Crazy Quilt -- Cotton African Wax Print

Here's another NYC creation. I drafted the sewing pattern from an Afghani tunic that Bina [correction: Wendy] gave me in 1971. Another garment I never felt all that comfortable wearing. Maybe it was too bold.

Haha. "Too bold." I was being a little disingenuous there.

What I DO find interesting is that I have only one patch on the quilt with both the green/yellow/cream motif and the pin dotted brown background. So even while placing patches on the quilt, there was something about the print that made me uncomfortable. File it under "nice to view, not to wear." I have a few textiles that fall into that category.

I got this fabric (along with the qiana in the previous post) at Jerry Brown's, 54 West 57th Street [closed --thank you Aline and Cindy for researching and finding this emporium from our past!]. Not sure if it is authentic African wax print or a stateside interpretation. Here's a link about wax print, a textile with an interesting provenance.

On to the original tunic -- another garment that I wore to shreds.

my senior photo from my 74 yearbook -- no formal portraits for us 70s gals!

I found my "pattern" for it when I was retrieving the quilt.

if you click on these images, you can see/print them bigger

Discoveries like this justify my pack rat tendencies, imho. That and living in a house big enough to hold lots of stuff.

Thus concludes my pages of the Crazy Quilt Dossier, 70's Edition. I'll post a video tomorrow of the entire book along with information about the Art House Sketchbook 2013 tour, which starts in Brooklyn this Friday, 3/1/13, 6-10pm.

I'm a little sad these posts are over, but never fear -- next up is my 79-82 Maps of Providence sketchbook. Maybe SpyGirl with weasel her way into that book too! It's due 5/15. I WILL start working on it SOON. I've had it with my last minute nonsense.

Live Sketching the #OSCARS

Here they are -- the gowns I captured while watching the OSCAR telecast on ABC --
both from the red carpet and from the stage of the Dolby Theater. [Extra long post with lots of images]
First, an overview:

Jessica Chastain in Armani

Robin Roberts in Marc Bouwer

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen

Naomi Watts in Armani

Jennifer Aniston in Valentino

Kristin Chenoweth in Tony Ward

Anne Hathaway in Prada

Quvenzhane Wallis in Armani Junior

Nicole Kidman in L'Wren Scott

Halle Berry in Versace

Octavia Spencer in Tadashi Shoji

Jennifer Hudson

Jane Fonda in Versace

Charlize Theron in Dior

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior

Shirley Bassey

Field Notes:
• My grey marker ran out of juice about 1/2 way through the telecast, so Shirley has no color yet.
• I didn't see the bottom of Jennifer Lawrence's gown until the very end when she got her award, and I was a bit confused on the design details, so her back skirt ended up on the front. Oops! 
• I was unable to find the designers of the performance gowns of Jennifer Hudson and Shirley Bassey -- please leave me a comment if you know!

I'm thinking of offering prints of these for sale on Society 6 -- $15 for an 8x6" sound good?

Did you have a favorite gown from the OSCARS?

Crazy Quilt - Leopard Print Qiana

CREATED/ PURLOINED/ PURCHASED

Aline discovered the millinery supply places in midtown Manhattan and we both went a little hat crazy. I sold six of these leopard numbers to Fiorucci. They were even displayed in the windows!

WHY didn't I take a photo of that accomplishment? WHY????

I really did swan around the upper east side in retro suits wearing cocktail hats and uncomfortable high heels -- for a few months anyway. Illustrated above is one I swiped from my mom -- a suit from Best & Co that SHE wore when she lived in Manhattan before I was born. I'm sure I wore it when I went to my first designer cattle call with Mauricio, the accessories buyer for Fiorucci. (I remember getting overheated due to my nerves + the wool). I sold him the above mentioned hats and "Reality In a Box" pins (to be discussed at a later date).

Are you too young to know about Fiorucci? Well!
Here's a good overview with some videos.
Then, here's a NY Times article with some history.

HEY!...Hello there!...
Are you back from partying with Klaus?
Are you now proficient at zombie 1978 dance moves?
Are you seriously wishing for a way-back machine?

My Fiorucci tee
I had red sunglasses like this and could be all matchy matchy with my shirt

Finally, here's some intel on Qiana:
 "Qiana is a silky nylon fiber developed in 1962 at the DuPont Experimental Station by Stanley Brooke Speck. The fiber was christened Qiana when introduced by DuPont in 1968" [wikipedia] [oh good grief. NOW I discover I misspelled Qiana in the sketchbook, as you can see up at the top. DOH!]


I am still searching for the slides of me in my hat collection...
I will persevere and find them, I promise.
They are not in the slide box labeled "hats". Most unhelpful.

Inspired by the #OSCARS and Robin Roberts

I performed an experiment yesterday: I "Live Sketched" the OSCAR telecast!

Starting at around 2:45 PST, I planted myself on the couch, tuned into ABC.
I had paper, my old Barbie croquis figure, markers, and colored pencils.
During commercials or boring parts, I shot photos of my work as it progressed, and posted via Instagram to Facebook and Twitter. (I've provided my webstagram link in case you want to see the roughs).
I'll do a post with all my sketches on Wednesday (I still have to scan and clean them all).

Here's a teaser -- Robin Roberts, who was interviewing the stars as they walked the red carpet.

I thought Robin was absolutely radiant. And the moment when she was interviewing Halle Barry? OMG, I got goosebumps. Two beautiful, strong women. I sat there, mesmerized, gawping at the TV, trying (and failing) to shoot photos of them with my phone.

I think Robin's royal blue/purple gown entered my subconscious. I had actually composed an entirely different post for today. But I was compelled to wear my purple tights and my striped sweater dress and the rest developed from that.

So, as my tee says, "Have a Nice Day"!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday. Where the elite meet.

Simply MAUVElous Giveaway [CLOSED]

MAUVE -- I'm finding it and the gamut of dusty rose/purple makeup shades strangely compelling.
I found a bunch of yoga pants in these tones in the sample box at work.

they look like a delicious pile of berry ice creams

I snagged a few and dragged them home to my lair.
I'm giving away three pairs: pink, orchid, and mauve. (Mauve style has no pockets).

To help you get an idea of the colors, I took them to RiteAid and matched them up with nail polishes.

The pink pair matches Cover Girl Outlast color #140.

L'Oreal Butterfly Kisses #380 was a tone exactly in between the orchid and the mauve pairs.

Specs:
95% cotton, 5% spandex, machine wash cold
Size Small (waist 24-25", hips 37") and on the short side (inseam 29")
note - I can wedge myself into smalls (I'm waist 39", hips 42") the fabric is very stretchy. I do, however, keep myself covered at the waist and hips because the pants are small and I am not.

Enter by using the Rafflecopter below. This giveaway (sorry, to US residents only) will end at midnight 3/2/13. I will announce the winner on Sunday, 3/3 and will send your prize USPS Priority on Thursday, 3/7.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Breath of Fresh Air -- Fitness for Mind, Body, and Soul

Every Friday, I go up the hill to Clover Park to practice Qigong.
We are outdoors, under chinese elms, and can hear birds chirping and children playing as we do our series of movements.

"The word Qigong (Chi Kung) is made up of two Chinese words. Qi is pronounced chee and is usually translated to mean the life force or vital-energy that flows through all things in the universe. The second word, Gong, pronounced gung, means accomplishment, or skill that is cultivated through steady practice. Together, Qigong (Chi Kung) means cultivating energy, it is a system practiced for health maintenance, healing and increasing vitality." [source - National Qigong Association]

Our group is held under the auspices of The Cancer Support Community, Benjamin Center. We all have had a brush with cancer -- we are victors, caregivers or still in treatment. We practice two forms of Qigong. The first, liangong, was developed by Master Wen-Mei Wu. It's a series of 54 movement sets.

ISBN: 0865681996

The second, guo lin qi gong, is a walking practice. It combines breathing and moving energy with walking. More info here.

Here's a simple relaxation technique from Master Yu that is easy to do anytime:

[image from p124 of above book]

Remember to breathe deeply!
Have a great weekend!

I'll be linking up with Katy's Friend Beauty Friend Friday. This month's theme is Health and Fitness.
See what others have to say on the subject here.

Crazy Quilt -- Cotton Stripe Percale

This skirt is one of my NYC sewing creations.
It wasn't all that flattering so I didn't hold onto it for too long.

I can clearly "see" myself, standing in my apartment at 108th + Riverside, wearing this. I'm in the doorway of the livingroom/studio. Not sure why this memory is so strong...

The apartment was nice, for Manhattan. One bedroom, ground floor, on the corner with a view of Riverside Park and New Jersey beyond. We had sunlight! And, this is going to make every New Yorker cringe, the rent was $375/mo. Even in 1977, that was cheap.

I wrote a letter to it last year for a Sketchbook Project, the post is here.

Crazy Quilt -- Levi's Cotton Denim

It took me a while to get some Levi's 501s, maybe because "everyone" wore them.
[Once I put them on,] They immediately became my favorite jeans for years.

I wore this combo of a boy's size 14 white crew neck tee with the 501s for my College of Creative Studies (UC Santa Barbara) exhibition announcement. The show was held in my last semester of school -- I quit after Junior Fall quarter to move to NYC with DEF to become a Famous Painter (DEF was going to write the next Great American Novel).

I had a great time posing in different locations around the campus with a CCS folding chair (they had a very specific brown metal folding model with a padded seat). Here follows a little tour of some spots on the UCSB campus with me and my folding chair:

outside CCS art studio

on the side of a building with 5 doors (not CCS bldg)

the outside patio of the cafeteria

by the lagoon

in the Pacific -- love the water skier!

the final show announcement

Dark Dusty Rose

Pantone calls it Deco Rose

Not a color I'm normally drawn to (too faded, too in-between).

This morning, however it whispered in my ear,

in the form of a tank top (which you can hardly see here).

These boots really wanted to play too, but WAAAAAAY too uncomfortable.
Aren't they funny? I got them at NaNa (RIP), back in the 90s.

I decided to call it dark dusty rose.
Can you think of something better?