Monday Motivation and Inspiration

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Blessed

I am blessed with a lot, and this little guy is at the top of my list!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Real or Faux Christmas Tree?

my tree Christmas 2008

I'm curious.  Do you have a real tree at your house for Christmas or a faux one?  I now do a fake tree after many years of only having a real tree because it enables me to put the decorations up earlier.  But I must admit nothing takes the place of that fresh-tree smell to put you in the spirit of the holidays.

Monday Motivation and Inspiration

"Decorating is the art of arranging beautiful things comfortably."

 Billy Baldwin

(He makes it sound simple doesn't he?)

My Southern Sunday Journal

At the end of the week I think it is good for a little reflection and introspection.  Just a few random thoughts and gratitudes:

 Like most everyone, I am busy and sometimes I worry about not spending enough time with my parents.  Yesterday my husband, my son-in-law Josh, and my Dad cut down and sawed up a large dead tree on my parents' property.  My Dad had been instructed to supervise but not do anything much.  Well, take a guess how that turned out!  Here's a picture to illustrate.

In my Southern family, you have to work really hard to keep up with the 78 year-olds!

My little Mother grabbed her rake, looked at my shoes and said, "Can you work in those?"  I answered in the only acceptable way.  "Why sure!"  (I had to try hard to not let her see me huff and puff.)

Gratitudes:

I'm thankful I come from hard-working Southern stock.  Don't whine; just work.

I thank God for the fact that my business is sustaining my family in such a tough economy.

I'm thankful for God's grace.

   Have a wonderful Sunday!

  photo credit: top photo from flickr, mobile bay ray

Blogs and Magazines: Friends or Enemies?

This week we saw another big design magazine go away. Metropolitan Home is gone. This trend is starting to get really noticeable.  At first it seemed that the publishing powers-that-be were just trying to use their arbitrary muscle to decide what we do and don't read.  But now with several design publications gone, I've got to begin to question what is really going on here.
In the blog world I feel there is an underlying sense of guilt that maybe bloggers are having a detrimental effect on the big design magazines.  And I've got to admit there has been a little bit of a feeding-frenzy excitement surrounding this past year's proliferation of blogs, (including my own humble attempt).
So maybe a time of reflection is what we need.  One thing I know for sure; bloggers love magazines.  It's obvious we absolutely devour every word and photo.  We own extensive collections of them and use them as our reference libraries.  We know the writers and editors and photographers like family.
So which is it?  Do blogs hurt or help the magazines?  Can we live in a world with no design magazines and only blogs? 
This is my take.  Blogs are an additional fix for decorating junkies, not a replacement one.  We still really, really want our magazines.  No monitor in the world can replace a beautifully photographed magazine, pure and simple.  The big culprit here, I believe, is the crappy economy and the fact that sometimes luxuries, however small, go first.  I just think we didn't realize that the magazines really do count on our support in the form of purchases to survive.
I will continue to do my part by still visiting my local Barnes and Noble every month, buying a big stack of design magazines and devouring each and every one!  ( Hopefully the kill-off will stop soon. )

My Fancy New Curtains!

Everybody who knows me knows that I am a fabric addict. I love many different kinds of fabrics; cotton prints, linens, silks. I love them all. In fact one of my famous lines is "So many fabrics, So little time"!

Sometimes when I receive the notice that a fabric I have in my line will be discontinued and I haven't had a chance to design something with it, I will buy some yardage and hold it until the right room or project comes along.

This was the case recently when I had on hand a gorgeous silk damask that I had admired and bought after being discontinued. I wanted a change from the green striped silk that had hung there for several years, so I finally sketched up a design. I wanted a dressy look since this window is on the front of the house and is in my office. I added a ruched-cuff heading and lots of fullness in width. I also splurged on heavy English bump interlining which gives body and richness to silk like no other interlining.

My sketch for the workroom

The finished product!

I think they will be a nice dressy look for the holidays. Thanks for looking!

(P.S. the wall color is not quite as orange as it looks in this photo!)

Monday Motivation

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." Emile Zola

A great thought to ponder... so off to work I go!