These are my favourite things - Gee Bend quilts

 

What is not to love - if I just had a spare $12,500 to spend on a quilt, I would own the bottom one.......

Read about the 'fantasticness' of these quilts here.

A little inspiration

 

At any time on my screen I have between 20 - 50 images of things I've seen that I find inspiring, clever, lovely etc etc. What's interesting is how when pulled together, they all seem to fit together. That must be the back of my brain trying to force its way through?

 

Some loveliness for the weekend

Do not miss Ros Badger's special sale this weekend. It's called Its loveliness increases,  (double Keats this week) and it is held at her very special home in Dulwich. All the details below.

May 6th - 12pm - 5pm

May 7th & 8th - 11am - 6pm

79 Holmedene Avenue

SE24 9LD

There are more fantastic events happening this weekend than I can stretch myself too, but this is definately a must.

A little inspiration

For a quilt commission I'm working on. Thank you Dosa, Giorgio Morandi, and the mighty Coromandel.

Passions

I love homes - I think that's very clear. But there are three (sub)categories that are my absolute passions (terrible description but have been driving for many,many hours). 

The first - obviously quilts (and by default all textile wonders). 

Then there is paint. I've been pilfering paint charts since Adam was a boy. I constantly find them stuck inside a book or magazine, at the bottom of a hand bag or in a shoe box. I can't and won't stop gazing at them. They are often settled next to me whilst watching the latest Phil & Kirsty, or nestled on the bedside table.... 

I have "laboured" over the selection of colours in this house. 

Taking the colours that I love most (white, black and grey) and applying them with the greatest respect to this 1874 house has been a challenge. Should I have gone with the original chocolate brown, putty et al? I didn't, because in my home, I need the outlines that black gives (we have black doors and radiators), the light that this shade of white bounces around (SAD anyone - I need more light than is probable in a London February. Then grey, because that perfect oyster colour is part Vionnet and part pumice on a NZ beach.

Lastly, but by no means least, ceramics. All food goes on a platter or a bowl here. Sharing and passing around an important ritual in this home. Jugs are used for water, flowers, wine - whatever. All handmade - all with the mark of the maker, and all loved. Many gifts and many more carried back on a plane on my lap. 

We've been dabbling with selling vintage ceramics. It's gone super lovely well. We have sold out. I wondered why and then an email from a store in the States alerted me to the fact that we're in Elle Decoration. Thanks very much. 

 "gone shopping" (with the latest Farrow & Ball chart in my coat pocket)

House love

Fiddling with the website this morning, I came across this photo. I took it when in New Zealand last year. It's a potters shed in the Coromandel and is possibly the loveliest little shed I've seen. It also represents a wonderful couple of days spent with my mum. I think I may have to print and frame.

Um - how could I forget this!

 

Not just a favourite for the week of course.. but the new addition to the family - Darcy - or Mr to loved ones. Marvelous and already better behaved than his big sister. 

These are our favourite things - a veritable assortment

Al the things and people that are a little exciting to me this week..

 

Book cloth blinds from Marianna Kennedy. A-ma-zing....

Brassica - one of the eleven new colour's from Farrow & Ball.

I'm thinking Front Door....

I saw Gary Allson's work at Origin. His plates are beautiful. Handmade from locally sourced, sustainable timber in Cornwall - you can truly feel the hand of the maker.

Small glass lamps from Emery et Cie. Affordable, hand-made and just beautiful.

A Multi-colored Boro Shikimono: Pieced Cotton Sleeping Mat from Sri threads. Between seeing and posting - it's already sold........ bugger

And last, but by no means least - the latest entry from The Improvised life. One of my favourite daily reads.

As I juggle the renovation budget and the renovations themselves with current commissions and goods for Liberty, I worry. But I shouldn't and won't - especially after lifting 50kg restored radiators into the house. How can a radiator bring such joy?

Things we love ( this week )

 Three fantastic antique/furniture stores - probably my favourite places in Brighton (except for Pub du Vin). Much of the same high street stores are in Brighton, but a walk to Hove, Kemp town and the North Laines found these gems.

 

I Gigi. Fantastically single-minded in their wares. All vintage linens, animal skins and wools and no colour. Wonki ware ceramics mix with antique furniture, books and scarves. Beautiful and only a brisk 10 minute walk from Brighton central.

I don't think that Swag have suffered much in the recession - which is great. Every morning Lily and I walked passed the store, and every morning stock had disappeared. Specialising in antique tables, leather chairs and clocks, it's has a lovely, well priced and slightly spartan mix of furniture.

Alex MacArthur's store is extraordinary. The pieces range from 17th century ecclesiastical to 20th century industrial, with an emphasis on the dramatic and decadent.

A brisk 15 minute walk the other way, in deepest Kemp town. If it's a nice day you could walk from I Gigi to Alex MacArthur, on the beach and promenade. Then wend your way down the hill to Swag and walk through the Laines to end up at the aforementioned Pub du Vin.

Delightful.

Things we love ( this week )

 

I could weep - enough said.

Things we love ( this week )

John Pawson. Which may seem strange as I'm fairly fanatical about textiles and John Pawson isn't. However, whilst planning our new house, I've found many of the images I'm drawn to are his. I seem to need clutter put away and a sense of containment.I will never give up period detail but I need the 'fiddly' messy bits hidden in order for my mind to rest. Maybe a stage I'm going through, but more likely, just as you do with your clothing style, you find your rhythm and your own way of living happily (Dries van Noten, Zambesi, Cos and Gap if you're interested). I'm thrilled that finally there will be an exhibition of his work at the Design Museum. From September 22nd, there will be a full scale installation to enjoy and a special talk with John and Alain de Botton.

Follow the progress here. 

Copper shades from Tom Dixon. I love metallic anything,and these will just look lovely with a velvet sofa and an antique rug we have. Most of Tom Dixons products are now available online, but I'm much more for sauntering down there myself... 

 

This should arrive in my letterbox on Friday.

Nigel - we salute you.

Enough said. 

 

 And finally, this image. Only the Japanese would turn envelopes and paper clips into something so very beautiful. 

Things we love ( this week )

Always good to start the day with a little cry....

Have a look here and just make sure you're ready for it. I think it's the most authentic idea that Anthropologie have had for some time. The Derek Henderson movie is gracious, moving and actually made me want to pack my bags.

Don't even get me started on Donna deMari's ode to her labradors. I still choke up when I think about my own beautiful girl who we lost far too early.

Russell Pinch. Modern, yet classic, hand-made, hand-loved, no tricks, no gimmicks, just very beautiful, very useful pieces of furniture.

Caroline Swift ceramics. I think the picture tells the story....

 My new fabric love - hand-dyed Indigo cloth from Mali. Hand-woven cotton strips are sewn together to make a whole cloth. The whole cloth is then tied or stitched to create a resist, before being dyed in indigo. Still handmade today. Can you imagine the rivers running blue?

Extraordinarily beautiful.

These are our favourite things ( for this week! )

We are painting and making and staring at our stuff in Liberty with amazement. I pretended to be a customer to get the staff lowdown.... and then re-arranged the cushions.... I think that's ok...

I love these colours and textures. My hands are covered in paint the colour of clouds, ink and this pot. I have to say there is nothing nicer than an Ercol rocker painted white.

I'm thinking about eiderdowns, and more importantly, why i didn't think about them before.... 

 I'm thinking about the picture of this woman as she is on my inspiration board. Texture and pattern but 'clean'. Yes - I can do that.

And lastly, I'm thinking about this room, because, well - just look at it.

Back to painting........ it's lucky I come from the flat shoe, not that interested in a manicure tribe.

 

Things that are pretty lovely....

A random selection of things that are just really inspiring at the moment.

Canvas. From the people (well the husband of) that brought us Ochre... quite a lot more affordable, still with the same integrity and just beautifully selected, useful things for your home.

Resist Indigo dyed vintage linen from here. I shouldn't share this....

Charleston Grey from Farrow & Ball. Some of our revived furniture is being painted in this. Really, really, really lovely. It doesn't look like poo, or sand I promise. In fact I staring at a small georgian table drying right now and it just looks luminous and, yes, lovely.

Yes, I'm sure everyone has heard of it, but I've been carrying etcetera etc around for weeks in my bag because of one! image. I won't crack the spine to scan it....

You can get it from here or here.

A room (and the rest of the house) I should be getting my hands on smartish to turn into a haven.

That should do it!