willow, weep for me (part 1)

I grew up with blue and white transferware. Because it comes in so many different patterns, it is easy to build up a dinner set's worth from disparate pieces. When we came to the US that is what I went shopping for at the thrift stores. And of course, thrift stores being what they are here I had plenty to choose from.

My favourite transferware design is, I think, the classic 'Blue Willow'.

I did feel a bit, well, childish, reverting to exactly what I had grown up with and the plates don't really go with our contemporary cutlery. But then I came across an awesome and wonderful book that put all that to rights -Wary Meyers' Tossed and Found: Unconventional Design from Cast-offs. (I highly recommend this book. I borrowed it from the library, then I bought it.)

It turns out that Linda and John Meyers, the super-creative folk behind Wary Meyers, also like Blue Willow (yes, silly that I need a book to justify my crockery choices but oh well, whatever works for me) and have done some great work with the concept, including this chair. I would never have imagined a graffiti-esque, Posca-pen version of the blue Willow design, but fortunately they have and I love it. (Complete aside - anyone else recall the advent of middle-class white private-school boys with their Posca pens 'tagging' the seats on public transport in 1990s Melbourne? Groan, I do.)

Anyway, I am filled with a renewed and newly justified love for the Willow pattern so when I saw this kitsch little brooch at Goodwill on Mother's Day, I just couldn't resist. And it fits perfectly on my newest knit, but more on that next time.

ps - Wes Montgomery, Willow, Weep For Me.