Tracey Emin

If I had to chose one favorite artist, it would definitely be Tracey Emin. Since I am on a quilt kick, I thought I'd share some of her work.

Feed Me

looking at that Gee's Bend quilt down below, I am reminded of how much I like the prints on feed sacks (all ebay finds)

Quilt Trip

because I love textiles, anything handmade, tradition, and laying in bed, I love quilts! When I read about Gee's Bend years ago, I couldn't wait for the day to see the exhibit. It finally came to Philly this past fall, and I lusted after so many of them.

i've been wanting a new quilt for my bed; one that wasn't too feminine now that I share it with Scott. I have one from Urban Outfitters that was nice, but too pink and also chewed up by Finn.



I've been looking at Anthropologie's bedding for a while, too...but it was too, umm, anthropologie.

Once made my own quilt cover for an art show at Vagabond. The theme was Vagabonds, so mine has patches of circus freaks. I never got around to the actual quiltting part, though, so i never use it.
(kookoo the bird girl)
But the moral of this post is really that I wanted to show you my new quilt that I picked up at Matta's booth at the NYGIF. I instantly fell in love with this one-of-a-kind beauty for my bed.

(yes! thats sunshine)

now if only we could remember to make the bed everyday

Giles & Booger...I mean Brother

Giles & Brother, jewelry designer Philip Crangi's (2007 CFDA winner) little sister line, just set up shop on the web. I love all of the customizable pieces. I am hoping Scott will buy me a ring for valentine's day engraved with "Booger." booger is the name we gave to Scott's big beer belly; mine is meatball. At the same time they are just our terms of endearment for one another. Awwwwwww!

banned from shoppin'

I've never been a fan of Ray Bans, so why do I have to have these "clubmasters"??!!!Now the question: black or tortoise?

ready for warm weather

the snow looks so pretty outside, but I'm tired of the cold
(vintage slip in my backyard)

mociun's spring line makes me crave the beach

don't you love..

polaroid?

the last picture is pillow I made!

Forever in Blue Jeans

excerpts from that book i am forever making

Revenge of The Flowers

Speaking of Calvin Klein ads, Scott once met this guy, Jason who used to model in the CK One ads. Jason is now makes art in Philadelphia, and Scott asked him to make this beautiful notebook for my 25th birthday.

Even though Scott always gets me great gifts, this is my favorite. He picked out the image that went in side of a lady laying in bed...the transparent paper overlay reads "revenge of the flowers"

here is a link to artemus quibble and the creatures of mme. du barry; jason's line of things made from antique materials

The New Pornographers: Calvin Klein & Steven Meisel

I have always been a fan of Calvin Klein's ad campaigns and was really excited to watch this commercial by Steven Meisel for S09 jeans. There has always been controversy surrounding the sexiness of the ads, but I was always all for it. Until this one...its a little gratuitous, don't you think? Too intentional and therefore stupid. Gross-if i want to look at porn I'd just go look through the browsing history on Scott's computer.

disappointed; they really jumped the shark with this one.

When I Grow Up

Here is an e-mail my best friend just wrote me:

I wore your coat the other day while subbing a third grade class. All
the girls loved my jacket and they were so impressed when I told them
that my best friend designed it. They were asking me tons of
questions..... like how did she do it? I told them that first you
draw a picture, then buy fabric and then make it. So they all brought
paper to recess to "design" clothes. The one little girl told me she
was going to be a fashion designer when she grows up and that's why
she's going to "Hollywood College." hahah They were really cute!

Isn't that the cutest thing you ever heard?

It was all...ochre

i've been meaning to hook up the scanner and i finally got around to it. here is a collage I made a while ago.

NYIGF gifts for me!

I love DAP (distributed art publishers) books. If you're feeling Alexander Wangish, they're nice because there are lots of great pictures. I was so excited to see this Grey Gardens book, edited by Albert Maysles daughters. It features collages of photos, transcripts, letters, and other stuff, echoing the enchanting clutter that is one of my favorite films ever. The book is still in production so I only saw a few select pages at the show. We ordered one for me and some others for the store.

T time

despite my recent annoyance with Mr. "not a big fan of reading" I absolutely love the Alexander Wang T line. We just got it in at Petulia's Folly and man, that shit is soft! They retail for around $75 which is real cheap in PF terms, and I can tell they will be worth every penny. And guess what! you don't have to be Erin Wasson skinny to wear them. Though I recently lost 10 lbs on weight watchers, I am still a size large and I look and feel cute in all of the styles we got in.

I spent my time prank calling Scott when I was 15...

i know! five posts in one day is getting a little rediculous, but holy shit: teens are really taking over. I read 12 yr old Tavi's style rookie blog every day and am still doubting wether the ghost writer is really her 21 yr old sister playing a rouse on the blogosphere.
anyway, Tavi was writing about the amazingly talented 15 yr old Eleanor Hardwick, photographer extraordinaire. I mean, I didn't have the powers of a digital camera back then, but I am pretty sure if i did, i wouldn't be taking pictures like this: (via Eleanor's website)




sooo..i went for a walk today on UPENN's campus, which is right down the street from me. I was about to go into their bookstore and pick up some magazines, but for some bad reason I went into the Gap instead. Really regretting it since I would have picked up the January issue of Dazed & Confused Teenage Takeover issue which featured a few of Miss Hardwick's pics apparently the cover looks like that

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year!

When we turned 13, my two brothers and I worked at the best ever but now no-longer Chong's Garden for years and years in Doylestown, so I have a special respect for Chinese culture. Adding to that is the fact that one of my best friend's ever, Ann, is Chinese American. Thats why I was so excited that my trip to NYC fell on the first day of CNY. We went to NYC's China town last night with our friend, Liz, and pigged out on noodles, dumplings, scallion pancakes, and sweet & sour chicken! And since its convenient and cheap, I took the bus this morning from chinatown NYC to chinatown Philly. I decided to surprise Skottles with two of his favorite Chinese treats: sweet bbq pork bun and a Taro flavored bubble tea! YUM!

(Sunday) NYIGF

yesterday, I went to the New York International Gift Fair at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC with my boss, her sister, and our assistant, Tiya. In seven hours, we probably made it through one tenth of the entire trade show, but I managed to make it to a few of our favorite vendors booths. I will post more later, but I just wanted to put up this pic from (I forget but I will edit this later once I figure out who sells them). During our Saturday outing,my friend, Britt, ironically was telling me that she and her bf put up "invisible books shelves" in their apartment. I had no idea what she was talking about until I saw them at NYIGF. I compile so many vintage books. I sometimes decide to use the inside illustrations for various art projects, but sometimes they are so nice that I don't want to cut them up. These shelves are a great solution because I can stack my finds on virtually any wall to make a great looking display.

And now for my favorite part (what i bought!)

vintage library card catalog, tons of vintage gloves to add to my collection, hand beaded bag with flower motif for to my other collection, hand crocheted doilies for craft purpose, vintage biology text book c.1979 for craft purposes, vintage last of the mohicans hardback (with beautiful floral print on inside cover), vintage Bobbsey Twins in Eskimo Land hard back possibly for craft purposes.

my weekend in pictures (Saturday)

Instead of working and watching Super Nanny with Scott like we usually do, I actually had an eventful, social weekend. A couple of friends came down from NYC on friday night, and we spent all day together on Saturday. First we went to brunch at Cafe Lift, where I had never been. Their specialty is crispelles aka overstuffed fancy crepes. But I had my favorite...huevos rancheros. It was delicious and the industrial/modern atmosphere made us think we were eating in a restaurant at a modern art museum. Overall good experience...I would return.
we were then supposed to go to a shooting range, but decided to go to my all time favorite thrift store in Germantown, Bargain Thrift. They always have tons of vintage gloves,handmade crochet doilies and embroideries that I use for crafts, beaded handbags, books, and tons of clothes, all for super cheap.our friend, Neil, showed up and told me about this awesome vintage/antique furniture place around the corner. I have no Idea what its called and its only opened on Saturdays, but it is owned by some guy named Carl, who will tell you a story about every piece there, 50% of which I think is made up, but whatever. Twelve year old Damar works there, too.Anyway, they had some really great furniture, art, jewelry, and anything else you can think of. Carl's prices weren't rock bottom or anything, but I'm sure you can talk him down. I loved the stuffed goose and these huge carved wood eagle bar stools (not pictured) but I could only afford to walk away with a 2 drawer card catalog which i will use to store my sewing notions. I highly recommend visiting Carl...his place is located on Queen Lane just south of Germantown Ave...it has a big OPEN flag on the outside.
We were exhausted after our outing in Germantown, but we drove back to my friend, Jay's house where he gave us all magical manicures. Then we went to Cantina Los Cabolitos in South Philly to meet some of our former college professors. Scott picked my friend Ann and I up from there and took us to the Chinatown bus so i could head up to NYC for the New York International Gift Fair the next day. more pics to follow...

Some home furnishings I can afford

remember when i posted about the urban outfitters catalog and that I couldn't find the ikat pillow i wanted on the website? of course you don't remember...you're probably reading this blog by accident. Anyway, its finally up on the web, but I know if I buy it Scott is going to complain about how we have too many pillows and there isn't even enough room on our couch for even the two of us...

My carpet doesn't match my curtains

my apartment is so barren, but i dream of winning the lottery so I can furnish and decorate it properly. While browsing ABC carpet & home's site for rugs, I discovered Madeline Weinrib Atelier. The great granddaughter ABC's founder opened her atelier on the 6th floor featuring amazing furniture, fashion, and of course carpets. I adore the colorful ethnic prints, but I am afraid to know how much anything costs.

Slumdog Millionaire

Obviously, I agree with all of the critics and love love love Slumdog Millionaire! Not only was I happy to have not fallen asleep in the theatre for once, but I've actually seen it twice. As I went to find a picture for this post, I was thinking about how beautiful Latika's yellow scarf is in the film. In fact, her character wears the color throughout the film-what does it symbolize? I shouldn't have been surprised to find a photo of Frida Pinto in a yellow gown at the Golden Globes; she is so stunning!



update: Regarding the "one of a kind" scarf she wears, "designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb" says, "I wanted to bookend the journey--to tie her childhood yellow dress to her final look." as quoted in entertainment weekly by wikipedia of course

Far from what it once was...

also at my friend Melissa's house, I came across the newest Urban Outfitters "Far From Here" catalog and loved it! The hand drawn copy was really nice and I loved all the photos which read like a nice indi fash mag. I remember a few years back when I still worked for the company, they were going in this new direction and trying to copy Barney's catalog. I feel like UO went back to their roots for this one, and the results are true & beautiful.
I can't seem to find a link to the item I wanted most, an ikat pillow, but there are a few other nice pillows on their site.

Dote on a Tote

I adore my tote by Warsaw in collaboration with print liberation, but I use it so much it is getting real dirty. I have lavish affection for this leather tote bag for assouline by Cole Haan which is nice enough to pass as a purse, but big enough to put some of my groceries in.

Not much of a reader, but i like to make books

I'm making sort of a book right now as a gift for someone. Its a great way to do something nice with all of the beautiful scraps I collect. Thats why I was delighted to flip through "How To Make Books" by Ester K. Smith, which my friend Melissa recently purchased. Its filled with How Tos on all types of DYI books like accordians and pop-ups with amazing homemade examples of each type.

Zoe

I've never been to Zoe, a boutique which originally started in Princeton, NJ, but with an additional location in Dumbo, Brooklyn. BUT, my awesome friend does graphic design for their amazing website, and I discovered they are having a killer sale right now. They carry some of my favorite contemporary lines like ZERO + MARIA CORNEJO and hard to find TSUMORI CHISATO. I thought their personal shopping service was a nice touch!

Lookbook

OK so maybe i am late on this one, but I love this site Lookbook People post pics of themselves in their outfits, or post pics of other people with cool style? I'm not really sure what the rules are, but its a great one stop shop for street style inspiration. Some photos look very professional and make me wonder "when do people have time for this?"

Anyway, I love a good t-shirt and now I want this one.

....a quote by by charles manson