Oh Hai, I'm Back From Italy!

Sorry about the blog silence (and lack of replies to all of your thoughtful comments on my last post...I'll get to that soon, promise!) recently, but I've been busy traipsing around Rome and Florence! Yes, that's right, Mr. Cation whisked me away to a certain boot-shaped country to celebrate the end of the school year (although I still had to read final papers input grades...but better to do that on a train through the Tuscan countryside than in TCOCC!) and our third anniversary. We managed to quite a bit of walking and sight-seeing (and eating) in the course of eight days:

It was a bit of a nightmare actually getting to Rome, thanks to a United snafu that gave us only 45 minutes to make our connection in Newark, and so of course they delayed our flight out of LAX by two hours. At which point they offered to put us on a flight two days later, but Mr. Cation talked them into sending us to Heathrow that night, where we were able to wrangle a Lufthansa flight to Munich and then finally to Rome. That shower and sleep after 36 hours of travel was one of the best I've ever had in my life. Thankfully, the wonders of the Eternal City soon put that poor early start out of my mind!

While I loved our previous Europe anniversary trips, this one probably wins in the epic grandeur category -- I've dreamed about seeing the Colosseum since I was eight, when I was first intrigued by a book that my parents had originally bought on their honeymoon trip there. I was fascinated at the time by the thought of secret pulley systems used to bring tigers up to the arena from the underground passages, so it was a little surreal to actually be at the Colosseum (which I also spelled wrong countless times while typing it because of the stupid Oakland Coliseum's influence). And of course, all the other piazzas, palazzos, and chiesas were gorgeous and ornate and so very ancient feeling! It's not a feeling one gets too often here in TCOCC, where it's a big deal when a building is from the Jazz Age.

It was just as spectacular as I was hoping it would be. After all, it was spectacular enough to convince my very thrifty Asian dad to actually purchase a gift shop book!

Almost as exciting as the Colosseum though (okay not really), was the prospect of going fabric shopping in Rome. I'd read the NYTimes article about Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti (how's that for a name that I'm never going to remember, except that I typed it into Google maps countless times) and marveled at the Selfish Seamstress' pictures. I thought I was mentally prepared, but there's nothing like actually wandering through the labyrinth of rooms stacked with fabric in person. I was too overwhelmed to do any actual shopping (or take any pictures), probably to Mr. Cation's relief, which is fine because the fabrics were Ex. Pen. Sive. Buon giorno, signorina, would you like to purchase some lace for $500/yd? No? Other fabric stores in the area weren't any better, even if they were a little easier to not get lost in.

This was around the corner from FTB.

Fabrics so nice, they're still wrapped up in protective plastic. Also, what happens if you want to take a look at something that's ten feet up? 

That rack on the left was just one many racks of almost identical-looking bolts of wool suiting. Gray pinstripe? Gray pinstripe with slightly larger stripes? Gray pinstripe in a slightly different shade of gray? Gray pinstripe with slightly wider-spaced stripes? 

Not the same store, but equally scarily priced, this gorgeous silk is €95/meter, or about $125/meter! Incidentally, I learned the Italian word for silk while I was there: seta. It took me a little bit to figure that one out. 

It's not just the silk that's scarily priced, either -- that dotted gingham-ish cotone-viscosa blend at the top is €196/meter, on sale from €327/meter! What could possibly make it that expensive???

See, at least bridal laces I can understand. These went for anywhere from €165-398 a meter. Yikes! 

In the end, I didn't bring home any Italian fabric, but I'm strangely un-sad about that. When it comes down to it, I'm a thrifty Asian at heart, my favorite yardage is thrifted sheets, and I'm generally too haphazard in my sewing to do justice to a fine piece of material. Instead, I got my sewing souvenirs at a lot more affordable place and price...

Is that cans of pet food to the left? Yes, it is!

That's right, a normal grocery store has a whole rack of sewing notions! A closer look reveals that besides the more normal measuring tape, hand-sewing needles, elastic, and velcro, they also carry Gutermann thread in quite a few colors,

And not just in black, white, navy blue, and beige, either! They also had gold, neon orange, and invisible nylon thread, among other colors. 

jeans needles,

I do wonder at the selection of only standard and jeans needles, though...do people sew that much denim there?
What about ballpoint needles for knit fabric, or Italians just secretly wear Canadian tuxedoes? 

Sorry about the blurriness, I was apparently too wriggly with excitement!

Jeans buttons! In a regular grocery store at the Termini bus station! What kind of gloriousness is this?! Oh, what I wouldn't give to have this kind of thing at my local Trader Joe's. I ended up coming home with lots of jeans buttons (but no jeans needles, since I wasn't sure if they'd fit my machine), elastic in various sizes, sewing machine oil (now I have no excuse for not doing maintenance), and four different Italian sewing magazines. Because that's right, they've also got sewing magazines at normal newstands on the street corner. I'll show you those tomorrow, though, so that I can give them a properly thorough look. In the meantime, I'm trying to fight through the jetlag by sorting through our gazillion photos...

Mr. Cation was all about the auto-stitch app. 

The Fontana di Trevi was just as impressive as I remember from my parents' honeymoon pictures.

The Arno River at night...we totally fell in love with Florence!

A Sewasaurus' Dream

I got back to SF from Hawaii yesterday to find the most amazing package waiting for me:

Caution! Danger! Warning! Keep Out! 

Seriously, you guys, could this sheet be any more perfect?? I love me some dinosaurs, and I was totally obsessed with Jurassic Park when I first saw the movie; throw all of that onto my yardage of choice and you get a squealing Cationess. Many, many, many thanks to Devra, Oona, Sonja, Christine, Wanett, and Lauren for thinking of me at your super-fun NYC sewing blogger meet-up! If only I could traipse around with you all and meet Kenneth King...in the meantime, I'll be more than satisfied with trying to decide what to make from this. Any ideas, dear readers, about what silhouette/pattern would do this sheet justice?

My mom, upon seeing this picture: Why didn't you blow dry your hair
so that you wouldn't look so messy? 

Oh and hey, did I mention that I got to go to Hawaii for spring break? Mr. Cation and I decided to take advantage of the fact that this is the last spring break we'll ever have together, because once he graduates, well, I hear they don't have spring break in the corporate world. I've been in school for so long (whether as a student or a teacher), I don't even know how to function without a week off in spring and two weeks at Christmas, never mind the two whole months of summer break! Anyway, since our last two trips were to the UK, Mr. Cation demanded suggested that we try a vacation someplace tropical, where there aren't fifty museums and castles to be seen. Normally, I wouldn't go for someplace with quite so much sun and outdoor activity, but I'll confess, Leimomi's posts about Hawaii singlehandedly changed my mind. I know, I must be the only person in the world not initially excited about going to Hawaii.

Please don't hate me for saying that I prefer the V&A to this. 

Well, somehow I managed to drag Mr. Cation to several historic locations/museums, so that more than made up for all the lying around on the beach. Actually, we spent very little time on the beach; mostly we just ate really good food.

Mission Houses in Downtown Honolulu. We couldn't take pictures inside, but I got really excited to see the Regency and Romantic era clothing and textiles that they had on display. 

Mr. Cation: I thought this was going to be a beach vacation. Why are we at a historic cemetery?  

The history lessons continue at the Pearl Harbor Memorial...  (can you believe how blue the water is??)

...and at the Bishop Museum. 

Kahili on display in the gorgeous Victorian building from the above photo, where all the Hawaiian historical artifacts are housed. Thanks to The Dreamstress, I knew what I was looking at, and the significance of it.  

Also at the Bishop Museum: a lava pouring demonstration! At 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, we could feel the heat from where we sat. If I had seen this earlier in my life, maybe I wouldn't have been so dismissive of earth science. 

I'm pretty sure that drinking from a coconut is a required activity for tourists.
Hey look, it's my pleurosis tee, with nautical linen pants -- hello, button overload!

Red velvet + milk tea + cherry cola shave ice as big as my head.
About five minutes after this picture was taken, the extremely top heavy ice tipped over. Mr. Cation and I tried to catch it with our hands (not our brightest moment), but alas, we were left with a sad mess on the sidewalk and hands that were covered in brownish-red drippy chunks, not unlike this picture of Sherlock. It looked like we had reached into someone's abdomen and tried to pull out chunks of intestine. 

Unrelated to anything: I saw this sign while walking around and totally thought it was a store called "Complex Ions." Got really excited until I realized that "Complexions" probably made more sense.

And to wrap up this miscellaneous assortment type post: congratulations to Emily Allred, winner of the Drape Drape book! Please contact me at cationdesignsblog [at] gmail.com with your mailing address so that you, too, can start pointing at random objects!

Returning from Seattle in Time for Prom

For Promaballoona, that is! In case you missed it, I guest-posted today over in Kalkatroona about my second-awkwardest date ever.* And for those of you eagerly waiting to see my curtain prom dress, don't hold your breath because I've still got the hem left to do.

My camera died before we even got on the plane, so these are all iPhone snaps.

In the meantime, I'm back from Seattle and missing its aggressive greenery greatly. Aggressive is the only way to describe it -- I felt like I was being visually assaulted by all the emerald-colored foliage -- but oh, it was so, so beautiful. I think if I didn't live in California, I'd be happy to live in Seattle. All of that tasty food, the walk-or-bike-whenever-you-possibly-can culture (or at least, that was the vibe I got in Capitol Hill, which is where we stayed), and the enormous thrifting potential. Seriously, I could have come home with a whole suitcase of sheets and vintage sewing patterns; it was only with great restraint (and imagining the look on my husband's face) that I managed to come home with only two sewing books, a few patterns, and a vintage buttonhook for my Astorias.

In case you can't tell, it's so green in Seattle that it's not enough for there to be trees everywhere -- no, moss needs to grow on the tree branches, too, just to maximize greenness. It looks like adorable fuzzy green caterpillars are enveloping the tree.

Since this was my first time visiting Seattle, we did the normal tourist things, like going to the Pike Place Market, Queen Anne Hill, Space Needle, and biking around Fremont and Ballard. And since I didn't get a chance to do Me Made May this year, I opted for a Me Made Seattle Trip. Good thing I've been working on more practical, wearable pieces lately!

Day 1: My nautical shorts and a quick tee made from the leftovers of the coral stripe dress, at a random quilt shop.

I know the iPhone picture doesn't do justice to this quilt, but it was AMAZING. It almost makes me want to take up quilting.

I've always loved topographical maps, and this one is fantastic.

Day 2: My raglan sleeve top, appropriately floral in the Volunteer Park Conservatory.

Riding a camel at the Asian Art Museum. They had an absolutely gorgeous display of Central Asian hand-woven, historical ikat fabrics and robes, but no pictures were allowed inside.

Day 3: Floral dolman sleeve top, at the Dale Chihuly's Seattle Center Gardens and Glass.

It was, as Nikki put it, was "everything you'd ever want in a Dale Chihuly museum." I've done some lampworking myself in college, so seeing glass done at this scale was breathtaking. Seriously, go see it if you get a chance. 

The Space Needle, as seen from the bottom through the greenhouse-y thing.

We went to Prospect Park at the top of Queen Anne Hill to take in the view. The Space Needle looks so tiny!

Day 4: Light turquoise dolman sleeve sweatshirt, which you can barely see, for biking around. This is our only picture that day, at Gasworks Park. On Day 5, I wore my Fake Renfrew to go to the airport (not pictured).

After last year's Me Made June in England and France, it was fun doing another, shorter, me-made vacation, having since shored up some of the gaps in my wardrobe. And if you don't recognize the dolman-sleeved tops, it's because I haven't blogged them yet...but that's because I'm working on another free, printable pattern! Maybe even multi-sized!

*My hands-down, awkwardest date ever was with a physics teacher (are you sensing a theme here?). He took me on a hike of Mount Diablo, and at the top asked me to be his girlfriend. I was totally caught off-guard, awkwardly stammered out a no and some vague reasons, and then we had the whole hike back down to make stilted small talk...