buzzville

Greetings from Tokyo!

Yokoso! I'm in a state of shock to find myself here in Japan once again... have I mentioned how much I love it here?!? I arrived the evening of May 4th and checked in to the Le Meridien Pacific Hotel - super convenient as it is next to (literally) the Shinagawa station. After breakfast this morning, I'm heading to Nippori Textile Town to see what sort of damage I can do. Seems a fitting start to the trip, no?!?

I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I love Japanese business hotels, so here goes:

• a heated bathroom mirror that never fogs up during a bath or shower
• full control of the room's lighting, air conditioning, and radio from the bedside table - this means that you can crawl into bed, and *then* shut off the lights! (really, it's the simple things that make me happy!)
• every hotel bathroom includes a basket of amenities, always including at least a hairbrush and/or comb, cotton balls, cotton swabs, razor and shaving cream, toothbrush and toothpaste, and shower cap, and often including skincare products. Good quality (no Pert plus here!) shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel are also always included. This makes it easy to pack a very light toiletry bag when I come - so great!
• a source for instant hot water and a variety of tea (usually green, roasted green, and ume kobu tea - a powdered, tart plum variety) - this is how I *must* wake up every morning, and I love it!
• service that extends far beyond what you would ever receive at a comparably priced hotel in the US - tipping is not expected (and generally refused), but the bell staff will go well out of their way to help with any little (or big) thing

I do love Japan - a place of contrast and seeming incongruities, and yet it all seems to work so delightfully. A place where the toilets require an instruction manual thicker than an SLR camera

a place where you are welcomed at the airport by a Hello Kitty vending machine dispensing chocolate candies (into individual cups with lids, of course... melt in your mouth, not in your hand!)

and a place where an elegant bundle of iris leaves is placed in your hotel room to celebrate Children's Day - a big part of Golden Week this week.

"May 5 is traditionally celebrated as the "Tango Festival", praying for the health and happiness of Japan's children. The most familiar custom of this festival is now to put irises ("Shoubu" leaves) into a bathtub where you can be warmed and healed, enjoying the fragrance.

Please feel relaxed with these natural leaves soaked in the bathtub."

Ah, yes indeed...

But perhaps the best news so far of this particular trip is that I will be spending a great deal of it hanging out with Joelle and Jennifer Hoverson, of Purl and Purl Patchwork fame. We met at the airport last night and had a great dinner together. The chatter was as lively as possible, considering how exhausted and disoriented we all were from the long flight and hefty time difference. I'm really looking forward to getting to know both of them this week. By the way, have you seen Joelle's new line of fabric for Moda?!? Yeah, I know... so cool!

Since I'm in the land of technology, I'm hoping to blog daily on what I've been up to... report on Nippori and more coming soon!

Catalina sights

The timing may not have been perfect, but the weekend certainly was... my in-laws invited us to share a weekend with them on the island of Catalina (off the coast of Long Beach) this past weekend. It was the first visit for most of us, and it was truly remarkable. After the hour and 15 minute ferry ride Friday morning, we checked into our hotel and had lunch. We took a short walk down the Green Pleasure Pier

and then got tickets to go on an "undersea tour" on a boat with seating and large windows below sea level. This was definitely worth doing - we saw a ton of fish (including the beautiful, bright orange Garibaldi), and Brynne says this was definitely the highlight of the weekend for her.

The small town of Avalon has what you might expect - souvenir shops, ice cream parlors, jewelry boutiques and small art galleries, seafood restaurants, etc. What we didn't expect is that the town is overrun with golf carts! Apparently, the wait to get a standard-size vehicle to the island is many years, so all of the local residents get around via golf cart. We spied every possible make and model, even those outfitted with the latest in child safety (!)

Brynne spent Saturday with grandma and grandpa, so Jerry and I took advantage and did some hiking. We started with a loop on Chimes Tower Road and Stage Coach Road. The views were spectacular, as were the wildflowers on the hillside.

After lunch we took the tour of the famous casino, which includes a mini pipe organ concert in the spectacular theater and a walk upstairs to view the incredible ballroom. It's a fantastic building, filled with stylized murals and elegant furnishings - a great piece of architecture that would most likely never get built today.

After lunch, we walked from town up to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Garden. The garden has a spectacular display of succulents, cacti, and a number of endemic plants. At the top of the hill is the Wrigley Memorial (William Wrigley Jr. - of chewing gum fame and preservationist of Catalina island) - a great spot to frame a view of the valley.

It was fun to look at the different architectural styles in town - from bungalows to Victorians to more modern (and sprawling) estates. Evidence of the pottery tradition established by the Catalina pottery company is virtually everywhere, and original pieces are fetching astronomical prices in the antique and gift shops in town. We were particularly impressed with some modern tile work on the stairs of the Avalon Hotel

and the creative underwater scene recreated using succulents and tiles in the otherwise "dead" space along the street under the main floor balconies:

I think this would be so much fun to do in our back yard somewhere... the wheels are spinning!

All in all, we had a wonderful and restful weekend, and there are even more pictures!

Coming back to work on Monday was exciting because I was looking forward to a visit from Laura of Loloko fame and her lovely family - Jan and Austin (hi!). Laura and I corresponded before superbuzzy opened, and she was full of tips and suggestions and overall support. She is just as sweet and generous in person, and I'm so glad we were able to meet during her trip to the area. Of course, Loloko is a wonderfully dangerous shop, full of more Decole goodness than I can handle! 

Building a better garden

In the summer of 2006, we tore out basically everything from our backyard, save some lawn, a Japanese magnolia, and a Japanese maple. We were removing years of neglect and overgrowth, and plants that were either not water-wise, or not designed for homeowners who can't spend every waking hour working in the garden. The plan was to tear out what wasn't working, mulch everywhere, and leave the yard relatively bare for a year to make sure we had wiped out as much of the invasive and spreading vegetation as we could (eek! the trumpet vines and ferns and bulbs, oh my!). We saved up a fair sum the following year, with the intent of being able to do a full garden renovation - planting, hardscaping, water feature, the works!

Not surprisingly, unexpected things happened in 2007 that depleted our savings. Isn't that always the way? Save up for a vacation, but the car needs a new transmission... save up for a new sofa, but the water heater dies. I guess I should expect this by now, but I continue to hope that these surprise financial hits will cease. The result of all this is that we have had a largely bare and dreary back yard for the better part of 2 years. And so we formulated a new plan: tackle small, discrete areas systematically that so that we feel as if *some* progress is being made. The hope is that our initial space planning will guide us through mini-projects that we can afford now.

Two weeks ago we decided to attack the so-called "parkway" - that suburban strip between the street and the sidewalk. Rather than a dull and useless patch of lawn or (gasp!) the dreaded lava rock, we decided to go forward with our goal of planting southern California natives that attract wildlife to the garden, while still maintaining a clean, modern look to go with our wanna-be Eichler home. The first weekend was spent removing 300 square feet of existing concrete pavers that were too nice an invitation to weeds. We piled these high in the street where they were repurposed by some neighbors. We weeded and pick-axed roots from the full strip, placed weed barrier fabric along the full stretch, and then piled mulch on top. That weekend's work led to a very sore Monday morning for all of us!

Last weekend was the fun part: planting! We went to 2 of our favorite nurseries in Carpinteria: Island View Nursery and Seaside Gardens. We loaded up the car with our top choices, had a quick lunch at Esau's (yum!), and headed home. Unluckily for us, the weekend was not only unseasonably hot, but just plain hot for our area any time of year. We knew we'd have to limit the work to early morning and that we'd need a bit of energy to get us through. We got up early Sunday morning, and I made my first Dutch baby. We had a pile of gorgeous strawberries from the farmer's market, and I kept reading about Dutch babies - seemed like a great excuse to try it out! I was a bit bummed that none of my cast iron skillets was large enough to use, but we had great results with a glass baking dish:

It was so easy to make, and so delicious! Buttery and flaky, with powdered sugar and fresh sliced strawberries... definitely a winner! Plus, it's made with stuff we usually have on hand, so it's easy to whip one up without a lot of planning and prep. I used this basic recipe, and I think it's pretty funny that some places are selling a "mix"... I must be missing something!

Once we were well-fed, we set out to work. I dug and planted while Jerry worked on the new drip system. We planted a variety of native groundcovers, with a few flowers around the base of a tree: manzanita (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Tom's Point' and A. sp. 'Emerald Carpet') California lilac (Ceonothus maritimus 'Frosty Dawn'), hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea, aka "hummingbird crack"), California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), and blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum 'Arroyo de la Cruz'). The results are wonderful, and I can't wait to watch as the groundcovers fill in and the flowers bloom. Here are some tiny peeks:

California lilac blooms

poppy and blue-eyed grass

manzanita with tiny, pale pink, bell-shaped flowers - so sweet!

It feels so good to make some progress - no matter how small - with our yard. I can start to dream about the little outdoor refuge we are going to create for our family and the critters that let us share this bit of space with them.

spring ups and downs

Seems as if the past days have been a bit like our weather - from perfectly sunny and warm to cold, blustery and overcast. The ups and downs are wearing on me a bit, as I tend to be a pretty middle-of-the-road kind of gal. We had a lovely farmer's market morning, full of deliciousness:

(we are *so* lucky to live in strawberry-land... yum!)

And from there I did our taxes - a definite down. Seems as if all the planning and pre-payment just never quite works out perfectly... I haven't given up yet - we'll see how next year goes!

After taxes, I needed to do something rewarding and positive... set up the worm bin! I had purchased the Can O Worms vermicomposting bin ages ago, but had never allocated the time to set it up and get the worms. First, we assembled the bin and placed the cardboard packaging in the bottom of the lower level. Then, we soaked the coir brick (included) in water until it had expanded, and then we broke it into bits. We spread the coir fibers into the first feeding level, and as you can imagine, Brynne was a huge help!

Then we gently placed our red wiggler worms (and the material with them) on top of the coir layer.

As instructed, we didn't cover them up immediately because their dislike of the sun makes them immediately work their way into the coir and helps speed up the "settling in" process. We then loosely covered the worms with a layer of damp newspaper strips. All done! We've been feeding them all of the things you would expect (strawberry stems, banana peels, veggie trimmings), plus some (to me) more unexpected items: coffee grounds, tea leaves and bags, peanut husks, starch packing peanuts, soaked egg cartons, etc. We've only had them for a few days, but I'm really excited about it - feels as if we have 1,000 new pets!

Happy Easter!

We just finished a lovely Easter lunch - very simple this year: honey ham, arugula salad, roasted asparagus with sea salt & parmesan, and peach blueberry panna cotta (thank you Trader Joe's!) for dessert. Out here it truly feels as if spring is here - blue skies, warm breeze, and flowers blooming everywhere. The Easter bunny left a trail of jelly beans throughout the house leading to an Easter basket brimming with books, crafts supplies, games, and the requisite chocolate bunny. Outside, there was an Easter egg hunt for plastic eggs filled with assorted goodies... Hello Kitty socks, hairbands, and selections from the Re-Ment Fairy Tale Sweets collection (specifically requested of the Easter bunny!). I've been a big fan of Re-ment miniatures for a few years - the detail is so great, and the themes so fun - but now that superbuzzy is carrying the full line, it makes it a little too easy to get my hands on! I asked the Easter bunny for the Merry Strawberry set, so we'll see if he comes through.

I was completely unprepared for Easter this year, which is perhaps why we kept it so simple. We took a mini vacation last week, which left me little time to get my act together. The timing of the trip was driven by a gift from my mom - a gift certificate to stay at the Vision Quest Ranch Bed & Breakfast located between Salinas and Monterey. Jerry and I both decided that the adventure could either be extremely cheesy or very cool. Luckily, the cheese factor was extremely limited (save a few of the furniture items in the cabin), and the experience was quite nice. The Ranch is set up as a rescue for exotic animals and many of them end up working as television and movie actors. The place houses a bunch of cats (lions, tigers, lynxes, etc.) as well as wallabies, kangaroos, baboons, elephants, ostriches, and more. Included in the B&B is a 1 hour tour of the facility, an evening visit by 2 animals on a walk (we met a baboon and a wallaby), and breakfast delivered by an elephant. The elephants have been rescued from circuses, and they have a wonderful, large enclosure with 2 ostriches and a zebra - they seem to be enjoying their retirement! We stayed the night in a tent cabin, not unlike the yurts we've stayed in:

It was a cold night, but the space heater and the electric mattress pad kept us cozy while we slept. We woke up the next morning and watched the elephants get washed before breakfast. Then, we saw the Butch make his round of the 4 tent cabins as he delivered breakfast to the guests:

We got to feed him a bit of breakfast - apples, oranges and bananas - before he left and we munched on ours:

The B&B doesn't allow children, so we left that morning to pick up Brynne after a night at grandma's house, and we headed north, across the Golden Gate, on one of those perfect San Francisco days.

Our first stop had been on my list for a long time: a visit to the Heath Factory Store in Sausalito. I had some money from my birthday and Christmas that I'd been saving to splurge on some new, everyday dishes from Heath. Seeing the shop and studio was fantastic, with evidence of Edith Heath's extraordinary vision throughout:

I finally settled on a mix-and-match set in the Coupe style in Mist and French Grey - lovely, lovely stuff...

Our journey north continued as we headed to Fort Bragg, our ultimate destination. We had a reservation to stay at the Grey Whale Inn, a historic building that was once the town hospital. It being the off season, the town was quiet, and we had the Inn almost to ourselves. We spent the next days beachcombing at Glass Beach, tidepooling at MacKerricher State Park, poking around Mendocino (where I discovered the Mendocino Yarn Shop - lovely!), wandering through magestic redwoods, and eating more delicious food than we should have (big thumbs-up on the breakfasts at the Inn and the spectacular pumpkin cream waffles at Egghead's!). Jerry was surprised to be getting really good coffee on the trip!

The weather was cold and windy, but clear and beautiful - just what I had hoped for. I could have stayed longer, but I think we all had a great time.

Returning to superbuzzy was fun... 16 double-sized boxes arrived on Thursday full of even more fabric and goodies. So, I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but I can't really complain since opening each box is like my own personal egg hunt - full of surprises and good things! Happy Easter to all celebrating today!

rabbits & race-cars!

We've been tearing open boxes right and left, and one box in particular left us even more excited... the new Heather Ross line for Kokka has arrived!

I've been a fan of her sweet, yet cheeky designs since the early Munki Munki days, so I was thrilled to catch a sneak peek of the new prints for Kokka in Japan this past January! Opening the box full of this fun new line is a nice, fresh breath of spring.

As I see them, the designs fall into 2 groups:

the frenetic, busy car prints

 

and the lazy meadow prints

The fabric is 85% cotton, 15% linen, which gives it a soft, yet crisp hand. The fabric is medium-weight (heavier than a quilting weight fabric), but still soft and light enough to be suitable for garments, home dec projects, bags and small craft projects, and even quilts.

Can you tell I'm excited?!? The entire line (including all colorways) is in stock at superbuzzy right now. Enjoy!

Phew!

Thank you so much for the welcome back comments and email messages... it's nice to try to get back into the routine! It's been a crazy day - after picking Brynne up from preschool and grabbing a salad for lunch at the warehouse (Brynne's favorite spot to eat!), I got back to see that Denise had received 21 boxes (!) from UPS! This is the first shipment of the orders I placed while in Japan in January, and it is *such* great stuff! I'm branching out a bit to offer a wider range of Japanese craft supplies, and it's a bit like Christmas seeing the goodies here. Here are some pictures of the madness:

fabric galore!

notions, felt, kits, and more surprises!

sweets in wool felt!

the amazing Futte Futte (widely advertised in the Japanese craft magazines) for making perfect little felt balls!

wool felt sheets in fantastic colors!

   

strawberry bag handles!

It's pretty exciting, I must say. It will take us a bit of time to get it all in the shop, but good stuff is on the way!

Testing the water

I'm tip-toeing up to the water's edge to see if I still remember how to do this... this blog thing. It's been eons since I've posted, and so much has happened. After moving superbuzzy to California in early October, we fell into a whirlwind of activity - maneuvering through the bureaucracy to form a corporation and move business operations to California (note: doing business in Oregon involves much less red tape and $$$!), the onslaught of the holiday season (much quieter and mellow this year!), beginning all the things associated with the new year, and then a fantastic trip to Japan in January (more about that soon!). It has been so incredibly rewarding to set up the new superbuzzy space and then slowly integrate with the community here in Ventura. Walk-in customers are fantastic, and we have new and more people stop by every week - such fun! I'm feeling so connected to this little shop, and it makes every hour of work so rewarding and worthwhile.

Although these months have been completely dominated by work and work-related activities (I'm trying hard not to come in 7 days a week now...), I have ventured back into some sewing here and there. I recently finished a baby quilt for my little nephew William, born in October. The inspiration for the quilt was, quite honestly, the super-soft double gauze fabrics here at superbuzzy. I had never sewn with double gauze before, and I wondered whether or not it would be a devil to quilt - what with the 2 layers of gauze, batting, and backing. But, the light, airiness of the fabric was irresistible, so I forged ahead with the project. I have to say, this might just be my favorite quilt yet!

The overall color inspiration was blue and yellow, but I didn't want it to be too bold or too "match-y". The entire quilt is made with double gauze fabrics, except the main backing fabric and the binding. Here is the front:

and here is the back:

 

Photographing an entire quilt is so hard, and it was quite windy... tough to really get the feeling from those shots. But, here are some close-ups to show some of the fabrics and quilting:

 

I quilted a simple zig-zag pattern running from top to bottom, and I chose to bind it with bias binding to give it that extra strength and stability - great for a baby quilt. I washed it over the weekend, and it got that lovely crinkled look - plus, the fabrics got even softer than before! I've learned the hard way a thing or two about batting in past projects, and I held out for my favorite on this one: Quilter's Dream Cotton - Select. The result is a super-soft and "squishy" quilt - none of the stiffness I've experienced with other batts. I've sent the quilt off to little baby today, and it's great to have a finished project to report after so long!

superbuzzy preview!

It's been *so* exciting to preview all the new fabric lines the past week or two - it's like opening birthday presents! I attended the International Textiles trade show in Los Angeles, and then got the scoop from Quilt Market in Houston. I kept forgetting to take pictures, but here are some previews of what superbuzzy will be stocking in the next month or two, (Note: the pictures are of finished items that are samples - superbuzzy won't have the finished items in stock, but will have the fabrics!)

 

where has October gone?!?

For any of you who might remember the days when I actually blogged now and again, you might also remember that I'm a huge Halloween fanatic. For better or for worse, this October has been completely crazy, and I've had absolutely no time to do my usual frenzy of Halloween crafting. Most of the time crunch is related to superbuzzy stuff - moving the inventory to California, getting set up in our new space, and organizing and streamlining.

Luckily, before I knew about all the superbuzzy changes, I had already purchased tickets to Mickey's Treat Night at Disneyland for this past Thursday and Friday. Although I've lived relatively close to Disneyland for quite a while, we have never been to the park around Halloween to see it decorated. Knowing that Disney takes decorating and themes quite seriously, I was really excited to see what it would be like. We drove down on Thursday morning (in horrendous traffic!), and were greeted by this:

Walking into the park, down Main Street, was really fantastic:

Fun jack-o-lanterns were everywhere, and the entire strip had this vintage, small town Halloween feel. Of course, there were even Halloween themed treats, like this pumpkin muffin:

Several of the rides seemed to be having issues on Thursday - we got stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean for a good 10-15 minutes - but everything was running smoothly on Friday. Of course, the icing on the cake was getting to see the Haunted Mansion revamped for the holiday season with Jack Skellington and friends from Nightmare Before Christmas.

After about a half-day at Disneyland, we went back to the hotel so that Brynne could get her costume on. Then, we headed for an evening of Halloween festivities at California Adventures for Mickey's Treat Night.

We weren't terribly prepared for the set-up that night, and it took me a while to study the map to figure out what was going on. The park had trick-or-treat locations, spots to meet and greet characters (dressed in costume, of course!), treat trails with multiple trick-or-treat locations, and party zones with music and dancing with characters. Brynne had a fantastic (but probably overwhelming) night of treat gathering and communing with her Disney friends. If we decide to go again next year, I think I'm a bit more prepared for the madness of the night, and how to tackle it.

We got an early start the next morning for more Disneyland fun. We started at the Princess Faire, where we were at the front of the line for Brynne to meet Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Minnie Mouse in princess attire, and Snow White. Brynne was over the moon with all of this - it was really quite impressive how much time each character spent with each child. After meeting the princesses, you can treat your child to a full royal makeover (for $$$$) - we settled for a much more reasonable face painting. (Even with all of the princess face paint options, Brynne was true to form and picked the cat!)

After a second full day of park madness, we spent Saturday quietly recovering. We crammed in a bit more Halloween fun on Sunday... we went to see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D (really incredible!) and then to Faulkner Farm for our local pumpkin patch goodness. I've got 3 more days to get my Halloween fun in, and then it's time to get ready for winter holidays!