It occurred to the clever folks at Elevengear that it would be very cool to be able to re-use these symbols of significant effort for a new and noble purpose. After several iterations they’ve come up with the “Race Number Cap”.

It takes five numbers to make a cap – five less numbers that will end up in the landfill. Send them your numbers and they’ll stitch up a memento that will look better on your head than tacked to the wall above your workbench. For more information about ordering click here.

Don’t forget, Friday is National Bike to Work Day. See you on the road!

For more 2-wheeled inspiration click here.

This was my first Brimfield experience so I hooked up with a fellow designer friend who knows the ropes. The show is divided into multiple sections, each having their own flavor and days of operation. We chose to go mid-week, even though all the shows weren’t yet open thinking it would be less crowded. Being a week day we called it “inspiration work”.

It was fascinating to see what people were selling (piles of rusty old faucet handles, vintage vending machines, plastic toys from the ‘70’s, old industrial lighting) and to see what people were happily toting away (taxidermy creatures, fixtures from old factories, wooden packing crates, chairs without seats). Regardless of how lowly, all this stuff had value to the buyers and the sellers. We never made it to the area selling Chippendale furniture and Chinese export porcelain, if there even was one.

There was so much stuff to look at we decided early on to focus our attention on textiles, paper, and ski related objects allowing ourselves the occasional sidetrack to check out free standing signage letters from old gas stations and super market signage. Here’s a sampling of the fruits our treasure hunting.

If you want to see it all for yourself, the show is open through Sunday.

Ribbon with skiers

Vintage silk scarf

3/4″ sterling snowflake skier pin

Lampshade made from vintage barkcloth from Lake’s Lampshades. My favorite find!

Detail from embroidered hankie

Silk scarf from the 70′s

Sweet Tyrolean themed ribbon

Vintage postcards from Snoqualmie Pass, Magic Mountain and Aspen

And here are some things that we passed on…

Vintage skis

In hindsight I should have bought this exquisite wooden flask covered in animal fur and decorated with tooled and braided leather and embroidery. The dealer had no idea of its origin or intended use. Do you? I’d love to know.

And am I crazy to have passed on an original of Lou Hechenberger’s New Hampshire ski poster for $1,200? Unfortunately the crispness of the design and clarity of color is lost in this image. It was a beauty.

An assortment of wooden skis and ski boots – various eras

Plastique. Antique?

More skis

This guy bought his Tyrolean hat for a steal minutes before we met him – darn! It was covered with beautiful souvenir pins from all over the the alps and is in mint condition.

Enjoy your weekend! (And Thank you A.N. for sharing your pix.)

Via: Lawrence Peregrine-Trousers

For more VW inspiration click here

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For more color inspiration click here. To “Like” Poppy Gall Design on facebook click here.

Lust!

Dynafit skis – love the edelweiss!

hand screened scarves

Sweet bag

Wouldn’t want to get these dirty

So cool!

Swoon!

Bogner in-the-boot stretch pants with retro photos

So many great textiles

These shoes wouldn’t fit in my pack…

Fantastic packaging

Pillow inspired by paper cut design

Matterhorn shaped chocolates

For more about my alpine adventure click here and here.

For more “Alpine Inspiration” check out my Pinterest board here.

Built by the Swiss Alpine Club in 2009, it is a wonder of self-sufficiency. Isolated by mountain ranges and glaciers it sits alone at 2,883 meters and is accessible only by skis in winter, and foot in summer. The building’s shiny aluminum clad exterior is broken up by a band of windows and south facing photovoltaic panels. A small supplemental heat and electricity unit runs on rapeseed oil. Meltwater, collected in the summer and stored in a rocky cavern above the hut provides hot and cold water. Waste water is purified in a biological microfiltration plant and uses the grey water for flushing toilets. Surplus water is cleaned and returned to the environment. The new Monte Rosa hut is 90% self- sufficient.

The warm timber framed interior defies it’s cold metal exterior. The supporting timbers in the sunny dining room are digitally carved with lines that resemble the rings of a tree, or the contour lines of a map. The meals served by the hut keepers were surprisingly delicious. Tucked into my wooden bunk and covered with a duvet I slept like a log.

Photos Via

To “like” Poppy Gall Design Studio on facebook click here.

Ciao!

For more vintage ski art, fashion, ephemera click here.

My Easter dinner table is not complete without clusters of hand painted Rômanian Easter eggs as the centerpiece. I was fortunate to meet the artisan who made them in her home and to watch her decorate them with amazing skill. Click here to see how they are made along with my photos.

Last Easter as I was taking the dishes down from the top shelf in my pantry I watched in horror as the entire stack of ten slipped from my grasp and smashed on the floor! I felt physically ill as I picked up the shards.

Within minutes I called a friend who shares a passion for collecting the same plates (in both blue and red) and told her my tale of woe. She gamely agreed to sell me a few of her extras, which raised my spirits considerably. I then went about re-building my collection.

In less than a year I piece-mealed together an entire new set, plus one. I acquired a few from my friend, and a couple on ebay. The best score of all however was an almost complete set I found in an antique shop in Maine while I was travelling by motorcycle. (I had to have them shipped home.) Because of this experience I’ve realized that hunting for the dishes was just as much fun as it is to actually own and use them. I loved the challenge of the hunt and the thrill of discovery. So really there’s no reason for me to cry over broken dishes ever again!

For more vintage skiing on my blog click here. Or on Pinterest click here.