Emma Dear on Etsy

I love wool and lace together, it's a classic Irish combination, the two great Irish textiles (linen, you're a close third).  When I see wool and lace together it just speaks out loud to me.

These cushions by Etsy seller Emma Dear speak to me, loud and clear, they say 'hey Jesse I bet you wish we were at your house'.  They not only are wool and lace, but they are made with repurposed fabric cut from vintage men's suits.  Some of them still have the plackets and the buttons and the labels.  The labels.  The labels are saying to me 'yeah, we are so charming it's killing you isn't it?'

Emma Dear has hundreds and hundreds of things that keep speaking to me, taunting me.  This recession can end any day now, seriously.

Doily Bombing

All done!!, originally uploaded by woolly fabulous.

I ran across this photo on tumblr.com and was blown away! I've seen plenty of yarn bombing or knit graffiti before, but as a non-knitter it never really spoke to me...but this? Vintage doilies? Simply amazingly beautiful.

Apparently the sore arms (can you imagine?) behind this is Odile from the Etsy shop Wooly Fabulous, a shop I had already hearted for her gorgeous pincushions made with vintage doilies. With my lottery winnings, I will be flying her over to Ireland to doily bomb all my trees!

Cozy Memories on Etsy

I love this Etsy seller!  Sonia, whose shop is called so thoughtfully, Cozy Memories.  I first ran across her jam jar covers on Flickr (searching 'linen', I'm obsessed, I swear).  Then I found her Etsy shop, and she has just a lovely selection of sweet little items, each exactly the sort of thing that makes my eyes happy.  Lots of linen and lace with a charming French domesticity that is always so effortless.

The best, though, is her blog, gorgeous and colourful and lively.  I have a little dream that we will retire to France someday...not so crazy, as it's only a boat ride away and we escaped the mortgage trap here in Ireland.  I love Ireland but I would love to have a little more sunshine, a little bit nicer food, and maybe some of that charming, lazy, effortless domesticity.  Sonia's blog, Cozy Homemaking, feeds that fantasy for me...and when I started clicking on her friends blogs (many of whom I recognise already from their beautiful art and photos!), it all just left me wistful and convinced that my little dream is one I should nurture and prod at as much as possible.

If you are feeling cozy and French now, spend an hour reading through her blog and blogroll!  Such a treat.

Irish Linen Tea Towels

Irish Wiskey Front, originally uploaded by creativebabiesetsy.

I ran across this photo a few months ago, and ever since then, I've been ruminating about what I could make out of those Irish linen tea towels. I don't have any, aside from a couple that I actually use as tea towels, but I never pass up an opportunity to start searching through eBay listings to start a new collection of something, which I may or may not eventually make into something else. I've seen plenty of tea towels at car boot sales, but now I'm pretty much guaranteed to never see another one.

I looked at the slipper-maker's Etsy shop, and she has other cute and clever items made from Irish linen tea towels, but my favourite is the whiskey slippers. I wish I'd thought of that.

Namolio on Etsy

Isn't this beautiful?  It's by Namolio on Etsy.  Her shop is stuffed full of so many beautiful things, all linen, cloth and thread.

I think I am about to go through a linen period, I just need to find an Irish linen hook up.  I can get it in the little needlecraft shop I go to, but I want big, ugly swaths of it, straight from the mill.  Preferably some forgotten hoard of hand-dyed vintage linen, ha ha.

Namolio has buttons and bias binding, too, I love it.

Look at this photo on her Facebook page!  I about died.  So amazingly gorgeous.

I need this recession to be over, all these pretties are haunting me!

Designed by Jane on Etsy

I love this artist...the designs in her felt brooches are so simple but so effective.  The colours are so rich and well matched, and the textures and symmetry just make these so appealing to me.  Buttons and felt!  Love it.

I like using wool felt, I like it for making pincushions and pillows, and I like how it looks with the edges pinked.  These fabulous brooches have inspired me to try appliquing felt on to some of my crazy quilts, I often use felt as patches but it hadn't occurred to me to make shapes, flowers, etc.  Something to experiment with!

Designed by Jane has loads more designs in her Etsy shop, including some cuffs and bags and crocheted pieces.  Yummy eye candy, well worth a look!

Buying Handmade

I had money in my Paypal, so I thought I'd treat myself to a new handbag.  A 12%-off-all-bags sale on DaWanda--Europe's answer to Etsy--sealed the deal!  I've been pining for a bag from  Etsy seller Bayan Hippo for ages, and lo and behold, she has a DaWanda shop, too!  So I got this beautiful colourful new bag just in time for summer.

It is just exquisitely made, with roomy pockets inside and a clip to hold my keys (find?  my keys??  crazy.)  And she adds such lovely generous details, for instance the bag is shipped inside another colourful fabric drawtring bag!  Mine is a fruity pink print.  And she pins a few little charms and beads inside, including a lucky 'evil eye' bead, as she is in Turkey.  I just love little details like that!