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Thursday, May 22, 2008

A long lost friend....

Wow. As I was unpacking, in order to repack (yes... I have not yet unpacked all the way from the move here.), I found my favorite and first owned Japanese craft book. This is still my favorite, it's filled with Scandinavian themed embroidery designs, and other patterns and such. The best part is a few pages of Moomintroll patterns.

My dad's side of the family is Swedish, my grandmother moved here when she was 3 or so. My great-grandmother left her jerk of a husband in Sweden and moved herself and my grandmother to New York City on her own. Can I just say that this woman still, to this day, rocks my world? I called my great-grandmother Mormor, which actually means mother's mother, but I suppose Farmormor is too much of a mouthful. Mormor was always very old in my eyes. She died when she was 99, when I was in my late teens/early 20s. She was an amazing woman, and a wonderful cook, seamstress and needleworker. I would eat meat again, if I could have her back for one day and she'd make swedish meatballs for me. : ) I've been working for years to veganize her recipe, and I am getting closer. My last batch, for my friend Randi's baby shower, were very good.

Anyway... growing up in a Swedish-y family, I grew up with Moomintroll books. I still have most all of them. I have a mild obsession with them and do lots of swaps on postcrossing and Gimme Your Stuff for Moomintrolly goodies. So this Japanese book is one of my favorites. And I am happy to be reunited with it again. It's ISBN is 4-8347-2480-8.

So, here's the front cover....









And here's a Moomintroll pattern example. The little girl sliding down a hill is my favorite character and totem. Her name is Little My. She's a brat.


The rest of the book is fabulous too, but these pages of patterns make it for me. And now that I am becoming way into needlework, they are even more of an inspiration. My mom says I have Mormor's touch when it comes to needlework. This is nice to hear.

On another nice note, I just got a call this afternoon that my friend Randi had her baby today! So she'll be able to snuggle up in the blankie I made her soon! Hurray for babies!

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