Look what cuteness popped up in my inbox this morning…

Selina Rose has introduced a new rug to her wonderful line of wool felt creations.  Inspired by the birth of her own baby, she set out to design a playful, eco-friendly rug, suitable for a child’s nursery.

These rugs are made with environmentally friendly dyes, and are available in three bright, cheerful colors – magenta, acid green, and orange.  Simply vacuum or spot clean to keep them looking as new as the day BEFORE the baby ground Cheerios into them.  And if you love the look, but can’t quite bring yourself to put such a nice rug down for your little one to spit up on, it could always be used as a very decorative wall hanging.

You can read a previous post I wrote on Selina Rose’s fabulous felt creations here.

Chairs are the favorite subject of furniture designers everywhere, and felt is today’s sustainable, on trend fabric of choice, so it’s no wonder chairs made of felt are cropping up everywhere.  Whether made of natural wool or recycled PET, the felt used for these chairs provides a soft, cushioned place for your posterior to plant itself, and what could be bad about that?  Check out these examples of stylish sustainability…

Pod for de vorm

Joseph Chair by Lothar Windels

Read the rest of this entry »

Reclaimed wool blankets, reupholstered chair, hand stitched embroidery,… what’s not to like???

Here is a fun take on handstichery by Etsy seller abigaildace.  I love that she has given this simple chair such personality.  There’s something about the combination of doily like embroidery, mid-century chair, and gray wool flannel that makes me think of a stylish 50′s grandma.

Can’t you just picture an impeccably dressed older woman sitting there, martini in one hand, a copy of Vogue in the other?  Heck, how about a young hipster chick?  Although then it would probably be a glass of artisan crafted beer and a copy of Dwell.  Hmmm…  Either way, this chair has a truly unique style.

Of course, you would have to go all the way to Britain to buy it, which probably won’t work out for most of you.  For those of you residing in merry old England, this chair can be yours for a mere £800.00.  Might be just the thing for your sitting room, or maybe you could give it to someone as a classy gift?  I hear there is a wedding going on there soon…

So, as I mentioned last week in An Ode to Woad – Part 1, I now have a serious addiction problem.  Let me show you how that came to be…

After gathering at the lovely French General for the workshop, we all carpooled over to the park where our dyeing experience would take place.

Once at the park we got a delightful and informative overview of the history of woad dyeing from Denise Lambet, who flew all the way from the South of France just to create a legion of new woad addicts dyers.  After regaling us with stories of previous woad workshop students stripping down to their skivvies in an attempt to have just ONE more garment to dunk in the vats, she proceeded to explain how the process worked, and what we would need to do to have a successful dyeing experience.  Then we got to work. Read the rest of this entry »

Look what gorgeousness I spied over at Table Tonic!

Vintage Moroccan wedding blankets!

Made primarily of handspun wool, these blankets fit in beautifully with the current trend for natural fibers and contrasting textures, although taken on their own merit, they are truly timeless in style.

According to Table Tonic:

Moroccan Wedding Blankets are sourced high in the Atlas mountains in Berber villages. They were made for Berber brides, who would wear them as capes to keep warm as they were walking to their new husband’s house. The women in the bride’s family would work on each one for months, using hand loomed sheep’s wool and painstakingly adding round, metal sequins one by one, by hand. All that work takes a lot of time, so these precious creations were reserved for the best and most important day – the wedding. Read the rest of this entry »

I love felted wool as a textile.  It’s so soft and thick.  It has a real sense of substance.  So I immediately noticed this hand stenciled and felted rug by tanisalexis on Etsy the other day, especially with the great 50′s style illustration of a city block.  So fun and whimsical.

Although it could easily hold up to minor foot traffic, I have to admit I’d be more inclined to hang it on a wall, or even use it for a runner on a table or sideboard.  How would you use it?

What fun!

Designer Dan Golden’s collection of wool felt rugs for Odegard are so darn cheerful.

Inspired by childhood memories of growing up in Mexico during the ’70s, Golden has infused the rugs with a correspondingly playful palette of colors.  Looking for all the world like the doodles we would create during 5th grade math, and then stuff clandestinely in our Pee Chees, these rugs definitely give off “good vibes”. Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of those in the military who have served their country and returned to tell the tale, I thought I’d write a little post on one of my favorite things they often brought home with them – vintage army blankets!

Now, lately I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on recycled Swiss Army blankets, and I gotta give props to the Swiss for having a striking design, but for me, the drab olive green of a U.S. Army wool blanket will always hold a special place in my heart.

You see, when I was a little girl one of the highlights of the summer was to go on picnics in the park.  My parents would make deviled eggs and tuna fish sandwiches, grab the old Army blanket we kept for such outings, and then pile me and my sister into the families blue Plymouth Fury.  To me, Army Blankets still smell like green grass and cherry Kool-aid.

Sadly, no one else seems to have quite my level of fondness for them, at least in terms of re-purposing them for the home.  I did find a neat article on how to upholster a headboard using an Army blanket, but struck out trying to find much else.

So, dear readers, could you do two things for me?  First, if you know of any interesting items made for the home out of U.S. Army blankets, could you mention them in the comments?  Second, if you know a veteran, take a minute out of your day to say thank you to them.  They deserve it.

Unfortunately, this great ottoman didn’t quite qualify for my “Recycled Menswear” post a couple of weeks ago, being that it is from virgin wool.  Still, it definitely has that handsome look to it, doesn’t it?

Created by the Los Angeles based Graf & Lantz design studio, this ottoman consists of multiple small rectangles of German merino wool felt, painstakingly stitched together into the debonair herringbone pattern you see.

Of course, that isn’t the only cool thing they make from wool felt… Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a nice video of a lovely green home for sale in our area.

I realize that it doesn’t look like what we usually think of as a green home, and that is exactly the point.  From the integrated solar roof tiles to the heavy duty insulation, the sustainable aspects of this home are largely hidden.  And yet, they are very, very effective, allowing this home to achieve one of the highest GreenPoint Rated scores ever given.

And those fancy Viking appliances in the kitchen?   Purchased from Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore.  Man, I need to go shopping there!

In any case, I had the pleasure of getting to know the couple behind this terrific home, and even helped them get a hold of  some of the sustainable furnishings to showcase.  If you watch when the video pans to the dining room, you will see one of William Stranger’s gorgeous wood slab tables.  And the rugs featured throughout are handwoven of sustainable, vegetable dyed yak wool and wild silk, (I’ll be writing more about the rugs in another post).   Online eco-friendly home furnishings retailer My Sparrow also contributed some of their great accessory items, such as artwork, pillows and bath products.

So, enjoy the video, or if you are in Southern California area, see about getting a tour at one of the open houses.  It’s a terrific project, and well worth seeing.  Oh, and many of the items you will see are available for purchase, so if you see something you can’t live without, feel free to contact me and I will get you more information and let you know who to contact.