Textile time in Thailand

Want to share some inspiring textiles I saw in Chinag Mai today

by local artist Pairat Sawasdisara.

She is multi talented and her small showroom in Northern Village at Central Airport Plaza shows both her beautiful large paintings, silk screen printed silks and these beautiful patchwork embroideries.

I loved the way she has created a tablecloth by embroidering 

small fabric pictures onto the beautiful soft, natural hemp fabric. 

The result is a work of art on the table - a still life.

Her images of northern hill tribe women are just stunning.

Ten ways I love to use tea towels

When did my love of tea towels begin?

Well it wasn't at the kitchen sink!

Inspiration came when I saw these wonderful tea towels at StudioPatro

They describe it so beautifully:

"what is a tea towel?

1st thing I reach for

essential kitchen accomplice

natural and absorbent

thoughtful, responsible giving

washable and reusable

classic cook's tool

better than a paper towel

motivator to dry the dishes

dish towel or art?"

Reading the constantly inspiring Treefall today, I was introduced to Skinny Laminx 

and her amazing T-towel designs in her Etsy shop. 

Had to buy this one for the IKEA man in my life!

The thought popped into my head that I really needed to know how

 to use these tea towels for wrapping gifts japanese style, Furoshiki to be precise.

Furoshiki in a nutshell = the origami of cloth

Do you believe in synchronicity?

 I do ... 

no sooner had the wrapping idea come to me 

than I was led to click on this link with a twist!

Further investigation led me here and now I am madly practising wrapping anything to get my skill level up.

Go further and watch this clip to make a kangaroo wrap

I had to end with my own effort

No animal suffered in the taking these photographs

Ps Sorry, this  blog has link overload - but I just kept finding more and more that I wanted to share with you.

Anthro, Austin and art

Shopping in Anthropologie in Austin just over a week ago. Heaven. My eye was drawn to this book-so inspiring I bought it. 

Etcetera: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Love

Love how author Sibilla Court describes herself as being less of a hoarder and more as a collector and curator of things. In fact she goes further and likens herself to a bowerbird. Perfect.

Bowerbirds (well the male to be precise) love to create an elaborate structure, a bower, which they decorate with colourful objects they find.... from snail shells and berries to bottle caps and flowers. Attracting another mate is not my intention! but this has to be the best description for a lover of things unusual and beautiful. Doesn't Sally Elfords screen print act as a beautiful image to focus on?

Bower bird

Satin Bowerbird screen print card by Sally Elford

The book has so many great ideas, I recommend you hot foot it to Anthro or Amazon and secure your own copy of ETCETERA. 

Tables love fabric

Tables love fabric

A little table rehab for sister Jen's kitchen 

 ~ a linen runner on top of a linen cloth

simple and effective at tieing the old and the new furniture together ...

as Jen decides on what look she is going for.

(3 years on and she is still working on it!)

If your table looks lost then try taking a piece of nice linen but don't make it cover the entire table. Leaving some of the wood showing creates a nicer feel. 

If you don't have time to sew then just iron the edges under.

The runner on top creates the focal point and links it all together. 

Again you don't need to sew it ~ just fold it over so the raw edges are hidden.

Have some fun and bring summer into the kitchen.

I'm in Texas at the moment and hoping to be back in blogging mode soon - but plenty of distractions. 

See here for one reason!