supercozy

It's 2012!!

2012-01-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

Another warm and cozy New Year's day at my in-laws house with ozoni and osechi after an evening of friends and dancing to dj'ed 45's. Happy New Year 2012!! May it be full of joy, love, and good fortune! *btw, I think the mochi decor was rehashed from last year :I

december 2011

2012-01-01T21:43:00.000-08:00

booties made during the knitting vortex I was caught up in this last two weeks, Geoff McFetridge at Heath Ceramics, holiday magic hour in the corner of the living room, detail of a metal piece at the "Contested Visions of the Spanish Colonial World" at LACMA, "The Unconscious" by Franz West on Wilshire Blvd.

holiday sale necklaces

2011-12-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

Some necklaces I made for the CSULB Holiday sale this year - rope, crochet, and leather tassels. It takes place today (Sunday) 4-8p and Monday thru Thursday noon-5p at the galleries on campus. Stop by if you can :)

Dosa 818

2011-12-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

stopped by the dosa shop downtown this weekend... stunning wearables, gorgeous space... the first photo is all hand dyed indigo... fun indigo day from Jennifer...

november

2011-11-30T18:44:00.000-08:00

iphone images this last month or so... a sock knitting machine, macrame owl, fall leaves, fuzzy friends, buddha in the rain, rope ball, clam fritter with chowder...

vertebra

2011-11-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Vertebra of 16 week old baby, L4-7 of a 65 year old woman reinforced with titanium... two images in the same week... whew!

(: happy halloween :)

2011-10-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

carol's day of the dead cake, farmers market fruit, neighbor's garage... happy halloween!

fabric for a few fall tops

2011-07-25T22:39:00.000-07:00

summer japanese eating

2011-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

A version of inari sushi aka "footballs" at the bbq brought by Mrs. Tsuchida; shishito pepper ends and lotus root stamping at Sho-Jin; plums and Japanese cucumber from Mama's garden; Mama's hand crocheted blanket that I love!

acupuncture and quinoa

2011-07-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Added acupuncture this last few months to deal with some personal health stuff. It's totally up my alley. Eastern medicine has a more holistic approach to the body so in addition to needles and herbs, I've been asked to limit my diet and exercise daily. In general, I've been averting wheat, alcohol, caffeine, and sweets, 80% of the time. I've been going for 30-40 minute walks as well as doing 15-30 min of yoga 6-7 days a week. For the time being, I have officially made it a priority above lots of other things I'd love to be doing, but it's been worth is. My body feels stronger and I kinda feel a little younger, haha! Also starting to meditate again, that'll be interesting!

I've had to make "Emilyn friendly food" for a few parties already. This quinoa dish was a good one!

Forms of Paper

2011-07-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Forms of Paper, a very beautiful book. Fran shared her copy with us last semester.

Given a sheet of paper possessing infinite possibilities, what value shall we give it, and what shall we create of it? We are at a loss, first feeling tempted to do one thing and then something else. This reminds me of the strained feeling I had in my primary school days when I had before me a sheet of mino paper and held brush in hand for the first time in my life. We always face a sheet of paper with a mixture of hope and unrest.

Forms of paper are not meant to last and last; they incorporate the pleasure of using them, and even using them up.

Elise Rose

2011-07-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

My new niece, Miss Elise Rose at 2 weeks old.

Tita Em (me) hooked her up by embroidering and appliqueing on some onesie hand-me-downs from her two older brothers.

Portland, Oregon

2011-07-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

Our first meal in Portland at Clyde Common - trout wrapped in pancetta with a fried egg, of course!; Ace Hotel and cool textile book from the 60's at Powell Bookstore; View on an amazing 9 mile bike tour through the Columbia River Gorge; Latourell Falls one of six on the tour; One of three "tasty snacks" from the chef before dinnner at Castagna; Laurie Herrick's abstract weaving from the 60's 70's at the Museum of Contemporary Craft; our room at Kennedy School a former classroom!; Vegan apple pie at Random Order Bakery on Alberta St.

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Spent the July 4th evening celebrating Portland style with Kathy in her hood. They say we will have to check out the show Portlandia. :) Walked to the Sellwood Bridge over the Willamette River for this picture perfect view of the fireworks. Sun sets late this time of year, so this was dusk past 10pm. Love that!

more june pinks

2011-06-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

Cibo Matto "You got to know your chicken!!" at the Hollywood Bowl, pale pink Mercedes at the library, and strawberry cucumber sorbet.

Torrey Pines Reserve

2011-06-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

gifts from the sea

2011-06-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

First hike ever at Torrey Pines Reserve in La Jolla, just my camera and me for most of the morning. Greeted by these gifts from the sea. Seaweed, kelp, little shells, weathered wood, and I only saw one plastic bag. They washed up in perfect colorway and composition.

morning walk

2011-06-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

The neighborhood looks so different earlier in the morning - the light, the morning dew, and you can see all the beautiful spider webs. Have also been on great "walk n talks" with Jennifer.

good

2011-06-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

Taste of the Nation

2011-06-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

It was Taste of the Nation this weekend. Did you know that 50 million people go to bed hungry each night and that 17million of them are children? Whew, that's a lot in a place where food is abundant. To help this cause, over 40 restaurants set up shop yesterday to help raise money. My favorites, white bean and octopus from (? not sure!) ; lime, homemade ginger, gin cocktail, with big ice cube from Ray's and Stark Bar; furikake kettle corn from A Frame, olive oil microscone ice cream from Ink, and apricot rice pudding from Craft - I think this would be a perfect meal (yes, with 2 desserts, but I guess 3 if you count the kettle corn!).

group quilt!

2011-06-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

The lovely ladies at my sister's baby shower were game to applique the hearts for what will be become a little's girl's baby quilt. Each chose a a printed square and heart, as well as the thread color and type of stitching they would use. Also in attendance were six little boys all under the age of 5. We had them stamp their own squares for which they were rewarded with ice cream! Too cute. Now I need to finish putting it all together before July 11 when she's due!

UPDATE 6-20-11 Quilt is finished! It's SO soft and cozy, I kept finding myself snuggling up to it.

AWOL

2011-06-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like spending the weekend with good friends, good food, and a "cocktail height" pool. Even better, we were told we went AWOL, which is the name of this amazing and luscious Palm Springs rental and also short for "absence without leave". Brilliant.

CSULB Fiber MFAs

2011-06-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Julia Barbee's show Par, Through, Fumme, Smoke.

Tina Linville Fiber Sculpture project and Thin Skin

Jennifer Riefsneider Cipher

The most inspiring work came out of the Fiber program this year...

may days

2011-06-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Carol's fiber auction, Venice Pier bikers, Little Tokyo, Legoland, and my cool spare tire!

San Francisco

2011-04-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

Attended the Craft Forward Symposium in SF last week. Beautiful Spring weather and a memorable time to be had with the CSULB fiber girls. Stunning Ruth Asawa sculptures and a view from the DeYoung Museum, House of Nanking, ACME bread company and Cafe Fanny said to owned by Alice Waters, paper flowers made on rainy days at Tail of the Yak, Carol working on her twining, display in the Mission, Lisa Congdon's collections, entering the grapevine on the 5 fwy.

Gudri at Color Loom

2011-04-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous, yummy, colorful gudri (patchwork) handstitched using recycled saris at Color Loom in Berkeley.

the story of my life...

2011-03-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

"I've been six minutes behind all day." - Frank

Soba Making

2011-03-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Had the most amazing experience making soba today. Learned age old techniques of transforming buckwheat into noodles from Sonoko Sakei who is a certified soba maker, got my hands in food, slurped away on fresh yummy chewy noodles, and then cooked our soba at home for dinner. Some things are so much about the beauty of process. All the proceeds from class went to Japan. She'll be teaching at Bread Bar next.

bits of the week

2011-03-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Carlee's piece at LACMA, LACE studio visit to Steve Roden's air form house, Barry Zweig in a moment, blue mountains, mixing flesh tones

CSULB Fiber Shows

2011-03-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

The Fiber Department at CSU Long Beach was out in full force in three of the five student galleries a few weeks back. My "Third Eye" doorway hanging was part of the group show along with Greg's sea creatures, Rosary's wool coat, Krista quilt from Hilary Hopkin's Fiber Dyeing last semester and three more students from her Fiber Sculpture class. The last two images are Jennifer and Noelia's solo Fiber BFA shows. Good stuff!

studio tableaux

2011-03-03T23:47:00.000-08:00

Having fun with a newly dyed piece of indigo cloth (logwood plus 5 dips in the indigo vat!) before having to cut it up for a project.

the figure

2011-03-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

Taking Malaika's figure drawing and painting class.

light

2011-03-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

Suprasensorial at the MOCA Geffen, Lukshon bathroom, and view of a friend's home on a hill

Recycling

2011-02-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Finally found good guidelines for recycling. Can now officially recycle styrofoam, magazines, and things with adhesive labels curbside. Good job LA. There was a time not too long ago that this was not allowed, even though I did it anyway. The only thing not recyclable are the tetrapacks from soy milk, hmm...

What You Can Recycle at the Curb
The Bureau of Sanitation issues blue containers for recycling. The following are items that can be placed in the recycling container:

Paper
- All Clean Dry Paper computer, ledger, wrapping, arts and craft paper, unwanted mail, flyers, telephone books, note cards, newspaper, blueprints, magazines, file folders, paper bags, Post-it notes, catalogs; and all envelopes including those with windows
- All Cardboard Boxes and Chipboard
cereal, tissue, dry food, frozen food, shoe, and detergent boxes; paper and toilet rolls; and corrugated boxes broken down and flattened
Metals
- All Aluminum, Tin, Metal, and Bi-Metal Cans rinsed if possible, soda, juice, soup, vegetables, and pet food cans; pie tins; clean aluminum foils; empty paint and aerosol cans with plastic caps removed, and wire hangers
Glass
- All Glass Bottles and Jars rinsed if possible, soda, wine, beer, spaghetti sauce, pickle jars, broken bottles, and etc.
Plastics
- All Clean Plastics 1 Through 7 - Empty Plastic Containers rinsed if possible, soda, juice, detergent, bleach, shampoo, lotion, mouthwash, dishwashing liquid bottles, milk jugs, tubs for margarine and yogurt, plastic planters, food and blister packaging, rigid clamshell packaging, etc.
- All Plastic Bags and All Film Bags
grocery bags and dry cleaner bags, and all clean film plastic
- All Clean Polystyrene (Styrofoam®)
Styrofoam® cups, containers, and packaging such as Styrofoam® egg shell cartons, Styrofoam® block packaging, and Styrofoam® clamshell packaging
- Miscellaneous Plastics
Plastic coat hangers, non-electric plastic toys, plastic swimming pools, & plastic laundry baskets

yarn and weaving goodness

2011-01-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

Last week, I stopped in to help my friend, the super talented Tanya Aguiniga with her yarn and weaving installation Crossing the Line at the Craft and Folk Art Museum . This was one of my little bits. Craft and art are so great when a community gets together to get it together. The opening is this Saturday, Jan 29th along with the Ackerman exhibit.

fiber sculpture

2011-01-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

My experiments in materials, yarn bombing, felting, and coiling from Carol Shaw-Sutton's Fiber Sculpture class at CSULB this past fall. One more piece still in progress. Seriously, Carol knows everything and it was all about smart hands :)

Akemashite Omedetou!

2011-01-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

That means Happy New Year in Japanese. Nothing like some warm ozoni soup, osechi, and a tiny cup of sake at my in-law's house after a night of dance party moves at Jenna's. Yum. It's 2011 y'all.

happy holidays

2010-12-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

my point of view

2010-11-29T22:14:00.000-08:00

olmec at lacma, sf clouds, the magic hour, to dye for at deyoung, carol's collections, hands, romanian folk art and zandra rhodes at mingei, a's heart bday cake

september

2010-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

my shadow with netting, crochet, immersion dyeing, drying marigolds, pompoms for a 75th birthday, block of black sugar, and tofu dinner

more pretty things

2010-08-31T17:32:00.000-07:00

playing with the sticker dots from my Ermie order, got totally mesmerized for a good 20 minutes and then some more the next day; my first dyeing project, wowza; gorgeous tomatoes also from Jennifer, thank you!!; Sheila Hicks rocks from a textile book at the library.

more nature please

2010-08-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

Note to self: More nature, more balance.

It's amazing how refreshed and rejuvinated, and therefore productive I been these last several weeks. This, a result of being immersed in nature in the weeks previous. This means unplugged and forced to adjust to peace and quiet. Reminding myself that it's so important to keep that balance because it's so easy to get caught up and forget. It seems the only way to survive in an urban lifestyle. Hoping this trip and weekend hikes will sustain me through the rest of the year.

around town as summer winds down

2010-08-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've been obsessed with old rugs, moroccan bag and rug at Mosaik; sesame soymilk at Viet Soy; Sum Vespertine wallpaper at Walnut Wallpaper; Perhaps a birthday cake in the ref at Little Flower; and S's zoris.

big pants

2010-08-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

I made the biggest pair of pants at Haystack. This was in response to an amazing pair of silk pants previously owned by an Indian maharaja. Funny, fun, crazy, wonderful, random but not. We added the shapes that afternoon because the wind and sun's rays were making these amazing shadows.

the woods

2010-08-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

bits of my walks through the woods at haystack...

kai's place

2010-08-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

kai sent us this pic of us at her place cozying up in her living room in boston. just like old times...

Losing Our Cool

2010-07-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

Losing Our Cool is a book about the consequences air conditioning has had on the environment and people's health...

That was one of the chief reasons I wrote the book was the ill ease I felt in going through neighborhoods that I knew had once been very lively places in the summer and then turned into dead zones. You would not see any human life out there, and the only sound would be the compressors and fans on the air conditioners. And I really do believe that what has been called by one author "nature deficit disorder" is a problem that has been facilitated by air conditioning. You can make a dark home entertainment center with cool, still, dry air a lot more appealing than a meadow, say, in summer. - author Stan Cox

Radio segment heard here.

thought about textiles

2010-07-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Textiles embody the creative vision of cultures that produced them.
- Gerhardt Knodel

don't go chasing waterfalls

2010-07-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Did a serious hike in Escondido Park in Malibu this past weekend. It was amazing, but we did not know what we were getting ourselves into! The saying for the day - Don't go chasing waterfalls!!

sewing lately

2010-07-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

I've been on a serious sewing kick lately. Trying to get my skills up to date for Haystack. With the help of Jin at Common Thread who reminded me of the word improvise, Cal Patch's book, and some YouTube videos, I've managed to get over my sewing hump and am finally feeling liberated.
Made 3 cute summer tank tops, one using a classic seersucker fabric I've had in a drawer for over a year now cut on the bias and the other straight grain using echino fabric, green one is being re altered. Love them and have worn them too much already.

Altered a dress from a size large to a medium. Bought it on sale so no returns. Took in the sides and part of the shoulders. Wow. I learned more about the intuitive feel of clothing construction and how those little pins that tailors use to "take in" a garment becomes a perfect fit. It's not about cutting a straight line, but making it seem like a straight line when you wear it. 2d vs 3d perhaps?

And this last week and a half involved making a pattern from an existing top I already have. This is the top with sleeves. This has been the biggest aha moment. The tracing tool is brilliant and yes, I have a closet full of clothes I want to recreate. Lots of work, but worth it if the style and fit are right.

More fabric to last me till the end of the summer!

happy 4th

2010-07-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

I LOVE fireworks. We went to our local park to see these. So fun and great to gather with the community! It's been 30 years since they've put on a show. According to our local councilman and thanks to private sponsors, the reality was to bring people's spirits up from the high unemployment. Happy July 4th and thanks to all our troops and veterans for their service.

PS. ...and I think this is still Venus (per Lou) in plain sight!

white flowers

2010-07-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

white flower spots everywhere on our hikes. look like snow, maybe because they usually grow from brown stems.

around

2010-07-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

shoe store hanging rattan chair installation near hollywood farmers market, tim hawkinson's "Orrery" with the spinning dress pattern, echino by etsuko furuya fabric, first baby tomatoes from a plant given by lorrie and dyane, evening on the patio...

a moment

2010-06-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting outside in the backyard in perfect partial sun, writing my little posts, listening to the birds chirping from all sides and feeling the warm summer breeze whose gust has been fervently blowing my laundry off the drying rack. lol.

Ptolemy Mann

2010-06-21T13:19:00.002-07:00

Ptolemy Mann is a British textile artist I had the privilege of hearing speak a few weeks back at the Christopher Farr Gallery. Her signature work takes the process of ikat and modernizes with color and in the form of a stretched canvas rather than a wall hanging. I love classic ikat, but it was exciting to see the reinvention. She is also a color consultant for architects wanting to add a dimension of color to their structures. It seems like such an obvious collaboration, but apparently a new way of thinking as well. A hospital is one of the works in progress. I asked her about how she comes up with her color combinations while dying her yarns, she compared it to being a painter mixing paints. She recently came out with a gorgeous line of soon to be available ikat inspired upholstery fabric that are actually beautifully laser printed fabrics. Thanks David!

Ikat book

2010-06-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Ikat has been resurfacing around me these last few months so I'm taking it as a sign to investigate.

Got this great new used book called The Dyer's Art: Ikat, Batik, Plangi. It's describes these ancient dyeing processes and has big colorful photos of historical textiles. It's even signed by author and famed weaver Jack Lenor Larsen.

First of all, the process of dyeing is coloring fiber and then using something else like mordant to fix it" or keep it from washing away or make it "colorfast". Products like Rit dye are all-in-one products which makes it easy to do in your washing machine.

The look of ikat is the soft feathery edges of a woven graphic on a textile as a result of the imperfect handmade quality of dyeing and weaving by hand.

In the process if weaving ikat, yarns of a warp are wrapped in certain spots to resist dye, so when yarns are dyed, then unwrapped, and put under tension on loom it creates a warp with a dyed design.

Will try dyeing first!!

an evening walk

2010-06-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

weekend in 30 seconds

2010-06-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

digital harinezumi

2010-06-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

playing with my new digital harinezumi these last few evenings... video next. love this sample video. via Lisa

the week...

2010-06-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ice and blue carnations at TOTNLA; real lens flare effect in a nighttime shot; new ikat placemats from the PI; ceramic art from UCLA MFA open studio; tree roots...

words of wisdom

2010-06-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Moderate your greed." - R.L.N.

clouds

2010-05-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

followed the clouds this weekend...

spirograph and sun prints

2010-05-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Baby-sat my 4 year old nephew today and played with an updated version of the Spirograph. This was one of my favorite things as a child. We also did sun prints from Berkeley's Lawrence School of Science which I had never tried before. The last pic is of his 2 year old brother messing around and whose little hand we sun printed. In their words it was "awesome!"

Venice Beach

2010-05-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Spent some time in the Venice Beach area this weekend. Quintessential Venice sunglasses, the skate park on the boardwalk, my favorite - the guys who fly the gianormous kites, a nightime shot from the balcony, yellow powder coated table here and this awesome watercolor poster by David Hockney from the window of a shop on Abbot Kinney. Too cold for May, but being by the ocean is good r & r no matter what. Will be back for warmer temps when it's really summer...

photo album and box kits

2010-05-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

These last few months, Yuka and I have successfully carved out some "crafternoon" time on Fridays for making these photo album and box kits from Paper-Source. We both realized that we hoarded them (I actually made 2 of those pink boxes a la Lily Pulitzer) way back and needed to bring them to life. The instructions need a little help and it takes some time getting used to the cutting and gluing, but we're seriously pro now. Hoorah!

more around Manila

2010-05-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

Picture of my Lola (my grandmother), grade school classroom in Liliw, handwoven paymapay (fan) in Greenhills, hot pan de sal and queso (hot bread and cheese) before breakfast, my uncle's collection of chinese miniature statues, election time banners (update: Nonoy Aquino wins presidency).

around town...

2010-05-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Doug Wheeler's Rm 669 during one of several jury duty lunch breaks to MOCA, learning to transplant plants from Adam, light fixture made from pieces of a vintage sewing machine at Terroni, photos of tree shadows by Donna Wong at Euro Pan Bakery, and then spotting the Neutra font on the P7 parking structure at LAX, and this beauty on Mother's Day morning at Bottega Louie's cafe.

Alicia

2010-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

After trying to resusitate her twice, her son said no more.. but right when they stopped her heartbeat came back. It came back just as all seven of her sisters arrived. It was if she knew they were on their way and she wanted to say good bye before she left. Her body could no longer move, but her heart beat grew faster on the monitor as the voices got louder. Still, they all knew it was too late. Her body had already given in to the infection. Only her eyes remained slightly opened. Days before she told them that her mama and papa were at foot of her bed but not her late husband who she was always missing. She was also looking for her new shoes telling them she had to go out. It was just a matter of time. The spirits of her mother and father were there waiting to bring her to the other side. So they reassured her that it was okay and that she could go. You don't have to stay, go be with them. We love you and will miss you so much they said as their hearts broke deep inside. And just then, tears began streaming from her eyes. She became sad... and aware... that they were right. She too, would miss us terribly. They all cried now weeping for themselves and for what was to come. After a few more minutes the monitor flatlined. They say your hearing is the last thing to go. Lucky for us.

kiput hike

2010-04-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

When we visit my mom's provincial hometown, we always have a big lunch and eat with our hands off big banana leaves at the farm. The farm was developed on the land my mom and her siblings inherited from my grandfather. He loved to hike this land. When we were young, he would lead all of us down to the river for swimming and eventually a bath at the end. Good times. These days, we all hike down to an area called the kiput were there is a narrow but deep stream. I love this hike. It's so green and lush. My aunt added steps to the path so that the elders could get down to the quiput too.

Philippines 2010

2010-04-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a 10 day trip to the Philippines. Caught some spectacular views. The last mystic photo is from the airplane window over Incheon Airport in Seoul.

Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth

2010-03-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

Finally got a chance to visit Nick Cave's Soundsuits at the UCLA Fowler Museum this past weekend. These suits are full body collages of mostly from the fiber arts world which includes crocheted hats and doilies, colorful gap sweaters, and all the glory of sequenced applique. The most famous are the performing Soundsuit Invasions some of which are made with real dyed human hair. They are bold and exhilarating as they tower over you and then at the same time so innocent, playful and free spirited, strands flowing, as they jump around and dance in the videos.

Nick Cave's Soundsuit Invasion No. 1 in LA, courtesy Fowler Museum at UCLA from Fowler Museum on Vimeo.

"With this exhibition, I hope to provide a place for dreaming - a public incubator. I hope that people walking into the gallery will be transported into another world where they can find hope, inspiration, and empowerment. I hope they will find themselves in another universe and also find a few moments to imagine, reflect and feel nourished. I see the work - especially at this particular time - as a catalyst for change and I hope the people who see it will be fueled by their experience with it."

Cave did his Masters in Fiber Art at Cranbrook where he met Gerhardt Knodel, who he says "gave him the courage and ability to be fearless."

I hope to catch one of these invasions at the museum in May.

:: photo by James Prinz/UCLA

welcome to the slighlty new and improved

2010-03-15T18:45:00.001-07:00

I finally upgraded the blog. This meant moving to the blogspot url... http://supercozy.blogspot.com/. No biggee. Welcome.

80's dessert

2010-02-15T13:08:00.000-08:00

My dessert last night at the new Elements Restaurant in Pasadena was this fantastic 80's explosion. The splatter of colors was awesome! Passion fruit panna cotta and a berry sorbet with a sprinkling of edible flowers, red stemmed microgreens, pink foam and hot pink broken meringues type things. My photo is not that good because I did not want to disturb the romance with a sudden flash, but just imagine. The rest of the meal was equally gorgeous as it was delicious and amazing - an amuse with pink noodles and a little heart shaped piece of tofu, this gorgeous red borscht soup which they should definitely add to the menu (!), and the a perfectly cooked sea bass with a red sofrito. Best Valentines Day meal I've had and clearly the chefs are having a really good time.

Biodegradable Dishware by Wasara

2010-02-04T23:30:00.000-08:00

This makes me smile. Via Re-Nest.

Collections A Day

2010-02-04T23:01:00.000-08:00

There is something about seeing things in a group. I absolutely love Lisa Congdon's new year long blog Collections a Day Project documenting her collections. These are her vintage price tags. Photo by Lisa Congdon.

cherished words

2010-01-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

i miss you and think of you often with all the fondness in the world. ~kai

double weave blanket

2010-01-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

Finished setting up the warp yesterday and finally started weaving a queen size blanket using a technique called double weave. Double weave means I can weave 2 layers at the same time making the width of the blanket twice that of the warp. My warp is 40" wide, but my final blanket will be 80" wide! In the second pic, the fold will be on the left side which means the vertical stripe on the right side, will end up on both the left and right of the blanket.

I had time to weave 5" of weft (the horizontal yarns), so I could see the double weave in action. It's pretty amazing. The last pic is a view in between the 2 layers that are forming. Exciting!

rainy morning breakfast

2010-01-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

it's been raining for 4 days straight here in LA. kinda unheard of these last drought filled years. love it. a big hearty meal to last me the day.

the desert

2010-01-17T19:03:00.001-08:00

A good friend wished us much peace before leaving for the desert this weekend. I think we found it. Enjoyed a little spa action, stood amidst nature, lunched with these cool kids and these, and ended up at the photo booth ... maybe a little too relaxed :)

origami heart

2010-01-06T10:47:00.001-08:00

An origami heart from this older lady at the last family party. She makes these amazing little treasures every holiday and passes them out to the girls mainly. Her English is not very good, nor my Japanese, so we just exchange with two hand offerings, bended bow, and big warm smiles. I think I let out a tiny shreek of excitement and she a laugh because we both knew this was a good one!

baby's leopard sweater

2010-01-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

I want baby's Stella McCartney for Gap sweater!

happy 2010

2010-01-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

my mother-in-law's beautiful new years day spread.

pizzas!

2009-12-30T12:29:00.000-08:00

I've never been into cooking, but we've been cooking a lot lately *. Tried out pizza recipes from Jean Kelley's beautiful cookbook Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes the other night - tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil; mushroom, chives and added truffle oil; brie, prosciutto, and arugula - delicious and so much fun. It's a great book for a beginner cook like myself who is familiar with flavors, but had no idea how to get them! I've been having ah-ha moments with flavor, having tasted them at restaurants and then all of a sudden creating them at home. Also made her seriously perfect chocolate chip cookies, which has made me very popular :) and butternut squash soup.

ornament adventures

2009-12-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

Also got handmade ornament adventures from Jon. He was inspired by the wonderful pieces of Samma at Maryam Nassir Zadeh via one of my favorite blogs Ermie. Ahh, fluorescent yellow...

dinner at jon's

2009-12-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

dinner at jon's...

card making at the DWC

2009-12-24T14:47:00.001-08:00

Spent the morning making cards with the ladies today. Met a lovely lady named Christina. Wishing her a happy and prosperous new year!

leaves

2009-12-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

beautiful mess of leaves after a windy day! Not so common here in L.A. :)

"Bruise"

2009-12-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

"Bruise" by Mike Mills. Available here.

Tom Ford

2009-12-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

The lovely Tom Ford at a debut screening of his brilliant new movie "A Single Man."

happy herringbone floor!

2009-12-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

Happiness in my new herringbone floor!

3"x6" recycled porcelaine tiles laid out in a herringbone pattern; my inspirations here and here; busy pattern takes attention away from the odd floorplan; eternally grateful to the contractors whose knees were beat after installation!

out and about

2009-12-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

Rug at Rose Bowl Flea Market.

Decor at the back bar of Palate.

Yuka's daybed with pillows she made from Mamimekko dish towels by Sanna Annukka.

breakfast at Elements

2009-12-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

Polenta, poached egg, and prosciutto breakfast at Elements Cafe - my kind of meal!! They'll be opening a restaurant and bar in the plaza of the Pasadena Playhouse a block away from our Laemmle Theater very soon. Perfect date night. Purple glass sidewalk jewels around the corner of the cafe.

Eley Kishimoto and Anthropologie

2009-12-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

Love this dress. Collaboration between Eley Kishimoto and Anthropologie.

palm tree leaf

2009-11-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

palm tree leaves are HUGE
taller than me for sure
but they look so small looking from below

designer/maker & smart hands

2009-10-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

Bag maker S. Stein describes the concept of designer/maker and smart hands in the recent October newsletter interview by Heath Ceramics....

Tell us about the importance of the designer/maker tradition — why producing in the US is so important to you and how you found the craftspeople you work with... Regarding US labor, it's not easy but it's the right thing to do if you can make a go of it — as in, compete in a market largely priced using offshore labor. When you experience, first hand, the work a small business provides to the people in your community, it reinforces these ideals more than anything ever could. I've managed to find people in New Mexico who actually love having their hands on their work. My stitcher crafts each piece from start to finish, which I believe contributes to the great pride and deep sense of satisfaction she feels for her work. We make a point of stopping to admire each completed bag — I feel this admiration, more than anything, makes craftspeople into the people they are.

What inspires you? Until I learned about a school in the Netherlands that describes a phenomenon known as 'smart hands' I really didn't know how to put words to my experience as a designer/maker — my hands actually know what to do once they hit the material. That concept alone drives my obsession to create stuff — a desire that I've had ever since I can remember. Today, I'm inspired by vintage everything, Art in America, black and white photography, Monument Valley and the combination of good materials and craftsmanship is simply irresistible to me.

images from S. Stein.

Nadine Light

2009-10-16T00:03:00.000-07:00

Nadine, the latest laser cut masterpiece from a collection called Future Flora by Tord Boontje. Check out the little video on how it opens up here.

“ Although I started by looking very closely at flowers, it became a project from memory, to imagine shapes which are like flowers but not exactly, a new kind of species – a flower and light hybrid.” — Tord Boontje

bits of the weekend

2009-10-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

dusk view from my kitchen window; combo of my hand's shadow, my book, an old glass window and a sunny corner of the brand art library; halfway through gocco-ing a wedding invitation...

baggage claim yellow

2009-10-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Virgin America has taken over this side of baggage claim at LAX and has already painted red swatches on parts of the tile. This means all this pretty 1960's yellow will soon be gone. Decided to bond with it in the 20 minutes we waited for my brother in law's flight to arrive.

drywall

2009-10-06T18:50:00.001-07:00

two tone drywall, wood, concrete, tar paper, yellow electrical wire, symmetry, and lightness and dark.

Bill Clinton

2009-10-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we had the privilege of seeing and older, more relaxed Bill Clinton speak at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. He is part of a lecture series called Distinguished Speakers. What a great speaker armed with facts, genuinely passionate about his message, and always injecting just the right amount of humor make everyone feel comfortable. Admittedly long winded, he spoke for an hour and a half hardly looking at notes.

He spoke most about helping us create a framework from which to build an opinion about the overwhelming issues we hear about every day. It can also be a framework by which to make decisions about how we choose to live. This framework means understanding three things - that there is a lot of inequality in the world, that the world is interdependent, and the world is unsustainable.

There are people dying from malaria, tuberculosis. 80% of the people that die of these dirty water born diseases are children. This is inequality in an age where our country will hardly see the effects of these diseases. I've heard Bill Gates talk about this in regard to his efforts with his Gates Foundation. There are many countries who's citizens still live on two dollars a day. And regarding health care in our country, we are the only wealthy country who spends 17% of our incomes on health care without being able to insure everyone, most other wealthy nations only spend 10-11%.

Our actions affect everyone, prime example - the domino effect of last year's economic crisis.

We already know that the way we are using our natural resources is unsustainable. But did you know that the world's most energy efficient countries - Denmark, Sweden and Germany - became more prosperous by solving their issues of energy efficiency. Not only did fixing these problems save money and resources, it created more jobs lowering the unemployment rate, something our current president in pushing. The Kyoto Treaty also committed 44 countries to cut emissions to 1990 levels by (I forget what date), but only 4 of these countries will reach that goal.

Bill Clinton is also one of those amazing storytellers who transported us to a conversation he had with a man who survived Rwanda genocide. Of the 300,000 people who were brutally killed within a span of 90 days, 73 of them where part of his family up to first cousins. He talked about the part he played in the release of the journalists imprisoned and released in North Korea, and even showed compassion for Sarah Palin saying that she was placed in an impossible position when she was asked to debate in a national election.

Overall, excellent evening. Not enough young people though... Really felt like we got to know a former president more personally.