I am still sick, but am getting better. It has been raining all day, and I have been spending all day snuggled up in the couch reading. I will be back tomorrow with more interesting posts!

Im home sick for the moment. So today, as yesterday, will be spent in bed..

Happy happy!

I hope everyone had a just as great weekend as I did. On saturday we went to visit a friend in Rennes. Sunday we spent at a zoo, visiting inside the monkeys park. Was very nice sitting there inside with them, taking many nice photos. Walking out from the zoo I found these cute berries/fruits. Have no clue what they are, never seen any like this before. But I picked some for decoration.

Today we will get some longway visitors, my grandmother & husband from the north of far far away! They have traveled around 2900 km (1800 miles) by car to get here. May I add she is 78yrs old. They will stay until wednesday, then they will continue south to Spain. So I won't be able to post anything here until wednesday evening.

Have a nice week!

Fabric napkins vs. paper napkins

In this household we use too much paper. Paper napkins, paper towels, alot of kleenex (mostly me) etc. I thought I should do something about that, try to cut down the usage a little. I will still be using lots of kleenex though, can't do much about that. Or chop of my nose, but I don't want to do that.

So today I bought theese little cuties pictured above, linen (mixed with vicose) napkins Camille (I know the link is wrong, can't find the napkins online, so the tablecloth have to do, sorry) at Habitat.

I only bought two for a start, one for monsieur and one for me. Want to see how they look after a turn in the washing machine before I decide if I should buy more for when we get guests.

Mlle Héloïse

French designer Mlle Héloïse is not new for the frenchmen. I saw her bags at La Marelle the first time I was in Rennes to visit a friend. Her work remind me alot of Angie Lewin and Lucienne Day. If I had a little daughter I would buy her the smaller stylish bag in jute (picture number 1). Might buy the bigger one for myself. I would use it as a beachbag, or to bring home groceries from the market in. Will also pick up one or two of the make up bags (picture number 2) the next time I am in Rennes. For more colors, or to see more of her work (badges, plates etc) click here, they have an online store too.

Marimekko

These are my favorites from Marimekkos autumn collection.
First picture Valmuska by Erja Hirvi. Second picture Ginkgo by Kristina Isola, which I like in all colors.

Linda Svensson Collection

One of my favorite swedish textile designers, Linda Svensson has released her very first own collection Linda Svensson Collection. She is the designer behind some of the most popular textiles at IKEA, and also the Svamp cushion from Mio and some pattern at Klippans Yllefabrik, like I have written about before.

The first pieces from her new collection are three pillowcases; Freja, Saga and Lovisa, named after her three nieces. Hand printed by Frösö Handtryck. You can buy them at Designonline.se.

Photos by N. Andersson

Como sofa

When we move we might look into buying this sofa, called Como from BoConcept. Not in this fabric or in this combination though.

Despite all the critic I read about the company around the blog world, I must say it is a franchise company, AND they don't seem to have the same problems in Europe as in the U.S. I have bought other things from BoConcept before without any problems.

Yippi!

Today I got some happy news! I am an owner of two Svamp cushions from Mio, that I blogged about here. A dear friend of mine bought me two as christmas gift. Be sure to expect a package in the mail around christmas too Linda! Merci beaucoup!

Fiona Howard at IKEA

Textile designer Fiona Howard has made these cards for IKEA, 2.99 euros (or 5 u.s dollars) for all 5. In the past she has worked with Habitat, John Lewis, Zoffany and Millets to name a few. Also check out her very first own collection FiFi here, pictures shown under..

Nature is calling

I am not a girl who normally likes pink. But look at those colors! Love! Mmm.. Ballerina cookies and latte..

I am not the only leaf lover in this house

Mon monsieur found this one for me on a walk we did last week

Came home with a whole bunch of branches and plantes

Finally my internet connection seems to work! Jippi! Here are some pictures from the past week. I have been doing alot of "feel good things", like yoga, taking long walkes in the nature etc. Have been feeling very stressed and mentally tired. I do feel better now. But I am still stressed out about all the papers we need for our PACS in december. What happened to the paperless world? My hair will turn grey.. Now I have to run downtown for with some more papers..

L'Épices

My internet connection and I haven't been the best of friends the past two days. But, it seems, it is better now. So I will try to make a post..

I am not a fan of labels, or at least not not so pretty ones. Or many different in the same place. So usually I take the labels off glass jars, or print new ones I made myself for plastic or paper jars. In the land far far away I had bought the same jars in different sizes for everything stored in the kitchen. That I like even better. But does I gave away when I moved.

Yes, I bought some new from IKEA the other week, and I will buy even more later. But until I move again I will stick to this method, to peel the labels off or print new ones. It is easier and cheaper. And sometimes you notice that some of them actually aren't that bad after removing the label. And if you buy all your spices (which we have not done..) from the same place usually they are in the same kind of jar. So it looks homogeneous!
And if your kitchen is as small as mine, you can't hide the jars. But this way it looks a little cleaner and nicer.

You can see a label I made myself on the big blue salt jar. I copied the story about salt making from the original label, with a new font and new background.

Life Line Coat rack-by James Burgess

In 2003 I saw (via Living etc I think) James Burgess Life Line coat rack at Northumbria University's New Designers Exhibition in London. In april this year, guess my suprice, I saw it again. At Lagerhaus in Stockholm. I bought one right away. Mine has never been hung yet.. Since we where supposed to move in august. But the move got delayed, and we are still waiting for the move to take place in february instead. So for now the Life Line coat rack is packed down. Mine, and also the one I saw in 2003 (I think) is/was black. You can find it here.

(yes, that was one more post tonight. since mon monsieur was busy with other things, and the internet was working better again)

à demain!

Repotting and walnuts

While waiting for my father-inlaw to make us a pot for our succulent garden I have repotted them in another pot. Got to borrow one of his bonsai pots since he said he might not be finished with the one he is supposed to make until december. Mon monsieurs parents have a walnut tree in their garden, and when we went to get the pot we also got some walnuts. So after seeing little Jack Phillips walnut succulent garden at Apartment Therapy I decided to make my own! Aren't they the cutest?

Ps, my internet connection is horrible today. Will post the rest of my prepaired posts tomorrow! Hope it will be better by then.

Have a nice evening!

IKEA

Last thursday we ran around all over town all day. One stop was IKEA. We bought some small things we needed, like storage jars, jars for spices, a new black PS Vållö, some napkins and candles. We also took the obligated stop at the swedish food corner (my favorite part of IKEA). We have already eaten many of the things we bought there. But if I remember everything, we bought Ballerina cookies, Marabou (Mmm.. Marabou) milk chocolate bars, tunnbröd, lingonberry lemonade and probably something else that I already forgot..

So since then I have been enjoying a daily glass of lingondricka (lingonberry lemonade) on the balcony. The Marabou and tunnbröd disappeared quickly..

Höganäs Keramik

Just read that Höganäs Keramik released more products in their glossy black glaze ALMOST BLACK (not shown in the pictures). I miss my colored plates and bowls that are tucked away in the attic in Sweden.. We have glossy black (not Höganäs) plates for the moment, but I am a little fed up by them. I dream about my colored ones.. We do have my white Höganäs plates in the basement though.. Think I will take them up tomorrow!

Buttons and other stuff

A while back I bought some buttons and yarn, but I forgot to show what I have done. Nothing major, but some changement. Some buttons to update a cardigan. Just bought two though, because I was going to use them for another thing first. So I have to go back and get five more. Just haven't got around to do it yet. Also updated my wrist warmers from last year with new buttons. The rest of the buttons, and the yarn, I will use making new wrist warmers. Haven't got around to start making them either, since its been 23-24 degrees celsius (73.4 fahrenheit) the last days. So I haven't really been thinking about winter accessories.. Do to the weather and other engagements I haven't been blogging since 5 days. But I will put up more posts today!

Caravaggio by Cecilie Manz

The danish designer Cecile Manz new lamps Caravaggio for Light Years caught my eye. The shade is high-gloss lacquered, while the foot and standard have been given a dull lacquer finish. You can tilt the shade up to 40 degrees making it a perfect reading lamp. They hit the stores in december.

Playsam wooden toys

Playsam is the leading Scandinavian design company for executive wooden toys. Their design have been awarded with Swedish Design Classic by the Swedish National Museum and Excellent Swedish Design over and over again. The toys make an excellent gift, and last a life time.

I saw the streamliner classic some weeks ago at a flea market and walked straight over to show mon monsieur. The salesman said "it is a design classic, from Sweden". I simply answered "I know, I am swedish". It turned out he actually bought it at Arlanda, the airport in Stockholm, in the early 90's.

I have always loved their timeless rounded cute shaps. Will for sure have some of their toys in my home when I get kids.

Finally in production -Gallery by Anna Irinarchos

I just read that Ana Irinarchos (wis design) kitchen Gallery will be produced by Marbodal, available from 2009. Congratulations!
I like.

LNS

LNS -Linda Nilsson Stockholm is a silversmith from Stockholm Sweden. She also happens to be a friend of mine. You can check out some of her work here.

Clever storage

Flipping through an old Living etc, I found this clever idea for shoes storage from the Checkland-Harding home. Simple & smart!