eyes like glass

another week another species...

the saw whet owl is a tiny little thing around 8 inches tall and full grown and cute but flapped it's wings at us and did not seem happy we have 2 resident swans now! i tried to hold the grown one down last week and couldn't do it they are large and apparently stronger than me black squirrel this time we're down to our last squirrels of the season only two to feed thanks for lacerating my hands real good guys held a pigeon while E removed puss from a boil and felt the room go really hot and nausea set in and E said so we had this other girl hold him earlier and she almost fainted well i know i was off my game but maybe the common denominator this time is the bird overall a good evening still just everything that happens sends me on a spiral like that time i will never forget when i was pulling tape off the ground and it was easy for a while and then it got hard and i stopped and he said you just quit when it got rough but not this time

in other weekly news cooked beef in the slow cooker this week for the first time in my life which felt really good and tasted nearly as good also found free kindle checkhov and finally maybe solved how best to spend the time suck that is the nyc subway

weekend wildlife

Spent some time feeding baby sparrows and squirrels this weekend. It was my first time feeding the sparrows - they'll swallow anything. Why do baby birds come out looking to pissed in photos? They didn't look so upset in person.

Fun squirrel facts - baby squirrels can't pee/poop on their own. So the mother will lick them and clean up after them to prevent the nest from smelling and attracting predators. How amazing is that. It's one of those obvious but deep facts; everyone knows that each animal has traits that are best suited to the environment they live in but I never really thought about this before and it's really incredible. Just how different each animal is. I feel like I'm back in kindergarten and learning what a cow is for the first time. Anyway, that's all.

birds!

Baby birds! Baby pigeons are so funny looking. All that weird yellow fuzz that somehow disappears. And my favorite adolescent blue jay who's getting way too friendly...

Learned a lot today. Successfully identified a grackle. Several weeks ago I had no idea that a grackle was even a thing. I also now know what a kestrel is... so birds aren't my strong point. But may be soon.

And it's baby squirrel season! Learned how to feed them formula from a syringe, hopefully next week I can get a picture.

playing in traffic

photos by Rita Rosenblit

I thrifted this jumper/dress last week - I think what appeals to me about it is how hard it is to wear.  What with the extreme cowl and sheep-like texture it was definitely a challenge to pull off. Decided to keep it simple with a grey t-shirt and London Fog trench. Street shots are always fun, especially when the traffic is coming right at you. This week was full of wanderings in the rain with drinks that were too strong and friends that somehow still live far away. Also watched Fatal Attraction for the first time. I loved the rawness and the 80s that came through. Should watch 80s films more often despite the hair. Ended the week being surprisingly moved by the experience of total strangers.

going dark for winter

asos dress, Staples coat, Naya boots, target tights, urban outfitters beanie, self made harness necklace and arm warmers

photos by Rita Rosenblit

Beautiful day in Brooklyn. The plain front and cowl back of this dress are fun, and all the black provides the perfect backdrop to the harness. I made it out of a Forever21 necklace on a lonely boring saturday afternoon. The arm warmers are my first experiment with the rib knit, which I'm slowly getting the hang of. Can't have too much wool knit - more to come!  As for the tights I've decided that pink is my winter neutral, in a tight race with oatmeal of course. Add some much-needed furriness and there you have it.

leopard print

This is the bag I made last spring and haven't had a chance to use yet this season. And it's in leopard print (obviously), and I hate animal pattern but it works so well with this bag.

I was inspired to make a bag from reading Bag'n-telle, which is an incredible bag resource. This site has many detailed tutorials including the faux fur shoulder bag, which is what I followed to make this bag. The tutorial was very clear and beautifully detailed.

Fabric shopping for this project was a lot of fun as I'm always itching to go through the faux fur section and rarely have any reason to. As soon as I touched this fabric at Winmill Fabrics I was sold. I was determined to become the crazy bag-stroking lady on the T. This project was also a great learning experience because I used polyester padding/interfacing sandwiched in between the faux fur and the lining. I also used stay-tape for the first time to prevent the faux fur from fraying at the edges.


I've used this bag tons of times and I love it.

floor-length fabric

Finally putting up pictures of this dress. I finished it about a month ago, maybe two now. I didn't use a pattern as it's a fairly simple dress, which it didn't turn out to be when I started making it as always happens. I really shouldn't have sewn the black jersey bandeau section straight onto the skirt, darts would have been great here but I only realized I wanted them after the deed was done. The barely-visible ruching in place of the darts does its job and keeps that area a little more fitted.
The bandeau is black jersey, the skirt is cotton. I love this green fabric - so glad I was able to bargain it off of a market seller in Tel Aviv several years ago. I held onto it all this time thinking of the right project, and this is perfect because it's left basically untouched and it's possible to see the pattern without being too overwhelmed.
I thought these glasses were great with the dress, I like the strange round shape with the long basic maxi.
More on the bag soon - this is my latest creation!