Crewel Hearted

I am always drawn to a good crewel.  Crewel embroidery is a surface stitch, usually with wool yarns on a hearty base material, like cotton or sturdy linen.  The needlework technique is at least a thousand years old.  And, it rocks my socks off.

Chairs upholstered in a regal Jacobean crewel by Suzanne Kasler via Traditional Home via tartanscot



Some intricate crewel-ty. Get it?!?! Crewel-ty!?!?!



via Parker Sims



Animal Farm Crewel by Brunschwig & Fils via House Beautiful



Huberta Crewel by Clarence House



via Elle Decor



vintage English crewel tapestry

Claremont Crewel by F Schumacher

Great crewel fabric on Jenny's ottoman!

Oscar de la Renta Crewel for Lee Jofa

The Natural Shade Co via Little Green Notebook

 Jardin Crewel by Lee Jofa

by White Webb via Luster Interiors blog

Camp Wilder Crewel by Fabricut

And my favorite use of crewel: as a wall upholstery!
by Jill Sharp Brinson via House Beautiful



Love, love, LOVE this space!
by Jill Sharp Brinson via House Beautiful


Hope you have an upcoming project full of Crewel Intentions!  (Yikes, these puns are dorky.)
Cheers,
Whitney

A Slice of Turkey

My husband and I were in Saratoga Springs, NY, cruising the downtown shopping scene when my eyes bulged out of my face at the sight of this amazing Turkish Bazaar.  A well-edited, organized shop, the gallery featured rugs, kilims, ceramics, suzanis, dresses, lanterns and intricately designed footwear!  Such fun.  I could have stayed in the shop for hours. 

Fabulous!  If you're ever in Saratoga Springs, you may want to get over to the gallery on Broadway for a Turkish shopping spree! 

Cheers,

Whitney

Just Bead It

image via W magazine

This is Liza Lou.  Liza Lou is a visual artist with a mind-blowingly high amount of patience.   She's best known for creating painstakingly precise large-scaled installation pieces made from the unlikely medium of glass beads. 

Her famous work "Kitchen," a full-scale replica of a suburban American kitchen, is made entirely of beads.

A close up of the sink in "Kitchen"

 Lou was in graduate school studying fine art when she started using glass beads in her work instead of paints.  Her instructors and peers objected to her choice medium, mocking and disapproving of the craft supply.  She quit school and moved to Los Angeles, working tirelessly to create "Kitchen," one of her best-known pieces, over the course of five years.  "Kitchen" is estimated to have more than 30 million pieces in its composition.  Can you imagine the time, patience and love necessary to create something for five years all the while knowing that your mentors and colleagues think of it paltry?!

"Continuous Mile"

 "Maximum Security Fence"  image via Guest of a Guest

"Cell"

"Super Sister"



 "Backyard" whose composition includes 250,000 individually beaded blades of grass

Lou's work has brought her to a studio in Durban South Africa, where she has access to a team of Zulu artisans who help her create her intricate works with beads and tweezers.  Lou's career has been a huge success, garnering her accolades throughout the art world and earning her the MacArthur Foundation's 'genuis' grant of $500,000 to support her work.  Clearly, Lou's precise works require dedicated creativity, long-term motivation and physical endurance.  And a truckload of glass beads.  Genius, indeed. 
  


Liza at work in her Durban studio  image via W magazine


The beauty of pure individuality makes for the most exhilarating creations.  Let's be inspired this week! 
Cheers,
Whitney

Cute Correspondence

I just sent a thank you note to our hosts from last weekend for a fantastic time.  Call me Emily Post, if you must, but I believe that hand-written notes of gratitude are the best way to say thanks.  Writing on someone's Facebook wall, 'Hey thanks for the awesome time! You guys are great!' just isn't the same as a proper note.  
There is something so wonderful about fine papers, a cheerful stamp, and sending a card via postman to your sender.  It's old-fashioned and charming, and really indicative of well-intended thoughts.

The note I sent today was from one of my favorite sets of cards by the artist Carol Boeddiker.  A row of colorful mailboxes along a wooden plank seem so apropos for my postman-delivered gratefulness.  Aren't they so country-cute and happy!

My Carol Boeddiker notecards.  The perfect little correspondence cards. 

Carol's work is charming and cheerful.  She illustrates and watercolors designs depicting holidays, flowers & landscapes and animals.  Her forte is pet portraiture.  How fun is that?!

 

The company accepts custom orders, and they'd be glad to hear from you to discuss your desired illustration.  Tell them Whitney from Consider Yourself At Home sent you!  I foresee many of you ordering custom baby announcement cards, thank you notes and pet portraits by Carol!

Now I'm off to the mailbox to drop off my cute card!  Have a charming Friday!

Cheers,
Whitney

What's Rad? Rowley and Reed + Rader

The fashion designer Cynthia Rowley revealed her resort collection today.  The collection's presentation has been elevated to a creative swell with the help of Brooklyn progressive artists / photographers / graphic magicians / meowzas Reed + Rader.  See it today on StyleCaster. 

Have you ever seen the photos of Rowley's NYC home?  Elle Decor featured her townhouse in 2008, and her gilded piano still sticks out my my brain.  It's hollow, plastic-lined, and serves as an ice bucket.  Seriously haute.



all images Elle Decor, 2008

 I think Cynthia Rowley's designs are fabulous, and have always thought she was just so damn cool.  Then I saw this video on Sytlelikeu and now I know she is just so damn cool. 

Cheers,
Whitney

Open Skies

It is raining like the Dickens in New York today.  Yes, I just said "like the Dickens."  We heard thunder that sounded like garbage trucks falling from the sky.  Maybe it's because I grew up in California during a decade of drought, but I'm really fascinated by heavy storms. They're a little scary but so intriguing.

Over the weekend, John and I happened upon a great gallery in Stonington, CT which featured the amazing art of Deborah Randall.  Her pieces focus on the great depth and palette of the sky.  Sometimes the sky can be moody and mean and sometimes it can be gracious and healing.  Ever since we saw her pieces last weekend, I can't get them out of my mind; her work is a little impressionistic and maybe even abstract, and could look either highly modern or soft and traditional, depending on the setting/framing/placement/etc.  Many of these pieces are very large in scale and would be show-stopping pieces in an interior.  Stunning, non?

All images via Deborah Randall Fine Art

Kiss the sky!
Whitney