Bye bye Bryn Mawr, Hello Pilsen!

I am moving to new apartment this weekend!
I started to pack my stuff up yesterday, and I realize how much stuff I gained after only 2 years living in Chicago.
I remember I came here with 2 suits cases and 1 box and my computer, and now I have 15 boxes full of stuff and more!!
Bryn mawr which is north side of Chicago was unfamiliar place when I moved here, I used to live in wicker park which is closer to down town, so I knew that neighborhood, but never really went far north, but after living here 2 years, it became my home, so I will miss this place!
My new apartment is in Pilsen, south side of Chicago. It seems very different neighborhood than Bryn Mawr, but I'm excited to explore new Chicago neighborhood. I heard there are many artists live there and there are many art galleries.
Because of this moving and to refresh PataPri, I am closing my PataPri etsy shop for few weeks. I will be back with new stuff and fresh ideas after I settle into new place ( I need Internet too!! ).
One of my project for new place is to make a curtains! There are 8 small windows in my new place, so I will print fabrics for them, that would be fun!
I will blog about them when I finish.
and trip to ikea, some says ikea stuff is cheap in a bad way but i love ikea! especially for shelving, and as business perspective, it is just amazing to make their business so worldwide huge. they started from small furniture shop, and now they providing great stuff with reasonable price to people all over the world, that's the amazing part. they made millions of decision to achieve that from location to what colors of shopping bags to font they use for tags and etc. anyway,
Have a great holiday!!

P.S. I only received 3 emails (#10, #25, & #27) out of 7 winners of my fabric giveaway.. I still have your fabrics, email me or I will give away.

"Forest in the box"

Working with clay is hard! I have worked with many media, paper, woods, plaster, but clay is one of the media I have hard time with. no control over after they go into kiln. well, I'm a beginner.
I took a ceramics class this fall, and this is the piece I made.
An assignment was to make a Pandora's box.
This is called a "Forest in the box"
My idea was to create little forest inside the box as they are precious thing.
I wanted to have it smooth surface, but I grazed too thick and came out like this from kiln. I was disappointed at first but Even though this wasn't my intention, it's now looks like snow to me and I like it like that.
I like how my version of trees sticking out from box, and birds chilling.

Holiday Sale!

I am having a big sale for twin size bedding!
They are now $30 off. $110 include shipping.
The pink & brown giraffe, and one of the apple is gone, but another giraffe, apples, penguin, and green dot trees are still available.
enjoy!

cups & christmas tree.

Hello,
How was your Thanksgiving?
I had a relaxing day, and ate a lot!
I was also printing like a mad lady!
The new designs are Cups & Christmas trees. Winter is my favorite season so I designed them to show my love for cold but warm season of the year.
I printed some of my previous designs too.
They will be up in my Etsy shop later on today.
But!!! My sewing machine broke down on me last night while I was sewing many many towels. I was thinking about getting a new sewing machine so I will use this as excuse to get a new one! Yay! Hopefully today because I have many more to sew!

Lucky 7 winners!

Hello,
Thank you so much for leaving many comments!
It was great to know what you guys want from PataPri.
Yes, yardage, I've been wanting to do that. That would be my next step.
I will consider all your thoughts and comments for big PataPri business meeting for year 2008 with me and me.
anyway, these are the winners.
Congratulations!!
#3mj
"Yardage, or tablecloths and table runners could be great- love the idea for border- printed curtains (which would work on a tablecloth too!). I'd be more likely to buy yardage to make pillows than to buy ready-made pillows, but I'm sure there are others who would think the opposite."
#10mich
I would love to see some fabric that could be used to make quilts or some patchwork! Thanks!
#12courtney
Definitely more yardage! Perhaps more patterns in a single color? Your towels and designs are lovely and I enjoyed your Etsy interview when you were a featured seller.
#14sharon
I love your work. Yardage would be great but also ...twill tape.
#25squid37
ake some beautiful bags! I also agree with the crowd that yardage would be lovely :)
(I keep adding things to the list and then deleting them thinking I've already listed too many. . . basically your fabric can make anything wonderful!)
#27umeboshi
I would love to see aprons as well. How about lounge wear, like pajamas/pajama pants to match the bedding sets you've been creating? Your patterns are so cute--I would also buy "girl short" type undies with your designs printed on them.
#29ingrid
Yardage would be fabulous! I would also love to see placemats and napkins. I think they would make beautiful little sets.

Please email me with your shipping address.
Thanks again for giving lots of good input.
People who didn't win, I will do another give away around Christmas time so please come back and play!
Yuko

To. crafter and fabric lover

Thank you so much everyone for left comments!!
I will post winners tomorrow.
I said I will do this every week, but I will give away all at once.
so I will pick 7 people out of 35 people who left comments by Amidakuji which is very fair.
good luck!

I have printed soo many towels, and now I have many fabrics that I can't use for towels in my closet because they are misprinted.
I saw wonderful give away at my favorite textile designer Lara @ kirin&co, and I thought that's so great! so, I'm doing same thing to show my appreciation to everyone who like PataPri textiles.
Some of them are close to perfect, some disaster. Printed area is size of towels, so it's not big fabrics but I'm sure you could make something out of it. They haven't sew nor wash after print.
I will put together 10 misprinted towels of variety of design every week until they are all gone.
how to participate is just to leave a comment here, and tell me what kind of product do you want to see from PataPri. every Sunday night I will randomly pick number out of number of comments left. Not so many readers here, so you have a big chance to win!
Shipping is on me.

Thank you!
Yuko

The sour girl!

I'm very excited to show my new towels. It was collaboration work with ink designer wing.
I love his design!!
These are limited of 24.
You can purchase them at ink shop and my shop!
Enjoy!!

more bedding sets are at PataPri etsy shop!

I'm so happy to finally list my new bedding at my Etsy shop.
I was working on them last couple of months. do I take too long to make these? I think so, but I'm happy with my new bedding's.
They are all Twin size, I was thinking these are perfect for children's bed room. or even for college students who use twin size bed, these will brighten up dorm room!
take a look!

a busy weekend.

Last weekend was a busy weekend.
I went to SOFA on Saturday. I was just amazed by beautiful works. There are so much to say about work i saw, but I cant really describe in words, I had good time there. Only regret is that I should have wore more comfortable shoes, my high heel boots were killing my feet by walking around for hours.

Sunday, I had my first fair.
Thank you for those who stopped by my booth.
It was at school, and many of vendors were selling not hand crafted items, but i did good in my opinion.
I would say talking to customer and selling my stuff is not my strong point, but I learned a lot, and had a wonderful time.
maybe, I do more fairs in the future.

Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School Holiday Shopping Festival

Hello, I am going to be at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School Holiday Shopping Festival on this Sunday Nov. 4th. This will be my first fair that I get my own table and sell my towels! I'm excited and little nervous. I totally forgot about bags to use at fair, so I printed bunch of them today. I also made my table cloth to use at fair. I will be selling towels, and also twin size duvet covers and sham set. If you are in neighborhood please stop by!

Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School Holiday Shopping Festival
Nov 4th 10am - 4pm
3751 North Broadway Street
Chicago, IL 60613

Love for printmaking!

Hello,
You all know I love silkscreen printing, and now I am learning other printmaking such as etching, lithography, and relief printing.
There are great printmaking classes at Harold Washington college in Chicago.
My teacher Richard Repasky who used to teach at Art Institute Of Chicago and Anchor Graphics is a great artist and teacher. His knowledge of all kind of printmaking is just amazing. I feel so lucky that I got a chance to learn from him.
I found myself loving etching. This is the picture of my second attempt etching print! I took a picture of handmade crochet monkey doll I bought from Etsy and changed with photoshop and draw on zinc plate. I think Brown ink goes well with the image, and accent orange color is nice.
What do you think?

new colors & design.

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since I made a new design, last one was door design i did back in August!! I don't know what happened.
This is new mushroom design, and new fall colors.
Fall is mushroom season in Japan. We all eat pretty much everything all year around, but season items are taste better.
There are mushroom called " Matsutake " start selling around fall in japan and people spend $100-$300 for few mushroom.... I think that's crazy.
My favorite mushroom is " Nameko ", I put them in miso soup.

Ink designer + PataPri

sneak peek of collaboration work with ink designer " Wing ".
aren't they so cute?

What I have been doing.

I haven't write blog lately. I love to read blogs, but writing blog is hard, I admire all the wonderful bloggers who updates daily, that's amazing!
But I want to share what I have been doing lately.
I am working on twin size duvet covers for Etsy and holiday show that I am doing on November. It will be at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, so I thought twin size duvet covers will be good. I will let you know more about this show when I know.
I am also working on exciting project with ink designer who also has a shop at Etsy called ink shop. He is one of my favorite gocco printer and also amazing graphic designer. You can read more about him at decor8.
I met ( only online ) him through flickr, I knew his work before Etsy or flickr but I left comment on his pics, and Wing comment me back and now we are working on collaboration work. I'm very exciting to print his design on towels. It will be available at his shop and my shop soon. His design is so cool, I'm sure you will all enjoy it!
another exciting news for PataPri was to be on Chicago Tribune Sunday paper! I was very proud to see my towels on newspaper with other beautiful work. Thank you so much to Rebecca Little who wrote so nicely about my towels.
She got my name right, but in the process of editing and I don't know what but they misspelled my name. For the record, my name is Yuko, not Yoko.

Happy weekend!

I had a wonderful time on weekend! My parents and sister stopped by Chicago for a day from their vacation from Brazil. So. I went up suburb to meet them up on Saturday. They brought many omiyage ( little gift ) from Japan, France (my sis lives in Paris for past 10 years), and Brazil for me. My mom brought many Japanese foods and hair products, and I don't know why but she gave my sis and I Japanese chio pet... She said " Isn't it cute?" My sis got me delicious chocolate from Paris, and Brazilian color sweat pants and etc... I gave them PataPri towels and duvet cover to my sis. We had a great time shopping ( My parents like Cosco! They don't live here but my dad has a membership card! ) I think they can get Michigan Ave. stuff in Japan but not cosco stuff, so to them, cosco is a fun american shopping experience. We went to other places and had a dinner. Sunday, after they left, I came back to city for Renegade craft fair! I was waiting for this! I went there little late so some of shops are already closed but I was able to meet some of etsy sellers and stopped by etsy booth to say hi. My wonderful purchase at Renegade are super cute tile from Circa Ceramics, and artists Nancy and Andy are so nice, I was so happy to see them in person. I also got a block stamp stuffie from Artgoodies which inspired me alot. Her works are wonderful! and deer coasters from Paperedtogether, I love her works!
I wish I could buy more and meet more people but Renegade show inspired me so much. Someday I want to do a big show like this! Maybe next year.

more beddings.

I was working on duvet covers for last couple of weeks.
The cat one was custom order from Etsy, and it turned out pretty nice!
I hope she would love this bedding as much as I do.
New design doors were so populer, the colorful one already gone, so I will print them again today.
I also listed limited of 20 towels of Peacock. It's little different design than I usually do, but I really like my peacock!

New design!

This is a new design, doors. A door is face of the house, room, and many more things, and there are so many kind, design, shape, color of doors. I find it so fun.
I love the color combinations of these towels.
It's 5 colors, which is more time consuming, but I like them very much!
I was supposed to sew them over the weekend, but I was being lazy...
I will try finish them by Wednesday.

I've been tagged.......

Ok, I'm a new blogger, and I have been tagged for the first time... from kim.

Rules of the game: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

hmmmmmmmm... I don't know how many people read or care about my personal info since this is PataPri news blog, but here is my 7 random facts about me.

1. I have few twins in my family. I'm a twin, my twin sister live in Paris, France for 10 years now. My father is also twin, they are identical, live next door to each other all their life. My cousins are also twin, a boy and a girl. They are both professional violinist and cellist.
2. I love to eat, I once ate 40 pieces of sushi when I was in high school.
3. I was in college for 10 years.
4. I love watching TV, when I sew, iron and design on computer, TV is always on. Current show I'm watching is 4400.
5. I drink lot of coffee and tea.
6. I believe in reincarnation.
7. I always carry a tape measure.

phew! ok, I supposed to tag 7 other, but I will do that later.

*scary face is the image from my favorite comic artist Kazuo Umezu.

Apple duvet covers + shams will be in PataPri shop next week!

I love bedding, I have almost 10 duvet covers and shams sets (4 of them are handmade by me and others are from west elm, ikea, dwell etc... I want more but they are bit pricy, someday I want to get a 100% linen bedding!!). I dont use flat sheets ( it's japanese thing, i think.) so, I change duvet cover every week. It's just feel nice, and visually refreshing.
When I started to silkscreeing, one of the thing I wanted to make was duvet cover with my own design. so I did! and now I'm happy to share my apple design duvet cover + shams with you.
I had fun printing these, took me all day to print!
It will be in my Etsy shop next week. so please take a look!

Fun at Pitchfork festival.

I had a great time at Pitchfork festival. Seeing faces of people who buying my towels were exciting experience.
It was great to see other crafters too. I saw some etsy seller.
They also had Flatstock 13 Poster Convention!! So many beautiful silkscreened posters were there, I had hard time chosing. I wanted to get them all! I boutht 3 posters in the end.
I'm working on duvet cover finally. I will list it on my etsy shop by next week.

PataPri Up coming event!

Hello,
PataPri towels will be at Depart-ment at Pitchfork festival at Union Park this weekend!
Pitchfork is music festival and Depart-ment will be there. De La Soul (love them!) will be there along with many other.
Depart-ment is not reguler craft fair so I won't be there all day, but I will be there at paper/art/home section on Friday13th and Satuday14th night 7:30 - 10:15, if you see me please say hi, i will hi back to you!
My inventory is low as usual, so I printed many towels yesterday for the fair and etsy. I'm supposed to cutting and ironing and sewing now, but Im watching "top chef".... and blogging...

*pics are goco cards i printed for fair. They are free so grab them if you are at Depart-ment!

Gocco!

Yesterday, my new gocco came in mail!
I think i did gocco when i was a kid ( like every other kids did in japan back in 80's ), but it has been a while and I was so excited.
I made cards with my towel design and my how to cards and alien I drew last year for first try. It turned out pretty good!

BlackBags!

BlackBags made a beautiful bag using my apple fabrics!!
It looks amazing!
I love doing collaborations with other creators.
Hopefully I can do more and more after summer!

New design!

I have been trying to make a new design every week, and this week I made a frog! I'm loving it!
I had little extra time at studio today , so I made this rainbow penguin towel. It's a limited of 1 print!
Hopely I can sew these guys tomorrow and list on my etsy shop by Saturday.

bella sera baby!

bella sera baby made beautiful summer dress from my fabric!
Their shop on Etsy has very cute amazing kids clothes and goods for mom. Their dresses for girls made me wanto to have a daughter!

I will looking forward to make more fabrics after summer fair season is over.