A happy Friday to everyone! It has been a bit of a harrowing morning here in my house, unfortunately. Today I'm going to share some of my favorite artists, but first I have to share my embarrassing bad mom moment.

I should preface this story by explaining the situation a little bit. I am afraid of spiders. I can't look at pictures of them because I imagine those pictures crawling on me under the covers at night while I'm trying to sleep. I also seem to attract spiders. Not so much anymore, but spiders used to follow me wherever I went. I'm pretty sure I could find spiders in Antarctica.

I have been working on this fear for over ten years. I've gotten a LOT better. For the most part, spiders that are less than one inch across do not bother me unless they are on my face. However....

The old houses in Hancock, where I live, have what I call "seasonal spiders". We see them in the Spring and in the Fall and rarely in between. These are not normal spiders though. The only spiders I personally have seen that are bigger are the cane spiders in Hawai'i. These buggers are the size of the palm of my hand and they can MOVE. They can probably run faster than me, not that I run all that fast, but I'm like a thousand times their size.

The up side of these particular spiders is that they are so heavy they can't climb. They stay on the first floor and they stay on the ground. Or so I thought.

The little guy and I woke up at around nine and had our nice, happy morning snuggle time and then we got up and went to the bathroom so I could change his diaper. Both of these rooms are on the second floor of our house. We're laughing and playing and then one of these big mama spiders walks right past my feet. The maternal instincts that I was sure would turn me into some fierce warrior to protect my child completely abandoned me and I ran from the room shrieking. Five started crying and I had to go downstairs to put shoes on before I could force myself to go back in and rescue my baby.

The only thing that mitigates my guilt at all is that I knew he was safe up high on the changing table...

As embarrassing as it was to call my husband at work and beg him to come home to kill a spider or let us move to another state before lunch, that is exactly what I did. Big Fred, wonderful man that he is, dutifully came home and hunted for the spider. The bad thing about not being afraid of spiders though is that he doesn't have the adrenaline and paranoia to help him find them. He declared the beast gone and got ready to leave. I convinced him to go with me while I changed the diaper just for a minute. As I timidly re-checked everywhere that Fred had, I discovered that my nightmares had indeed come true and not only did that horrible spider make it to the second floor but he had climbed up the wall behind my husband, leaving no safe zone for me at all. Yes, I abandoned my child once again as I  ran from the room shrieking.

So I'm now sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, baby on my lap, where I can monitor my perimeter constantly and attempt to take my mind off the invasion with some of my favorite artists. Enjoy!

Sanna is a half-Finnish half-English illustrator and printmaker. I think her work is incredible. Her designs are inspired by her childhood summers spent in Finland, rich with nature and folklore. She's done work for album covers, candy wrappers, milk cartons, plus she's developing her own line of products. She also dis several designs for Marimekko a few years ago, they are featured in the pictures below. Click on any of the pics to check out her site.

You may recognize her work from my last post as well. I have a set of her postcards framed in the baby decorations. It was actually what we built all the decor around.

Cilla is a Swedish artist whose works always seems to revolve around textiles. She uses unconventional materials to depict traditional textile patterns like in the glass floor mosaic below and the plastic bead picture below that. She also designed several fabrics for Ikea. Click to see what they currently have of hers. Click either of the top to pictures to go to her blog. She hasn't posted in years, but it has some more great pictures of her work.

I got her book, Knitprovisation, for Christmas in 2008 and it rocked my world. Her stuff is bizarre and not for the faint of heart, but it's also amazing and beautiful and incredibly creative. Click on the picture to see it on Amazon.

Do these two artists get you in the mood for all things Scandinavian? Check out my Scandinavian-themed treasury on etsy! Come back Monday for some new recipes and perhaps a new product update...

The Freds and I had a very exciting time in Madison, Wi this past weekend. We taught the little guy how to protest (although he couldn't really join in on the call and response) and he felt so at home that he napped through most of it.

As a former Wisconsinite and life-long union supporter, it was an incredibly emotional few hours for me. The dedication of those who have been there for going on two weeks is breathtaking. These are both exciting and very frightening times.

I am so proud to be from a state where so many people will not stand idly by while our democratic process is sold to the highest bidder. I send you all my love, support, and strength.

On a significantly lighter note, we went to an amazing juggling show on Sunday that was well-worth the six hour drive to Madison. My fake twin brother Jay Gilligan, who spends most of his year teaching and performing in Europe, comes to the states once or twice a year to do a Shoebox Tour. He usually brings some other incredible performers and they do shows, often in small venues, in the cities where he has American friends he'd like to visit.
This spring he brought Wes Peden with him. Wes is also from the states and, like Jay, spends most of his time performing in Europe. I was lucky enough to have met Wes a few years ago when my husband and I were in Sweden so I knew what a treat we were in for.
Jay and Wes are fantastic jugglers and performers on their own, but together they were certainly more than the sum of their parts. It was a wonderful and rare experience (especially in the States) to see two men over six feet tall juggle with such an awareness of their physical presence. It was such a beautiful show without being feminine at all- there was a group of beer-drinking macho dudes sitting behind me exclaiming that this was the best damn show they'd ever seen.
I linked the pictures below to their personal websites, but you can see if they're playing in your town here.

So obviously I enjoyed their show, but what I took home with me and thought about on the drive back was a new clothing brand.

I have on occasion made costumes for Jay and his cohorts, but with a brand-new baby I had been out of commission for a while. I was delighted to see what they had worn for this tour. They both had on shirts by Humör, a new Danish brand inspired by urban life and strangeness.

This is the shirt that Wes wore, accessorized with a red bow-tie. Perfect.

I love the unusual construction and the use of different angles for the plaid.

I have quite a stash of deconstructed button-down shirts in my studio and I have been busy plotting what to do with them since I saw this shirt.

Below is a picture of more Humör wear. Anyone who has seen my own fashion will know that this is like a basket full of unicorns for me. Except for the doofy mustache, that guy is so my boyfriend. I think I've made my point.

I'm off to finish my cooking for the week- I'll have some wonderful recipes to share tomorrow. Enjoy!