Rest in Peace Tigerino a.k.a Butterbean

Tigerino a.k.a Butterbean at about 5 weeks old.

We had 4 now 3 kittens living in the abandoned lot next door to our building and we've grown very attached to them especially Tigerino (aka, Butterbean) the sweet tabby boy. My partner, Debra, spent a lot of time trying to socialize him since he was the most interested and enjoyed getting pet. Little Tigerino started to wander off the lot with his brother Chomps about a week and half ago and this worried me so much, because the cars on our block just drive like it's a highway. Our worst nightmare came true last night. Our neighbor told Debra that she found Tigerino dead last night, he'd been hit by a car, she thought she'd be able to take him to the hospital but it was too late. Tigerino was about 4 to 5 months old when he died and lived a very good life in his own private jungle, we love you little Butterbean, we'll miss you.

My Swedish Hasbeens are here, HOORAY!

After a shitty day at work of telling me that my designs have to be revised for the umpteenth time because some dumb ass doesn't get it, and walking in the pouring rain, I come home and there's a lovely note from my very sweet elderly neighbors. I have a package! YAY! My Swedish Hasbeens are here! They are so beautiful, and strangely enough it was cheaper to order them from the Swedish site over a U.S. website. I had no choice either, they were out of my size on all the U.S. vendors. The irony is that I decided to go to Sweden and Finland on my next vacay in September! More to come on that news, YAY here I come Swedish Chef!

Lost in Translation: Interpreting Japanese Patterns

So, after much planning and deciding, I picked a dress to make from one of my Japanese pattern books. I've sewn handbags, doll clothing, baby accessories, crocheted all sorts of stuff and even felted accessories and toys from my collection of Japanese craft books. This will be my first attempt to make clothing for myself from a Japanese pattern book. Ok, first hurdle, figure out which pieces of the pattern from the pattern sheet belong to the dress, only three pieces, easy right? WRONG! I had to enlist my friends Michelle and Adriana, to very smart ladies with great graphic design and crafting skills and both good problem solvers (I consider myself in all three categories but apparently I needed 3 sets of eyes). After much frustration we figured out 2 of the pieces of which one of the pieces you had to add a bit of pattern to it, and they other, yes you guessed it, doesn't exist you have to make it from measurements and tiny diagrams. So finally I successfully traced and made the patterns and thankfully I realized that most Japanese patterns don't have a seam allowance on the pattern so you have to add your own when tracing the pattern. I bought beautiful fabric on Superbuzzy from Nani Iro, the one for this dress is the same one as the one pictured in the dress above. Because I'm not sure that pattern will work out well for me since Japanese ladies are built differently than latin ladies like myself, I'm trying it on a nice white gauze cotton that's similar in weight and fabrication as the Nani Iro stuff but a third of the cost. cross your fingers for me.

THIS IS THE DRESS


How to use Pattern

Scandie'ness even in the Catskills

If you've been to Williamsburg, Brooklyn you probably have passed by or even dared to go into Scandinavian Grace, a store/cafe of Scandie treasures. This weekend my partner, Debra, and I with our friends Judy and Spyro, went to the Hudson River Valley for a weekened getaway. Our second day there we went out for a little road trip when we happened upon an oasis, as far as I'm concerned, another Scandinavian Grace in the middle of the Catskills. After of hours of quaint cuteness and buggy nature, it was a small pleasurable relief to peruse this Scandie treasure on the side of the road. The staff or owner was a bit aloof and made no attempt to speak to us, even though aside from two peeps sitting at the cafe counter we were the only ones there he might have wanted to interest us in a purchase. Even the the service was jerky I still recommend going in for a cruise of giant space with lovely finds and lots of Marimekko, oh and the very special (but itchy) beard caps (picture above) by Vik Prjonsdottir.