FROM LOTTE.

Received from Lotte -Belle Fleur de Lis in Belgium, June 2012.

I have been patience for a long time and finally my letter from Lotte have arrived, and I'm so happy. The waiting time was so worth it.

Lotte is an amazing young woman. She is right now attending bobbinlace classes, hoping one day to become a teacher in this amazing technique. Her wonderful blog Belle Fleur de Lis is so fragile and pretty. Lotte  combine her love for flowers, crochet and lace in this blog with the most stunning photos. I so much love it.

When opening the letter from Lotte, it took my breath away. She has made this, oh so beautiful package full of treasuries. I feel so special.

Lotte have made this doily which were going to be part of her Crochet Treasuries. The yarns she has used is a little crispy to the touch, and it gives a nice tactilily.

An old doily she has thrifted from a second hand shop in Antwerp, her favorite city.

Beautiful pressed flowers. The red Astrantia Major to the left is one of my favorites. In Denmark it's called Stjerneskærm. I so much like this name as Stjerne is a Star.

This doily is not so big. It is made of a combination of a glimmer /glitter yarn together with the light pink. So pretty.

Some of Lottes pretty photos. If you want to follow Lottes process of her flower inspiration into her crochet and bobbinlace work, please visit her flickr.

Lotte have also send me some of her more woolen crochet work, which is part of her pattern research.

The colors and the wool is a good combination.

Dear Lotte, I want to thank you for your amazing textile letter to me. The little glimmer /glitter doily is hanging in my studio together with the pressed flowers. And the doily you have made specially for me is in my home.

Thanks to you, I have signed-up for a bobbinlace class. I feel so happy.

FROM JANIEN.

Received from Janien -Leuke Post in Belgium, June 2012.

When coming home from Berlin a letter were waiting from Leuke Post.

Janien have made me a very personal letter, full of tactility and texture.

I like this note a lot and it looks like it has been printed on a piece of paper that looks like pergament, transperant and crispy.

My favorite. I guess it's a piece of bark from a tree. Lovely.

Dear Janien, thank you so much for your beautiful letter full of texture.

FROM ANNA.

Received from Anna in Germany, June 2012.

I have received the most stunning letter from Anna, with the most amazing textile details.
Anna is a communication designer specialized on social media, living curently in Berlin and on her blog BLINK BLINK she write this about herself:
In general:
I'm a designer,
who tends to think a lot.
And also not.

I like these small quotes which often leads to something else on her blog. Like this:
Full of holes.
Check for pulse.
Blink your eyes.
One for yes.
Two for no.

I've no idea what I am talking about.

Anna likes to be in movement and to change things in her life constantly. Her dream is one day to become a consultant in matter of design / innovation brand communication and to focus on her own creativity and design-skills.
If you want to see more from Anna, visit her flickr.
My letter to Anna can be seen here.

The envelop itself is a little piece of art. Love the lines!

The letter from Anna is full of old vintage upholstery fabrics.
This piece in velvet have so many wonderful details. I like the difference in the almost tufted soft yarns together with the more twisted flat areas in the design.

An amazing card made by Anna.

Another velvet in jacquard weaving. I'm in love with the light green color.

Pretty detail in the letter from Anna.

Detail of flower.

I like the way the colors interact with each other and blend together and becomes a new color.

Dear Anna, thank you so much for your lovely letter. Your card is laying on my desk at my studio.

FROM JULIE.

Received from Julie in Holland, June 2012.

Julie has the amazing blog Daisies & Daffodils with the most pretty photos. I like to visit often.

She lives in Haarlem, close to Amsterdam. Today she is working in a bank, being creative with numbers. In her free time she likes to draw, do crochet, write letters and work on little projects. As she writes: "many ideas, only little time, always work in progress".

The envelope itself is a piece of art. I so much love the flowers.

This tiny little button Julie has sent me is so amazing, beautiful and pretty. I wish I had a lot. There is so much detail in the embroidery stitches. I would like to make some of these too.

Other buttons which is pretty together.

Julie’s boyfriend is from Portugal and every year they visit his family. The Portuguese stamps with a lot of details are fantastic. Some look like tiles.

The beautiful letter full of surprises from Julie.

Dear Julie, thank you so much for your letter. The tiny little embroidered button is already hanging on my hall.

FROM MONIKA,

Received from Monika in Scotland, June 2012.

In the beginning of June I received the most amazing natural textile letter from Monika. I have got to know Monika through her flickr red2white, but she also have a very nice blog. Monika comes from Slovakia, but lives with her husband and two children in Inverness. When Monika moved to Great Britain she learned to felt. She loves the process of the raw wool when it is transformed into a cloth. She likes cloth a lot and see felt just as one out of many.

If you want to purchase some of Monika's felted wool, you can do it here.

The full textile letter, all natural.

Homespun yarns made by Monika in naturally wool colors. So beautiful and full of texture.

I’m not sure what this is, it is very fragile. I’m so much in love with the structures, surfaces and colors.

A cloth of patcwork, where different kinds of fabrics have been sewn together. On top an eucaluptos leaves. The detail of the printed is so rich and full of details in the colors.

A little book with different kinds of wool felted. Each one gives a new expression.

Dear Monika, thank you so much for this so pretty and beautiful letter. The small fragile pieces will soon be hanging in my studio.

FROM ELISABETH, no. 2.

Received from Elisabeth in USA, May the 21.

My second letter from Elisabeth arrived yesterday. I think it's wonderful to be able to keep on writing with people and to get to know them a little bit better. My first letter from Elisabeth can be seen here.
Elisabeth weaves the most fantastic deflected double weave textiles, also known as cell weaves and I have fallen in love with them a long time ago. This time she send some of her samples to me. I feel so lucky.

Pretty, pretty, pretty!!!

This one is my favorite, as the colors interact in such a beautiful way. Also I think there is a very good contrast in the thick soft wool together with the more fine and shiny cotton.

Elisabeth were so sweet to send me some drafts too of the weaving technique.

Dear Elisabeth, thank you so much for this amazing letter. This time I'm going to make a little book and put your samples in it, so I can take it with me everywhere.

FROM STEPHANIE.

Received from Stephanie in Japan, December 19.

I love sitting and looking at blogs and items on etsy and this is how I met Stephanie. She has this unique shop full of Japanese vintage and antique treasures, called FurugiStar and I love it.
Just now I have been sitting and going through her etsy page and I am so much in love with this peasant coat.
If you want to read more about FurugiStar, Stephanie have a fantastic blog and her beautiful photos can be seen here.

Stephanie says this about her passion:
"My shop, FurugiStar, specialises in Japanese antiques and vintage items found in and around Tokyo.
I love spending time in antique shops and markets here in Japan and my Etsy page gives me a great excuse to buy the lovely things I find.
I am interested in boro and antique noragi (collectible Japanese farming wear)."

When oppening my mailbox today I found this amazing and lovely textile letter, all the way from Tokyo to me.

Stephanie told me that my invitation to participate into my textile letters inspired her to create a photobook. She has combined light, colors and textures of autumn scenes with textiles. Autumn is "Aki" in Japanese.

She choose the Ginko leaf "tenugui" as a theme. I don't know how, but Stephanie must be able to read my mind, eventhough we have never met in person.
Ginko is one of my favorite leafs. Before moving to Copenhagen to study textile design at the Danish Design School I worked 1½ year for Jette Nevers, a textile designer here in Denmark. At the time she were doing some new developments for Georg Jensen Damask and she had made a drawing of the Ginko leaf. This one she asked me to work with.

Two pages in the photobook by FurugiStar with the beautiful Ginko leafes turning yellow together with an antique textile.

Here, a page of boro textiles from an exhibition together with Ginko leafes. I really love boro, as I see it as a result of a whole life putted into one piece of textiles.
I myself is the happy owner of a sashiko back and also a Saki-ori.

This is a "omiage", a gift with the beautiful Ginko leaf "tunugui".

Stephanie also included four antique, vintage woven textiles into the letter. I am so happy for these, especially because they are in indigo and white, beautiful colors together.
The one in blue-green to the left is in silk, at first glance it looks like a plain weave, but when looking closer you can see a twill, it is so beautiful. Stephanie says it reminds her of seaweed and 1950's upholstery. It is probably from the mid-century, Showa era. A beautiful piece.
The kasuri piece to the right is machine woven. I so much love double kasuri like this piece. It dates back to early Showa era.

Detail of the above.

Two white in white samples.
The one to the left is in cotton for a obi linning, which is found inside a Meiji era obi (over 100 years old). Fantastic. I love the texture of the thread.
The one to the left is in silk called "Mawata tsumugi"; homespun raw silk and handwoven. It was intended for a high quality kimono.

Here you can see the fluffy cotton on the back. It is so rustic and raw.
All of the textiles is avaiable in the FurugiStar shop at etsy.

Stephanie also send me four photos. She writes she lives in an area of Tokyo with antique, vintage clothes shops together with tiny "antique" cinemas.
One of her favorite things to do, at the end of a busy day, is to go to one of these war-era theaters.

The seats are old and creaky.
I come from a little town and perhaps 15 years ago the local cinema change all of there seats and the old one, probably from the 1950 were put for sale. My parents bought some and I have had these in my appartment. One day I will have them fixed.

Stephanie's beautiful card.

Dear Stephanie, I want to thank you for your lovely textile letter and letting me get to know a little bit of you and your life. As you know I love Japan and I hope to be back for a visit one day again. Perhaps we will meet.

FROM CECA.

Received from Ceca in Bulgaria, December 12.

I met Ceca in Graz, Austria in 2006 where we both were invited by Renate Maak, to represent ouer country as exhibitors and speakers at the International Tapestry Symposium.
Ceca is represented at the wellknown browngrotta arts gallery.
You can purchase Ceca's beautiful bracelets at etsy and follow her process and work at her blog.

Ceca says this about her work;
"Working with natural materials not only brings me joy but also much wisdom. In even the smallest piece of grass there is incorporated history, meaning and purpous. I constantly marvel nature. I admire and learn from her genius "installation" of design, color, smell and light ...
It is a great challenge to enter in her laboratory and to be able to add my own thing."

I am now the happy owner of a unique bracelet made from Ceca. This is just one of the amazing things she sended me in her textile letter. 

It is made of cotton cord embroidered and putted together with oak acorn. Absolutely amazing.

The datails is stunning.

Even the packing were one of a kind. It was wrapped inside the letter with Ceca's handwriting on.

I always get so excited when receiving a textile letter, that I often forget to take a first picture of the envelop before opening.
Inside the letter was three small papers put together; photos of "The Garden -installation".  

Made out of pressed petals and leafs, a kind of room dividers were made. The light have many possibilities for playing.

Another project is "Textile in Nature" eco-art symposium founded by Ceca Georgieva in 1994. This land art is beautiful.

Dear Ceca, I want to thank you for this amazing presents. When I open the package at the postoffice I got so happy.
I look forward to wear it on Christmas evening and afterwards I will have it at my studio, so I can treasure it every day.