update to monsters quilt post

says my boyfriend:
"i see that you are now using your blog to spread rumors / lies / conspiracies. let the record show, i do not hate the faceless monster. i just wish he had some eyes, or an eye."

monsters quilt

all my friends know i'm a granny, and it's really hard to get me to put down my arts and crafts to do anything else - but i just love making things.
especially sewing things.

so, here they are. the first two monsters on my monsters quilt.
it's a follow up to the hexapus project.
on the back side is inky blue velvet. this side is white flannel printed with a white pattern of butterflies and flowers - it's totally subtle and a great backdrop for my parade of monsters, and so so cuddly.

the pictures didn't come out so well here because my camera is pretty old, but they're made up of tiny tiny stitches, using lots of different colors of thread to get the right effect.
if you click on the pictures you can see the detail much more clearly.

this guy with the green head was the first one. i'm really proud of his scales, in person they look amazing.
by boyfriend hates this monster though and can't wait until i give him eyes.

i'm so bummed out that the scales look like that. they're made up of five different colors of thread, and one of them is holographic - so it sparkles really beautifully.
the face, hands and feet are of holographic green thread.

this is the second monster i made.
i love him.
i especially love his feathers, which took forever and ever, and his feet, which are completely embroidered in silver thread, and his drool.

i love monsters!
i have some good ideas for the next monsters to come.
this quilt is going to be the most wonderful thing i've ever made i think once it's finished, although i really do love the hexapus(es)(i)

campana brothers

i really like the campana brothers - and i'm not sure how i feel about that. everything is totally over the top and insane, but it really appeals to me. i've got to stop questioning my own taste and just accept the fact that i really love some really ugly chairs.
this is their trans chair - and i'm crazy about it. at first i really didn't care for the design at all. but then i saw this slide show about how they made it, and i realized that all those bits of garbage are woven in to the chair. the flip-flop especially blew my mind - i love how they wrapped it around the bend of the leg and how seamlessly it blends in to the surface.

night and day

tea towel designed by lucienne day in 1954 - a couple and design team, lucienne and robin day are sometimes compared to the eames'.
i love this print.

toenails

my dad is wonderful, and just sent me this picture of some of my best work in "toenail design." i think my cousin and i actually collaborated on this, the right foot is my work and the left foot is hers, i believe. my dad is truly the best.

speaking of

speaking of jasper morrison, i'm in love with this fridge he designed for samsung.

and then this couch too, for vitra - it's kind of perfect. maybe i just love the room it's in, but it might be my favorite couch.

kiel mead

i know his work has been everywhere, particularly his gold forget me knot ring,
which i wear nearly every day and love so much,
but kiel just did a collaboration with 45 kilo at the future perfect (where he works, and i met him when i was getting my beautiful ring, he's super nice) called cleanliness is next to godliness - "exploring catholicism in a modern world."
i love it -
the pictures don't come out so well here, but the halo light - an industrial looking white pole topped with white "halo" is particularly wonderful. if i had it in my apartment i think i would stand under it all day.

i'm also glad i took a look at 45 kilo 's work, which i hadn't investigated before.
i think this socket table is pretty genius.


the whole thing is basically one big power strip.
pretty neat.
it reminds me of my dad's childhood house in venezuela - his dad rigged up the floorboards so that they had two continuous grooves which worked as electrical outlets. that way, you could plug something in anywhere.


i also love this chair, which they describe as a reinterpretation of jasper morrison's ply chair.

hexapod

i really love robots, my brother and i used to build little ones as kids.
so i though this article about building robots that respond to human emotions.
what i really like about it is the way these guys look. the one shown above responds to emotions like a small child or pet, and he looks really sweet - like a handstitched little lamb, but with a heartbeat and a breathing belly.
the other one, the hexapod, is a little weirder. not as cuddly or friendly, and he "latches" on to strangers. bizarre! and accordingly, he's a pointy metal spider, kind of sinister - but still really neat.

my stupid dresser

after about a month of it sitting in a box by my front door, i finally put together my new dresser.
it took around 8 hours and two nights - ikea is officially the worst.
however, the result is pretty nice.
many, many thanks to my boyfriend for being so great and putting it together even though he had a sinus infection.
i painted the knobs light blue to match a mirror hanging over my couch - it doesn't look so hot in these pictures, but in person it looks great. i really want to get some glass globe knobs, but at the moment my funds are low, so i'm going to have to wait until more riches roll in.
i put some of my favorite things on it -

the candle is from lexington gardens and it's beeswax and smells fantastic
the little scorpion is from my trip to tunisia, and i like it because its in a medical bottle, and because it's awesome.
the wall- e is remote controlled and i'm pretty sure he came from heaven.
and that old alarm clock came from the domino prop sale - it works, but i don't have the key to change the time and also the tick is so loud it will drive me bananas. at first though i thought i had finally found my perfect alarm clock, but of course i wasn't that lucky.

now i'm going to use my old dresser as storage for all my arts and crafts goodies.
speaking of which, coming soon - pictures from my project after the hexapus
obsession - the monsters quilt!

it looks like a little kid's dresser here, but it's beautifully glossy and looks almost lacquered

secret crush

pretty much since forever, i've loved to paint my nails.
it all started when i was 8 and went to costa rica with my dad and my brother.
i found a bottle of green nail polish there and thought it was the strangest, best thing i'd ever seen.
i was obsessed for years and had this huge fishing tackle box full of nail polish that i took on sleepovers with me.
my dad also used to let me paint his toenails, which he stopped letting me do when one time he was stranded at a gas station in plano, tx wearing tevas with these yellow toenails with blue spots.
a grown main with glittery toe-nails doesn't go over so well in the more traditional areas of texas.
my boss just got back from a cruise to alaska where she visited a store called del sol, that sells products that change color in the sun.
she's the best, and she brought me back three bottles of nail polish that change color.
my favorite is "secret crush."
indoors it's a pale, pearly pink color, but in the sun it's supposed to turn bright purple.
i'm really excited to try it.

mom

june 5, 1982

tara donovan

even though damien hirst's shark is by far the coolest thing at the met right now, i also really loved tara donovan's installation.
she makes huge installations with meticulously cut and organized objects like styrofoam cups and scotch tape.
she says of her work: “it is not like I’m trying to simulate nature. it’s more of a mimicking of the way of nature, the way things actually grow.”
her work at the met was done with silver mylar tape and looked like millions of silver bubbles, covering the walls.

tara donovan at the met

haze, 2003
stacked clear drinking straws

haze, 2003
stacked clear drinking straws

untitled, 2003
styrofoam cups, hot glue

untitled, 2003

styrofoam cups, hot glue

nebulous, 2002
scotch tape

nebulous, 2002
scotch tape

prints

like i said, i have a problem with dresses.
it isn't just a problem with buying too many of them, but they all look pretty similar because i generally don't wear prints.
something about prints makes me feel uncomfortable and a little corny, so i've got a closetful of solids, which are starting to make me feel boring.
these prints, however, are gorgeous.
i especially love the little bugs in the erdem gown.
in my head i would wear it to an outdoor summer party,
and it would look perfect.

erdem fides silk gown

alberta ferretti printed tank dress

dkny printed strapless dress

zimmerman butterfly print dress

sass & bide elle & lui dress

studio job

i really love studio job, and their display at design miami 2008 is really fantastic.

i especially like the perished collection table.


but - their robber baron series is really a delight.
they really do tables well -

the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living

i finally saw it this weekend.
it was better than great.

in my boyfriend's words, seeing the shark after seeing all the other stuff in the modern wing is like "if michael jordan makes an awesome play in the nba finals and the camera comes in to get a close up of him
and instead he just takes his balls out."

skinny atlas

it had been months since my sweetie and i got out of the city, so last weekend we took the long drive upstate to the fingerlakes. a friend of my family recommended skaneateles (skinny-atlas), but truly, we were so miserable being stuck in the city that we didn't care so much where we went - just as long as we went.

but my friend couldn't have been more right. the town was fantastic.
but the best part, was the farm house we stayed in.
it's called hobbit hollow bed & breakfast. which is a pity, because hobbits are freaky and this place is a gem.

no dust ruffles, no chintz, no faux ivy wall hangings, no kidding.

the best part was behind the house is an incredible vegetable patch. there were baby squash growing with huge yellow blossoms (yum), fresh raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.
and all of that was next to a field with horses.
and all of that was across the street from a vineyard.
which was all right on the lake.
and was so great.


the porch. i love a good porch.
these chairs were remarkably comfortable.
i'd like to know where they came from.

and then we went to ithica - which is also stunning - and we adventured up this creek to the waterfall.
so refreshed.

la garconne

i have a problem with dresses - i have way too many - and la garconne doesn't help.

everything kills me. it's pretty much all perfect, and i feel like if by some miracle i could get my paws on half of their goodies i would be the best dressed girl ever.
alexander wang knit dress
mischen lace chemise dress
lutz & patmos omi & opi sweater


lerario beatriz slip dress
3.1 phillip lim scoop back cowl dress
rag & bone doctor's bag