Back in 1647

So I'm now making a new house. I know I've said that before and it ended up full of spiders next to my trash bin, but now I'm actually making a new house! 

Instead of building on my previous idea..again.. (Maidstone house of 1860) I'm just doing something entirely new and a little smaller. The house is a run down Tudor style timber-frame house that's been lived in for about 70 years...Now it's the spring of 1647 and there is a small ale house on the bottom floor and a family of modest means renting the rooms above...and I'm pretty sure there's going to be a witch of some kind on the top floor! 

Anyway, it's a 3 floor building with lots of, still unspecified, people. Maybe an animal or two. So far I've only had one major accident when I twisted off the light cord, but fortunately there's someone else in my home that knows how to fix electrics (Thank you..!) so it's on again! The first floor is already done in a very Tudor-like style and now I'm trying to figure out the second one...very happy with my Jacobean bedroom! The next room will probably take it either back in time or forward, not sure yet, since I want to make the impression of a house that's been lived in and updated over a long period of time.

I chose to put the house in the middle of the English civil war for many reasons. 

One of them is that I find the 17th century very interesting! Many things that we take for granted in ways of thinking starts at the questioning of the king, the church and the structure of society in general and there are so many new ideas that come up for the first time during this period of time. And that is aside from that rebellion and social unrest kind of appeals to me and it' something that is getting increasingly relevant in today's society as well..

I would say that if I lived in 1647 I'd be on the side of the parliament, obviously, but more importantly I'd be a Leveller which is the earliest form real of socialism I've ever seen..and that is cool.

Another reason for picking the 17th century is that my interest in fashion and history started there. My first historically inspired costume was from the pages of my mothers school papers on the baroque style..and the spark of interest for past times came from a history lesson in 6th grade on the sun-king. So in a sense I am going full circle with this house. 16 years it took me. And there will be many more circles to come...

So my past and my present interests meet in my new Tudor-Civil war house. Kind of. 

Fortunately for me the 17th century is absolutely everywhere right now! Lots of inspiration from Tv shows like 'the Musketeers' and different documentaries, French English and Swedish ones, everyone does them now...even Moliere gets in there on a corner! and of course my favourite,  17th century or otherwise, 'the Devils Whore'. 

And also...never forget that this is the golden age of the pirates..aaargh!

So inspired right now! It wont be long before I'll finish the house, make a matching dress and tie a seagreen ribbon around my wrist. Civil war re-enactment here I come! 

  

...Ok that was too far.

Some late night thoughts on Womens Day.

8th of march. 

As a newly confessed feminist I find this day hard to relate to. On one hand I grew up in a family full of women and have to some extent always celebrated it and I never really saw people as different because of gender..but on the other hand I've now come to realise how twisted and scared I've become from living in a world built for men and how much people divide them selves. There is of course other things in life that scars too and every one has their own personal struggles regardless of gender...but I doubt that I would have counted how many men looked me in the eye walking down the street today just to justify my own existence if I wasn't born a girl. Because make no mistake, we are not allowed to feel, think, want, be anyone without twisting to please a man. Still. So what are we really celebrating? 

 Well...I suppose I'd celebrate all the strong women of history and the suffragettes who fought for the rights and equalities that we do have. One day we will look just as silly as the people in the anti-suffragette posters 100 years ago, and that is also something to celebrate...that we're not giving up yet. 

It's also kind of a good day to remember my top 3 role models that just so happens to be female! In no particular order I have Anne Boleyn, Cora Pearl and Nina my mother in law. 

In the end I want to give a thought to my childhood sisters..both in blood and in bone..and remember how hard we fought and how far we've come..because sisters are forever.

Today I made one request: I want every man to walk a mile an women's shoes and that every flower be accompanied by a card that said 'I'm sorry'.  By that I meant an actual mile in actual high heal sexy women's shoes. And while your legs cramp up and nails dig into your skin ponder this: Why is it cool for women to be men but ridiculous for men to be women?

The card is simply for acknowledging that we are not yet equal.

In the end I did celebrate Women's Day. Chocolate and flowers and the most adorable I'm sorry-card :) And this year I will continue to try to treat all the people around me as my equals, responsible for their own actions...no mater what the cost.

Lastly I want to share some reading. It's all in Swedish, mostly because,as I discovered when moving to Britain, we have come a lot further with our equality, but also because I couldn't find anything in English that made sense. 

Good luck!

http://ladydahmer.nu/category/feminism-genus-normer/

http://vifemme.wordpress.com/

http://ingenmanskvinna.bloggplatsen.se/

Endroit heureux

Coincidences...sometimes small things at the right time can make you remember important things accidentally forgot..

And sometimes, like today, my happy place of the day coincide with a strangely high number of reader from that very place..ish. Coincidence?

Either way, my happy place today is Montmartre..C'est pourquoi, endroit heureux! 

Je vais célébrer avec du chocolat.

Mince mince mince!

So it seems both me and my baby are coming out on the other side of Christmas alive. Something that didn't always seem too likely... 

they were good..

But before the new year truly begins, I want to share the last Christmasy thing I did before my world crashed to pieces and things changed... Mince pies!

Weird thing: English mincemeat pies doesn't actually contain meat. In the mincemeat. There is no meat. 

Actually there used to be mostly meat in them an just a little of the raisins and spices to flavour, but now 500 years later the raisins have taken over the whole thing and that's just awful..! so I made some Tudor-style mince pies my self with all the left over meat bits, thadaa!

And also, Christmas greetings from mr Tudor!

Christmas eve (Julafton)

I'm going to keep it short...in waiting for Christmas dinner and presents...because I like living rather than documenting mostly :) 

Merry Christmas to all! och God Jul!

Waiting for Christmas..

Although I would kind of argue that Christmas isn't really something one "waits" for...that is exactly what today feels like! On one hand it's been a long time since Christmas has been the warm and festive occasion from cards and films, but also because for every year it more and more becomes a race against time to get something even vaguely resembling it. Because as I recently pointed out to my childhood friend, we are now those aunties and mothers that holds life together. She liked my point moderately well. 

BUT! this year I have a very annoyingly long cold going on so that leaves a lot of time for thinking and planing and a lot less for actually doing things. So I am literally waiting.

This day (22 of December) actually has a name, sort of, in Swedish, it's called 'dan före dan före doppare dan'  and oh my god that has a stressful ring to it! It translates to 'the day before the day before....that day you take a bath.'. Yeah. That's what it's called. Obviously. To me more than anything it just reminds me of how much I'd love to get done but probably wont.

But if I did get everything done, it would be something like this:

This year I want to take the best parts of new and old, of  Swedish and British, of christian and pagan, possible and impossible and make a sort of restoration-like scrambled eggs with fish heads sort of dessert! (it going to be better then it sounds...hopefully!).

Oh I mustn't forget! Speaking of Christmas, and more specifically 'a Christmas carol', I did make that night shirt! For one day I had a tiny mr Scrooge walking around in nightshirt and morningrobe saying " Humbug". It was almost as hilarious as the morning I found my Lus in fear of my Julbock (Yule goat)..! That would be another tradition I wont let go of :)

That's the end of my feverish rantings for now. Good luck to you all and God Jul.

Gonatt & sov gott!

Nu ska jag snabbt beretta om en idé som jusst nu hänger lite slött sådär på en oanvänd stol i hörnet..Det börjar med en bit vitt bommulls tyg och förhopningsvis slutar med två väldigt olika nattskjortor! 

Först en "stor" gammaldags nattskjorta åt min Lus att mysa i ( men antgligen mäst för mej att mys-titta på, vi får se hur de går med det ), lång med en liten krage och knappar. Sen en pytte liten till hans bejbi docka! Finns en risk att det kryper med en nattmössa också...man vet aldrig.

Det här är delvis en del av min fasination av barn i vuxen kläder och 1800-tals mode, men mäst såg tyget bara ut som det finns en nattskjorta i det.. Får se om jag får ut dem ur tyget nu då...

Känns lite konstigt att skriva på svenska jusst nu..men tänkte att jag ialla fall måste prova..eftersom svenska ändå är mitt riktiga modersmål.

Quick English recap: I'm making adorable nightshirts. The end.