museum brandhorst

On May 21, 2009 a museum housing the amazing private collection of 20th and 21st century art from Udo and Anette Brandhorst, will be opening it's doors in Münich. Being a Cy Twombly fan, this museum has a priority spot on my places to see list if only to see his series of "Rose" paintings. The museum itself(designed by Sauerbruch Hutton) looks like a huge strip quilt. The facade has 36,000 ceramic strips in varying shades of 23 different colors. There is a great flickr group on the museum's facade (where the images above were taken from) that can be seen here. More info on the museum and it's collection can be found here.

miss buttons and friends

miss buttons
mr. electron
miss allsorts
Meet Miss Buttons and her pals, Miss Allsorts and Mr. Electron. These little peeps can be made by hand or machine and by young and old. Theses softie patterns were designed by Angela White of "Sew Your Own" and the photos above are from the album on her website that happy crafters willingly have on display. You can see more here.
These patterns can be found by volksfaden here.

masako tomokiyo

An exhibit of Masako Tomokiyo's textiles opened at the Galerie der CON.form in Mitte, Brunnenstr.3 on May 1st and I still haven't seen it! It is on my list of exhibits I will see before they close, though.
Masako Tomokiyo has been inspired by the East German "Plattenbaus" ( kind of concrete slab architecture) to create a series of handwoven textiles. The graphic structure of the building facades and the color schemes are re-interpreted in her very minimalistic designs.
To find out more about Ms. Tomokiyo and her work you can go here.

mod tights

man on the moon tights
beatle tights
retro tights
floral tights
bug tights
dot tights
On my online search for "cool mod tights" (Strumphosen...) I found this amazing site with probably the most humongous collection of printed tights ever. So if you are looking to make a fashion statement with your legs alone, check this place out celestesteindesigns.com. My faves are the "Beatles" and "The Man on the Moon" tights.

Dan Funderburgh

Dan Funderburgh is an artist and wall paper designer who resides in Brooklyn, NY. I love his wallpaper, are these funky or what! I can't decide which is my fave but it is definitely between the the depraved toile and the gold chains although the fire hydrants and the parking meters are not to be overlooked...... You can find more images and info about Dan Funderburgh here.

bertine

I just found this online store, bertine, this morning and it has really great stuff. If you are crazy for polka dots, which I confess I am, this little online shop is a piece of polka dot heaven for you...a polka dot grill, earrings, watering can, cooler, napkins...they do of course have products without polka dots if some reason dots just don't do it for you....

lilipad studio

I love the children's furniture that lilipad studio produces! All of the furniture is made in their studio in Idaho using eco-friendly wood products and then they are hand painted using non-toxic paints.
Very cool stuff.

ritacor patchwork workshop

sweet pants from Rita's online shop

Last month I was delighted to be asked by Rita Correia if I would be interested in being one of her sponsors for a patchwork workshop she would be teaching in April. I sent some fabric bags for her ladies to play with and here are some of the lovely results that you can see on their Flickr page here. She had fourteen participants and everyone who wrote me a note about the workshop said it was wonderful! Congrats Rita! Rita will be teaching patchwork/quilting workshops throughout May and into June so if you are lucky enough to live in Portugal or maybe have been itching to take a creative vacation, get more info here or contact Rita here if you don't speak Portuguese!
Rita also has a lovely online shop for children's clothes that you can visit here.

kantha quilts

Kantha Quilt available through Sally Campbell

Kantha Quilt Rie Elise Larsen

Tea Cosy Rie Elise Larsen

Cushion Rie Elise Larsen

Quilts from Jeanette Farrier

traditional Kantha Quilt from West Bengal

What better way to celebrate Mother's Day than to take a look at a traditional woman's craft, Kantha Quilts or otherwise known as "quilt of cotton recycled rag".
Traditionally Kanthas make use of old worn out saris or dhotis, recycling them into colorful quilts or coverlets. The quilting used to keep the many layers together is a simple running stitich although traditionally combined with ornate embroidery. Threads for the quilting and embroidery are often unravelled from garments borders and reused.
Here are some inspirational resources for Kanthas that can be found online:
Jeanette Farrier makes beautiful wraps and throws using antique saris that are quilted by village women in India helping them to make a living through their handcraft.
Beautiful Kanthas can also be found online at Sally Campbell. Sally Campbell also travels to India regularly to choose her fabrics and works closely with local srtisans there.
I love the Kantha products that can be found by Rie Elise Larsen! The colors are fabulous!! The site is however in Danish so I am not sure about the production details of her home accessories.
Have a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!