shiso mama

Hello friends, no new collages for a few days while I try to finish something before a deadline. And I know I owe many of you emails - I haven’t forgotten you!

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about: translating a few of the collages into fabric form. I just love patterns and textiles, and in a perfect world, I’d someday do something related. And since I’ve been obsessed with babies and with making bibs for all the new babies in my life (just a few more days to go before the scheduled arrived of baby shiso bro!), a bib seemed like the perfect way to go.

(OK, don’t go crazy, but both F and I had dreams last night about my being pregnant - his dream was that I was pregnant, and I got mad at him because he didn’t take enough pictures of me while I was still skinny. !!

The collage, made a while ago:

The bib:

Does the spider need to sit on something? Or hang from a whatdoyoucallit? thread? Need to be a different color? I’m not entirely sold on the red binding.

Hello whipup readers, and thanks for visiting! A quick note: I started this blog to keep family and friends updated on the life and times of Otis, and you’ll still see lots of pictures and posts about him. If you never want to think about potty training (again) and would just like to see collages, please click on the “collage a day” category or visit my Flickr collage-a-day set here. Hope to hear from you soon!

***

It started out rainy here this morning, so I thought that maybe the Farmer’s Market would be out. Otis and I hung out, watching Bugs Bunny and engaging in one of his favorite activities of late: stomping around in my shoes (he doesn’t seem to like F’s shoes nearly as much). I think we’ve been seeing the sure signs of a fetish lately:

silver metallic wedges

black peeptoe stilettos

this morning:

polkadot strap shoes

I felt quite sure that he was exhibitiing a strong preference for heels - the higher and spikier, the better - but then the proved himself open to heels of all heights, even though the flats don’t do nearly as much to accentuate his calves.

lavender flats

But happily, the skies cleared so the entire family put on pants and headed out the door for kettle korn and Mexican breakfast.

So Shiso Bro’s weighed in. He likes Jasper, Morgwn, Hudson and Avery, but his own short list includes Addison, Audrey and Chelsea.

Of those, I probably like Audrey the best. But I also really like Jasper and (especially) Jules.  Chelsea makes me think Clinton.  Anyone else want to weigh in?

Friends,

Doesn’t it seem like such a short while ago that it all started with a model and a wedding? Yes, my brother finally got hitched last year, and Taiwan’s tabloids were there to record it. And I think it’s time you knew the latest - they’re having a baby and SOON (like in a week!!). Those kids function on Chinese time! I wish I could see Mrs. Shiso Bro with her big pregnant belly, but she’s probably such a luminescent, glowing pregnant lady that not only will I NOT be able to stand next to her statuesque model-ness, I will never be able to get pregnant again. (Although as a side note, when she was starting to show but was not obviously pregnant yet, she overhead some people on the subway say, “Hey, isn’t that that model? Man, she got FAT!”)

It’s so weird thinking about my brother as a father. Even though he’s five years older, to me he’ll always be the same guy making inappropriate jokes and comments that he was when he was 16. I’m excited to go back to Taiwan this summer to meet the baby and squeeze her little feet.

And yes, folks, I did say “her.” They’re having a girl! And of course I had to make something to welcome her to this world. Ah, but choosing the colors was a little difficult. My sister-in-law doesn’t like girl-y colors (NO pink!), and is all about gender-neutral - in fact prefers neutral colors and few to no patterns, so I wanted to make that would suit her tastes. I ended up sewing her a quilt in shades of whites, off-whites and ivories. Maybe not the smartest, since the little one is sure to get baby bits all over it, but it seems appropriate at the same time to give a baby something white. Not surprisingly, it’s a pretty simple, spare design. Here it is, starting to get that quilt-y, just out of the wash look (perhaps also known as the “I can’t quite sew a quilt that well yet” look):

It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but there are these subtle variations not just in color, but in fabric weave and weight, and I loved how they looked next to each other. I managed to find a lovely Japanese print that I adore for the backing, hopefully subtle enough for Mrs. Shiso Bro - it’s a maize yellow color with small, subtle splashes of green, tan and deep purple. I hand-stitched a brown binding to finish it off.

Gender neutral, just as the mom-to-be likes. Now, anyone have any suggestions for gender-neutral girl names? Anyone? Anyone? A little more creative than Pat or Chris, please. And if your name suggestion is actually chosen, I promise to send you a prize of some sort. Free stuff, people!!

(Edited to add: not something too unusual that my people can’t pronounce or understand since they are in Asia.  When I first told my brother we were naming our son Otis, he said, “Oh, is that final?”) 

** PS - As though it weren’t unfair enough to be born with the right parts to be a model (or to be married to one), they are getting all kinds of discounts and free stuff, including free cord blood banking. Am I the only one who thinks that this is just an evil plot to clone models and fill the world with them???

Happy New Year, all! We had a lovely little celebration last night, full of traditions. Fifth Aunt Grandma K came over and cooked up some fish (a must-have for New Year), and we ate dumplings that Lao Lao made for us before she left for Taiwan. In our family, we bury little treasures in the dumplings, and everyone make a mad, frenzied dash for the dumplings, searching for prizes. The coins are the best, it means you’ll have wealth; then there are Chinese dates, which means that there are babies in your future; peanuts mean long life; and rice cakes signal promotion and advancement. I used to get so mad if I didn’t get a coin; now I don’t get upset, although I will still eat and eat until the very last coin has been found.

Otis picked out his own dumpling and got a coin! No one here got one on the very first bite (the luckiest of all) but we hear that Shiso Bro did in Taiwan. F got two, Fifth Aunt Grandma K got one, and I got none, though I did get two dates and a peanut. My mother got an excited quiver in her voice, hinting meaningfully, “Hmmmmm, maybe this year???”

Then we got Otis bathed and into his new pajamas, ready to bring in the new year with some new clothes. Too bad the pjs have bunnies on them, and not pigs. Then we tucked his red envelopes under his pillow for even more luck.

Here we are on New Year’s Day, for Fashion Show Sunday:

And if you look closely, you might find a shiso mama in here with her new hairdo:

Happy Chinese New Year, friends. Welcome the year of the Golden Pig. See you on Sunday for the New Year’s Day edition of Fashion Show Sunday.

Thank you, friends, for all your birthday wishes and for your support of Otis, as unpoetic as he is. I had a pretty good day - a great class at work, sushi lunch with F, the BEST ice cream cake, a homemade dinner (NOT cooked by me, the best kind, with some of my favorite foods), plus an embarassingly extravagant birthday present from the boys (you know, another hobby, for all that free time I have). Nothing in the least to complain about, although I’ll admit that I’m starting to feel the tingle of anxiety with the approach of each new year now….

A pic for the family:

Here’s a question for you - if there are people in your life that you see pretty regularly, and you lose 14 inches of your identity and they don’t say anything, not even a non-commital “Oh, you cut your hair!” does that mean that they hate your new haircut?

A little while ago, I received an email from Second Aunt Grandma, which included the following passage:

Earlier, when I was telling my visiting friend how smart XG (Xiao Guei, which is my family’s nickname for Otis, meaning something like “Little Obedient”) is for speaking many languages, he immediately pulled out his mobile which has the tape-recording function, and replayed his daughter’s voice citing a long Chinese POEM, most amazingly learned from her middle-school educated Ah Ma (like a live-in baby sitter). His daughter is 3 months older than XG. My face turned green. Please do teach some poems and tape-record it so that I can brag about it scientifically, meaning with XG’s voice to prove of it. HA!

I thought it was pretty amusing. But when I told my mother, Grandma R and other Grandma Aunts, the reaction was more one of indignation. “But but but she doesn’t even know what it means!! She’s just reciting it like a little robot!” they sputtered. “You tell them that we’re going to start reciting our own poems, but in English! We’re just as smart! Smarter! We’ll show them!  She’s 3 months older?  Just give us 3 months!”

So in the spirit of parental competition, we offer up our own little show and tell. So take that, poem reciting Chinese girl baby! Put this in your pipe and smoke it!

1. Our baby is a fashion plate.

OK, sure, he doesn’t actually pick his own outfits, but let me tell you that this is certainly one case where the baby wears the clothes, the clothes do NOT wear him!

2. He’s really good at lining up his toys.

Yes, in this particular case, he has the help of magnets to keep his line nice and straight, but the compulsive fastidiousness that Otis employs to lines up his toys goes pretty much unrivaled in this hemisphere.

3. Not since the days of Svengali has anyone witnessed the eery beauty and effortlessness of Otis’s approach to interpretive dance.

4. And last but not least is the haunting quality of Otis’s singing voice.

This one is really for me. Because today is my birthday.  Happy Valentine’s Day, all.