vacation

Last Friday I snug away for a little vacation in Florida. I did not bring my laptop and I didn't even check my emails on my phone, in fact my phone was off most of the time. It was all about recharging and relaxing. And that we did. Now I have to catch up on all my emails, favorite blogs and the comments you left during my absence...

Have a great weekend!

woman vs chair - round 6

Another successful round in the fight woman versus chair. Last Thursday I was able to start stapling the fabric for the backrest back onto the chair. It involved using a pneumatic staple gun. So much fun! Next Thursday I have to attach the fabric on the backside of the backrest with an invisible tack strip. Not sure what the professional name for this strip is but I will find out on Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the seat as well. Anyways the chair is coming together nicely...

week twelve

Spring, Spring, Spring! I have Spring on my mind. the blooming flowers and tress make me so happy. I even got a pedicure during my lunch break on Thursday so I could start wearing sandals again. Good bye Hobbit feet!

ikea ps 2012

As you might now from reading this blog I have an affinity for IKEA. This year it is time again for a new IKEA PS collection, which will hit stores in Europe on May 1st and US stores in August. Love the colorful pieces as I'm getting more and more out of my black, white and gray color rut. I definitely need to have the candle holder and the polka dot pillow case. Can't wait for the items to arrive at my local store. What are your favorite pieces from this collection or IKEA in general?

woman vs chair - round 5

As mentioned in my previous post I lost the last round against my chair but my inner Tim Gunn was telling me to make it work. So I packed my sewing machine and drove over to a friends place and let her mom guide me through the sewing part. Under her guidance I pinned and sewed all the pieces together myself. Unfortunately we couldn't get the lower thread on my machine to work properly so we had to use her machine, I need to read the manual for my machine and figure it out later. Phew! I did it! And it wasn't even as hard as I thought. On Thursday I will start stapling the fabric back onto the chair and as long as I did my sewing correctly it should be smooth sailing from here. Guess I will find out on Thursday...

For the photos I just put the sewn fabric loosely over the plywood pieces just to give me an idea what the chair will look like once it is finished. It is not looking too bad actually. Can't wait to sit in it!

woman vs chair - round 4

The chair finally did it and knocked me out during last weeks class. I had trouble piecing the pieces back together because the lineup marks I made didn't line up. Weirdly enough they matched the original marks and the original pieces fit together perfectly. Argh! I guess it was because the old fabric was stretched out pretty badly. So last Thursday I only accomplished to pin the back and front pieces for the backrest together. If I'd been a contestant on Project Runway Heidi Klum would have sent me packing with her You're out! Auf Wiedersehen! But I had my trusty Tim Gunn (aka our upholstery instructor) at my side that kept telling me to make it work...So there is hope for the next round.

week eleven

Wow, can you believe that tomorrow is the first day of Spring? The weeks just seem to fly by...

This weekend I went snowboarding for the last time this season, most of the slopes where already pretty bare and the snow was slushy but I still had one lift ticket left. We had fun nonetheless and enjoyed the warm and sunny day on the slopes. I even got a little sunburn on my face. They had a little pond skimming event when we were there, the 2nd photos shows the ramp and the pond. It really looked like a lot of fun but I would probably do a face plant once I hit the water. On Sunday I drove to a friends place so her Mom could help me with my sewing. More about that is coming up later this week...

in bloom

Spring has sprung! With temperatures being in the 60's and 70's lately I'm clearly having spring fever and trying to infuse my wardrobe with more colorful pieces. Last week I saw an ad for brightly colored jeans at Uniqlo and decided to check them out in my lunch break. Unfortunately the jeans didn't work out but I discovered that Orla Kiely did a line with Uniqlo. Yay! Just love her colorful prints! I bought the scarf (4) and would love to get my hands on the shirt (7), which was sold out at my store. Orla Kiely is also doing a line of bedding for Bed, Bath & Beyond this spring. Check out the preview over on Apartment Therapy.

Have a sunny weekend!

1.sleeveless shirt 2. scarf 3. tee 4. scarf 5. tee 6. sleeveless shirt 7. shirt

diy felt elbow patches

In my week eight post I already showed you the items I picked up for a new DIY project. As Erin guessed correctly I was attempting my own version of a diy felt elbow patch. I saw a picture of it on Pinterest and thought it would be a great way to salvage my favorite cardigan that had a big hole on the right elbow, basically my elbow was poking through. Already had bought leather elbow patches a while back but they were just too big and I wasn't quite sure how to sew them on. First I traced the picture of the elbow patch back to the blog it was originally posted on and turns out it even had a tutorial on how to do it. The blog is called honestly wtf and I couldn't stop clicking through it. Even discovered more droolworthy diy projects. I'm not good at crafts like knitting or crocheting but this was super easy and I could even get rid of any frustration I had by stabbing my needle into the foam like a maniac. Good stress reliever!...Did anyone of you pinned something on Pinterest and you just had to recreate it at home?

woman vs chair - round 3

My class last Thursday was actually pretty fun because I started to cut the new fabric I'm going to use to reupholster my chair. I cut out all the pieces needed and want to start pinning them together to start sewing. The first cut was pretty hard because I worried too much about wasting fabric but I ended up not even using half of the fabric I bought. There is enough left for a second chair, which I need to hunt down somewhere in the depths of the internet or our basement...

week ten

Another week flew by...Yesterday I did enjoy the great weather we've been having lately and spend half of the day outside trying out my new camera. With temperatures being in the mid sixties this week spring is here. Can't wait to ditch my winter coat...

marni madness

Thursday the Marni collection at H&M came out and as previously mentioned I wanted to get my hand on some of the pieces. So Thursday was also the day I got up at 3:50am in the name of fashion and try to order one or two items online from my wishlist. Because in the US H&M doesn't have an online store yet I tried the German H&M online store, hence getting up so early because the collection went on sale at 10am there. I got lucky and was able to order two dresses and get more sleep after. And I was not the only crazy person getting up that early, I had a friend keep me company via text messages, she also chronicled our experience on her blog. My order is already on the way to my parents and hopefully reach me in early April. Honestly this was the craziest thing I've ever done for a piece of clothing. Was anybody brave enough to get in line at a store?

woman vs chair - round 2

I had my second upholstery class session last Thursday and glued some foam back to the backrest and also took apart the old fabric to create my pattern. The pattern part is a little bit scary to me and although I wanted to start with it right away after the class I chickened out. Argh, I need to get started tomorrow so I have at least a little bit of progress to show on Thursday. After Thursday hopefully it's time for sewing, by then the chair probably will gain strength and win at least one round...

week nine

Week nine felt very short because I was super busy at work. The work didn't end after getting home so I'm a little behind on my blogging schedule. I had a friend staying with me last weekend and our plan was to go snowboarding both days but it was raining on Saturday morning  so we decided to go shopping instead. I bought eight basic t-shirts (4x white, 4x black) and a striped sweater dress. I'm so predictable and buy either white, black or striped clothes but I just can't help it. Other that that I didn't see much that called my name except things that were way too expensive...

cozy up your home

The temperature dropped again after having springlike weather for a couple of days. Time to cozy up on the sofa wrapped in a warm knitted blanked with a cup of tea in hand. But knit is not just for blankets, scarves etc., it is also making its way into our homes in unexpected places, for instance as an unraveling scarf calendar, knitted light fixtures, vases or even clocks. And who wouldn't want to cozy up to soft and plush faux taxidermy?

1. knit stools - Claire-Anne O'Brien 2. Cotton Clock - Carlo & Benedetta Tamborini 3. Gregor Unraveling Knitted Calendar Scarf - Patrick Frey 4. Matt Lamp - Llot Llov 5. Domestic Trophies - Rachel Denny 6. Knitted Baskets - Ferm Living 7. Knitted Vases - Ferm Living 8. Granny Pendant Light - Pudelskern 9. Brody Rug - Crate & Barrel