My Version of Heaven

Is pretty much Purl Soho. What a fantastic store! How in the world I came out of there spending less then $100 is a miracle all on it's own. Part of it was due to me being there just as they were celebrating their 10 year anniversary so the entire store was 20% off. I was too lucky. It isn't a huge store but it is well organized and every single nook and crannie is filled with beautiful fibers. It reminded of the concept that Anthropologie stores go for, where you really need to look under each table and drawer to see what new things are hidden.

As soon as you walk in you are greeted by a wall of Liberty of London fabrics hooped into embroidery hoops decorating a wall. Then your eyes follow the rainbow cascade of yarns and fibers all long the left side.

The Right side of the store is full of notions, embroidery threads, buttons, bias binding tape just oodles of things once again color coded like a rainbow to make your mind blow.

 They had a humungous collection of wool felts that I could of easily spent my paycheck on but I persevered and only bought what I came there to do, Crewel Wool.

 It was very hard with all this charming yarn and my new rule in set that I must use two two skeins before I can buy a new once was very hard but I was good.

It gave me many great ideas of what to do with all the little waste yarn hearts and flowers I've been making. I think I will have to join up with a spinner to make some unique yarns of our own. I wish I had bought this yarn just as inspiration but alas the photo will have to do.

Seeing all the things from the Purlbee in person was nice to get a sense of how the photography can play tricks to make things look much better. Not that things were not still wonderful but it's good to see them in person, makes it realistic and more attainable. I call it the pinterest effect, where you see something think it's neat and store it away never to actually do it. This shattered that effect for me on a few projects.

As soon as the first person asked me if I needed I told immediately that I had come for one thing only and that was Appleton Crewel Wool. The brought out the swatch card from some secret compartment and I went to work making my list and checking against the crewel wool colors that had come in the week before to make sure I had no duplicates. It was a long process but well worth it. I can barely even begin to voice my excitement of trying out this new fiber into my art.

There were about 6 drawers such as this filled with crewel wool colors.

 Then there was the Liberty of London Wall. So much soft and pretty fabrics costing quite a pretty penny. A yard is about $25.00 or more. I've never been able to shut my eyes and throw down for some of this fabric. It is just too hard to decide what to make out of it. It's too pretty and expensive to just use it for a coin purse yet so expensive I shudder at the thought of trying to buy yardage for a skirt or dress. I know I have worked in other more expensive fabrics but for some reason Liberty of London just puts the fear in me.

On the way out I just had to do my classic "I'm an Asian Tourist" self portrait in front of the hoop wall. It was one of the last things we did in the city before we went to our airport for what would end up being a LONG and terrible trip with a bit of Silver lining. I'll discuss that another post when the idea of flying doesn't infuriate me.

Cheers!

Fame & Fortune!

No not really. Well maybe a little bit of fame. My friend Grace Dobush's sequel to her widely popular craft business book "Crafty SuperStar" has just been republished. It still has the same great content with a good number of additives and I am proud to be one of them!

I  chimed in on my experiences on Regretsy. Yes that was plural, I've been on Regretsy more then once and not ashamed of it at all. In fact let's take a gander back at those links here and here. It's nothing personal just bored people who love to flame. I'm not upset by them at all in fact it gave me some amazing traffic on my etsy site and resulted in a good number of sales. You can read more of my opinions and lemons to lemonade philosophy in the book!

 

It was super exciting for me to have a little Bio in at the end with a shout out back to my blog. I can easily say this year has been one of the best years of my life, Craft Wars to another publication credit. There was a good reason I wasn't able to get into Grad School. Let's hope the good things keep happening and I can bear the work that is coming up for festival organizing and personal art/fashion projects.

To help with all of that I finally started to move into my shared studio space with Stinky Bomb Soap maker Megan Green over at Junctionview Studios! I look forward to some long nights in silence getting some work done.

So the studio has been my excuse from doing blogging, among other things. I have a lot of catch up work to do and embroideries planned. I need to put my mind to the grindstone and since all the festivals are pretty well formed it's just a matter for me not getting distracted. My biggest distractions are starting new projects when the old ones need desperate attention. ONWARD!

NYC -Bound!

I'm going to New York tomorrow! Just for a visit not moving there.
I go about once a year and usually it relates with seeing some sort of amazing art exhibit that I guilt my husband in one way or another to take me.

This year it is the Impossible Conversations with Prada and Schiaparelli at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'm delighted that the museum is open till 9pm on Saturday night. I won't feel so rushed to get in there right away the way I did for Alexander McQueen or Tim Burton. I feel like this will be a much quieter exhibit and mature audience. I hope to take long appreciative time through this exhibit without being shoved and bustled. It also is not the last day of the exhibit like it was when I went to McQueen and that was a sheer madness.

Other things on my list include taking the hubby to High Line since the Statue of Liberty is under construction. I figured just going to Ellis Island won't be fun unless we can get into ye olde majestic lady for a peekaboo (yes I totally feel that last sentence maybe a little dirty and I'm ok with that).

The only place I feel a dire need to eat at is Kenka in St. Marks. Then several friends told me I must try Momofuku. K-town would be nice for some neng-myung and galbi and some China Town Dimsum is always a welcome meal.

As for shopping I have plans to hit up Uniqlo, Topshop, Muiji, Zara.
To feed my collections and craft I plan to hit up Purl Soho, Toy Tokyo and KinoKuniya.
People always ask if I will hit up any fabric stores. I answer is usually no, because I just wouldn't have the room and it would be unfair to friends and husband to wait hours for me as I waddle through the bliss of NYC fashion district. When I travel with the hubby I try to be very mindful to do things he would be interested in as well. At the least I can pick my shopping areas close to parks, a MAC store or other interesting visuals for him but Garment District is not so pretty unless you are digging the trims, fabric and tools.

I did get some pretties in the mail yesterday which will make my Purl Soho experience a lot less stressful! For one I can now make my swatch card and know what colors I need to pick so I don't do duplicates and also I've been waiting for this stuff for nearly a month. It was a bit of an ordeal but I have WUSHA'd my negative feelings away on this and am just happy to revel in the colors.

I may have told a friend earlier today that I wanted to "rub my face all over the pretty colors". 

 
To end this post how about a couple cuddly critters I saw over the weekend at the Ohio State Fair. They were both part of the amazing petting zoo that included Cavy's, Emu's, Baby Zebra, Baby Water buffalo, sheep, goats, alpaca, llama and a few more.

This little darling is a Highland Cow. I'd only seen them in Scotland before when my Mom and I were there year's ago for a Fashion Contest. This is just a babe so not nearly as shaggy as the parents. The full size ones reminded me of Bantha's from Star Wars!

Images from Alien Species Wiki

This Alpaca was my buddy, I spent a lot of time petting him (for lack of knowing the sex). He was like a pet whenever I stopped he would nudge my hand for more and when I scratched behind the ears you could see him close his eyes and just melt a little bit. I wish I could of brought him home for the fiber and as a boss new pet.

I hope you all have a great weekend where ever you are and whatever you do!  Make sure to have fun and stay positive! If you are in Columbus this weekend there are a few great things going on like Gallery hop in the Short North and the Summer Flea!

Cheers!

No War just Outfit of the day!

Today is normally the day I would talk about Craft Wars on TLC and it's new prime time at 8pm eastern but I will do that tomorrow, maybe........ I've watched both last week and this week but I can't even collect my thoughts very well because I have been so busy. I also need to pack for NYC and sort out some more of my plans.

Instead I celebrate the completion of our kitchen with an Outfit of the Day post. Nothing particular exciting except for wearing some snazzy Alexander Wang T shorts I picked up in Chicago months ago.

 Amidst the the new kitchen where we still have days of organizing and putting away of utensils.

I am wearing

RCVA shirt from Milk Bar

Vintage Gnome Necklace from the Upperdeck of Substance

Alexander T Wang Shorts from Chicago

BCBGeneration platform heels

Hello Kitty Glasses from tobi.com (I also saw them all over Santee Alley in LA)

Pale legs courtesy of not enough sun.

This pictures shows the shoes off a bit better and I look kind of mean. I'm ok with looking a little mean. If you noticed the blonde hair it is just temporary till my hair cut and then once I have the bangs I'll know exactly where to put the color in to give myself maximum awesome. Since the show I realized I say the word "awesome" a heck of a lot, I can't help it, I tried, and I failed. I also realize I still need to write my incredible blog post on the things I learned from being on TV.

Just one more day till I am in NYC but my head already feels like it has gone on Vacay!
Do you have any travel plans this weekend? Andy cute digs that make you want to do an Outfit of the Day post for your blog?

Cheers!

Saying Yes!

I've noted that I have gotten older. I am not as young as a lot of people mistake me to be. I am in fact 31 not 24 or 25. I just like to enjoy life and play young like I am still 24 or 25. Lately I've noticed that I haven't been playing as much as I used to and I miss that. Going out and doing something a little impulsive, not fretting about the fact that I have work the next day or how my body aches.

Part of the reasons I have gotten (as I see it) more dull is due to marriage (comfort and security), house and bills such as car payments, gym memberships etc. The thoughts of having children are now weighing heavily and I most certainly do not want kids to dictate who I am in life. I think that before that last straw is placed on my freedom I must live more. By that I mean saying yes to as many life experiences as I can squeeze in. I want to make many more memories before I am tied down a bit more permanently with a child in tow. It almost feels like that 30 before 30 syndrome all over again where I feel the need to do as much as I can before I am responsible for another living being.

My upcoming trip to NYC is what made me have these silly deep thoughts. I was invited to this party which could be an amazing life experience even though it isn't quite my scene, but I've always wanted to go to one of these types of overdressed Gothic Lolita Alternative NYC parties. I was battling with the idea this morning and now I feel committed to going. Along with that I need to figure out what to wear. I have a hair appointment Thursday and I plan to get the below style. I've missed having some blunt bangs to make my make up more streamlined so I'll be going back to that. Also this clean bob will give me no angst in the morning in terms of styling it.

I was hoping to pack a light suitcase but I think I'll have to take my favorite Vivienne Westwood shoes for the party. I also need to play some dressup for some outfit ideas. With longer blunt bangs I won't get as much play in eye shadow so I'll need to think of my eyeliner and false lashes and how to really push that.

Now to make my list of things to conquer when I head to New York!

Cheers!

Narrator Bob

A couple weeks ago while I was up at the Lake house I took some time to just figure out the Narrator Bob fair isle mits from Moonrise Kingdom. it was tough since I didn't have any good clear pictures but after a good bit of testing I think I finally got it nailed down.

I just used some scrap acrylic yarn from baby toy amigurami's to test it out. It took me about two tries to get it where I wanted the pattern and then a final two in a full mitt version to get the sizing and spacing on the pattern worked out.

This was one of the tests in final yarn. I have it all charted out now I just need to finish up the written instructions and I can post the PDF on Etsy for sale! I plan to add in a gusset thumb hole as well. With all the crazy from Craft Wars and festivals I'm still working and making things for the fall shows.

In August I am going to be traveling a lot so I am going to take it easy on meetings unless they are for Independents day. I am really looking forward to my trip to NYC in about a week to see the Impossible conversations, Prada and Schiaparelli at the Met and seeing friends of mine!

Do you have any trips planned in your near future?
How about projects that are longstanding that are coming to completion?
Cheers!

Insta-post

Welcome to another Instragram photo laden post. I promise it won't be boring. In fact a bit fascinating. If you follow me on twitter, tumblr or perhaps Facebook some of these pictures may seem familiar. I tell people that with Instagram I can now take pictures to fill my void of status updates on Facebook. I'm not big on facebook, I use it mostly to keep in touch but not to do anything of substance with it aside from my Fashion Design page for Torn Angel.

Ahem let's get on with this post shall we?
Below we have two water colors I was tooling around with, not very impressive but exercises into some things I was thinking about. What was I thinking about? Bruises and wounds per usual.

I took the first swirls and played with embroidery on the paper to outline the colors and I like it well enough but I need to dig deeper and be more bold with my coloring. In terms of medium I do really like this mixture and will continue to explore it.

For the second water color I took a cue from some student work that I saw during their portfolio evaluation. It is amazing what the kiddos can teach us even when we are supposed to be their teachers. I think in art it is always a give and take because sometimes the fresh perspective of a student can bring new inspiration to us art vets. In this case it was playing with the already present lines and colors in the water color and highlighting areas by outlining the pattern. It was fun, not so much my style but gives me some ideas to go along with the embroidery work and working with a larger scale painting and thinner threads.

I just had to share this pretty new necklace I got when I worked the Columbus Food Truck and Cart Fest. It was the vendor's first show and her store is called Poor Sparrow. I love the simple aesthetic she uses and her prices are so affordable! I hope that I see her at Independents Day as a Vendor but only the Jury can decide. I'm also wearing my summer staple which has been an Alison Rose Cat Tank.

While I was in Pittsburgh for a Wedding last weekend the Hubby and I finally got to go check out the Mattress Factory Museum. It was full of surprises and amazing experiences. The above photo was in the corner of their parking lot. It looked like a graveyard of weeping angels to me from Dr. Who, such as below.

This was another fascinating room of mirrors black lights and neon circles. The photo really doesn't even come close to capturing the feeling when you are standing alone in this room. Like I said before most of the charm in the Mattress Factory is experiencing the art for yourself and interacting with it.

Lastly I just had to include this picture to show everyone I am not afraid to sparkle, I am just not a fan of glitter. Give me sequins any day of the week and I am happy to wear them. I had a nice little recap of my Craft Wars viewing party by Jackie Mantey of the Columbus Alive right here.  I also did a Guest Post on Nikki McGonigal's Blog on my Candlestick lights from my episode of Craft Wars, right here!