Happy Christmas!!

A big thank you to all of you who have supported me and inspired me this year!! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year wherever you are...


1. The Real Beauty Of The Candy Cane...., 2. Waiting for Santa, 3. natural christmas sparkler, 4. xmas decoration, 5. Untitled, 6. looking..., 7. a small miracle..., 8. Baubles, 9. Block printing + embroidery / Estampado + bordado, 10. englar, 11. >>> PEACE <<<, 12. Snowflake Curtain, 13. wreath light, 14. white christmas, 15. Untitled, 16. -10°

spotlight on... Emma Lamb

One of my most favourite of blog friends and goddess of granny chic is the one and only Emma Lamb. I'm sure many of you are getting to know her name as she is deservedly appearing everywhere lately and slowly taking the yarn world by storm with her cushions and potholders. Which all have fantastic granny names like Audrey and Doris by the way!



Her sense of colour is outstanding and her work is so exquisitely executed... just get a load of those granny squares!!



And I just love all the beautiful little details too...




Emma runs some amazingly inspirational groups on Flickr too including .knit.solid.yarn., granny chic... and all colours in... which are definately worth a look over a cuppa. All this along with a day job as a textile designer - I really don't know how she fits it all in! But I'm glad she does. Here's to you Emma!

nearly smiling

Phew... it's still stress-city here, but I am feeling a tiny bit more encouraged. A HUGE thank you to all you lovely blog-friends who spent the time conversing with me over the past few days. Your comments and advice have been so helpful and I feel much more motivated now. So, watch this space...
Just wanted to post a couple of inspirational bits today. I am so in love with modernist art - who isn't these days. I particularly love the work of Charley Harper.




And I found two lovely websites who have turned modernist giant Alexander Girard's work into gorgeous design items and homewares. The first is Maximo who say they are the 'official agent to the Estate of Alexander Girard and is responsible for re-introducing Girard designs to the contemporary marketplace.'

And then there is House Industries who appear to be a design team inspired by Girard. Not only do they produce great objet d'art, they have also produced a range of fantastic fonts.




I think they're all gorgeous and wonderfully uplifting! Enjoy and have a wonderful Friday one and all!

Home Spun

There's not much I miss about England, but I do miss events like this. If I were there now I would do my best to attend this years Home Spun fair in Cornwall, followed by a large cream tea!


And such a pretty shop too...

what we need. part 3

I adore anything mid-century modern and probably anything that used to sit on my granny's sideboard, but just didn't appreciate at the time. I'm loving this Swedish glassware from the 60s and these amazing Chance Brothers handkerchief bowls... minus the boiled sweets of course! Head over to 20th Century Glass and start collecting now!

a space within

I love seeing the environments in which people work. These in themselves can be an inspiration! The wonderful Orla Kiely's workspace has recently been featured in The Guardian, found via a great blog called Inspiration Boards.

They also have a Flickr group, so make yourself a nice cuppa, take a pew and have a browse. Just a couple of examples of what can be seen there are shown below.

Photo: Mady Dooijes

Photo: Elizabeth Dye & Chelsea Fuss mood board by Matt & Myra Callan.

what we need. part 2

You know I love crocheting hexagons don't you! Well, you do now. Specially worked up in gorgeous rich colours. Spotted these beautiful things over on the Garnet Hill website via Put a sock on it!. (There are close-ups available on the Garnet Hill website). What's even more exciting is I can work out a very similar motif for myself, and super simple it is too. I will post some instructions if anyone's interested!

what we need. part 1

We all need these! Spotted over on the rabbit and the duck blog, these amazing alphabet drawers are a mere snip (!) at £2700 from kent and london. Start saving...