love forever

Giant Pencils!

I absolutely love this image from artist Jonna Pohlalainen.

Burntfeather

Australian artist Fee Harding has a new Etsy shop called Burntfeather featuring her portraits, many of which are inspired by pop culture. I am particularly into the Bjork and Ghost World pieces (mostly because I am a huge huge fan-girl of both Bjork and Ghost World) but of course I had to include the Michael Jackson and Bubbles drawing too! She does a really good job of conveying the personality of her subjects in her drawings. Fee also does custom couple portraits which would make the perfect wedding present. Oh and one more thing: he makes these amazing kanzashi hair accessories in her other shop Peachypan.

Shabd

Shadb Simon-Alexander is a Brooklyn based artist and designer. In addition to making some truly beautiful textile-based art (my favorite kind of course) she designs clothing and accessories. I am in love with the mix of color and pattern and will definitely be buying some of her hand-dyed leggings.

Philly Week 1

I have been a Philly resident or one week. Oh my gosh, I love this city! Although I am beginning to understand why Philly is rated one of the plumper cities: the food is incredible! I live across the street from a half-dozen Vietnamese and Mexican restaurants and down the street from the Italian Market. 

two of my favorite neighborhood murals

Over the weekend, we took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. First we went to the Magic Gardens, a giant mosaic installation by the artist Isaiah Zagar. He also does mosaics on the facades of houses, shops and restaurants in the area. I loved looking at the little details in the mosaics: broken teapots, glass bottles and tiles made by imprinting doilies in ceramic. It also reminded me of the laundry room that the great-aunt makes in How to Make an American Quilt. Does anyone remember that movie?

A few shots of the Magic Gardens

The next day we walked down Passyunk  stopping for some seriously transcendent gelato at Capogiro then shopping at Jimmy Style and Sweet Jane, two adorable boutiques that I think I will be visiting a lot. On a whim, I bought this great jacket at Sweet Jane. I saw it on Etsy and almost bought it a week ago but I'm always much happier to buy directly from the designer (and save on shipping!).

On our way home, we stopped at our local (!) Vietnamese supermarket and stocked up on buns, preserved mangoes with chili and drinks (basil seed drink anyone?).

playing with the pinhole feature on my camera in the Italian Market

just a few more shots while taking a walk around town yesterday...

All in all, a perfect weekend.

This week I learned how to navigate the very small subway system, painted most of the apartment and ate fresh linguini and meatballs from the Italian Market.

I start my brand new job today!

Marimekko Sale!

The lovely people at Always Mod jut sent me an email about their Semi-Annual Marimekko Sale starting tomorrow! I am a huge huge fan of Marimekko so I think I might stock up on a few things for the new place!

Mieke Willems Collections

Lena just blogged about the beautiful textile designs of Renilde-Deputer and mentioned called Mieke Williams that carries the designs. I am adding this shop to my places-I-must-visit-someday list (which mostly exists in my head)! I particularly love these photos of their product lines.

If you're not going to Antwerp anytime soon, you can check out their blog here.

Mairuru

I love the quirky hand-stitched accessories in Mairuru's Etsy shop, ++Siesta++. For someone who doesn't use machines in any of her work, she's incredibly prolific!

She also writes a blog here.

Doveflight

Beautiful screenprinted fabric by printmaker Mark Hearld. Check out the rest of his prints too!

Long Live the King of Pop

Breakfast in Neverland by Jason Huntley

We have been a little disconnected from pop culture for the past few days (moving does that to you I guess), so we heard about Michael Jackson's death today from our waitress at what I think will be our new local bar, The Royal Tavern. It's very sad. I grew up listening to MJ. My brother and I used to choreograph dances to songs from Off the Wall and, for a while, my brother wore a red leather Thriller-era jacket and one glove. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that the Michael I grew up with morphed into such a sad strange man. Fame does really scary things to people.

When I heard of MJ's passing,I was immediately reminded of this image of the King of Pop that we saw in the (now-defunct) Mcleod Residence Gallery in Seattle by artist Jason Huntley, lovingly crafted out of breakfast cereals.

Looks like CRAFT had the same thoughts.

Mary Kate McDevitt

Graphic designer Mary Kate McDevitt makes these delightful illustrations and mini-chalkboards that remind me of vintage signs and advertisements. I love hand-lettering and Mary Kate McDevitt is great at it. These chalkboards would be a nice addition to a dull cubicle, don't you think? They are inspiring without crossing the line into cheesy, not such an easy feat! You can see more of her work on her Flickr site and on Etsy.