The Last Round Up

After 5 years I have had a great time

writing this blog and 

my life has been enriched

by fellow bloggers and readers.

Recently my time has been spent designing

 one-of-a-kind

 pillows that I love making.

Pillows are my passion and thankfully

my business is growing

not only working with designers, but also

the boutiques around the 

country who carry my collections.

I will be attending to my eBay

and ETSY shops along with

the Empress of The Eye

Facebook page.

I am also lucky to have some

great interior design projects

that are pretty fabulous.

Again, thanks for all of 

your comments and kindness.

There was plenty to choose from this year,

 but these three made it to my coffee table and 

stayed there for months.

All of Brian McCarthy's projects are

VERY grand and out of my scope, 

but what I did

 keep going back to were

 the individual pieces.

In his table top book

Luminous Interiors

each room was filled with items that I had never

seen before and totally lusted after.

This unexpected suzani style

bedspread is beautiful and adds

such a dash of the unexpected.

And this amazing alligator bench.

Not everyone could place this

in an interior.

With a foreword from

Bunny Williams, 

who he apprenticed with at Parish-Hadley, 

it all comes together.

  The details, the search,

the travels, the knowledge and
 the history.

Brian McCarthy 
got where he is today with
 hard work and a trained eye.

I guarantee you will find yourself looking

through this book for inspiration years from now.

Nancy Braithwaite's long awaited first book

The Art of Simplicity

is a knockout. 

Clean.

Uncluttered.

Complex.

(I love this photo of her on the job.)

Mrs. Braithwaite is a designer who
 has made her name

 following her own path. 

Every element and object seems 

hand picked and place with reverence.

How brilliant are the large metal digits

 around the door frames?

You could look through this book

 while listening to 

calm.com

and feel wonderful.

Her designs are studied
 and so
 well thought out.

Linda O'Keeffe 

has  been in the design business forever.

Metropolitan Home creative director,

 stylist and writer.   

Her latest book,

 Heart and Home

is filled with bold name designers

showing off their own residences.

Look at this lineup...

It's seems a bit voyeuristic 

to be so up close and personal

 when you see where these major design folks

 hang their hats...and 

that is what I loved about this book.

 

Jenna Lyons, J. Crew

Interiors 

And finally...

One of my dearest friends, Joe Eula, has

been totally captured in this wonderful coffee

table book written by Cathy Horyn last fall.

Fashion, society, art and a

character that is well described

in this beautiful publication.

Joe was a real pip! 

My Heart Is In The Highlands...

When my father said goodbye to his father

 at the ship docks on

The Clyde he knew that 

he would never see

him again.

My grandfather playing the pipes

 for my father during WW II

in Scotland.

That was in 1955.

After almost 60 years my sister, Brooke

 and I had the negatives from

 that trip finally put on a single CD. 

 

                                           My fathers love of Scotland 

just shines in these images.