linens and blablas

i was rather quickly turning the pages of the recent house beautiful on the train back from boston this past weekend when i stopped abruptly on page 44 as a colorful set of cocktail napkins hand-embroidered with singing divas caught my eye.

featured in "the best!" section of the magazine these belgian linen napkins are from a delightful kansas city store, sharyn blond linens! when i saw they were featured i had to give a little kansas city shout out!

sharyn blond is a lovely, local, fairway, kansas boutique..."offering the discriminating shopper a beautiful bounty for the table, bed and bath." the store carries a range of elegant china, unusual pottery, italian pewter, hand wrought silver, and gleaming crystal alongside the custom-designed, beautifully detailed, hand-embroidered cocktail napkins, fingertip and guest towels, placemats, napkins, tablecloths, and bed linens sharyn is known for.

all images via sharon blond

and now for the fun part!

with many friends and relatives starting to add new little boys and girls to their families, i have recently been in the market for the perfect baby gift. something unique and thoughtful, but realistic and appealing to both the parents and babies.

this is a very hard criteria...but i have found just the thing- and funny enough sharyn blond is the origin (with other great baby gift ideas as well).

introduced and discovered by my mother-in-law and now gifted to family and friends across the country, the blabla is quite the hit! these dolls, rattles, puppets, keychains and more, are all knitted by peruvian artisans from irresistibly soft natural fibers grown in peru. blabla was started in 2001 by florence wetterwald and susan pritchett (long time friends) while on a trip together to peru. they discovered entire villages of expert knitters who have been keeping the tradition alive for generations. susan and florence were inspired by their talent and gentleness and decided to create their own line of knitted products for children.

all images via blabla

"blabla means nothing and everything, it's a swirl of letters flying, a small word for a big idea..."happiness fits in the palm of the hand"... blabla searches for beauty, authenticity, and laughter."

xoxo

elle.