Studio Shots

Continuing on my corners theme, here are some photos taken in my studio. Top two photos are of some new fabric bought over the weekend from Ikea and the flea market, and some of my little lavender filled pillows. I haven't put these in my etsy shop yet, but they smell heavenly, are made from vintage fabrics and are $10 each. Just send me an e-mail if you'd like one. I'll ship anywhere.
And lastly, the Anthropologie catalog came in the mail today. Just when I thought I was over it. Well, let's face it, I'm not! There are too many tempting and beautiful things.

p.s. eggplant/cheese/phyllo dough recipe from yesterday was good...the kids still don't know they were eating eggplant.

In the Kitchen

Sunday was flea market day. The first time I've been since last summer. I picked up this set of bowls in my favorite yellow and this little pitcher in just the right shade of blue. They are cheering up my kitchen, as is my blue plate from Turkey that my husband's parents brought me back years ago. The kitchen is spring cleaned too. It will be a mess again by tonight. That empty space to the right of the window will be filled with this, as soon as it's framed.

update: 4:15 pm and it's starting to get messy in here...I'm making a recipe from this month's Gourmet magazine: it's a version of spanikopita, except instead of spinach, it's eggplant, walnuts and cheese in phyllo dough. I think it will be good, but I'll have to let you know tomorrow!

Happy Corner

These pillows are cheering up the corner of my living room. I made them over the weekend from leftover fabric (remember the yellow bag?). This week I'm clearing out our winter things and making room for spring. Aren't these little houses cheery too? I'll post more happy spring corners tomorrow.

Stars

Some stars for today...happy weekend everyone.

A Brief Visit

Driving home from D.C. we stopped to visit my cousin in Brooklyn for dinner. He lives right across from Sunset Park, where you can see the Statue of Liberty across the water. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and just being in NYC briefly made me long for a trip back there soon. Here are two things that caught my eye in his neighborhood.

There's a nice sale going on here.

At the Zoo

Washington D.C. was very green. And very flowery. And also very rainy. We spent most of our time inside at the museums. On our last day the weather cleared up and we went to the zoo.

Blurry

There's a blurry photo trade project going on over here. Just the other day I was looking at my blurry photos (all unintentionally blurry) and wondering if I should keep them or not. I love the soft quality and the sense of mystery and enchantment blurry photos have. Lovely blurries here today too.

Have a great weekend everyone! We are leaving tomorrow for Washington D.C. We're taking the kids to visit the great museums down there. It's a long car ride with two kids, but we are stocked up on new library books, books on tape, good music, and a brimming picnic basket of goodies. I'll be back Wednesday.

Spring Inside

I love getting packages in the mail, especially when they are this pretty. This wisteria lilac candle from Saipua is available here. It smells heavenly!

These striped pillows are made from vintage French grain sacks. They are available at Gray Mist Studios located at 360 Huron Ave, Cambridge, MA and 3-20-13 Shimo-Ochiai Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan. Please check them out if you are in these neighborhoods, or contact me if you are interested. They are not on my Etsy site as I make them to order only. For more images look here.

Happy day to you all...it is really spring here now...time to go outside!

Sunny Again

Another day of sunshine. I will go for a long walk this morning after I get some work done. Bright blue and yellow here for today. My Spanish dictionary helps me when I visit over here.

Flowers real and imagined

I love this flowery fabric I found while browsing here. It reminds me of these lamps I saw in the window of the junk shop down the street. Here are some real pink flowers found on my walk. And I’m practicing my knitting so I can teach Lucy and Will. We'll see how that goes.

Sunny Sunday Morning

A sunny Sunday morning featured currant scones, coffee, sunshine, dancing

Found over the weekend:

this lovely blog

which led me to this

and this

and lastly, this is a good place to visit on Mondays

Cold Day, Warm Heart

Although today started out sunny and hopeful, it is now gray, damp and cold. But getting this award from Karina really warmed my heart! Thank you Karina...you are so sweet and I feel honored that you have chosen me. I think I am supposed to choose three other bloggers to give this award to, so I am choosing three people who have been so encouraging to me since I started my blog. It doesn't feel quite right to only choose three, so I have to say thank you to all of the lovely bloggers out there who have been so encouraging...it is so nice to have your support, one and all!

Mary-Laure at Aurea, who was one of the very first people to ever leave me a comment. She is an amazing writer, photographer and traveler as well as being so lovely and encouraging to others.

Angie at Cozy Nest, who takes such beautiful photos as well as being a very talented crafter. She lives all the way across the country from me and has always been so sweet in leaving me thoughtful comments.

Alanna at Toby + Rei, who is an encouraging friend in real life as well as in blog land. Her blog is filled with green tips for raising children, and her writing is just downright funny...I find myself laughing when I read her posts!

And as I write this the sun has just come out.

Gracie's Hat

This is my niece, Gracie. For her birthday we gave her this beautiful hat from Artycho, who now has her hats available in her new on-line shop. Check it out if you have a chance...she uses the lovliest fabrics for these adorable creations. Gracie was very pleased with hers!

I have just updated my own shop too, with new spring bags in fun prints and colors. The yellow bag is there.

And there's a lovely post over here about one of my favorite interior style icons, Jane Cumberbatch of Pure Style fame.

This weekend we will be making chili, having dinner with friends, cleaning up our garden, taking long walks and bike rides (weather permitting) and just relaxing.

Happy weekend, everyone.

In the hood

These are the places in my neighborhood....

Italian grocery store
At the garden store
My favorite restaurant, delicious French food in the dining room, excellent Cuban food at the bar
Graffiti above the Harvard Credit Union
My neighbor's lawn ornaments, strange, but somehow endearing. They are growing on me.
What's your neighborhood like?

Pansies

Sunny, cool spring weather is just what pansies like. They are out in full force at the garden shop down the street from me. Maybe this weekend I will buy some for the planters on our front steps. The only problem for me is deciding on the colors!