It's a girl!

Johanna Marie-Louise Freitag Coombes

Our baby daughter arrived on 20th March 2010 - nine weeks early.

She  had to undergo a surgical intervention as her foodpipe did not join up with her stomach and there was a connection between the foodpipe and the windpipe. In medical terms it's called Tracheo-Oeophageal-Fistula with Oesophagal Atresia.

She has recovered from surgery and everything else is fine with her. She is amazingly strong and  has done brilliantly. She is beautiful and we cannot wait to take her home. She probably needs to stay in hospital until around her due date, the 23rd May.

Frau Heuberg's Swap

My old baby bedding needs mending before our little one arrives. The baby will sleep in the cradle next to our bed for the first few months, but when it moves into its cot it shall have the baby bedding that I had, when I was a baby, which naturally I deeply love!

The two designs on top and the one with the apples are by German textile Designer Graziela Preiser. Her iconic and award-winning designs from the 1970's are currently relaunched. Have a look at her website here.

It's amazing how cheerful and bright the colours are after 35 years, 4 children and lots of little visitors. Just the corners suffered a bit, as my younger sister used to fall asleep with one thumb in her mouth and the other one busily scratching through the fabric she held in her tiny little fist.

So when I saw that Ines from Frau Heuberg is offering exactly the fabric I need in her weekly swap, I tried to find something in my studio which might make her happy to swap with me.



So I offered lovely Ines one of my handmade corsages and a paper garland.





































The music sheets I used have aged beautifully with a warm tint of brown. A few month ago we moved into a building that was owned by a pianist and member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. I found lots of old music sheets and as this pianist also was a printer by profession and our house used to be his printing workshop we also found some paper punches, which I used for the smaller circles. The bigger ones I had to cut by hand. I also used pages from and old copy of Jane Austin's "Sense and Sensibility".

I quickly hung the 3.6 metres long paper garland  in our living room, took a photograph and send it to Ines.




She instantly agreed to the swap.

Thank you so much, Ines. You made've my day!

Landlust

When I was in Germany over Christmas I came across the latest issue of "Landlust", a living/gardening/cooking magazine.

“Landlust” started in October 2005. In November/December 2005 it had 10 000 readers. Latest known figures:
648 866 sold issues in August 2009. It’s a big success and if you get the chance to have a look in one of their recent issues you'll understand why:
Beautiful images, mouth-watering recipes, useful tips for gardening, inspirational decorating suggestions, peeks in craftsmen’s workshops, knitting instructions for cute gloves... all presented in a lovely way.

When I first found it I really enjoyed reading this magazine, in fact I read six copies in a week. I found it very relaxing, as it was not about celebrities, the hottest clubs and the latest fashion, but about slowing down and enjoying simple pleasures. You’ll find quiet and detailed observations of everyday occurrences, traditional craftsmanship, and sustainable products that are easy to read and that appreciate the finer things of life.

The overall impression of the magazine is extended by the use of matte paper that looks and feels much better than glossy magazines.

Topics are often related to country living. Alongside “Landlust” the publisher, Landwirtschaftsverlag Münster, mainly publishes agricultural magazines, like Top Argar, which my father is reads regularly. I recently read that the chief editor Ute Frieling-Huchzermeyer, who studied agriculture and was writing for Top Agrar before, has no computer in her office. She prefers to dictate her texts and discuss topics. She has finished articles printed out to proofread.

I’m very lucky, my sister gave my mum a subscription for this magazine for Christmas, and my mum keeps all the magazines for me to read when I am back in Germany. :)

I liked their topics; informative, inspiring and beautifully photographed.

I recently became proud owner of a garden. It still looks a bit like the car park it was, but I am trying to do my best to change that.

They also feature on crafting and DIY.

When I checked their website I found they've got most instructions available online.
These cute gloves are knitted with Rowan yarns, and as this is manufactured in a nearby village I am very tempted to go there, stock up with their fine threads and get the knitting needles out.

As a textile lover I was thrilled when I found photographs of old embroidery sample cloths on their website.

I nearly forgot: “Landlust” is published every second month and costs 3,80 Euros. They do subscriptions world wide.

Have a look on their website here: http://www.landlust.de
I just had a glimpse at the March/April issue there and cannot wait to read it.

Happy weekend

Inspiration in sunlight

I took some more photographs of my inspiration board on Monday. The sun was pouring in through the big pane windows and it was a lot of fun to capture some details.

Tales from a textile studio

While I was working on the inspiration board for this blog, I finally found the name I was looking for. And it was there all along.

I feel I do really need to change the name. Though I liked "Tapetenwechsel" and what it stands for, I think most people probably will not be able to pronounce it (or remember it).

Any thoughts?

Inspiration

So here it is, my inspiration board.

I'll print this image and put it in the notebook you see in the bottom left corner, where I keep a record of things that inspire me. As this inspiration board should show my personal style and how I want my blog to look like, I decided to assemble some of my work* on the table, instead of  just sticking cut out pictures from magazines onto a board, like I have done previously for coursework at university. I will take some images of those mood boards this week to share them with you here on my blog.

I should have taken the photograph in natural light, but I admit, I didn't. Sorry. 

I had a very busy week and today, after lunch, I wanted to have a short nap, before I finish my homework and woke up hours later. By then the little daylight that we get here in the north of England in February was gone. I can sleep for hours and still feel tired - maybe the energy burst you should have in your second trimester of pregnancy is just a myth.

Anyway - I got up and took some images of the board, without flash, in my textile studio, but was not too happy with them. So I went through to my partner's photography studio and used the big daylight flash.

[image I took in my textile studio - not too happy with it]

I left the arrangement on the floor and will go back tomorrow afternoon (if I get back home early enough that is) and take some daylight pictures from different angles.

*I put two of my fabric designs in the background and arranged some of the things I make and sell in my Etsy shop on top, together with some of the materials and tools I use, oh - and a couple of pictures I cut out from a magazine.

Please comment! Don't be shy.

Trapezius

TRAPEZIUS, John’s most recent dance film, has been accepted at two more festivals.



It will be screened most nights from 7th Feb 2010 to 4th April 2010 at Xtend IV, in South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, as part of their LIFT OFF! dance festival this spring.

First we have been told that it would be part of a larger showreel of dance films, but then the festival director liked it so much, TRAPEZIUS is now being featured on it’s own screen.

It will also be screened at Phoenix Picture House, Oxford at a special screening event alongside a new commissioned work for “Dance Festival - DANCIN' OXFORD.” on 21st March 2010.

And here are some images of me preparing the backdrops used in this film.

The bump

There's something I haven't mentioned on the blog yet...

John and I are having a baby. It'll be due at the end of May. We are so happy!

Handles

We finally got handles on our kitchen drawers and cupboards. It was quite tricky without them, but if you start with the bottom drawer and then pull out the next one... well you get the idea.

The decision-making was quite tricky, too, as I really liked some vintage style ones we found at car möbel, but we finally settled for some modern looking ikea ones as they go well with the oven handle and all the other stainless steel in the kitchen. There is already different types of wood going on and I wanted to keep things plain and clear.

Tapetenwechsel

Thinking of renaming my blog...
So far "Tapetenwechsel" is my favourite name. Litereally it means "change of wallpaper". It's also used for changing location. And as this is what I am doing at the moment (literally and in a metaphorical sense) I think it might be the right name.
As I am designing wallpaper (amongst textiles and other things) it could stay the name of my blog even after all the moving and decorating is finished. Once we've settled in we will still need a "Tapetenwechsel" from time to time, as you could use this expression to discribe that you want to get away for a few days and stay somewhere else, i. e. need to look at different wallpaper.

Does that make sense, what d'you think?

The Poppies

I am nominated for "The Poppies", a virtual awards ceremony, on Poppytalk, one of my favourite blogs.

Take part in this event celebrating the Handmade Community and browse through the lists of nominations here to find your favourite handmade accessories. Or just click on my name, and vote for Freitag Design! ;)