Beaded Champagne Chair

January 30, 2013 by mymateriallife

Are you familiar with the champagne chair?  I learned about champagne chairs in the Design Within Reach catalog in the early 2000′s.  I even entered one of their champagne chair design competitions one year.  I hadn’t thought about them in years until I saw the magazine below.  It’s from the U.K.; I found it at Whole Foods before the holidays Finding that magazine was one thing that inspired the chair above.  The other was the book you see next to […]

Categories: Architecture, Finery, Miniatures • Tags: beaded champagne chair, chicago, colleen moore's fairy castle, doll house furniture, miniatures, museum of science and industry

Pretty Peonies

June 6, 2012 by mymateriallife

I don’t think I’ve ever bought peonies before; I’m so glad I brought these home last week.  I almost passed them by because only one of the flower buds had started to bloom.  There are five stems in the bunch and that’s the last flower to bloom in the photo.  They are so pretty with a lovely mild scent.  It’s been fun to watch them change all week long.  I may go back and get another bunch before the season […]

Categories: Finery • Tags: peonies, trader joe's

Wire Crochet Beaded Handbag

May 2, 2011 by mymateriallife

Did you ever read the book Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico?  I discovered that book (and one of my favorite authors ever) many years ago in an inn with no television on an island off the coast of Maine.  In it, a London charwoman (cleaning lady) sets her sights on a Dior gown and carries out a plan to acquire it.  It doesn’t really suit her lifestyle – it’s the sheer beauty of the thing that motivates […]

Categories: Clothing & Accessories, Crochet, Finery, Other Textiles • Tags: evening bag, lisa toland, saratoga rotary art show, wire crochet

Jackie’s Style

September 16, 2010 by mymateriallife

Project Runway is doing a show tonight inspired by the style of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  You’d never know it from the promo they’re showing though. It looks like things get positively ugly which is so not Jackie. I too have been smitten by her style.  In my mind’s eye I can see her as a debutante, as First Lady, and in late middle age, but my favorite image is probably as Jackie O., wearing those sandals, white pants, black top […]

Categories: Finery, Reading Material, Sewing • Tags: books inc., jackie o., jacqueline kennedy onassis, mrs. kennedy goes abroad, project runway

Sweet Land of Liberty

March 27, 2010 by mymateriallife

I am going a little crazy with this Liberty of London for Target thing.  I’ve always thought of the lovely English Liberty fabric collection as one of the finer things in life, so I wasn’t sure how I felt when I saw they were coming to Target. But Target and its cool design sensibilities are such a marketing seductress for me that I had to succumb.  The canister above was purchased for me by a friend in a not-even-neighboring city […]

Categories: Finery, Other Textiles • Tags: liberty of london