My blog has moved!

You will be automatically redirected to the new address. If that does not occur, visit
http://www.modernbohemian.ca
and update your bookmarks.

It's all about the pillows...


I love pillows…

I love their coziness, their luxurious voluptuousness and the possibilities of beauty and comfort they provide. It may have to do with the word “pillow” itself…what do you think of when you hear it? Big, soft, fluffy pillows piled on top of your bed; piles of gorgeous pillows in fabulous colours and textures on a deep-seated sofa…perfect for reading or napping on a cold, rainy day. Or perhaps it is the pillowy hug from the woman you love or the mother who held you when you were tired or sad.

Wherever you find the word “pillow” it is usually associated with comfort. I have always carried my pillow (or “pullump”, as the five-year-old Aussie kid in me says) on any trip, be it a short road trip or a fifteen hour flight across the Pacific Ocean.

As a little girl, when my dad would come home from work he would call out “get your pullump Christine, we’re going to Queensland!” Oh the heaven of it! A huge pile of pillows and blankets in the back of the van and a thousand mile drive ahead of us. Too bad I had to share it with my two little brothers - but that’s another story.

Then there was the bliss of being wrapped in the loving, pillowy bosom of my nanna when we finally arrived in Queensland and climbing into a bed that was encircled by a "romantic” mosquito net and made up in clean, white, cotton sheets and pillows. One of my daughter’s few memories of my dad includes bringing her pullump into bed with him and nanna for a morning snuggle.

I have this huge collection of of gorgeous fabric and vintage blankets that just keeps expanding; spilling off the shelves, into drawers, out of drawers; piling up in corners…

So when I asked myself the question “what do I want to do?” I thought…”I want to make pillows.” I will make beautiful pillows to make people happy.

Sunday, 25 November 2012

Ooohh dear it is almost Christmas....

Hello and almost merry christmas to all.... In the interest of full disclosure I am a merry christmas person, not a happy holidays person. By that I mean that I am a big believer in real christmas trees (the recently chopped down ones that is) not pretend ones, beautiful hand made christmas decorations as well as a few cheezy ones that have been either made by the children or given to us by the children over the years.... they are all treasured, even if they don't make it out of the box every year.

 My favorite decorations are the "demented teddy", the christmas fruit and veges and the red bicycle.  The demented teddy is my particular favorite because it drives my son crazy.  I brought it into our christmas when he was about 8 years old, and why not? It is a teddy wearing a red and white nightdress, so cute!  My son has called it the demented teddy ever since; I tried to make it the tree topper one year, but that did not go down well, now we use a big red and white bow.

 I have really no explanation for the christmas fruit and vegetables, it just seemed so sweet to have a pretty christmas pickle, cherry, apple, pea and corn hanging on the tree. Same goes for the red bicycle, it is red, and it is a bike and it has a string so you can hang it on the christmas tree, what else do you need?

 So I guess it is obvious that I like to have a little fun with christmas. I spent so many years getting stressed out by it, trying to do it all perfectly, spending way too much money, trying to get the traditions right, even though they were not really not my traditions.  I grew up either sweating through a huge, hot meal in the middle of summer, dieing for it to be over, or at the beach, eating sandy seafood and drinking syrupy soft drink..... this was after opening dozens of snowy scened wrapped christmas presents at 5am in the morning with my little brothers.  I look back and can't believe how understanding my parents were, getting up at ridiculous hours of the morning to watch us rip those presents to shreds.  

 You can bet I knew what they all were anyway, as I spent the 6 weeks up to christmas carefully searching the house for clues, carefully prying up sticky tape to look inside packages and make sure everything that I had asked for was there. How I found out that santa was not who I thought he was is a pretty ironic story actually.  We usually drove the 1000 miles to Queensland in Australia to see my Nanny and Poppy at christmas time, and after the absolutely joyful reunion I was helping my dad unpack the van.  I lifted up a blanket I was not supposed to and there was a little girl's dolly cradle, with beautiful hand made blankets, pillows and sheets tucked in all around.  The thing was, I recognized the blanket fabric immediately and knew it was for me.  Amazingly I kept my mouth shut and said nothing to mum and dad, but sure enough there it was under the christmas tree with my new and much beloved dolly Rhonda tucked in warm and cozy in the 102 degree heat of a Queensland christmas.  I couldn't tell you what my brothers ever got for christmas, as I was a typical kid completely absorbed in my own presents.

I know it is almost christmas because I participated this weekend in a wonderful christmas artisanal fair here on Gabriola.  It was held in our local senior centre, which was just the right size with lots of light, and a small group of artists and artisans. Seeing as some of these people are heros of mine as they do the most beautiful work and make a living at it on this small island, I was honored to be asked.  I am going to include a couple of them in each of my blog posts in the next few weeks, so check them out if you can.  I would encourage everyone to check out Tammy Hudgeon's beautiful glass work at www.tammyhudgeon.com and Laura Hanford's stunning silver jewellery (actually it is not jewellery it is silversmithing at it's finest) at www.moonshinesilver.com . I am sorry if silversmithing is not a verb, but you know what I mean.

 I am going to include a few beautiful christmas images that I found courtesy of Pinterest and a beautiful Australian blog La Maison Boheme.  I would like to think that I would use some of these ideas, and I do plan to..... if I can ever get past my typical red and white Swedish christmas traditions.  I just love the whole, evergreen boughs, red and white checked ribbon, wooden apples and lots of candles thing.... but I will try harder this year to do something different..... and keep you posted.  

This is sublime, all it needs is a demented teddy in a red and white nighty...

I am definitely going to create this one

This is definitely a North American christmas, mine's the red one.


This I would SO do, if I had a gray velvet sofa, yes definitely...

fabulous..... but I will probably never do this.



Going to do this one too.

Merry almost christmas.... Christine
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)