Friday 26 April 2013

Fabulous Cushions I've Made

I've been very busy sewing this week and here are the cushions I've made...
This one is called Victoriana Gothica
And this one is called Marley's Dream and the back has a gorgeous ghostly vintage montage fabric...
plus I've made a couple of Opulent Oriental ones...

and finally, one of the nicest I've ever made in my humble opinion. It has layers of gorgeousness overlaid over more layers of gorgeousness. Truly an indulgent creation. It's called Burlesque...




Thursday 18 April 2013

The Art of Kay Nielsen

For me, a good blog is like a portal. It has interesting links and pictures with a bit of info about each so that if something tickles yer fancy, you can go off into the great wide world yonder and find more about that thing. So today I want to share my love of Kay Nielsen the Danish illustrator whose pictures graced the pages of children's books in the early part of the 20th century. Here are just a few tasty little gems to whet your appetite.





Thursday 11 April 2013

World Of Steam & Teacups

Well I just discovered this picture whilst reading
about World of Steam on Kickstarter.
You don't get to see a teacup bra too often and it got me thinking about teacups, how beautiful they are and all the weird and wonderful things you can do with them...other than drinking tea.
But before you see all sorts of cool stuff you can do with teacups I better explain... For anyone that doesn't know what Kickstarter and that all means... World of Steam is a new TV show and Kickstarter is the internet funding platform for them to raise money and get their project off the ground. Well they got the funding so I eagerly await the finished pilot later this year...In the meantime you can check out this trailer/ promo for World of Steam



Here is one of the gorgeous necklaces by dishfunctional designs from etsy.




Tea cup bracelets, fragile but beautiful.


Pin cushions! Genius! And really easy to do...


This bird feeder is made from china I'm not too keen on but imagine it in beautiful old porcelain.


Now this is much more my kind of thing. Check out lots more cool designs by Capitulumvii on their Etsy page





  These would be great in a little cafe, over the tables just to add a touch of ambience. They are by T2


As a chandelier...why not??


I love this idea for bird feeders because I love the idea of feeding the wee birdies obviously but also how surreal and great these colourful bits of old china would look in the garden


I love this lamp made from old punch glasses from justbeme


 This is one idea I've actually done myself already. I have lots of jewellery in an old pink and gold cup. Pretty pretty pretty.


A novel idea for quaint kitchen curtail tie backs





Monday 8 April 2013

Van Asch printed cushions photographed by Janice Issitt.

Oh I'm just so excited by all the new fantastic photos of my printed cushions done by Janice Issitt. The cushions are all for sale on the Van Asch webshop of course. Janice has captured the feeling of my designs perfectly.
Here is a selection from her latest shoot...






 The paint colours above are Provence on the wall and Antibes Green on the chest of drawers both by Annie Sloane

Thursday 4 April 2013

Glorious Gold

I love the colour gold. I love gold jewellery, gold interiors and gold things but I must admit, not generally modern shiny gold. Think... more antique, vintage gold and brass of course.
When looking around at images to put up here, I saw so much awful blingy gold stuff, which was all about shoving the idea of aspirational luxury and wealth down our throats. Gold can be so chavvy, so tasteless and so boring. Here is my homage to gold as the height of interesting, sophisticated and understated luxury and beauty.


 Here is a clock and a birdcage...brilliant!



 I don't really know what's going on here but it is super weird and that's always a good start for me...wings...gold...yeah!
 Gold feather outfit by Alexander Mcqueen. Weird and wonderful!

I love theses walls! The combination of lustrous gold and delicate grey birds is just perfect. Blanc de chine over gold leaf. The interior of the restaurant "Turandot" on Tverskaya Boulevard, Moscow. Фото: Степанов Михаил
 Here's an outfit not for the feint of heart. It's one of Gou Pei's incredible couture creations, walking art! Although, I've seen the shoes that model is wearing and walking does not come easy!
 This piece of jewellery is by the genius Lalique and it exquisite beyond words...
 Klimt, how could I pay homage to gold without including some of his beautiful work?

 Japan's 'Tunnel of lights'. Gorgeous!
 This beetle is like nothing else you've ever seen! Croatian gate designer Sandro Vrbanus made those panels in an olympian effort which took 3000 man hours. It was made so beautifully that the doors still worked and the windscreen wipers were fitted back in place, yet the finished thing weighed only fractionally more than the original beetle.
 This is actually a handle so you grasp and turn the hand to open the door. How cool is that?
 I love filigree and wrought iron and the colour combo of gold and turquoise is alway a winner for me.
 Love this gold cuff, gothic in the purest sense.



 This exquisite dress is by Givenchy and is all kinds of wonderful!

 I love this piece of artwork called 'Miragem'. Don't know where or who from but think it is mysterious and meditative.