isabel's quilt

in addition to the pond quilt, i'm also working on a quilt for kirk and jenny's baby girl, isabelle (she'll be along shortly, sometime in june). i decided to go with something a little bit more geometric. the squares are 4" and there will be many, many fabrics (you know, patchwork) of several general colors. i'm currently in the process of cutting out all of the squares. i'll add of picture of them when i'm finally finished.

OMG! cutest kangaroo ever

i heard about this little guy from cool hunting. he's available from MoMA, along with a caterpillar and a pig. i might even like the pig better... is it too much to ask to have them both?

three dresses

wool dress with neon green lining from project no. 8
my mom got this patchwork dress for me from anthropologie. thanks mom!

silk dress by proenza schouler for target.

pond quilt

i'm working on a baby quilt for catherine and tim's baby. it will have a pond theme. here's the quilt so far (well, as of this morning, i made some progress on it today). pek loves it.

this is the sketch i made of the basic design. it will be populated with all sorts of creatures, as well, like frogs, fish, dragon flies, etc.

i made a little test piece to see how the leaves of grass look after being washed - i'm not hand applique-ing the whole thing. the leaves are sewn on by machine with the raw edges exposed. i was pretty pleased with the result. i didn't like the patchwork flowers with different colored backgrounds, though - too much going on. in the final quilt the background around the flowers is solid green.

the flowers are made from 1" squares and triangles. i like the combination of patchwork and applique.

fabrics

i really like these big, bold patterns. i've been collecting them for the last year or so. some of them are amy butler prints. i got them from reprodepot and purl patchwork in soho.

here's pek's dog bed that i made with the fabulous green and grey print and an egg crate foam mattress:

three fabric necklaces

i got this gem from luke for christmas. the ceramic beads are glossy, so a bit of shine peeks through the knit casing. the beads are held in place by decreasing in the knitting between the beads.

i got this collar by anuschka hoevener from project no. 8 a few weeks ago.

this polar bear reverses to a brown bear on the other side. the brown bear is showing his teeth, so i generally go for the friendlier arctic beast. i found this on smith st in brooklyn, but i can't remember where.

painting

this is the beautiful painting that i got from tim and catherine for the poppy quilt (posted feb 5). see tim's website here.

three books

i love these books. see my flickr site for more photos.
the art of manipulating fabric by colette wolff

sheila hicks: weaving as metaphor

by arthur danto, joan simon, edited by nina stritzler-levine

fiber structures, handweavers guild of america

amigurumi

i switched from knitting to crochet a little over a year ago, and i've found it so much easier. this is my first project from last winter:

i gave the dog to my friend reto. here's the pup in action at reto's house:

then i made another one, using the same pattern, but thinner yarn and a smaller hook. the result - a 2/3 size version, and possibly even cuter (the real matching puppy doesn't hurt either):

here's my book of choice. i've collected a bunch of others as well, which i'll add to the blog eventually. i've gotten them on ebay or from friends who took trips to japan (thanks rayme!). the text is all in japanese, but there are clear charts that surprisingly simple. in fact, i still don't know how to read an american style crochet pattern, only these.

jump off?

what is a "jump off" exactly? i'm not sure, but here's my inspiration:


a little storefront near my house, BEDSTUY FISH & CHIP JUMP OFF. i was so excited the first weekend after my boyfriend and i moved in a few years ago, the 4th of July, 2004 - fish & chips one block away! i love anything fried, and fish & chips fits squarely in that category. sadly, days turned into weeks into months into years, and it never opened. our landlord tells us that it opened for only one day, then closed again. come back, little fish & chip place!

incidentally, if anyone knows why this place is called a "jump off", or what it might mean, please let me know.

poppy quilt

a poppy quilt that i made for tim and catherine in exchange for one of tim's paintings:

i'll add tim's beautiful painting soon.

pek

here's our little pek. he's 6 1/2 months old, a sweet little border terrier.

and even puppies involve stitchery (the beloved duck):

first post

i'm kicking off miss mousey's arts and crafts jump off today. i'll be adding some of my past (and future) sewing projects, quilts and crocheted goodies, as well as crafting shops and resources that i come across in new york, books and boutiques for inspiration. i used to keep these things in various notebooks, but you lose them so easily... check back in a week or so!