This time of year I am craving green and flowers. I want real flowers, but will be happy with flowers on fabric for now. I made these pillows for my cousin and his wife from some vintage kimono remnants. They'll go on this beautiful blue couch in their living room.

The weekend ended with snow and now today it's sleeting and gray. There are no signs of spring anywhere in my neighborhood. One more month of winter for us at least!

Visiting my cousin, I notice lots of things in his place that used to be in my aunt and uncle's house growing up. It's fun to revisit them here, brings back memories. Both rugs in the above photos were woven by my mom, the brown and red one from way back in the 70's, one of her first, I think. The bright red and blue one is later, she must have given it to my cousin and his wife as a wedding present. It's fun to see her work incorporated here too. And I don't know where the bedding came from, but everytime I visit, I want to take it home with me. Same with the Tintin picture.

More inspiring apartment details from Brooklyn. The sky was so blue that day, it felt like Greece. Except for the freezing cold temperatures. We spent a lot of time at the Met (two whole afternoons), went ice skating in Central Park (so pretty, with the snow in the trees), walked through Times Square, ate lots of excellent Asian food: dim sum, Thai, Vietnamese. I had an excellent avocado milkshake and lots of good tea. I took no pictures outside of the apartment....I get overwhelmed trying to take photos on the streets of Manhattan!

We just got back from four days in New York, staying with my cousin in Brooklyn. Somehow all the small details of someone else's home are so interesting and refreshing to me. Different colors and patterns. It all seems so charming away from home.

I just added some blue to the mix! New blue stripe grainsack pillows are in my shop now. I'm loving the bright French blue color of these stripes, and actually made two for myself from this fabric.

The snow is melting fast today and these colors give me spring fever.

Sold out of red stripe grainsack pillows earlier this week and just put some new ones in the shop today! These are a wonderful cherry red, with the most delicious texture.
I should have some new blue ones coming in very soon too.

Day after Valentine's Day. Leftover strawberries on cereal. A single red rose from my husband and some sweet cards.

My living room bookshelf has been bugging me visually for quite a while, so when I saw this lovely apartment with the color coded books via 16 House, I knew I had to give it a try. My kids were just getting home from school and they were happy to help me pull all the books off the shelves and rearrange. It took us about half an hour and I have to say, I love the result! My eye is no longer drawn all over the place by randomly placed red book spines and I like the way there are solid blocks of concentrated color. Isn't it funny how such a small change can make you feel so much better about a space?

Have a good weekend!

Today was bright, clear and very cold. As long as the sky is blue however, I really don't mind the cold at all. I went with my son's 3rd grade class on a tromp through snowy Cambridge Common to find Revolutionary war monuments, which were for the most part, buried in snow drifts. It was cold and fun and exhausting! Anyway, that doesn't relate at all the the pictures above.

I got a big shipment of grainsacks in January and tomorrow I start sewing them into pillows. I love working with this kind of fabric: love the texture, the history, the creamy oatmeal color, the crisp red and blue stripes in all their simple and classic variations. I just finished a custom order for 20 x 20 pillows and will send them off to their new home in the morning. This particular fabric was a favorite of mine. I'm just a fabric freak.

I'll be honest, today is dreary. Gray skies, huge piles of dirty, melting snow and ice. Ugh. Thank goodness for grocery store tulips being on sale. Because that's just about the only thing that's saving my mood right now.

I've been working with some interesting fabric this week. Another kantha quilt from India, which I've been sewing into pillows for Pod. I know I mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll say it again. The tiny handstitching is not mine, it's done in India.

This week I finished reading The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, and while Possession will remain my all time favorite book of her's, I really did enjoy this one too.

Last night I watched Seraphine. Although the ending is a bit sad, the movie is visually beautiful, especially if you like the French countryside and French country interiors circa the 1920's. The movie used lots of French ticking and other lovely vintage fabrics in the interior scenes.

Have a superb weekend!