Found, now home

Tea Feature for 91Magazine

2012-01-31T09:23:00.001Z

I've hinted at a tea project recently, and I'm really happy to reveal that it's an article on a few London tea rooms I wrote and photographed for 91Magazine! Here are some screen shots of the article. You can read the feature here. It's on pp. 18-25. And if you'd like to see more photos of these tea rooms, you will find many more in my "shop photos" flickr set.

BHLDN: Wedding from Anthropologie

2012-01-27T19:11:00.000Z

This may be old news, but it's new news to me. The Anthropologie family has a wedding shop. Did you know? It's called BHLDN. Wish it had been around when I got married! Here's a peek. Oooh, so many fun, pretty things! Go check it out. Beautiful dresses, shoes, accessories, gifts.... I was clicking around so fast I didn't save individual links for these items, but they're all on the web site.

Paris See and Do

2012-01-25T09:11:00.007Z

Over the last few weeks I've been searching blogs for Paris tips--things to do, places to go, where to shop and eat.... My list has grown so long that I feel a little overwhelmed by it, but it's certainly better to have more to do than not enough. One of my favorite blogs for information is Anne Ditmeyer's blog, Pret a Voyager. The "living in Paris" and the "visiting Paris" sections have so much information, both practical, such as finding an apartment and working in Paris, and fun, such as recommendations on shops and restaurants. Her Design Sponge city guide is great too. If you have any plans to go to Paris and need some tips on what to do, definitely put her blog on your list.

Cute Paris illustration from Bear and the Hare on etsy.

Hucklebones

2012-01-17T08:00:00.001Z

I love looking at little clothes for kids (I've made a pinterest board for some here). Although I usually shop H&M or Target for Lois, I really love handmade, beautiful clothes. My friend Caroline gave me a great jumper (this one!) from when she was making kids clothes, and I just love it. Lois has worn it a few times, but I'm actually nervous for her to wear it because I like it so much! Silly, I know. Anyway, I love little handmade clothes. I was in Hop Like Bunny yesterday, a great children's shop near our apartment, and they're having a sale. Woohoo. One label they carry there is Hucklebones. I love their clothes! They don't have much posted on their site right now I imagine because it's near the end of the season, but you can see more on their blog. I love the top above! I love the fabric and the collar. It's just really beautiful. It makes me want to learn to make nice wee clothes. From their blog, I also love this and this and this....
Image from the Hucklebones blog.

More Tea, Please

2012-01-14T18:24:00.000Z

I'm still on a tea mission of sorts (the reveal on that topic will be January 31), so I headed to one of my favorite places today with Lois, Vintage Heaven. The front room is filled with vintage treasures and the back room is the Cake Hole Cafe. More on Vintage Heaven later this month. For now here's just a little peek.

Tea Treat

2012-01-10T19:25:00.001Z

Last weekend I visited Le Chandelier. I don't get down to this part of the city often, but Le Chandelier is worth the short trip. I needed to visit Le Chandelier again to take some new photos for a an exciting tea project I'm working on, which I'll share with you soon. I made sure to take time to sit down with a delicious apple tarte tatin. It was sooo good. Click here to see more photos from my frist visit. I just love Le Chandelier. And East Dulwich is very charming if you've never been.

From the desk of...

2012-01-02T19:48:00.004Z

If Paris doesn't interest you (or French things in general), you might want to delete my blog for a while. I'm immersed in all things French! I need to write some thank yous and thought I'd get something with a French twist while I'm at it. I've had my eye on custom stationery from one of my favorite paper companies, Rifle Paper Co., for a while now, and I remembered they also have super cute French notes.

And I also love these cards below from Darling Clementine.

Ooh la la!!

All images from their respective sites, links above.

Adorable Paris

2011-12-27T10:06:00.001Z

Christmas was a lot of fun, especially for Lois who as soooo excited about santa, and gifts, and really just everything Christmas. But I'm happy it's over because I can't wait to get to Paris! It's all I've been thinking about. We've settled on an apartment in the 6th. It wasn't my first choice for a neighborhood, just because I think that area is a little fancier than we are, but it is very, very nice. And our place is right next to a grocery store and a playground, must haves with Lois in tow. So of course now that we've got that settled my brain's been saturated in all things Paris. Here are a few adorable Paris inspired designs I love. The Mikodesign doll and fabric has been on my "to buy" list for a while now, and I think it's time to get it. So cute! I also love her blog and she's made this great Google map of wonderful craft and children's shops in Paris.

And I read about Famille Summerbelle in this issue of Mollie Makes (which is a great issue, by the way). Their laser cut maps are really amazing, and I love their Paris wallpaper and the cute Paris tape too.

All images from their respective web sites, links above.

Holiday Cheer

2011-12-18T08:44:00.000Z

Oh I've been much distracted by our Paris plans, and have mostly neglected poor little Lois and holiday fun, but I haven't entirely forgotten about Christmas. We just have a wee synthetic tree this year, but my mom got an amazing real tree for her house this year. She usually goes the more eco friendly route, but she just decided she wanted a real tree this year, so that's what she did. Here's her tree above, which we decorated with the kids when I was in town. We love x-mas cards from past years stuffed in trees. They look even prettier that way to us and they fill some bigger holes. And tinsel, I LOVE tinsel. Just a little bit though to add some sparkle.

I made a s'mores pie at my mom's too. Dang it was good. I found the recipe here.

I made some stocking from Goodwill thrifted sweaters. These were so easy and fun. Those stockings took about 2 hours total. I used this Martha Stewart pattern. Cute!

Lois made some ornaments.

And she made some cookies with her gal-pal, Eloise.

And London is making up for any lack of festiveness at home. It is quite sparkly and filled with holiday hustle. I need to get out there and hustle myself and finish some shopping.

Paris?!! I need your help!

2011-12-15T21:05:00.003Z

We might be moving to Paris! I know, that made me squeal too :) I say moving, but really it will be a long stay to start with--a few months, that is. We have some apartment options, furnished vacation rental options, but I need help with some other things like what in the world to do with a 3 year old! I've found my spots in London that are good for Lois--the playgrounds and parks (of which there are many in London), indoor jumpy play space, water parks in summer, and right now she's in nursery 3 days a week and loves it. But in Paris I'm not sure what to do nursery-wise. She does not speak French (uh, neither do I, but that's another issue). So for now, I'm mostly interested in fun things to do with children near the 4th and 11th arrondissements since that's likely where we'll be staying. We also want her to learn French. I found a baby languages place that teaches children English, but we have that covered. I emailed them to see if they also teach children French, but I haven't heard back just yet. And if you live in Paris, will you be my friend?!! I'm not going to be shy. Moving to another country is hard, and I will need some friends! Same for Lois--if you have children, even better. Lets go play. And get a pan au chocolat while we're out, of course! If you have any other tips, suggestions, recommendations for anything Paris, on any other topic, feel free to let me know that too. I'm all ears, ready with a pen. The photo above is from this great blog post from Kiss My Spatula. If you like Paris, seriously head over and see those photos!

Gypsy Honeymoon

2011-12-01T16:39:00.005Z

Whew, we're back from our US holiday--San Francisco, and then Atlanta to visit with both sides of our family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time but it's taken a few days to adjust and get back into our routine. One last San Francisco stop before moving on... I popped into Gypsy Honeymoon, one of my favorite SF shops, to see the new location. The location is new since we moved anyway, which has been 2 years! Time does fly. A post on a previous visit in the old location is here. The space and the merchandise may be different, but it's still the same Gypsy, filled with beautiful antiques, vintage clothes, jewelry, trinkets, and treasures. I didn't bring our nice Canon with us on the trip, but here are a few snaps in the new location, at 1266 Valencia Street, with my iPhone. It is just as wonderful as it was in the old Victorian house. You can see a lot more photos on the Gypsy Honeymoon website. And be sure to stop in if you are in San Francisco!

Hotel Rex

2011-11-20T02:04:00.000Z

So I mentioned that I loved our hotel. Well, if you're in San Francisco you might want to consider the Joie de Vivre hotel group. I can really only speak for Hotel Rex, but it was really great. It has a 20's-30's vibe and a library theme. In the lounge of the library bar are plenty of books, not just for show, but for anyone to take to their room for a bit of reading quiet time. They also have some antique library reading tables, book quotes on some feature walls, and book pages cover the walls of the hotel elevator. And the library bar lounge features a wall of lady portraits, which I really liked too. And you can borrow a few vintage bikes if you're brave enough to take on the San Francisco hills. The rooms are fairly simple, no fancy marble in the bathrooms, but you have everything you need and the bed and pillows were great. I also liked our shower curtain a lot. It was a fun vintage beach print. I can't remember ever especially liking a shower curtain in a hotel. The artwork throughout the hotel, outside of the main salon, was really nice as well. And the staff were super friendly. Lois woke up very early every day and we were downstairs for coffee before the sunrise, so I got to know a few staff members pretty well. The coffee is really great as well as the breakfast, which we had on our last day. I'd definitely choose this hotel again! Oh and I almost forgot, they have complimentary wine hour each night, and the wine was great.

By the Bay

2011-11-15T00:52:00.000Z

We had a great time in San Francisco! It went by way too fast. Ah, well, time does fly when you're having fun. Not much can be done about that. We mostly re-visited some of our favorite places to eat, saw friends, strolled around the city, and just took in the beauty and charisma that is San Francisco. Here are some snap shots into our visit, all with my iPhone. Starting at the top left corner, going clockwise: our plane ride, Dynamo Donuts, a restaurant in North Beach, pizza in North Beach, Lois checking out murals in the Mission, Pop-up Magazine at Davies Symphony Hall, Sutro Tower from Valencia Street, 826 Valencia, Coit Tower, Lois at the Embarcadero, Chinatown paper lanterns, Tartine breakfast, and the Transamerica Pyramid. And that's just a few highlights. More coming soon from our hotel (which I loved) and one of my favorite SF shops.

San Francisco!

2011-11-05T23:12:00.001Z

Tomorrow we leave for San Francisco. I'm so excited! It will be the first time we've been back together since we moved almost two years ago. See you in a few days from San Francisco! Poster from Ork Posters.

Get Inspired: Beehive Style

2011-11-02T22:16:00.000Z

Doesn't Natalie Wood look so strong and beautiful here? I love this picture of her. I think I've posted it before, but ah, it doesn't get old for me. Just like her personal style, the photo itself is classic. I'm not sure just how classic my personal style is, but I'd like to daydream that it's a bit like hers. I'm really excited to be involved with promoting Beehive Style, a great new boutique that sells handmade jewelry, accessories, home decor and kid's items. And I'm also excited to have my personal style featured on the "get inspired" page of the site! I paired the Natalie Wood photo with a Beehive Style necklace, a nice modern asymmetrical tear drop neckalce that I'm coveting, along with a Topshop little black dress, and some Christian Louboutin booties. Sizzle! Hmm, I could use a bag to go with it. Back to shopping!!

Good Reads: 91 Magazine

2011-10-31T15:20:00.002Z

The last few days I've been flipping through a wonderful new online magazine called 91 Magazine. It's the latest project from one very talented Caroline Taylor, who also writes the lovely blog Patchwork Harmony and who runs an online boutique by the same name. She also has a full-time job! I can't imagine being able to accomplish so much, and so well. The premiere issue of 91 Magazine features inspiring interiors, unique craft projects, a helpful guide to vintage in Surrey, and it also includes a great article on the history of marmalade. And that's just a peek into this issue. Click here to read on.

2011-10-26T12:34:00.000+01:00

This week I've been sick and soooo sluggish. My head feels like it's deep under water. I just want to ball up in bed all day with a good book, which is what I've been doing when I have time. Right now I'm reading Jane Eyre. I know the general story, but I've never read the book. I'm loving it right now. I don't have a beautiful hard bound version, like these Penguin classics pictured below, but I would like to have that collection one day. Meantime, I'll daydream I'm in this bed above reading the lovely hard bound Jane Eyre. I could use some of that natural light too.

Three!

2011-10-19T08:40:00.001+01:00

Last week Lois turned 3. Three!! She's such a big girl. Here she is turning one and two. I wish I had taken more pictures. Ah, I hate it when that happens--when I mean to take more pictures but only afterwards realize I didn't take very many! Her balloons are still a-float one week later. I was thinking of having a second little photo shoot. We'll see. I did get a handful of pictures of the cake, which was amazing! I made Alicia's chocolate cake with cloudburst frosting. The frosting wasn't quite as fluffy as I was hoping it would be, and I think I'd prefer vanilla extract over almond extract next time, but really, this is one of the best cakes I've ever had! It was so moist and delicious. Lois also had to have a party hat, of course, and I got the idea for the bunting from this adorable picture.

I may not have gotten a lot of pictures, but I did get a few. Here's the big girl herself. Very pleased with her cake, which she helped make.

Seeing in Color: Fall

2011-10-09T17:18:00.000+01:00

The leaves are turn, turn, turning here, and it looks very beautiful outside lately. Lois and I collected leaves for her first homework assignment. How cute is that? Her first homework assignment! I received an email from her art teacher titled "homework" and thought, what could it be?!! Leaves. Easy homework. Beats calculus. I always like to look at fall leaves closely. They are soooo pretty. The photo above is with my iPhone, using Instagram. And the chill in the air makes me want to cozy up. The two photos below are from here and here on Pinterest. I've seen this bath photo on blogs before, but I couldn't resist--it's such a great bath. And that chair with blankets... where are my PJs?!!

Back to Stitching

2011-10-03T10:54:00.002+01:00

This past weekend I took another one of Jessie Chorley's workshops (Jessie pictured above). Of course it was dreamy like the first time. Some photos of the creative juices flowing and head to Jessie's site to see more of her work.

I can't show you mine yet, because it's going to be for my mom, who reads my blog :) but here are other works in progress from the other attendees.

Taormina, Italy

2011-09-29T09:00:00.001+01:00

We're back from our Sicilian adventure but had a great time, as great of a time as we could have with little bit in tow anyway. It's not exactly a snap traveling with an almost three year old, but we did have a very nice time. Our hotel was comfortable and in a great location with a spectacular view. We could see Mt. Etna (an active volcano) from our lovely hotel patio, and the charming town, Taormina, was just a short walk from our hotel. We enjoyed the beach, the food, the scenery, a wonderful boat tour, a walk up to the Greek Theater, and the people were so friendly too. I'd love to go back when Lois is a bit older, when we can go snorkeling, take an excursion up to Mt. Etna, eat out past 7PM....

All photos here with my iPhone, using Instagram.

Getting out of Town

2011-09-20T08:17:00.000+01:00

We're headed to Italy this week, and I can't wait! We'll be at the bottom of the boot, in Sicily. I'll see you in a week with a full report.
Found image in pinterest, here and processed it in camerabag.

In Bloom: Saipua

2011-09-14T10:04:00.001+01:00

Homemaking is made better with flowers, don't you think? On the weekends Andrew often brings home flowers from the farmer's market, and they usually always last a week, sometimes up to two weeks (if I'm good about changing the water, etc.). I love having flowers in the house. Wether we have flowers in bloom in our house or not, I also love the Saipua blog, where I can see beautiful photos of flowers every day. Saiupa is a handmade soap and flower arrangement business based in Brooklyn, and I always love seeing what's new. I especially like the darker, moody lighting in some of the photos. The top image here is from a found scrapbook from Sara Kate studios. I found it on pinterest. And all the flower images below are from the Saiupa blog. Beautiful.

Carry Me: Swarm Bags

2011-09-12T09:42:00.000+01:00

I've coveted Leslie Oschman's painted canvas bags for quite a while now. I thought I'd take a peek to see if she had any new ones posted on her site and I saw these great, new bags that she's made. They're made from vintage fabrics and linens, with vintage embroidery hoops as handles. I just love them! So now I want one of these too. Images from the Swarm web site.

Rust

2011-09-07T14:30:00.002+01:00

Recently I paid a visit to the Rust jewelry showroom. I've been a long-time reader of Artemis' blog, junkaholique and have always admired her handcrafted jewelry. For some time now I've wanted to have a look at her jewelry and showroom in person, and to meet her of course! I purchased a fox necklace, like the one shown below, and I just love it. I had a locket in mind when I went for my appointment, but I fell in love with the little fox. The fox I choose was created from a mold that Artemis carved. It was also just really nice to browse the showroom, looking at all the beautiful jewelry and Artemis' creative, junk inspired styling. All images here are by Artemis from her web site and blog.

The fox necklace above, and the beginnings of the mold below.

More beautiful Rust jewelry... I really like the charms with a stone.

And the wedding collection... so beautiful.

And her blog, really, you have to head over and read it if you don't already... just head over, you'll see.

The woman behind the magic...

Good Reads: Mollie Makes

2011-09-04T09:25:00.000+01:00

I've found a new magazine that I love: Mollie Makes. I first read about the British craft magazine on Alicia Paulson's beautiful blog. Her studio is featured in one of the early issues. Unfortunately I missed that one, but I'm happy to have found the magazine. It's really wonderful. Finally, a great craft magazine! I feel that the majority of craft magazines on newsstands are stuck in a previous decade. But this magazine features current designers and crafters, both their work and studios, and it features fun, contemporary projects, and it has a great vintage-modern aesthetic. Making, thrifting, collecting, crafting... here's a peek at Mollie Makes.

Seeing in Color: Purple

2011-08-31T08:49:00.001+01:00

Purple has never been my favorite color, although I've always liked deep, dark purple, like eggplant purple. But purple is a color that's grown on me, especially lavender. Andrew bought these flowers above at the farmer's market last weekend, and they've opened my eyes to more purple around me, like these pretty images below on pinterest.

Images found here: shutters, bedroom, ribbons, doorknob.

What a Doll!

2011-08-28T08:11:00.002+01:00

I've been meaning to make Lois a doll, for about, oh, 3 years now so I'm always noticing cute dolls for ideas. Some dolls I especially love are Alicia Paulson's dolls, Jess Brown's dolls, and Emily Martin's dolls. I also like the fairly simple dolls in the Martha Stewart craft book (and online here). I was back to thinking about dolls recently, so I thought I'd take a peek at Emily Martin's dolls again. I remembered she made them on the Martha Stewart show, so I wanted to re-watch the video. But once I went to her blog, I saw these two ADORABLE dress up dolls, which I had not seen before. The kitting kitty and the Pretend Bear Doll. Seriously?!! For the kitty, that wee skein of yarn and needles, the little purse, coat... for the bear, the mask, little bandit eyes, the cape, and the cute shoes on their itsy bitsy feet! These two take the cake now for favorite dolls. Emily Martin is so talented and just adorable herself. I just love her vintage blog.

Photos by Emily Martin, from her blog.

For Little Feet

2011-08-24T08:39:00.001+01:00

A while back I bought some cute little baby shoes on etsy. Ever since, I've thought about trying to make something similar. A friend of mine is having a baby soon so I thought it would be a good opportunity to give the wee shoes a whirl. I found a pattern in one of my sewing books, but those shoes had a strap with a snap fastener, and I wanted mine to be slip-ons. After searching around on the internet a bit, I found this video tutorial. I printed the pattern and got to stitching. These were sooo easy to make. I did do one thing differently, and that was to have a contrasting fabric for the sole, in the interior. You just pin it (with wrong sides together), to the outside of the shoe, so that the right side is facing out when you sew. Then when you turn it in, it is in the interior. The only tricky part was pinning the sole to the upper. I ended up making two pairs and a bib to go with one of them. Now I'd like a pair for myself.

Dollhouse Makeover

2011-08-21T08:24:00.001+01:00

My mom's had this dollhouse in her garage, for I dunno, a few years maybe? Maybe just a year or so. She bought it for $10 at a yard sale. The previous tenants were mice. We know because it was filled with plenty of mice poop when she bought it (gross, I know!), but my mom can't resist a bargain and she could see its potential. This last visit, I said to her, lets work on the dollhouse while I'm here. Mom thought that'd be fun too, so she immediately put on some rubber gloves and got to scrubbing. I let her do the dirty work. GROSS, I tell ya! First she evicted the mice and all their dirty furniture.

After a thorough scrub in bleach solution and dry in the sun, we painted the inside a cream color.

We covered the living room wall in mismatched vintage floral wallpapers. The rug is linen. We bought it at an antique mall in a pile of napkins and hankies. Below more of the interior was coming along.

We found some cute kitchen furniture at Hobby Lobby. They didn't have much that we liked, but this table and chair set was adorable. We used an embroidered linen for the rug here. Other than the living room wall, all the other walls so far are covered in scrapbook papers that we got from Hobby Lobby.

For the bedroom, we did a redish-grey-brown toile print. And another embroidered linen napkin for the rug.

I love the bathroom. These pictures aren't the best, but this paper is one of my favorites that we used. It's a navy paisley sort of print. And we found the porcelain toilet and sink at an antique mall during my visit, both for $4. We still need to make curtains for most rooms. And I'd like a claw foot tub, though the bathroom is itsy bitsy.

We painted the outside charcoal grey (same color as the outside of my mom's house) with cream trim. I took this picture before the outside was finished, but it does look much better now. I think we'll cover the roof in moss or bark chips.

For the bedroom, my mom spent a few hours making a custom bedskirt. She did it all by hand. She's going to make pillows and a cover too, but here's the bed so far. We also made a headboard out of twigs. The mirror above the bed came from Hobby Lobby.

We turned one room into a library (a man cave since the rest of the house is turning out a bit frilly, not that the library is just for the man of the house, but we did want a masculine sort of room too). We covered the walls in book pages from an old worn Shakespeare book. I know it's terrible to tear up a book, but it will likely have more eyes on it here than in its original state.

And the kitchen. We have cake and that's about it for now. But does one need more than cake? We made some little curtains from a hankie. And we re-used the old kitchen appliances until we get some new ones (we bleach soaked those appliances).

We need more furniture and have quite a ways to go on some of the rooms. Before I left we did find some adorable vintage nursery dollhouse furniture, and the nursery is coming along too. My mom says she'll wait till I get back in November to work on this some more. It was soooo much fun working on it with my mom, and I can't wait to find more furniture and get back to it when I visit again.

Tea Party on Columbia Road

2011-08-17T08:15:00.004+01:00

Last Saturday I went to Jessie and Buddug's summer tea party at their shop on Columbia Road. It was great to say hello to them again, and I got to show Jessie my embroidered Amsterdam in person, which was nice since we could only get so far in class. The shop looks wonderful, and as usual, is filled with beautiful and inspiring creations by Jessie and Buddug, including a great dollhouse. Jessie's dad custom built the dollhouse, and Jessie and Buddug have filled it with handmade miniatures. It's beautifully displayed in the window. It was hard to get pictures of it with the reflections from the street, so if you're in London, go see it in person (though there is one picture of a bed in the dollhouse, below). Here's a peek in the shop. To see more pictures of the shop from my previous visit, click here.

Amsterdam Stroll

2011-08-08T13:25:00.002+01:00

I finally finished my little embroidered Amsterdam that I started in Jessie Chorley's embroidery class. And here it is! I loved Amsterdam so much, that at the class I decided it would be my theme, and I used canal houses as my first bit of inspiration, specifically the roofline of the houses, which is what makes them look so interesting as you're walking along the canals. I made a short video just so you could see the entire piece and to see the scale against my hand. It is very small but still hard to capture the entire piece well in one image. I look forward to making another one. I think Paris will be next. And I look forward to Jessie and Buddug's Tea Party on August 13th! If you're in London and don't have plans, head to the little shop on Columbia Road. Here's more info (scroll down to the post on the 29th, as I can't put a link to that direct post for some reason).

Georgia Junkin'

2011-08-03T14:51:00.006+01:00

One thing I wanted to do on my trip back home was go junkin' with my mom in the sticks. We thought about driving to Opelika, AL since my mom knows of some junk stops along the way and some in Opelika, but she had also heard that Monroe, GA was a great place for junkin'. A quick Google search led to Sassytrash, a cute blog where we saw some pictures of the great antique malls in Monroe. Monroe isn't exactly the sticks, but the photos were all we needed to see to make a decision. And off to Monroe we went! Our first stop was The Cotton Depot. It's a great antique mall, with booths that are very nicely merchandised and with prices on everything. I swear I did not look at one thing that didn't have a price. And the grounds outside are so pretty too, with beautiful plants and garden furniture. The prices were very reasonable too--downright cheap compared to London prices! Here's a peek into The Cotton Depot, our favorite junk spot in Monroe.

So many beautiful linens here!

A lot of creative walls in the booths, like using old doors to hang pictures.

Cute bike up high on a table with an umbrella lamp.

A lot of creative ways to display merchandise.

Old tins and trays. I just love old tins and trays all mixed up.

More displays on doors.

Lots of cute vintage toys and dolls. Looks like Raggedy Ann got pooped from all that ironing. But still happy.

My mom and I loved this rattan sofa, and I liked the globe too.

Lots of great, old chairs. I wanted these two to bring home.

Lots of great, chippy painted furniture too.

I loved this plant stand.

And this wee iron bed. It's hard to tell the size, but this bed was child sized and thought it would be great on a porch.

I saw so many great quilts, also at very reasonable prices.

And more chippy furniture. This table was pink. Cute.

We were buzzing with excitement when we left to hunt for more junk. We went to three other pretty good places before stopping at the Monroe Cotton Mills Antiques. This antique mall is HUGE with a mix of everything. In general it's not as cute or well merchandised as the Cotton Depot, but there are still lots of treasures to be found here. I'm going to let these last pictures speak for themselves because my sister is here and we gotta go take all these kids someplace before we go nutso!! But Monroe is definitely great for antiques and junk, and if you get hungry, head to The Butcher Block for some country cookin'. Enjoy your junk eye candy!

Head to Sassytrash to see some wider shots.

Historic Roswell Antique Mall

2011-08-01T13:40:00.005+01:00

Last weekend my mom and I went to Roswell, GA, which is the town I grew up in. I wanted to go back and see our old house and just see how things looked. Roswell is quite a ways north of where my mom currently lives, so we haven't been back in a long time. It was nice to see the old house but a little strange too. It wasn't the emotional experience I was expecting, which was a good thing because we had some fun things planned for afterwards like hitting the antique mall. The Historic Roswell Antique Mall is right around the corner from our old house, and it was just as fun to browse around as the old days. They had a great selection of linens and fabrics this visit. And as usual, I'm always drawn to red and green. I don't know why really, but those are two of my favorite colors that always catch my eye, like the cabinet above. I loved it.

And green Majolica plates. I didn't used to like Majolica, but I love it now. I'd like to have a set of mis-matched green Majolica.

Fabric, fabric, fabric! Most of this was barkcloth. Some really great prints here.

And linens! Most of these were embroidered pillowcases and napkins.

And tablecloths. I like these 50's and 60's prints as tablecloths or for making things, girl's dresses, aprons, etc.

I'd love to have this rack for towels in our bathroom. Our bathroom is too tiny though. But one day I'd like one like this for towels.

I'd also love one of these industrial racks one day. I think it would be great for towels too, or magazines. It would be good for so many things really, pots and pans in a kitchen, plants, books...

Quilts. I love old quilts.

And some cute toys and kid's furniture. This antique mall is really big and they had so much great stuff, but that's just a little bit of what caught my eye. More junkin' with mom later this week....

Pale and Interesting

2011-07-29T18:31:00.001+01:00

My mother-in-law gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. She asked what I'd like, and I told her that I have a ton of books on my wish list and that I'd love to be able to pick a few out from the list. Recently I read about the shop Pale and Interesting on My Black Book. I loved the images and went straight to the shop to see what they had in store. They have great linens, cushions, furniture, and so many beautiful home accessories, and I love the styling and photographs of their products. And I read on the site that they have a book as well. It's going in my shopping cart, and I can't wait to see more.

All images posted here are from their site and appear to be by photographer Polly Wreford.

Garage Shopping

2011-07-22T15:22:00.003+01:00

I love digging through my mom's garage! She's a junkin' junkie and always has fun stuff in her garage. I always want to go shopping in there. Here are a few things that caught my eye today... buttons, fabric, books, old frames, and a run-down doll house that we're going to try to spruce up. Her garage is also home to some other really great things in her etsy shop, The Carriage Trade.

Make a Wish

2011-07-19T11:00:00.007+01:00

I love birthdays! Mine was on Tuesday. I just didn't post my cake in time! I love this cake, which I saw on The Savvy Crafter (and I think it's originally from Marie Claire Idees, as she mentions in the post). Here's to having your cake and eating it too, or trying to anyway!

Gone Home

2011-07-18T23:56:00.001+01:00

I'm in Atlanta with Lois for the next few weeks visiting family and friends. Andrew will be here for part of the visit too, which will be great. It was a bit of an adventure to get here, but we're here now. I've been chillin' in my mom's yard today with a stack of magazines and books while Lois plays with her cousins. Heaven! More soon from down south.

Wildflowers

2011-07-14T22:28:00.001+01:00

At the playground near our house there's a patch of wildflowers. It used to be grass, but now it's wildflowers. They're not exactly wild, because they were planted there. I remember when the landscaping men dug up the grass to plant the seeds. But they are so pretty! And just because they're pretty, I thought you might like to see them too.

Before and After: New Chair!

2011-07-10T18:42:00.002+01:00

So we've had our first piece of furniture re-covered! We've had this great chair for a few years now but it was covered in a burnt orange velvet (you can see the before in the last image), and I've finally had it recovered. I chose black and white ticking because to me it's timeless and looks classic and modern at the same time. I LOVE it! Thanks to MN who referred the upholsterer, Romano Falchi. He did a great job and at a very reasonable price. If you're in the London area and need something re-upholstered, contact Romano. He even sent me images of the new chair in progress! I think I will paint the legs a coral color, at Lisa's suggestion. I couldn't decide what color would look best and that's what she had in mind and I agree. Love, love the chair now!

Laundry Day

2011-07-09T20:47:00.001+01:00

A while back I saw THE cutest tea towels at Anthropologie. I usually like their embroidered and appliqued tea towels, but a few laundry themed towels really made me squeal (you can see them here and here). I wanted to buy them, but then again, I thought it might be fun to make something like it. And I'm kind of cheap when it comes to things like this. I don't know why, but I am. I'm okay with digesting a great $100 meal with some nice wine if I get the chance, but a tea towel for $20ish, something I could potentially use for years? I think twice and decide to spend 8 hours making one instead! I actually made this a few weeks ago. I had grand ideas of making a little tea towel series, but after laundry day, it was tea time, and I stopped there. I stopped for now anyway. They are fun to make. Of course any craft that involves tiny clothes is fun. Laundry day started with cutting out tiny clothes...

And cute liberty print underwear... (you see Lois was helping me hang the clothes)

Can't resist vintage button flowers...

Laundry day is over... now it's tea time!

I finished tea time and gave it to my sister-in-law.

Room to Sew

2011-07-07T15:16:00.002+01:00

You might remember that when we were looking for a new apartment last winter, one major draw to our current place was an extra room. I say "extra" room because our place isn't technically a three bedroom, but there is a small third room next door. It's more of a utility room in that it has exposed pipes and wires, and doesn't have a bathroom, but it does have pretty nice wood floors and heat, so I decided to make it into a guest room / craft room. Initially I thought I would make it an office for Andrew and try to give it a masculine vibe, but he thought I might use the room more than him and suggested I let it be a room to sew. He does like to work in there as it is though. He thinks it's pretty cozy. The daybed that used to be in Lois's room is in there, and our old bar, turned potting table, is now my sewing table (and desk), and my bike lives in there too. It was a lot of work getting it to this point. Do you remember what it looked like before? Like this (scroll down), ugh. My sister helped me so much at first when she was visiting, but then for a while I was stuck. There were so many things in there that we wanted to keep like camping stuff, old baby things, Christmas decorations, etc. Every time I'd go in there I felt overwhelmed. And when I'd start to unpack and sort it out, for a while I ended up just making a bigger mess. But somehow I got it to this point. Behind the curtain all our storage stuff and my craft supplies, fabric and whatnot, is stored in bins and stacked almost to the ceiling. I still have some work to do in there--one wall (across from the daybed) has a ledge that is holding a bunch of random stuff right now. But it's a good start. Now I just need to get busy stitching!

Some Recent iPhone Favorites

2011-07-05T11:00:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since I unloaded the photos from my phone, but I got around to doing it over the weekend. Instagram is still my favorite photo app lately, and I really like that they've added tiltshift as an option. Here are a few favorite instagram photos over the past month or so.

I'm also experimenting with larger photos. I wish there was something between the blogger "large" and "xlarge" settings. They do look huge! What do you think? Do you like so see larger photos or is this too big? (Update: they just looked too big in xlarge to me! So I went back to large for now.)

Hot Fun in the Summertime

2011-07-03T09:58:00.000+01:00

It's not exactly hot here in London, and we won't be going to a lake house for the 4th, but a girl can daydream. Here's what I'll be doing in my daydream: having a great meal at this lakeside table with my friends and family, going for a dip in this amazing bathing suit, eating a big o'l mound of that strawberry shortcake, and then taking a nap in that cabin. 4th daydream complete! Hope you enjoy your holiday.
Sources: Top two images from a very old Country Living (late 90's), suit, red house.

Makover

2011-07-02T10:15:00.001+01:00

You may have noticed my blog has gotten a little bit of a makeover. Thanks to Rachel at Ironwood Design Studios for sprucing it up! I've tried in the past to give it a bit of a re-do, but I usually just make it look all wonky, so I decided to call in a professional. What do you think? I wanted it a bit wider, with the ability to post larger photos, and have the categories cleaned up a bit. I've been in a blog funk for a while now, but I'm ready to refocus and get to posting more often with more regular features. I'll still be writing about shops I like, places I visit, crafts I make, flea markets I visit, along with inspiring interiors and our home sweet home (which is always a work in progress), but I'm aiming for more structure in my posts. I'm still touching up a few things, so be patient with me, please. I'm re-labeling a ton of posts so the appropriate posts will turn up in the individual categories' lists, which will take a while. But do let me know if you like the new look!

Bath

2011-06-17T09:06:00.001+01:00

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Bath, which is just 1.5 hours west of London on the train. I thought the town was really lovely (though quite touristy), and I'd like to go back one day. I really enjoyed the hills. It's quite hilly there, and London is mostly flat, so it was a nice change of scenery. Our view from the hotel was pretty amazing (seen above, when the weather was taking a turn). I liked seeing the houses rolling along the green hills. We toured the Roman baths, went to Bath Abbey, relaxed in the Parade Gardens where we could admire the Pulteney Bridge, had tea with Mr. Darcy in the Jane Austin center, strolled around the town, took a sightseeing bus and the skyline bus, which cruised the outskirts of the city up along the hills, and we had a delicious dinner--Indian food. Yum.

And Lois got to chase a hot air balloon. She wanted to catch it.

Treasures

2011-06-08T15:06:00.000+01:00

Last week I went to the big flea, well, one of the bigger flea markets in London, the Kempton Park market. This time I rented a man and van. I usually get what I think of as "sold envy" when I'm at markets here: I watch people haul away loads of good junk! Since we don't have a car, and I can't really carry anything too large on the train, I thought I'd hire someone who could haul my junk home. I've been needing a bedside table and a small bookshelf for a while now, and I've wanted some small furniture for our little patio. So I made a list and actually found a lot of what was on it. Here's a bit of what I brought home.

Paintings weren't on my list but I couldn't resist these two bargains.

My bedside table before...

And after! I didn't do anything to it really, as you can probably tell, but I like it that way, all chippy. I bought a handful of other things like a bookshelf, a bench, and some patio furniture. But I didn't take pictures of those yet. But I'll post some pictures of the patio soon.

Our little patio has looked quite sad for months now until I found this pile of pots! I wanted to make our patio look better and finding these pots was just the motivation I needed. A guy down the street was tossing them. There were more than what's shown here, and most of them were big terra-cotta pots, so I made a few trips and got them home. Below is the patio in its before state, but after I brought some of the pots home.

And here's a peek of the after through our living room. More pictures of it coming soon.

Embroidered Storybooks with Jessie Chorley

2011-05-24T08:35:00.001+01:00

I've been in an embroidery mood lately. I wanted to make some days of the week tea towels, but I didn't want the usual kitchen / household motifs on them, so I started to go with a Paris theme, but they looked boring and Paris is not boring, so I scratched that idea. Then I went to Anthropologie to look at their tea towels because I always love their embroidered tea towels. I got some good ideas there and made a few tea towels (maybe I'll post pictures of those soon), and I've been on an embroidery roll since. I've mostly been looking through embroidery books, like Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion, A Rainbow of Stitches, and Doodle Stitching, and seeing what I can find online. One of the most inspiring embroidery artists is Jessie Chorley. You might remember her work from my post on her shop. Her style to me is dreamy and whimsical and magical. So while I was stitching away at one of my tea towels, I thought of her work and thought I'd see if she had any upcoming workshops (I had read a while back that she hosted workshops) and lucky me, she was having a storybook workshop. It was wonderful. She showed us some of her storybooks, talked to us about gathering ideas for a theme, ideas for constructing the books, and showed us some of her stitching techniques. She set up the table in the middle of the shop and we were stitching away in no time, and sipping tea and nibbling cake of course. Here are some pictures from the dreamy afternoon. These first 4 images, including the top image, are examples of Jessie's work. (Also, it wasn't really this dark in the shop, that's just the way I processed these photos.)

Our beautifully messy table, tea and cake included. I love craft mess.

I decided on an Amsterdam theme for my storybook. I'll post more pictures when I have more done.

What the other women were working on...

And what Jessie worked on while we were there...

I hope I can take another one of her workshops with my mom one day. She will love it! If you're in London, here's her workshop information. Happy stitching.

Postcards from Amsterdam

2011-05-19T09:50:00.002+01:00

We're back from Amsterdam and had a great time. I loved that city. The people were friendly, the city was easy to navigate, and well, it just has so many things I like--charming little streets, great shops, creative people, beautiful architecture, and it really just felt like a big cozy neighborhood, the kind where you could pull up a chair and have a nice chat with anyone. Here are a few pictures from our Amsterdam weekend getaway. We started our first day with a Dutch pancake from Pancakes!, which Pia Jane Bijkerk mentioned in her book.

Then I hunted down a few shops in the book, and found quite a few great other shops as well.

On Saturday we went to the Noordermarkt and found some great things, including this bag on the right made by Anne Van Dijk made from recycled army surplus supplies and men's suits (one of the things I especially liked in the Amsterdam: Made by hand book were her bags, which at 27 euros, are very reasonably priced, I think).

We mainly spent our time in two areas, the 9 Streets and the Jordaan. Those two areas alone could have kept us busy for days. And those parts of the city are just so charming. Little narrow street after little narrow street, canal after canal.

We stayed on a houseboat, which was really fun. The houseboat studio we stayed in was adorable but has suffered a bit of wear and tear and could use some TLC. It was still a really nice way to stay in Amsterdam, and it was in a great area for getting out and seeing the city.

Lois liked to watch the boats and ducks go by.

We liked checking out the other houseboats along the canals.

I loved seeing the sheets on the line of this houseboat. So homey with the sheets and the potted garden.

We also went to a few museums. The Rijksmusem pictured below. Museum of Dutch masters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. They also had a really great exhibit of doll houses--not the kind little girls play with, but serious, and expensive replica's of one's actual house. Check it out here.

We bought Lois a new umbrella at a fun place called Kitsch Kitchen. She loves it.

The weather was chilly and a bit grey the last two days, but it still looked beautiful. I really love the roofline of the canal houses.

People love their bikes in Amsterdam. Soooo many bikes. I have never seen so many bikes.

And sometimes entire families can be seen cruising on one bike, like this one in the center with 3 child seats on it. Wow. That would make me nervous!

We also loved looking into peoples houses. It seemed like most people either didn't have window treatments or their window treatments were open. Both of these places below were split level, where behind the dining area was a floor above and one below, both of which you could see through to the other side. I wish you could see better. The houses were so pretty inside.

This house below was really pretty too. It had a spiral staircase that went all 4 floors, which you could see through the windows.

And of course we had to have Dutch apple pie. It was soooo good. Our trip was short but sweet, and I'd love to go back one day and explore the city some more. Amsterdam is now one of my favorite places I've been.

Amsterdam: Made by Hand

2011-05-13T19:20:00.000+01:00

Greetings from Amsterdam! I've been looking forward to this weekend getaway trip for a while now in large part because I love the book Amsterdam: Made by Hand. It's always great to have a friend to give you the inside scoop to a city--to tell you the shops you'll like, neighborhoods, nice places to have a snack or just wander, and the second best to having that is finding a book that does just that. That's how I feel about Amsterdam: Made by Hand. Here's a peek into the book. If you plan to go to Amsterdam, and love handmade, vintage, or otherwise unique things, you'll love this book. The photos alone to me are worth the book. Photos from the book are all by the author, Pia Jane Bijkerk. More pictures from Amsterdam coming soon. It's been a wonderful first day!

Print Workshop at Urban Outfitters

2011-05-09T16:20:00.000+01:00

My friend Chris from San Francisco will be in town soon promoting her book, Print Workshop, at the Spitalfields Urban Outiftters. Chris will be signing books and demonstrating some of the great at-home printing techniques featured in the book. I'll be there too, so if you're in London, mark your calendar for Thursday, May 19 at 1PM. Chris is awesome and so is her book, so don't miss it!

Swarm at Anthropologie

2011-05-05T08:41:00.000+01:00

We're headed to Amsterdam soon, and one place I'd love to visit while we're there is Leslie Oschmann's studio, Swarm. It's by appointment only, so I don't know that I'll be able go, but I did recently stop by Anthropologie on King's Road here in London to see her current exhibit there. Having worked for Anthropologie for 8 years, and leaving as the visual director, of course her creations fit right in in their gallery space. I love the way she finds so many ways to rework old canvases, from her bags, to the great collage in mismatched frames (above), to her new series of plates. But I think my favorite piece in the exhibit was a book-nook of a chair. Two chairs, re-worked into a chair and bookshelf all in one. Creative indeed. So if you're in London, go check out the exhibit this week (it's up until May 10).

Instagram

2011-05-02T14:11:00.000+01:00

One iPhone photo app that I love lately is Instagram. Have I mentioned it already? I can't remember! Just thought I'd tell you about it in case you have an iPhone and didn't already know of it. It's intended for easy sharing, I think, but I really like it for the filters. I usually just save the images to my camera roll rather than sharing the images via one of the sharing options like facebook. They've added a tilt shift option too, which is really nice. Here are a few pictures I took this week with Instagram using tilt shift and then another filter. If I were in the market for a basic, nice point and shoot camera, I think I'd just get an iPhone! There are so many great photo apps. You can also send someone a Postagram now, a real postcard using one of your Instagram images. For .99 you choose the image, type the postcard, add the address, and sent it on its way all via the app. I'll have to try it out.

Belgium

2011-04-27T11:03:00.000+01:00

This past weekend we went to Belgium. I meant to blog that we were going before we left, but then I just got busy and before I knew it we were back! We stayed in Bruges, a really charming old city with winding canals, and we also hopped over to Ghent. Bruges was lovely, but quite touristy. It was hard to get a feel for how the locals live there since there didn't seem to be many locals in comparison to tourists, but it was still picturesque and made for a very nice long weekend getaway. If you want to go to Belgium, I'd say stay in a place like Ghent and then go to Bruges for the day. The architecture was a little more varied and dramatic in Ghent, and you can get more of a sense of how the locals live. We were there Easter Sunday, so a number of shops and restaurants were closed, but peeking through the windows, so many of them looked interesting. Here's a snapshot peek of our weekend, as seen through the iPhone, starting above with our hotel... (oh the hotel was really great too, especially the breakfast, but if you do go to Bruges, try to stay in a B&B or hotel along one of the canals, just for the view).

Bruges shop.

Canal.

The Belfry in Bruges.

Town center with fun fair rides.

Old music / instrument shop.

A Duvel. I love Belgian beers!

Kwatta! Chocolate sprinkles for breakfast? When in Belgium...

Canal view.

Duck! Our boat tour guide's head.

Bruges town center.

More canals.

Halve Maan brewery tour.

Belgian chocolates. Lois liked them a lot.

Gravensteen castle museum.

Ghent. Quite the dramatic view on this bridge.

St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent.

Taking it in one last time. Saying goodbye to Belgium.

Looking down from the plane. Headed home.

Poppy!

2011-04-15T16:09:00.000+01:00

You can say I'm feeling poppy! I got my new bike, and I love it. Here she is (below) before I wheeled her out of the shop. The image above is from the Bobbins Bicycle shop. Cute, huh?! I just need the wicker basket (which I've ordered from Bobbins) and a baby seat, a special kind that will attach to this bike. I'll get those next week. (The color is more like the bike pictured above, but the instant setting in camera bag on my phone made it a wee more grey than it is.) Yay!

True Blue

2011-04-12T15:56:00.001+01:00

I have it bad. I have it bad for a bike. The blue Pashley Poppy bike. I'm obsessed this week. You may remember I wanted that bike last spring? (I can't find the post from last year, but I think I did post about it.) Well, I told myself if I didn't find it used, I'd buy it new this spring. So I about jumped when I finally saw it for sale online used. The seller said we could meet on Sunday, last Sunday, and sounded very reliable, but then he didn't return my call or email after I wrote regarding a time and meeting place. I've been checking my phone and email obsessively since. Drat! I think the size was a little big anyway. Now I'm eyeing it new again. I just love it! And I figure if you're going to invest in something like a bike, you should really love it. We shall see! Here she is below (picture it with a wicker basket on the front). And here's a cute video of it. What a beauty! These other images were found on Pinterest--see my bike board for sources.

Meet me in the Blue Tent

2011-04-06T09:13:00.000+01:00

I don't often buy magazines off the news stands because they're so expensive and I'm pretty cheap. I used to subscribe to a few, but these days I usually go for the free online eye candy since there's just so much of it, but when I saw the cover of the recent issue of the British version of Country Living, I busted open my wallet without hesitation. A cute table in the woods, bistro chairs, cosy pillows and blankets, books, yarn, a radio, sandwich and juice. Um, yes, please! Then when I peeked inside, I almost fell in--wished I could have anyway. I didn't post all the pictures from the spread and the images in the magazine are much better, so get it if you really like the look of this feature. Country Living, April 2011.

Earth Walk

2011-04-04T23:25:00.000+01:00

We're back in London now (I know, whew, things move fast!), but we had a great time and are happy to be home. The plane ride was smooth and beautiful. I always like to look out the window, if I have a window seat and Lois is calm or sleeping for a while. She slept for about 4 hours this flight, so I had a lot of window time. Here's a peek over the earth.

A good song for your airplane window view: Space Walk.

In Charleston

2011-03-30T15:20:00.000+01:00

We had a fun, quick weekend visit in Charleston. We were there for a wedding, which was as lovely as Charleston itself. If you've never been to Charleston, it's a quintessential charming southern town. You can read a bit about its history here. It's quite touristy, but still worth a visit. Here are a few images from Charleston.

I love shotgun houses (little, long skinny houses) and spanish moss. Plenty of both in Charleston.

What We Did

2011-03-24T15:02:00.000Z

I had a great visit with my sister. She wanted to spend her time doing the things I like to do, rather than a lot of the standard touristy stuff, so we mostly strolled around neighborhoods and parks and markets. We had a great time. Here's a peek into our fun-filled sistah week. Above, she's on the left and I'm on the right.

Tulips at the Columbia Road flower market. One of my favorite markets.

Outside Vintage Heaven on Columbia Road. We saw lots of street vintage--here, and Brick Lane, Spitalfields, and at the Portobello Road Market. And we went to a lot of pretty shops like the one below. It looked like you were walking into someone's house. We weren't even sure it was a store so we had to ask before we went in. I don't know the name of the place, but it was off of Columbia Road.

Fish and chips. Had to have them at least once during her visit.

And we just spent a lot of time hanging out together, playing with Lois, drinking coffee, sipping wine, eating, hanging out with the hubbers, planting flowers in our tiny garden, getting my house straight. It was a lot of fun. We both left London yesterday for Atlanta. She's back home now, and we're back for a wedding in Charleston, SC and a short visit with our families in Atlanta. See you soon from Charleston!

Around Town with my Sister

2011-03-17T16:51:00.000Z

We have a visitor--my sister, and I'm so happy she's here! Today was our first full day out, and I hired a sitter so we could have some alone time. We did some shopping, went to Liberty, and had tea in Soho's Secret Tea Room (remember, I read about it here on Seeds and Stitches?). It was a great day! And tonight we have dinner reservations--just the two of us. Mommas' day out. (She has 3 little boys, whew). PS. I painted our dining room turquoise (shown above), and I love it! That's what happens when you live in a country that's grey most of the time--you get urges to paint things bright colors.

Having My Tea and Drinking it Too

2011-03-09T18:31:00.001Z

I recently read about a secret tea room here in London, and I can't wait to check it out. Obviously it's not super-duper secret, but it is inside a pub, tucked away, and available to you once you ask for the tea room. It looks so pretty. You can see more pictures here too. I might go next week when my sister's in town (yay!). Our place isn't quite all together, but I'm ready for a wee tea break after all this unpacking. In the meantime, I'll peek at some tea inspiration and have a cuppa at home. But just for a few minutes. Lots more to unpack! Sources for these images are in my Pinterest.

NY Times Home and Garden

2011-03-01T22:45:00.001Z

I always like to take a peek and see what's in the Home and Garden section of the NY Times online. This week has two features I like, a renovation in Buenos Aries (above), and a cozy garden apartment (below). Just thought I'd share in case you might like some of their features too.

Tea is Served

2011-02-26T08:39:00.000Z

Earlier this week, my friend MN came over for a tea visit. Our place isn't exactly together yet, but presentable enough. I made a pear-almond upside down cake, some tea sandwiches, a little salad, and tea, of course! And I had wee tea ready for our little ones as well. It wasn't exactly easy to eat in peace with the little monkeys dangling from us, but we had a really nice time. Tea is so fun. (The upside down cake recipe is in Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone, in case you're interested. I didn't fan the pears right, but it was sooo delicious.)

Bright Bits of London

2011-02-24T21:58:00.000Z

The weather here is mostly just grey, so I've had my eye on some bright bits in our new neighborhood (today, though, was quite a nice sunny day). These pictures are from things on or near Portobello Road that I took either last weekend or a few before.

Fox trot on Portobello Road, the iconic colorful houses on Portobello, a record art installation, a bright pink house, a store I like that's covered in bows, a bright door, and some more colorful houses.

Progress

2011-02-17T21:18:00.000Z

Hi Lois! There she is in our new place before we crammed in all our stuff. I've been unpacking like mad since we got here because I hate being surrounded by boxes, and I'm excited to be here. Though this flat itself wouldn't be our top pick, we do like a lot of things about it, and we love the neighborhood (northwest London). We have a third bedroom, sort of anyway--it's more of a storeroom and it has its own entrance, but it does have wood floors and heat, so I'm planning to make it into an office / guest bedroom if everything can fit. We have part of the living room together now. That's one wall that's pretty much done, but I have to work on the rest of the room. If we paint the walls, it will be a while before we do that, so I went ahead and hung things. I'm a little tired of some of our stuff and would like to get a pick-up truck and go hunting for new junk, but in the meantime, here's the usual in a new-ish configuration. Hi again Lois! Cookies make her happy :)

And here's the 3rd room. Gotta get working on that mess.

Roses, Rugs and Such

2011-02-15T08:13:00.000Z

Well, we've moved! Now we're unpacking. Wow, it's amazing how your stuff seems to expand when it's in boxes--looks that way anyway by the amount of boxes. Yesterday I took lois for a Valentine cupcake at Hummingbird Bakery. She loved it. It was quite tasty. The roses above were for me from the hubbers. I picked them out :) I love the red, pink and coral-ish orange-yellow together. (Both of those pictures are with the iPhone photo app, Instagram, which I'm really liking.) We also strolled over to a shop on Portobello Road to look at rugs. I found this one below (not a great picture, sorry about that). The guy there quoted me one price, which was good, I thought, so I called the hubbers who ok'd it and went back in to buy it. The shop man as concerned that he gave me the wrong price, so he made a phone call and told me double what he said before, ah, drat! I was not a happy camper. He felt very bad, though, and said he'd see what he could do and give me a call. We shall see. I do love the colors and design. I don't think it's Moroccan, but I really like it a lot. So that's what we've been up to. We don't have internet access at our house yet, so I might not be updating here much for the next few days, but our new little place is coming along quickly and I'll post some pictures soon.

Moroccan Rugs

2011-02-03T12:11:00.001Z

The jury is still out on the paint color, but the new landlord did say we could paint if we want to, which is great! The only thing is, the ceilings are fairly low (well, they're not especially low, but not really high either). I think the whole place, including the ceilings, would need to be painted in order for it to look its best painted, otherwise I'm afraid with only the walls painted it might look choppy and give the illusion of a shorter ceiling height. This is just my assumption based on nothing really. I should read about room size perception to see if that's true. So we talked about it and plan to leave the walls white for now. I'll keep the paint in mind though, but right now I've moved on to rugs. We have the Tarnby rugs from Ikea in our current place, which I like a lot, but I think I'm ready for something different, something more colorful. And my other half would like something softer. The Tarnby rugs are a bit coarse. I love the top image here and have it in my mind as my inspiration. I saw a great Moroccan rug in a shop on Portobello Road recently, but it was snatched up right in front of me by Alice Temperley. I didn't know who she was, but I was with my friend MN and she knew who it was right away. I had sold envy for sure! Right after she scooped it up, I just knew I should have bought it. I'll be on the lookout for another one.

Sources for the images are in my pinterest.

Or Green?

2011-01-28T20:06:00.001Z

Well, I was thinking blue walls, but now I'm thinking green. I've had light mossy-sage green sort of walls before and loved them. Hmm, I think the blue is just making me nervous! Ah, we shall see. What's moved me more towards green is thinking of John Derian. I love his rustic, natural sort of flea market style, and I was thinking, what would he choose? I think he'd definitely go for green. We shall see. These few examples here I found on Katy Elliot's blog.

Also, Kim asked me to tell you 7 things about myself. I guess I should choose 7 things you wouldn't already know because that's more fun! So...here are 7 things about me you may not know: I like to eat tomato paste out of a can, I prefer eating over cooking, my mom is one of my best buds, morning is my favorite time of day, I love cotton candy pink clouds, I think my husband is awesome (I just don't talk about him too much on the blog), and I make my bed every day.

Hatching Ideas

2011-01-22T15:58:00.002Z

It looks like we'll be moving soon! I haven't said a peep because it's not totally official yet, but it looks like it will be next week. We're just moving across town, north of the river, but I'm soooo excited. The neighborhood is great, and I'm excited to fool around with decorating a new place. We've been in our current place for a year, but I still haven't quite figured out what to do in certain places, so I just haven't. Instead of seeing it as a challenge, I've though of it as a drag, blah. It hasn't been too fun. One issue is choppy walls--walls divided by a lot of doorways and windows, which is the complete opposite of our last place. I just don't think I have the right stuff to work in the right places, if that makes sense, and I haven't taken the time to hunt for the right stuff. Ah, well, I don't have to worry about it anymore. Our new place is sort of boxy like our apartment in San Francisco, with two big, long walls in the living room. I felt sort of over that by the time we left San Francisco, but I'm looking forward to it again. I understand how to arrange my things better on walls like that. I'm also thinking of color. Our last place had neutral, beige walls, but I'm thinking of a very pale robin's egg blue. I love the way deeper colors look against that shade of blue--rusty orange, reds, navy, green, golden yellows, etc. Deeper, darker colors look really good with that color to me. Lisa has blue walls and I love the way all of her things stand out against it. Here are a few pictures I've come across for inspiration. These shades vary, but I think my favorite is the second one, just below. I like that it is a touch grey compared to the others. I've put them all in my pinterest, where you can see links to the sources.

Color Me Happy

2011-01-18T16:27:00.000Z

Lately I've been thinking in color. It has been so dreary here these last few months that daydreaming of bright things has been the best way to chase my grey day blues away. Today though it's actually sunny, finally, and so nice outside! I went out for a stroll earlier to see the blue sky and get some much needed vitamin D. I'm also thinking of random colorful things to keep my spirits up. To start with, tulip fields in the Netherlands, and...

Patchwork sweater throw (it is still winter after all).

But I'll think of ice cream instead.

Think happy. Be Happy.

Sources are in the links.

I like Pinterest

2011-01-16T22:33:00.002Z

My new favorite thing (fairly new to me anyway) is Pinterest, an online inspiration board of sorts where you "pin" favorite images. I'm not totally sure of all the ins and outs of Pinterest since I just recently joined, but if you love online image eye candy and are like me and have messy folders on your desktop of random saved inspiration images, you will LOVE Pinterest. When you pin, it credits the source of where you found it (though often that's not the original source of the actual image, and I imagine this could be an issue for pinterest at some point, hmm). I hope source issues don't cause too much trouble because I really like the service. Here's the link to my boards. Right now I've just focused on pinning images of interiors, but other folks have boards of so many other things. Below are a few things I've pinned to my board this week. All the sources are linked to the pins on my boards. (The image above, "things I like" is by John Derian--possibly my favorite designer, one of the few whose name's I can even remember!)

Daydreaming of Wallpaper

2011-01-09T14:03:00.001Z

I've been thinking of wallpaper lately, specifically Deborah Bowness's wallpapers. I love her bookshelves wallpaper. I might have to make a trip to Caravan to get a roll. I also love her vintage frocks wallpaper. Actually, I like all of them! They've made their way around the design blogs for some time now, but I don't get tired of them.

Images: One, two, three, four.

Le Chandelier

2011-01-05T14:57:00.001Z

Yesterday I visited Le Chandelier, a beautiful cafe-restaurant and atelier in East Dulwich. I always love discovering new tea spots here in London, and when I read about Le Chandelier on Tea for Joy, I put it at the top of my list. It was as beautiful in person as it is in pictures. The light-filled space, with white washed walls is narrow and long, with high ceilings, and the cosy atmosphere and decor make you feel like you're in a 17th century salon. You can choose from more than 25 loose leaf teas, which are selected by Le Chandelier's very own tea master. They also serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner (dinner on certain nights), as well as a beautiful selection of sweet delights from their patisserie. As you sit and sip your tea and indulge in a nibble, it's easy to be dazzled by all the beautiful chandeliers overhead, which are for sale, and sourced primarily from France. Le Chandelier also has a vibrant Moroccan room, which can be reserved for private parties, and the entire space can be made available through 1st Option for photoshoots as well. If you go to Le Chandelier, I'm sure you'll leave feeling refreshed and inspired like I did. I can't wait to go back.

Le Chandelier

161 Lordship Lane
London
SE22 8HX
Tue-Thrus 9:30am-6pm
Fri and Sat 9:30am-11pm
Sun 10am-6pm

Sewing Nook

2010-12-31T21:48:00.001Z

A while back I gave you a little peek at my sewing nook. I'm pretty much finished with it now. I was just waiting to amass enough buttons to make a button border on my inspiration board. And my mom helped me out with that. Over Thanksgiving she let me raid her button stash and take all I wanted. Oooh, buttons, so fun! This little space is a work in progress, but it's a start. This area started as the bar (see how it started looking as a bar here), but the shelves were too narrow and too far apart to make it look good with bar accessories, and since we rent here, and I know the landlord isn't too keen on changes, I thought it would work better as a something else, and I've been wanting a craft space. Now that my machine and supplies are out of the closet, I have no excuses! Here's to more sewing in 2011. Happy New Year!!

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-24T19:48:00.000Z

This year our tree is really just some ornaments on branches in a vase. There really isn't a good spot in our apartment for an entire tree, so I thought a little tree on a table would do. I've had branches in a vase for a while now and thought it would be easy and cute to decorate them instead of a real tree. Unfortunately the vase this was originally in fell over and broke so I decided to used a glass canister from the kitchen instead. So here it is our wee branch tree, including one new ornament--a salt dough elephant ornament that Lois made! And of course it includes a few family pictures too. Merry Christmas!

A Pillow For Lois

2010-12-23T17:17:00.000Z

Last year I made a bunch of bedtime story pillows for the kids in my family, but I was pillowed-out by the time Christmas came and planned to make one for Lois sometime after Christmas. It took me a whole year to get to it, but I made one for her today. I like the way it turned out, and it looks really cute in her room. I embroidered the text like a bookplate--"this book belongs to"--because I love bookplates, and I thought it would be fun to have her name on her pillow. Now I have to wrap it and put it under the wee tree!

Bight Lights, Big City...Parties and Snow

2010-12-21T10:24:00.000Z

London is looking quite sparkly at night lately! They really go all out with decorations here. It's really fun to walk around and see all the lights and decorations. Last weekend we went to the Winter Wonderland market in Hyde Park. It was a little too packed to really enjoy it with little bit in the stroller (we could barely get through the aisles), but it looked very pretty and was fun to watch people on all the rides. Here's a bit of what London looks like at night these last few weeks, these first few from the Winter Wonderland.

And a bit of the sparkle in the city...

In related news, we went to a Christmas party. Hubbers looking classy in the red lights.

And it snowed! Someone in our neighborhood has snowy clothes.

Lois had fun after she got over the initial fear of what in the world is this stuff?!! Good times.

All iPhone pictures here, using either PictureShow or CameraBag.

Sewing Christmas Cards

2010-12-17T08:29:00.000Z

I'm a little behind in getting my cards done this year, but I finished last night. I thought I'd experiment with sewing on cards, and it worked! It worked well enough anyway. I was trying to only use papers and supplies I already had, but I did ruin a few cards, so I ended up also using some leftover cards from previous years. For these cards I cut little tree shapes out of some vintage papers I've had for a while and sewed a zigzag stitch around the border. Cute! Here are some other fun handmade card ideas I read about recently on Seeds and Stitches.

Woodland Cake

2010-12-07T15:02:00.000Z

I bought these fun holiday stencils at Michael's, in the Martha Stewart section of course, and I love them! My woodland stencil didn't turn out perfect, but it's still pretty. You gotta go easy on the powdered sugar, but in a very even layer. I think that's the key. They also carry stencils for cupcakes. Happy baking!

Fireside Chat

2010-12-06T02:25:00.000Z

Oh my, time sure does fly when you're having fun. And I'm home in Atlanta, so time is whizzing by! I'm sorry not to be posting regularly. After dinner, clean up, bath time, reading... I'm tuckered out. But here's a bit of what I've been up to down south, in the ATL. Right now, kicking back fireside at my mom's, sipping hot cocoa.

Last week we had a great Thanksgiving at the hubber's mom's house. The leaves above have all made their way to the ground, but when we first arrived, the leaves were so bright and fiery.

We re-visited a few of our favorite places. Star Provisions is where lots of gourmet goodies live in Atlanta, and where we got our Thanksgiving turkey. I bought one of their smores cupcakes. It was quite tasty.

I took a few morning walks with Lois.

I've spent a lot of time with my family, including these three adorable monkey's (my nephew's, my sister's kids). It's practically impossible to get three boys 5 and under to look at the camera and smile--at the same time. I must have taken at least 50 pictures just in this position, with candycane props. Still, this was the best I could do. I don't know how family photographers do it.

Speaking of photographers, I got to spend some time with my top favorite photographer, Greg Miller. He's the real deal.

I've seen a lot of pretty Atlanta days and nights. Even the bad weather is good weather to me just because I'm here.

We've had fun visiting with friends big and small.

And I've been trying to get lots of sleep, not very successfully though, because I'm too excited to be here! But I should try to sleep now. Nighty-night. Just realized I have all these big pictures of myself in one post! In case you weren't sure what I looked like, well, there you have it. ME.

Decorating with Branches

2010-11-18T17:48:00.001Z

We leave for Atlanta for Thanksgiving this weekend, and I won't be back until December 8. I'm staying a while longer than the hubbers to spend extra time with family and friends, whoohoo! I'm so excited! But that won't leave much time for Christmas decorating when I get back. Santa will be here before I know it, so I'm thinking something simple. I still have the vase with branches in our foyer, which will likely become the Christmas tree, and I just love the idea of some simple branches here and there to make things festive. Here are a few ideas for decorating with branches this holiday season.

1. Southern Living, 2. Country Living, 3. Country Living, 4. Country Living, 5. Casa Diseno, 6. Families Online. 7. Dottie Angel, 8. Emily Thompson via Little Love Blue.

The Little Black Dress

2010-11-12T17:57:00.000Z

Natalie Wood sure does look amazing in her little black dress here. I love this picture. She looks like she's about to conquer the city, maybe even the world! I went on a hunt for a new little back dress (for an occasion to come), and found quite a few at Zara. Every gal need a little black dress, right? I have a few, but they're old-ish, and I'm just a little bored with them. So I decided to get a new one. I love Zara. Their color palate is, well, a little lacking in color--quite neutral, but I often love their clothes. Zara did not disappoint. They had so much to choose from. I tried on a handful of little blacks, and could have come home with a new black dress wardrobe, but I settled on two. And the prices are so reasonable, I think, for the quality. Here are a few little black dresses from Zara right now.

And these last two are the ones I bought. They both look much better on, I think, than in the pictures. I especially love the last one. It looks really good on, and I love the fabric. All of these are in the dresses section on the Zara web site.

Sewing Nook Peek

2010-11-09T14:16:00.000Z

Lately I've been working on creating a little sewing space in our apartment. This area used to be the bar, but I'm turning it into my sewing nook instead. I'm just not motivated to sew with my sewing machine in the closet. I've been spending more time putting the little space together than actually sewing, but that's part of the fun. I'm not quite finished yet, but here's a peek. My favorite part so far is the wall that I covered in book pages from an old sewing classic. The book was falling apart anyway, so I didn't feel too guilty. I actually covered poster board so that I wouldn't have to peel the pages off of our rented walls one day. I just need a few more things to complete the spot, and then I'll post more pictures.

Just Because it's Pretty

2010-11-04T12:43:00.001Z

Yesterday when I was running errands I popped into a fun shop that sells housewares--things like lighting, furniture, kitchen goods and the like. Even though they have a lot of big, shiny merchandise, my eye was immediately drawn to a row of tiny heart bud vases they had on a narrow wooden board. They looked so sweet. I had to get one of those little heart bud vases. It looks pretty on our windowsill.