for and one thing I am intensely grateful for is some down time at the barn and a pony who makes me laugh, trying to catch waterdrops landing on his nose wile he’s being brushed.

at the fair

Last week was the bi-annual big shoe trade fair. My dad has been attending for thirty years or so with whatever brand of shoes he has been selling over the years.
I worked there for almost ten years during school and university. It’s weird not to anymore (I stopped when I finished university and got a fulltime job).
I stopped by shortly before they closed to say hi to everyone.

I worked for an italian kid’s shoe brand, having known the owners all my life and being good friends with them (heck, I even learned to speak italian just so we could chat). I did some photoshoots for them a while ago, which still shows up on their flyers and posters.

For nearly all of my life, the shoe fair fell on my birthday. Years ago, my dad introduced me to an old client of his and the client told me: “Oh, I know you, I remember the day you were born. Your father was called out for in all of the exhibition halls, telling him he had better go to the hospital now. That day, everyone on the fair knew he was going to be a daddy.”
I guess I just have a special relation to shoemaking. I loved this video about a shoemaker.

While my friends have a factory and a few dozen employees, a lot of their work is still handmade. I’ve seen them work at these old industrial sewing machines and cut leather fringes meticulously by hand one by one. Their designs are still drawn on paper and later, my dad goes through dozens of designs, picking and combining different leathers and colors to make each shoe a work of art.

patterndrafting-land

That’s where I am and where I’ll be for months to come guessing by my stack of ideas and fabric. I’m busy drafting a couple nice basic blouses, using the Sorbetto pattern as a sloper. I did modify the length, armholes, neckline and bust dart, so I’m not sure you could even call it a Sorbetto any longer.

Which leads me to the question: how do you store your self-drafted or printed patterns?
I even trace bought patterns (like the Wiksten Tova and Tank) because I usually make the smallest size and I want to “save” the multisize pattern. Until now the number of my patterns are quite manageable and I store them like this, the pieces carefully folded and held together by a clothespin for each pattern.

They live in a small vintage suitcase. It was my mom’s and I claimed it as a kid and have held on to it ever since.


As my stack of patterns grows I will probably have to think of a new method soon. I’d love to see how you organize and store your patterns!
By the way, I am honored to be featured on the Wiksten Blog today with a tankdress I made from Jenny’s pattern!