European Song

Last Saturday night was the big fun Eurovision song contest (i like that event!)

Rich (a bit of Armenia) and I (United Kingdom) went to Haywards Heath (twinned with Bondues - France and Traunstein - Germany) to see Robyn (United Kingdom) and Dorin (Romania) I decided to make and take an apple strudel (Austria) and some wheat beer (Germany) and Dorin had made us a risotto (Italy).

Wunderbar!

In honour of the event, i decided that my mixtape this month would have a taste of europe about it.

 Et voila!

Sehr gut,

zdob si zdub,

Emilka Backerberg. xx

Take me with you

I have been so lazy with my mixtape for the mixtape project, and have just managed to get a little something cobbled together for my partner for March (ops!)

I decided to dedicate this collection to coming out of hibernation and the freedom and adventures summer days promise.

Yours hitting the road jack,

Emilia. xxxx

Midwinter Mixtape

With all the costume making, patchwork quilting, knitting, cross stitch and other little projects, January slipped past me almost without a mixtape. Luckily my partner for the month was very understanding and this week i pulled my socks up and managed to put together a little collection fit for january (and hopefully appropriate for february too).

I really liked the africa inspired mix tape i received from Joe in January as it was very good at blowing off the cold weather blues. I have decided that Chris from Stockton-on-Tees is not going to be uplifted though and for him I have made a collection of wintery songs to help him really wallow in the last few cold and dark weeks of the season.

I don't really know what it means: Winter is all over you, but I like the way it sounds. 

I asked Joe the mixtape organiser if i can have february off from mixtapes. this month is going to be quite a busy one. maybe i will have time to make a valentines mixtape for my boyfriend though.

yours better late than never,
Emilia. x

Because I love the sound of Violins

This month, my mixtape is a celebration of my favourite instrument.

I love violins. I am learning to play but i am not that good. I am always inspired when I hear them though so I have created a collection of songs with some really great violin parts in them.

 I am a bit happier with my artwork this month

although did get a bit gluey and messy on the back! oop.

I have been listening to this as a playlist on my ipod and am really pleased with this collection. I am a little nervous though because my mixtape partner is the chief organiser of the mixtape project, and also a boy who might not really enjoy this sort of music. I hope that maybe he will be inspired to learn the violin too.

yours well strung,

Emilia. xxx

The times they are changin'

it is time again to post off my mixtape project for October.

this month the only thing i could think of as a good theme would be the autumn. this was a really lovely task to find those songs. i used the themes of this season as my focus. like the change of weather, nature, harvests, goldenness, hibernation, and being mellow and thoughtful. 

I tried to make sure all the songs were still pretty and uplifting as i think autumn is a grand season and no real reason to be sad. the best sounds for this time are acoustic and comforting like guitars and harmonious singing. I feel that this project has really helped me come to terms with the cold and darkness. Here is my finished collection:

I struggle a little (lot) with the artwork aspect of the project as have seen some other submissions and they seem very well thought out artistically. i am not really very good at art, but i really love my friend Yumi's illustrations of leaves so her pictures were my inspiration and it was nice to use my colour pencils. I hope that this element is not so important as the songs though. I think i will concentrate on this more next month and try my very best.


Yours harvest festivally,
emilia x

The Mixtape Project

Last month, after seeing this from Debbie, I joined The Mixtape Project.

Yesterday i was delighted to receive in the post, my first mixtape from a stranger. It is really a great one with lots of bands i like on it and a lot of illustrations. I managed to find the creator online and here it is.

It is lovely to have received something which has had so much effort put in. i feel quite honoured. I will be sure to write and say thank you.

I decided for my introductory mixtape, i would use the theme of birds.

The past month has been quite hectic for so i fear i have not spent as much time and effort as i would have liked to, and certainly not as much as was put into the one i was sent. But i hope that my recipient enjoys my humble offering.

I am already starting to think about next month. This is a lot of fun indeed.

Emilia. x

The day– Thursday 3rd June 2010- by Bird

Last night I had a wonderful time on a boat on the Thames in the big London! The boat was stranded to the side, and at an angle so it gave an authentic feeling of seasickness and disorientation. I was there to see some bands from Willkommen collective (here is the myspace so you know what I mean http://www.myspace.com/willkommencollective) The main one was called The Climbers and there were three violins which made me happy. That was my favourite sound to hear. There were violins in the other bands too, and they were all good too. And it was great because sometimes there was a feeling that people had dressed like pirates and were stamping their feet and I had some guinness so it was really a wonderful atmosphere below deck. I just saw the last thing I wrote yesterday was about Kate Moss in rowan designed knitwear on a boat! Following her steps, one at a time!

And now I will quickly mention someone I saw the night before. Her name was Nina Nastasia and this is her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/ninanastasia . She was at the Hand in Hand pub in Kemptown, which was very small and full of people, but made a nice atmosphere there too. It is really a lovely pub, with very old newspapers on the wall, like with Winston Curchill in. and from one beam in the ceiling there were a lot of ties pinned up to grand effect. It was crowded, but there was a little clear space in the corner for Nina Nastsaia and her guitar, and she just sang sweet songs that people asked her to sing. Her voice was very lovely. And she was nice to everyone too.

Those were two very nice musical evenings for me.

Yesterday afternoon I went into the sunshine of the afternoon to the Stitchery (that was subtle hyper-linking!) in the Riverside in Lewes (near to wear I work)(I just read how I wrote 'where' as "wear", I think I am thinking of dresses) and indulged (again) myself with (even more) fabric. I have a day of holiday tomorrow and am going to Lewes Psychedelic Festival (you can see about it here if maybe you want to go too http://www.myspace.com/lewespsychedelicfestival) tomorrow night, so if I can a dress with the fabric tomorrow, I think it will be the perfect one for a psychedelic event.

Here is a scan of the swatch.

I followed my heart with it, as it is quite yellow. It is designed by, I can't remember the name of them – but want to say derby house? But when I search on google for that it just gives me pictures of houses (probably in derby). I'll find out who it is soon then. Anyway, there were a few lovely rolls there, but this stood out to me as the loveliest. It is yellow though. so that was a risk. But I went for it, despite (to spite) my skintone. summer afterall!

While I was buying it I tried to have a conversation with the lady who works there. She was suffering hayfever though, but I thought she was suffering the heat, and everything she said I wasn't really listening and just said 'yes, it is quite hot'. I think she was talking about how the fabrics were in a mess, and I made a comment about the sun on the roof. It was a bit unrelated, and I think she found me strange and hard work so gave up on banter. I won't go back there for a while (for that and because I have spent my clothing budget for this month, no question!)
In other news, I just want to share with you this picture of the Missoni dress I saw in Vogue this month. I just think it's amazing.

A dress of your dreams

This weekend should be a grand one as I think I am going on a camping trip! If it stays hot and sunny, that will be a grand weekend indeed! This afternoon I am going to Eastbourne so I might go and sit on the beach there after work. That will be a change of the horizon I am used to in Brighton. Yesterday my bike bell and lights arrived, and the bell has a special feature – a compass! I was really pleased that it pointed to south directly at the sea! I know it is accurate. I have it here now and can tell you I am facing south at my desk (I should have known because I always have sun through my windows) it is fun to know my global positioning.

Much love to you for thus weekend,
Voyager. x