Un cojín con ángel

Un cojín con ángel

Este es el último regalo que he hecho y que ya ha sido recibido. Se trata de un cojín bordado en punto atrás de un modelo gratis que tenía hacía tiempo. Para combinar , elegí una tela de franela y fieltro. Pasé un zig zag a la máquina y añadí unos botones de madera en los laterales.



También sustituí algunas de las flores por botones de madera. Los hilos son de DMC


Es desenfundable . Cosí estas cintas en positivo y negativo e hice la lazada dejando que se viera el extremo de la funda que cosí a medida.



La tela principal hace un bonito dibujo invernal y es muy cálida al tacto.



Desde luego es un placer hacer regalos y que los reciban con gusto. Pero mucho más si tenemos en cuenta a quién va dirigido.

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Bourgeois Bohemian = Bobo

Bourgeois Bohemian = Bobo

One of the newest hot spots in New York right now is a little gem of a restaurant called Bobo. I've been hearing about it everywhere and even the February 2008 issue of Domino has given them a shout out. (Don't worry, my post won't ruin it for you. They use different photos.) It's comfortable and homey restaurants and that was the point. Owner Carlos Suarez intended the Pan-European cuisine to be served in an intimate setting that conjures an old-world dinner party in what he calls “a fantasy apartment in Paris or Rome.”

When Suarez dreamed up Bobo, he wanted to avoid the “large, impersonal restaurants” he says were cropping up in the meatpacking district. So he rented a U-Haul and drove it upstate every weekend for months. “We’d come back with truckloads of goodies,” he says, and among them were six yellow French country chairs that he purchased at a Saugerties antique store for $50 to $75 each.

The restaurant’s designer was his cousin Dolores Suarez who along with her friend Caroline Grant founded the design firm Dekar in 2000 and also decorated the Zagats’ apartment. "They upholstered the chairs with a floral-print, stain-resistant material and painted them black. Now they’re tucked under a copper chef’s table purchased from Odegard, under a spider chandelier possibly salvaged from a bank. Not all of Bobo’s chairs came cheap though, when he ran out of money to buy more, Suarez brought in some from his apartment!"

Sadly, I've hear rumors that the food might not live up to the decor's "promises of a magnificent dinner." So perhaps one should go in with low food expectations and just check out the fabulous design details that will definitely leave you inspired. By the way, don't forget to take a trip to the loo to check out the Cowtan & Tout Calliope wallpaper!

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Picasso and Lump

Picasso and Lump

It seems like you can't walk anywhere in New York without tripping over a dachshund. They are the unofficial mascot of the city and if you own one or want to buy a cute present for a friend who does, you must check out Picasso and Lump. It's not a new book but one that is utterly charming.


The story goes that "one spring morning in 1957, veteran photojournalist David Douglas Duncan paid a visit to his friend and frequent photographic subject Pablo Picasso, at the artists villa near Cannes. Traveling with Duncan was his pet dachshund, Lump. The photographers nomadic lifestyle and his other dog, a giant Afghan hound had never suited the jealous and temperamental Lump. So when they arrived at Picassos Villa La Californie that spring day, Lump decided that he had found his paradise on earth, and that he would take up permanent residence with Picasso. Lump was soon immortalized in a Picasso portrait painted on a plate, but this was just the beginning. In a suite of 45 paintings reinterpreting Velsquezs masterpiece Las Meninas, Picasso replaced the impressive hound in the foreground with jaunty renderings of Lump. Fifteen of the paintings are reproduced here, bringing full circle the odyssey of a fortunate dachshund who found his way from reluctant road warrior to furry and elongated icon of modern art. "

The Dachshund's affectionate

He wants to wed with you:

Lie down to sleep,

And he's in bed with you.

Sit in a chair,

He's there.

Depart,

You break his heart.

E.B. White

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Operación : un hogar más agradable

Operación : un hogar más agradable

Por fín he terminado mi proyecto de este miércoles. Lo colocaré en mi habitación de costura. Se trata de una percha grande que hace tiempo encontré en una tienda de todo a cien y que ahora ya tiene uso. Primero decidí los colores, blanco y rosa. El blanco como recuerdo al invierno, a la nieve, y el rosa ,porque además de combinar con las rosas pintadas sobre la percha , dan calidez a la frialdad del blanco.
Elegí entre lo que tenía y así ha quedado.




Con más detalle........






Una tarjeta hecha en scrap que dice " Pequeños detalles , grandes ideas ".






También puede servir esta idea para colocar una pequeña colección de adornos bordados en punto de cruz. Así quedan más expuestos que dentro de una cesta.
Espero que os haya gustado.

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Tony Duquette's Dawnridge

Tony Duquette's Dawnridge

I know everyone says they are over Tony Duquette now but in case you're not, you can watch this video from Style.com where author and estate manager Hutton Wilkinson gives jewelry maker Liz Goldwyn the grand tour of the design legend's Beverly Hills estate. It's worth checking out just to see the vintage jewelry from the archives that Liz gets to try on!

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Shop in Style

Shop in Style

When I go to Paris for my birthday, I am definitely going to have to stop at the divinely beautiful Dries Van Noten boutique at 7 Quai Malaquais. It feels more like a home than a shop and has been described as "an expression of the Belgian designer's aesthetic that is a paradigm for our fashion times: an original, one-off store in which everything from a gleaming marble console to a stalwart 1970s desk appeals to the senses."

"It was a dream opening in this location," said Van Noten, referring to the spacious, high-ceilinged former bookstore and its view across the river to the Louvre."

"I wanted it to be extremely luxurious with the atmosphere of a neighborhood," he said. "It is something very personal. And I wanted to respect the place. Who am I to change it? I want to keep it and treasure it and pass it on to the next generation."

Many of the eclectic objects that Van Noten and his partner Patrick Vangheluwe have garnered have been from flea markets and lend a warm and inviting atmosphere to the store. In addition, there are many other beautiful pieces such as, a sky-blue sofa from America, a baroque bridge table that once belonged to the aesthete Charles de Bestegui, a Chinese bird of paradise patterned rug, Ottoman velvet pillows from the 1920s, a decorative Italian screen, a Napoleon III boulle table and intriguing pieces from Belgium. They include a 1950s abstract painting by Marc Mendelson in the same pistachio green as the silk curtains surrounding a tiny glass conservatory-cum-boudoir.

I first fell in love with Dries Van Noten after I saw photos from his anniversary dinner and fashion show that was held for 500 guests in Paris in 2004. The setting was a factory on the outskirts of Paris, and the table measured 450 feet in length. It was set with linen and flatware for three courses. Above were chandeliers, casting a milky beam in the dark room, and behind the guests stood an army of waiters, many of whom, like the caterers, were brought from Antwerp, where Mr. van Noten lives. At the end of the evening he gave each guest a hardbound book covering his 50 collections that was produced at his own expense.

"He said before the show that he had always wanted to have everyone sit down at long table and have the models walk the linen between the main course and dessert. And what's the point of reaching a milestone, as a self-made designer, if you can't mark it with a banquet?" Amen!

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Reader Request

Reader Request

I'm hoping one of my design obsessed readers can help out Jen who emailed me about finding the pendant lamp that she saw at the J. Crew store in Palm Desert, California. When she called the store, they were less than helpful and said they couldn't remember where they bought it and suggested Lamps Plus which Jen and I both checked to no avail. I also checked all of my sources and came up with nothing.

My first thought was that maybe it was vintage before she told me that it was in the J. Crew store which she said looked very Hollywood Regency and not like any other usual Preppy looking store. But it doesn't look like anything else I've seen available that's new. If anyone has any idea where this lamp is from, Jen and I would really appreciate your help because now she has me obsessed with where it came from too! Thanks!

***UPDATE*** The lamp has been found thanks to Breck who suggested Remains Lighting and Liisa who actually found it online. Here is the link, http://www.remains.com/item_HL2617.18.aspx. I know Jen and a few other readers who emailed me will be very excited! I knew you guys could do it! Thanks!

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Botecito de cristal

Botecito de cristal

Hace tiempo que no hacía ninguno de estos botecitos de cristal .
Éste , en concreto , ha sido uno de mis regalos navideños.




Va lleno de botones grandes para usar " a gusto del consumidor ". Como adorno y a la vez como cierre empleé uno de esos broches que utilizábamos para cerrar las faldas .........




..........Y es que los regalos hechos tienen otro encanto . Son únicos y además combaten, en cierto modo , el hábito consumista que tanto se percibe en los momentos previos al Día de Reyes. También de esta forma , podemos enseñar a nuestros hijos el valor que tiene algo creado por ellos mismos, frente al bombardeo televisivo al que son sometidos en Navidad. ¡ Arriba los trabajos hechos a mano !

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Weekend Escape

Weekend Escape

When I opened the Escapes section of The New York Times on Friday, the last thing I was expecting to find was a design feature about the weekend retreat of one about the city's most interesting couples, Derek and Michelle Sanders. He owns his own architecture firm that has designed the interiors of The Standard Hotel in LA and my favorite restaurant in New York, La Esquina, which is also co-owns. She used to be an editor at Vogue before leaving to work for Juicy Couture, Miu Miu and Donna Karen where she is now SVP of DK Collection accessories.


I profiled their New York apartment when I first started my blog but for those of you who missed it, you can check it out here. You can see similarities in the apartment and the rural retreat three hours north of the city in the use if white but I really like how they decorated the converted old barn with more rustic and country looking furniture. It really fits the space.

It looks like the place is still a work in progress in some areas. The floor in the living room appears to be just painted plywood while the kitchen has wide plant hardwood floors. I personally would have liked it if they had anchored the living room seating arrangement with some kind of rug but maybe they are still searching for one. I could see a braided rug fitting in perfectly in this space.

I think the large flag lends a nice Americana feel to the place. I wish the article had shown more photos but it was still fun to peak inside and see what this creative couple has been up to lately. It would also be nice if they would grant me access to the super secret VIP reservation number to La Esquina since I've written about them twice. I wonder who I need to talk to about that.

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Intercambio Quaker ,nº 15

Intercambio Quaker ,nº 15

Ya va camino muuuuuuuy lejos, este quaker con el tema navideño. Una vez más gracias a Nancy K. por liderar este intercambio realizado en el foro de Legacy Embroiderers , nada menos que durante casi cuatro años seguidos al que no he faltado ni una sola cita.
He decidido mostrarlo porque hasta que mi compañera, que no sabe que yo se lo envio, lo tenga en sus manos, las navidades quedarán ya algo pasadas y quedará fuera de lugar hacer un artículo al respecto . Creo que para cuando ella lo tenga , ya estaremos hablando de San Valentín.
El color para hilos elegido ha sido el rojo y el blanco, en mi caso son hilos de algodón tintado de Needle Necesities. La tela es un 28 ct Country French linen y el modelo uno de los Ackworth Pattern Book, mi favorito para los medallones quakers.



La cinta es un preciosidad. La compré en la primera feria de Creativa y con ese toque rojo y dorado ha quedado que ni al pelo.
Los alfileres blancos son de cristal y los tienen en una de las grandes mercerías de Pontejos.




Esta vez bordé el año delante y se me ocurrió otra forma para añadir nuestras iniciales ( por supuesto no verás las de mi compañera que están tapadas intencionadamente) . Creo que le voy a sacar más partido a esta terminación. ¿ Qué te parece ?

La tela es es modelo en toile de Jouy ( ¿ se escribe así ? Siempre tengo dudas ), y que es una de las que más me gustan.



Esta vez he cambiado el sistema de montar el pinkeep. He echado mano del pegamento en spray que utilizamos en patch y he sustituído el cartón habitual por el de pluma de 3mm ,pegados justos y sin guata entremedias.

Ya véis que ando con trabajillos durante estas vacaciones. Mañana espero enseñaros más.
Espero que hayáis pasado un maravilloso dia de Reyes y os hayan dejado muchas cosillas.

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