Street Art and more loot

Today I am über sick but I still had to go into work, fashion never stops (blech!). To cheer myself up I took a trip to p&s fabrics the few fabric and notions shops left in NYC. There are lots of specialized fabric or notions store but not shops like the ones my mom would drag me to, this is one of the few. I more yarn of course and a couple of very large crochet hooks. On the way back I saw they were filming "Blue Bloods" with Tom Selleck, didn't catch a glimpse of good ol' Magnum PI. I crossed church st to avoid the film crew and I came across this beautiful drawing of bicyles on the side of a construction site (see above). Then some more NY grafitti not amazing but still kinda cool to see.


Then the spoils of my jaunt


- Posted by misskitty1970

Small and Super Stash

Just a quickie post on my neat stash from P&S Fabrics. Some Lion Brand Wool-ease in a speckled oatbran color, luvvvvv! 3 skeins of Patons Roving classic wool, in nut brown, burnt orange, cool grey. Also one Aunt Lydia's Crochet thread in cotton. Then some notions like fray check, hem tape, etc., nothing too exciting.


- Posted by misskitty1970

Minifee madness

I recently "adopted" a Fairyland Minifee Miyu a la carte. I ordered her about a month ago so I probably won't see her until December. Yesterday I pulled out an Unoa hoodie pattern from a Dolly Dolly mook. I'm hoping it will fit my minifee since the hoodie is a baggy style and not fitted. I'm more concerned with the cuff openings especially since the hoodie in the pic is a knit and


I'm using corduroy which has no give. I figure I can always pop off her hands to get it through. I picked a rich navy baby wale cord, one of my absolute favorites from my cords.
I also cut a grey knit sleeveless top. I still need to enlarge a leggings pattern to make a matching pair to the top. Figure anything knit or baggy will probably fit. I already have some shoes and a wig for her. I so excited for her arrival! I will post pics of the finished hoodie and top as soon as I'm done with them.

Clean bowls and dirty secrets

I got my glazed and fired ceramics back yesterday and I was impressed by how they came out. Some I don't love but will be happy to use them none-the-less, because I made them. Glazing was a weird process because depending the angles you dip or how quickly you pull out make such difference. Also the colors in their pre-fired version don't look like anything like the finished product. So here they are.






























So that's it!
Anyway will post pics of my new crafty stash later today. And the dirty secrets I speak of is that our move to the new offices has made all my life a living hell. My back is exposed to everyone passing by so my monitor can be seen, you know what that means. Thank God for the Iphone! We now have to collect and sort our own garbage, I wouldn't complain about if it wasn't for the fact that everyone works 10-12 hr days. Anyway this blog is not for bitching about work. So for now, adieu!

- Posted by misskitty1970

Trouble in Tribeca

We just moved into our new offices in Tribeca, the company that I work for that is. There have been some pros and cons, but I'm going to discuss the pros right now since I'm sick of being in a crappy mood. Biggest pro has been moving out of Chelsea and into Tribeca which is one of my favorite neighborhoods.


There's still many a gallery


Then there's my go-to crafty store, P&S Fabrics, were I was lured in by the yarn. The front of the store is fillef with trims.


The rest of the store is notions, fabrics, yarns, and knitting and crochet accessories. Pretty sweet!


Some of the roving yarn I was looking at. Didn't get this color but I may have to go back for it.


Cool projects by kids at a very expensive daycare and lots of great crafty goodness.


I'll show you my purchases tomorrow.
- Posted by misskitty1970

Nara delights

As promised here are a couple of shots of the museum book and pamphlets from the the Nara
Show at the Asia Society.






Musuem book. The book has a cool hard book case with cut out windows reminiscent of his house installations. The book cover shows through and when you take out the book inside you can see mini Nara paintings as if you were looking into a home's windows.



- Posted by misskitty1970

Nobody's Fool

"Ghost" by Yoshitomo Nara

My long weekend started with my last ceramics class which I got to glaze my pottery. Pretty exciting and exhausting. This time around
my teacher was Mako, Lisa's mom. She was incredibly sweet but the language barrier really became a bit like Lost in Translation. First I waxed the bottom of all the ceramics pieces then I chose my colors from the sample tiles. Mako then should us (me and another student), how to mix all the glazes properly because all the minerals become sediment and have to be thoroughly mixed to insure the correct color.


These are some of the colors I used. Below is the wall chart of glaze color combos.





Some of pieces ready for dipping and spraying.



After mixing each color that I would use I began dipping. I learned slow dips create light colors and quick dips make darker richer colors.




I also learned to create pattern with dips like the teacup above and the tea bowl below.



On friday my pup turned 10 yo we celebrated and he, Francie,and Bjorn hung out and snuggled.


That night Debra and I went for sushi.



Next morning on Saturday a friend, Dada, and I went to the Asia Society museum to see the amazing Yoshitomo Nara show. It's the largest collection of his work I have seen and there's a pretty extensive amount of installations. I would totally go again. I was inspired to draw and paint but unfortunately my studio was a mess and I couldn't start anything. I bought the Nara myseum collection book, titled "Nobody's Fool", same as the show. I never by a musuem book but the show was too good to not have the book. I will post some pics of the book and pamplet later. I was only able to sneak this pic in aside from the "Ghost" the sculpture outside on park ave.


Today my mom and dad visited us in Brooklyn so we took them for lunch and for a walk in Brooklyn Bridge park, it was beautiful out and they enjoyed themselves. Good weekend!!!





- Posted by misskitty1970

Happy Birthday Baby Budda!

10yrs old! Gonna get my boy a doggie cupcake and some chicken for a celebration!!!


- Posted by misskitty1970

Long Island, really?

I have not posted in a while because my day job practically killed me last week. I was working long hours, getting home by 9 or 10 in the evening, and to top it off our office had to pack for a move. The over exhaustion helped to give me a terrible cold and throw out my back. My partner and I had planned a weekend getaway to relieve some of the stress and exhaustion so we headed to Greenport, in southern Long Island! Omg! LONG ISLAND! Last place I would ever think would be nice, but I was proven wrong. We stayed at a beautiful B&B, Fordham house, on Main sreet. The house was meticulously kept with attention to details and New England feel. The proprietor was a very nice and attentive older woman who made a lovely breakfast every morning with elegant place settings. I unfortunately was feeling like hell the whole time, buy we manage to visit a winery at Schinn Vineyards since Greenport is wine country and very pretty. We had amazing weather so we lucked out. The first evening we were there we tried out Claudio's, on the water, the oldest family owned restaurant in NY state. It was surf and turf family style place. Real old school decor and food. I had a massive marinated steak and Debra had the chef's special seafood tureen. Both were delicious.



We also visited Shelter Island which is about 5 minutes from where we staying and a relaxing ferry ride away. We went to Wades beach and it was serene, granted it was off season but it was amazing. The beach was super clean and only two peope and a couple of dogs. Best beach trip ever.


Mina enjoyed Shelter Island too ;)
Figured I could bring a doll on this trip since we didn't have to have bags checked. Poor June Bug went all the way to Scandinavia and never made it out of the room. Anywho, we left Shelter Island pretty quickly after the beach since it was lunch time and the restaurants didn't have a lot to offer.


Back to Greenport,(Debra on the ferry looking very pretty)for lunch. We stopped at Eric's on County rd. It was written up in Edible Brooklyn but it was just okay nothing you need to drive out of the way for.


Unlike Eric's, Noah's on Main street, was really delicious and expensive. We had a squash blossom stuffed with goat cheese and herbs plus it was battered in tempura, amazing!


On the way home we stopped at Sang Lee organic farm and bought a ton of beautiful heirloom tomatoes and other yummy veggies. Definitely a must stop. Then we stopped at Briermare farm stand were there are insane lines to buy their fresh baked pies. We bought a strawberry and rhubarb pie an pumpkin for ourselves and friends watching our pets. Pretty yummy indeed.



- Posted by misskitty1970

Oui Oui mon cherie (handmade vs. Mass produced)

So here's the beret ignore my washed out face it's 9 at night after a grueling day at work. I wanted to make the flower detachable but I don't have a broach pin or alligator clip around. I was too impatient to finish the hat and just sewed the flower onto the beret directly. I really like it so I'm sitting around wearing it right now!


Onto the next topic which I've wanted to cover in my last post but I ran out of time to discuss this. Handmade vs. mass-produced. I read in someone else blog recounting an overheard conversation about a woman who was looking at a chunky scarf. She made a comment that she didn't like or would wear anything handmade. As a designer for a major and popular clothing company (rhymes with SAP) I would like to comment on this based on facts. Anything handmade is considered superior and always expensive, which makes it impossible for large companies to afford. But here's the thing all factories making garments have human beings siiting at a sewing machine and sewing the clothing. This is not Terminator and the machines don't make everything. The person making the clothes gets paid close to nothing. So really handmade is everything.

- Posted by misskitty1970

Flowery Words

I haven't posted in a while not because I don't have lots to share but because my job is sucking the life out of me. I finished my dress and even wore it out. I also finished my slouchy beret and I made a detachable flower for it last might while watching "A Time to Kill", such a good movie. I will post pics of the beret in the next post.


I know it's blogtober too so I'll do my best to post everyday.
This wednesday past my partner and I went to a farm dinner at Egg in Williamsburg. It was pretty amazing. The restaurant has its own farm with veggie crops and they also raise pigs so one of the piggies was dinner, I felt really bad about that, I was a vegetarian for 17 yrs. We had a choice between a vegetarian meal or a piggy meal. We got one of each to be able to try everything. There were five courses with beer pairings, pretty amazing. My two favorite courses were both vegetarian on was like a risotto with Carolina yellow rice ,moon cheese and pears cooked to a creamy deliciousness. The other dish was heirloom tomato tart with alligator tomato salad amd a quail egg, so good!



Earlier in the week I took a trip (not really much of a trip three subway stops) to Kinokuniya to buy some Japanese fashion magazines which I will post the pics in another post. But enjoy the pics of their cafe, Cafe Zaiya. I bought a bento box for lunch which is really the greatest deal in NYC. $5.95 for chicken katsu bento box, that's really sweet!


Speaking of sweet check out the treats at Cafe Zaiya!Yum!
- Posted by misskitty1970