IKEA for Christmas – fa la la la!!

Not sure where my brilliant idea of driving all the way to IKEA in Homebush just before Xmas came from, add one hangover and salt it with a torrential downpour and a smothering of mad Xmas!

After 5 hours (still not sure how that happened - wandering around and checking all the new items) and ended up with 3 trolleys worth of stuff I am not 100% sure I need plus some very cute Xmas pressies for kids (their kids section was brilliant) and generally a whole lot of funky homewares and home furnishings that I simply must have to have! But what really excited me was the Ikea Textiles section!

I don’t remember there being so much of it and for prices as low as $9.99 a metre (actually as low as $3.49) you can’t really beat that. Lots of bold designs, made from 100% cotton, Scandinavian designers many of them I have never heard of – very marimekko, bold colours, simplified motifs, animals, trees and nature prints, with a retro feel to them … Having my camera handy I whipped out a few pics:


I love them. I can see lots of inspirational home decorating with these fabrics. They even had a cutting station and lots of people around to help you. A huge range too. Check out the ikeafans website with lots of great ideas of things to make with Ikea fabric.
Will need to have a better look, but after the silly season once I have recovered from the last experience!!

Ice Bear Melting away in Copenhagen Square

What an impactful statement, having a life size Ice Sculpture of a polar bear melting in Copenhagen during the Unit Nations Climate Change Conference to showcase the melting of the polar ice caps.

Created by sculptor Mark Coreth for the Ice Bear Project, the scultpure will be located in Copenhagen’s Nytorv square on 5th December. Over 10 days it will melt away leaving behind a bronze polar bear skeleton held within the ice, a pool of water and a powerful message about the environment. Watch videos of Mark at work on the sculpture.

At 1.8 metres high the ice bear is exactly the same in height as the average thickness of the floating sea ice in the Arctic Ocean measured during the Catlin Arctic Survey earlier this year. Scientists have observed that ice under 2 metres thick is almost certainly too thin to survive the summer melting season.
The Ice Bears will hopefully go on tour to other cities including Bears in Squares for the centres of Copenhagen, Oslo, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, New York, Toronto, Tokyo, Beijing and Sydney!!! Please, Please, Please come!!!!!!!