My Blog Turned 1, And I Was Tagged!

My BlogDay was May 11th. I looked forward to my blogday for quite a while, and thought I would spend that whole day with my blog, making a big deal out of it. Then the day came and I had to do a bunch of other stuff. Oh well.

Having a blog has been alot more exciting than I had counted on. It was one of those things I thought I should do to keep a record of the things I was up to craftily and artistically, but I didn't know I would actually make friends, do swaps, get a ton of new inspiration and information, and expand my ideas for future career directions.

I not at all computer-able---(What is the word??? They ask about it when you want a job...Are you computer blank? Computer proficient? Computer capable?) Anyway, whatever the word is, it does not apply to me. I still don't know enough to have a fancy page, but I have learned quite a bit over the course of this year and look forward to learning more. A year ago a guy I know was telling me that he had just learned html, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Now atleast I know that I would like to learn it too. And photography: I would love to learn how to take better pictures of my work.

And Now, I have been TAGGED, by Jane of Jane's Designs. I need to list 7 random things about myself, and tag 7 other people. So here goes....

7 Random Things About Myself

1) I moved to California when I was 20, completely on accident.

2) I must constantly resist the urge to stick things in my ear.

3) I'm glued to the internet. It's like an endless stack of magazines. Send Help.

4) Favorite Greens: Dandelion. Kale is a very close second.

5) I take pictures of everything like a madwoman. Why? God knows. I don't.

6) I am bucknutty about kalamata olives and dijon mustard, and I'm always looking for something else to eat that I can pour some vinegar on.

7) I am a player hater.

I now tag the Knitstress, Kwoozy, Miss Meshell, Future Girl, Zana, Leethal, and Urban Gypz. If you like, write 7 random things about yourself, and tag 7 other people. If you don't like, or don't have time, don't worry about it.

MOO Cards!

A few months ago when I was supposed to getting ready for my trip and being too anxious to do so, prefering to do ANYTHING but get ready.....I read a post of Meshell's about MOO cards, and thus, discovered them.

I was so excited that I could have cute little full color cards made with slices of my flickr pictures, I had to do it right away (at about 3 AM). They arrived shortly after I had left for India, and I was bummed about that because I was really anxious to see them. I made my boyfriend bring them to me when he met me in London. One of the first things he said to me was " I know you probably want to see your awesome cards now."

Today I found the link to Splatgirl's tutorial for making MOO pockets on Craft:Zine. I short-cut the learning process and ordered one from her Etsy shop.

I'm Back!

I am finally home again after 2.5 months out of the country and there is much to blog about! First, some cleaning though.....

I'm a bit stymied in the craft department by the state of this room. To aid my roommates in some renovations they were gonna do while I was gone (haha), I cleared a bunch of my stuff off of the loft and crammed it in here. They just moved the door frame and started building a staircase over this little room yesterday, so I will have to wait a few more days before messing with it.

It feels like I have been away from all my cool craft stuff FOREVER, so I can't wait to make stuff. For now, when I get the chance, I'm gonna focus on the yarn projects. They are all together in a bag and don't require me to dig through anything to find their components.

Hope all is well with all you crafty people out there!

Some People Have Weird Fetishes

That toilet paper is her boyfriend!

I Can't Believe It's Not Textiles

Peacock feathers still look unreal to me after years of seeing them all the time. It seems like they must be made of metallic threads. And a new discovery: My boyfriend got me these beautiful flowers that look like velvet brains, or brain coral. The lady at the farmer's market told him what they were called, but he forgot by the time he got home. I've never seen them before.

Message from Mom, A Flashback, And A Book

I completed a victorian house quilt for my mom in 2001. I had already spent 2 years working on it very sporadically, and I was about to go to Guatemala, and then to New York City to do a fashion internship, so I'd be seeing my mom in Connecticut on the second leg of my journey and I wanted to bring her that quilt come hell or high water. I didn't actually have time to make my deadline alone, so my mom's quilt was completed with the help of many friends.

Though it was simply a tied together quilt, I knew it just wouldn't be right without hand embroidery trimming every single house, and every single tree and star in the border. That's where my friends came in.(Poor Rita. She was so diligent....) The addition of all these other girls sitting down and decorating my house squares brought alot of new energy, creativity, and ambition into the quilt at a time when I was very low on all of that. I'm still convinced that it all resulted in a spectacular piece.

I just got a message from my mom the other day:

"Hi E. Kim was reading a story to her class today that was about quilts, so she asked if I would bring your quilt in to show the class. They absolutely LOVED it. When I asked them what they specifically liked about it, they all mentioned either a little applique or an embroidery. I thought you should know that you had an entire class of second graders drooling over your quilt. Love, Mom"

The book was called The Quiltmaker's Gift, which makes it even more of an honor to have been the maker behind the quilt that was brought to class.

I'm not just writing this to break my own arm in the act of patting myself on the back for something I did years ago (with lots of help), but because it dawned on me that the things we really pour our hearts into can have a fabulous life of their own, being brought into contact with the community to share the love, educate, and inspire. It makes me feel ---not futile!

I'm so happy that my quilt got to go hang out with little kids, and that they all had lots of fun looking at it and talking about it. Thanks Mom and Kim!

Mary's Minami Map

These are the helpful words to know, and a map, that my friend Mary so thoughtfully wrote out and drew up for me way back in the day when I went to visit her in Osaka, Japan (1998).

The directional words were definately more helpful than I had wanted them to be, and the map was my trusty friend. I could find my way from the station to all the fun stores in Amerika Mura, and then use it to find my way to meet her in front of Tower Records when she got off of work. It was also helpful in figuring out how to make my way back when I'd gone too far, (or to help japanese people know where I was headed so they could point me in the right direction when I couldn't figure it out). It looks all very simple to navigate, but I have absolutely no sense of direction,and Mary knew that could be a problem, besides the fact that I knew nothing of the language. And it was really comforting knowing that I could pee in the bathroom on the 2nd Floor of Tower Records.

So, Foxylady, don't forget: unless things have changed in the last 8 years, there's a bathroom on the 2nd floor of Tower Records in Minami!

Baby Chickens Are Cute

Their mama took off without them. She has about 13 or 14 chicks, so it's easy for her to lose a couple of them. I took care of them for the night, and then gave them back to her the next day when she finally showed up again. She showed her gratitude by repeatedly trying to attack me.

They are so cute, I had to take a ton of photos. You can see them on my flickr album: Chicken Overload.

Go Toward The Light: DIY Flea Trap

I love the internet. I would never have thought of trapping fleas, but when I googled How To Get Rid Of Fleas, I read about it from several sources.

You rig a light up about 6" away from a dish of soapy water, and when you turn the other lights out at night, the fleas hop to it. They hit the light, and then fall into the water and drown.

I set the trap up last night and today I was able to go in my sewing room to clean up and get the fabric together for laundering and whatnot without being constantly attacked. I still managed to attract one here and there, but it was fun, because I have that handy dish of water to drop them in. It's fun to watch them struggle for a sec, then fall over and die.

You can't see it too well in my picture, but there is actually massive flea carnage in that dish.

I vaccumed with my new vaccum cleaner that I bought special for these little shithead fleas, and sprayed the floor and all the cracks with Orange Guard, which is this stuff made of limonenes, extracts of citrus that supposedly kill fleas, ants, and roaches. Let's hope so. I really want to think that it's possible to defend yourself against pests without using gnarly chemicals.

Cat's Enjoyment of Sewing Room No Longer Cute

I find this current infestation much more disturbing than the refrigerator breaking and the nice new organic food rotting. These fuckers lay eggs. I read today that adult fleas only account for 5% of the total flea population at any given time. The rest are larva, eggs, and pupae. What is pupae? Something so creepy and vampiric, you may be better off not thinking about it. Something way grosser than eggs. Something that can lay dormant through a winter and hatch in the spring. I read this: "The adult fleas fully developed inside the pupal cocoon remains in “rest” state for a long time until a blood source is close by." That is frickin gross. And I'm gonna have to wash ALL the frickin fabric. This after it just got so hot that I felt retarded, and took about 5 days to do my normal laundry. Lameville.

I love that fleabag bitch, but she is banned from that room for the rest of her natural life!

Well, she would be if I had 4 walls, and a door. If I ever get that hooked up, she WILL be BANNED!

Now I have Hella Yarn !

While many where wondering how to reduce their yarn stash, I BOUGHT the leftover stash of this cool chick Eve in Canada who is moving to Florida. Today I got the two boxes that all this yarn was crammed into, and it was so exciting! The colors are all so pretty and nicely coordinated too....and my yarn is canadian! Like if I'm in another country, knitting, and a bunch of people are hating on Americans and then ask ME if I'm American, I could say " why no, can't you see by the label on my yarn that I am Canadian?" I have so much Canadian yarn now, I could totally be Canadian!

A large amount of special little fabric scraps, ribbons, and trims, can feel like heavy burdens sometimes, as I feel like I'm the only one who would do right by them, and not throw them away, or sew them onto something hastily so they end up all chewed up and indistinguishable in a mud puddle. Yarn for me has an exuberant quality of non-responsibility. And I mean that in a very positive sense.....

Knitting is so popular in San Francisco that if at any time I could not handle the amount of yarn I had, I could start tossing out yarn in front of a coffee shop and knitters would flock up to me, clucking and scratching, like chickens when you're throwing down the corn.

I really love all my new yarn though. I hope to make something from every bit of it.

Organizing

I haven't spent too much time in my sewing room lately, so today I got all gung ho about organizing it, and everything I touched turned the gears in my head about new things to make, and new ways to finish off old projects....

Organizing is power. Uncrumpling all the old gift wrapping and tissue paper you saved, laying it flat in a big folder is power. Clearing away all the random things that made their way into the room but don't belong is power....Making piles is power...And then suddenly all energy fizzled. It's late. Time to write a bit. Then go to bed.

Creation is the feeling in my bones and in my blood that I can turn every unclaimed joy, every awkward situation, every stunted ambition, crushed up hope, time wasted, friendship lost, anxious, unpleasant, anything into something lovely. Any silly frickin hat or pillow or whatever I make says it's a good thing I'm me, with all my strengths and weaknesses, so that it could exist.

Not that everything has gone wrong. I have a beautifully textured life of travel, work, art, love, fun with good friends, good flowing grooves, mental beat-downs, frustrations, anger, anxiety, insecurity, and eventual epiphanies, like everyone. I'm a happy person for the most part, and organizing my sewing room today definately made me very happy. But there is a feeling of isolation that I get from having my soul trapped in just one body, just one life, one set of talents, one trail of choices, and one future, in which you can only be so many things. Making things, I chill out, and everything is cool the way it is. Materials relate and speak and walk over to eachother, telling me about how they want to get put together, showing me something that I think of as the music of my life.

I recognize that I am just a blip in the continuum of humanity, but I'd like to be a bright, reverberating, resonant, ripple making blip.

Some Days Are Like This....

I will post again- for no reason!

I seriously have NO reason for this post!