BathroomWallCabinet

I bought this traditional style and beautiful old small wall cabinet this week. I paid 20 € for it plus 8 liters of petrol to fetch it. I cleaned it gently but well.

After cleaning it, I oiled it by Extra Virgin Macadamia Nut Oil that I still have for my save the parquet flooring project. It looks very beautiful now. It is hand made small wall cabinet used usually by hired men at the estates. They kept their personal items in these cabinets: small hand mirror, comb, razor and soap.

This cabinet is for Lappala. Lappala is a traditional house. We will cherish Lappala according to the traditions. That's why we are going to recycle as much as possible. In Lappala is a small toilet which needs updating. We have already bought the new hot water boilers: one for electric sauna and the other for the toilet. Also, the toilet needs new seat. That one we had to buy as new, like the hot water boilers. But other things we can try to recycle. This bathroom wall cabinet is one of those old things which can have a new life in Lappala. 💚

The Reading Challenge 2026 - Part 4

In August 2026 I've read two books in English. These ones are quite untypical for me to buy for myself. Still, they are very useful, practical, educative and  great souvenirs from your journeys and can take you back there where you were time ago.

Bernard Meehan's The Book of Kells -Official Guide (in English, mine) is a great book about the famous book. It provides excellent illustration, explanations and information about this historical object. We went to see The Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland in June 2024. It was great to see that place and the book itself, even the library was under the renovation. I bought this book as a souvenir because you can't actually touch the original book, not to mention investigate it by your own hands. I usually don't buy this kind of guide books but in this case I think it is the only way to get to see The Book better. And investigate at least some pages of it. In August 2026 I finally read the whole book and paid a special attention on its illustration and refreshed my memories about Ireland and its history. Nice way to travel back there again in my memories.

Valerie Ryan's The Story of Russborough House (in English, mine) was another untypical book I bought on my journey to Dublin, Ireland in 2024. Back then I visited the place, and now I returned by the book. Unfortunately I noticed my copy was missing 4 pages of 35!!!! And the last sentences of the book revealed that I must live much longer to find out what's written in the Alfred Beit diaries. They must have something connected to Queen Elizabeth II.

ForDad

My dad used to sew small things for himself when he was younger and healthier. He has asked me to fix something for him only few times. This zipper is one of those few times. 

Now it is done and proper working again. I just changed the zipper. It is FashionNOW. And this is much easier than to do it with the pants. Here you can see my tutorial how to replace a broken zipper of the pants. I made the tutorial in 2014. That´s 12 years ago!!! Can you image! 

FurBlanket No2

Earlier in August I designed and made FurBlanket No1. Now I repeated the process. I designed and made another fur blanket by using recycled muskrat fur coat which He bought a year ago at a second hand shop just by 30 €. 

For the lining I used again 100 % wool fabric. It is a twill wool fabric and makes the fur blanket inside feel so soft.

The fur coat hem works great in lap blankets because it creates a slight A-line for the blanket. When you sit and cover your pelvis and legs area by it, it falls over your legs but also covers the side parts of your legs to keep you warmer during the cold winter season.

This muskrat fur blanket goes to Lappala with the fox fur blanket! Yes, a bit of luxury. But 1st of all, because of the warmth. You can wear it both sides up, depending on it how much warmth you need. The best of all is that it is recycled so the Planet Earth says thank you. It is FashionNOW.

45 kg

Lappala arrived into our life in the way She is and has been all these years. She has also plenty of old traditional rag rugs. Last time I brought home for about 45 kg of rag rugs. You know I discovered the self service laundry opening this summer in Kemi. I didn't even try to wash Lappala's rugs by my own hands. I was happy to be able to use the self service laundry.

Now the washed rag rugs are at home. I was so pleased 24 Pesula has also the drying cabinets. At this time of the year when the autumn colors are arriving, drying rugs at home is almost impossible. We have spread the rag rugs around to let them breathe. Breathe? Yep. They should breathe before I roll them up and back into the bags. They were warm when getting out from the drying cabinet. You need to be 110 % sure the textiles are dry until you storage them. Otherwise they start to stink and may even mildew.

But, this is not all. I still have at least another 45 kg of rag rugs in Lappala waiting for to get into the self service laundry! 90 kg of rag rugs is quite many rag rugs. Why Lappala needs so many? You will see that later.💙

Lappala

Previously, in early July, I told you about the cottage life in Finland and the traditions connected to it. From that you know that we didn't have our own cottage. Until now! 💙 For about 3 long years we've been seriously seeking the match made in heaven for our cottage to be. This summer we found Her. 

Her location is very special, rural and secret. You get there by the only ferry of Lapland, Finland. There are other ferries but they are in South Finland. Her ferry is small but runs non stop from 6 am to 10 pm with only 4 breaks of 20 minutes. It's free and only few car fit in on board at the same time.

The ferry across one point of the lake Kemijarvi nearby Suomu. Suomu is a hidden and secret gem in Lapland, Finland. Suomu is a quiet place and far away from mass tourism. Suomu locates by the Arctic Circle like Rovaniemi but is so much more authentic meanwhile Rovaniemi has turn out tourism industry center like Barcelona or any other European city.

We chose our very own cottage to be in Suomu. Exactly today we became Hers. We've been there twice before. 1st to see Her and find out if She feels the right one. And for the 2nd time with the inspector to see if everything is ok with Her. 

From Her windows we can see the lake Kemijärvi. Through Her windows many people have watched before us.

See, actually She is not a cottage at all. She neither is any kind of young lady anymore built after the wars. She was officially born in 1.1.1907. But it was the heart of the winter by then. Nothing was built in January by then. So, according to the old traditions and way of life, She probably was finished in summer 1906 or 1905 or 1904. It just took some time to travel through the wilderness to the authorities to get it all stamped officially. 

But that's not all of Her. She was born much earlier. She burned somewhere at the end of 1800 and was only re-built after the fire. And that's not all. She was originally built -long long time ago- on the place where Sámi people had their summer season home, when they arrived to fish by the lake Kemijärvi. That's from where She got her name by the authorities written on the official books. Her original and very old name is Lappala = the place where Sámi people live. 

We belong to Her now. And I will share our life with Her with you in the future in this blog. Isn't it all very exciting!

FurBlanket No1

Do you remember how I made TrapperHat No1 for Him? Now I took the fox fur coat and made something from its hem. It is my own design.

I took off the lining and wool filling but left everything else there to support the structure.

Then I cut off the hem just under the armpits.

After that I selected the wool fabric shade for the new lining.

Then I cut the new wool lining into its shape and pinned it. You actually should not use pins for the leather or fur because they make permanent holes to the material. In this case I used the pins because the holes can't be seen through the fur and I pinned it in the way that no visible marks left on the leather parts. After pinning I sew it and closed the pockets from the front side.

It is wild fox. You can see it from the facts that the fur is not even and thick all over. You can also notice the shades vary quite a lot. Those are great examples to separate the wild fox from industrially grown fox fur. 

The deep red wool lining matches well with the wild & red fox fur.

It is ready for the winter and snuggle up! 

It is FashionNow.

DeerBag

Few years ago I received an old tapestry wall decoration. I was not quite sure what to do with it. Someone had received it with an old apartment they bought. It had no special meaning to any alive person. It ended up to me with the idea that it's a piece of craft, do something with it. 

I have been thing to what meaningful object I will turn it out. Ta-dah! I designed it and it turn out a handbag. 

I have made handbags before by using old canvas projects. One for my mom and another for one who is not here with me anymore.

In this deer-project also the lining and strap are recycled. The tag "Hand Made" and the magnetic clip to close the bag are new.

I made a small pocket inside. This is unique, and for sure a very special handbag. No other similar on the Planet Earth. Only this one. This is FashionNOW.

TampereCathedral

Another thing I have always wanted to see is Tampere Cathedral.

In July 2026 I finally had the change to walk through its gates.

It was hard to choose which gate so I tested them all.

When stepping into the cathedral I was happy to find the miniature of the cathedral.

You know I am a bit church freak. In Finland many things were destroyed during the wars. That's why the churches and cathedrals are excellent, and mostly the only places -like the local museums- to see the art and artisan work of Finland. They include a lot of national and local art and craft treasures. Churches receive funding, local museums don't.

Tampere Cathedral is famous because of its paintings but it has a lot of excellent wood and stone carving art also.

Also its windows are decorated. Not all and not full, which is understandable because of the dark winter seasons. In this way more light gets through the windows.

The art is everywhere in Tampere Cathedral, even its several staircases.

I have always wanted to see Tampere Cathedral mainly because Hugo Simberg's famous paintings.

The iconic The Wounded Angel is placed there, painted in the wall.

There's more art I ever expected to see. When you just sit there with eyes wide open and look around you begin to spot actually a lot of angel theme. There are many angel wings. To me it seems like The Wounded Angel is the point of Simberg's art of the cathedral despite it is not at the altar.

Also, he painted a lot of children there. He used local children to model. He painted normal working class children at the time when child labor was common. 

He never explained his work with The Wounded Angel. Lately, it is often decoded to describe his personal suffer when he was at a hospital or having a long term head ache because of syphilis he suffered. That's why he painted demons and angels, they say. In his work, I personally have always seen the statement of children's abuse and children's rights, because he painted children in the time when child labor was very common also in Finland's industry, and when adults started to wake up to see it is not right. Art is great, because we all can decode it up to our own thinking and understanding.

It is quite interesting he paint also a magpie. A bird you actually don't see in churches, cathedrals, fine art for kings and queens... You see eagles and other birds considered to be nobel. Magpie is very rarely described in church art like normal working class children. Usually the only child painted in a church art is baby-Jesus. Hugo Simberg painted ordinary children instead of baby-Jesus. Perhaps he understood something very deep.

If you visit Tampere cathedral you can spot The Wounded Angel at the up-right corned when stepping in. But there are so much else to see too.

It is interesting that there grows Rowan Trees which is considered a pagan tree. There are many interesting things. I spent there an hour and that was enough if you want to investigate it all with time. There are toilets too, so you don't need to hurry anywhere else.

I like church yards too. At Tampere Cathedral the church yard is small but enough for a break. I had my gluten free lunch pack with me: bread, peanuts and ice tea. I enjoyed a small break after visiting the cathedral.

Tammerkoski

It seems that this year I have been telling you what you can see under the snow in Finland. It is mainly because we work hard over the winter season and the warm snow-free season is something very special to us. In July I had an over night train trip to Turku and back. This is one stop on my journey. This is something I have always wanted to see. It is something I have only heard to been talking about. It is not in Turku.

It is the rapids Tammerkoski in Tampere. I was very lucky to happen to be in there exactly on the moment when they need to let it run free through the mills because of the rains and floods. Usually it is not let run free and wild like this because of the hydroelectric power plant. And usually you can't get this close to see it. In Tampere they had built a temporary pedestrian bridge over the rapids. So, if you travel there, don't expect to see it like this.

The rapids Tammerkoski was born over 7 500 years ago between two lakes. It runs 2 km from lake Näsijärvi to lake Pyhäjärvi, that locates 18 meters lower. Originally Tammerkoski had 4 separated rapids with backwaters after each. In 1916-1937 they built 4 hydroelectric power plants in Tammerkoski. In this video you can sense what kind of it might have be when running free and wild. 💙

TraditionalForestSámiMen'sCostume

Here is what I've been up to lately. I have made a traditional style Forest Sámi Men's costume. This design bases strictly on the oldest historical facts about the traditional woolen fabric costume Forest Sámi men used over the times in central Lapland area in Finland. This is a costume for daily-life-use. This is my personal thank you gift for our fabulous Niko Rytilahti who leads our volunteer linguistic team with great success without any funding. Despite of his busy life and duties, he has found time to help me with my upcoming Forest Sámi costume history book.

I sew this costume with Anne to create more authentic expression. Also, we used the authentic material. The grey woolen fabric is recycled military blanket. Why we used a military blanket? Well, Niko had it and he wanted to use it. It was in excellent condition so there was no reason not to. Military blankets were  manufactured in the mills that don't exist anymore, and from where also Forest Sámi people bought thick wool fabrics for their national costumes especially for men. It they didn't weave it at home.💚

The costume is very thick and warm. When Niko starts to wear it, it begins to adjust on his body form. Wool is great and alive material!