OLGAJAZZY

It has been a while now since I blogged last but the summer is seemingly fleeting this year and yet preparations for it started all the way in March. I decided to attend The National Needlework Association show in Columbus, OH this June. Not just attend, to be an exhibitor for the first time and present my line of design in person to retailers attending from all over, not just US…
Not an easy task to travel half across the globe to get to a place, let along bring bulky things with you. Lots of careful planning and logistics and actual designing turned my entire spring into a mad race since I needed to get everything done before flying to the States. But leave it to me to make things work and put more challenges up by having to flying on a military plane from Japan to wherever base on the US West coast.

As I was leaving in early June, Japan’s annual rainy season has already been in full swing. Weather this year has been weird all over and here we didn’t really have nice days between cold and hot. It all turned into muggy, sticky, hot mess.

So what a girl to do to get on a military flight from Japan to US? Bring lots and lots of necessary paperwork – check!
Pack a suitcase for 40F to 104F weather range – check!
Leave the house at 5am, switch 5 different trains, get a cab and get to an Air Force base – check!

Be lucky enough (thank the stars and the rain!) to get the LAST seat on a C-17 plane going to sunny California!!! It’s like winning a lottery let me tell you, such an emotional roller-coaster, it takes up to 3-5 attempts to get on a flight at times, that’s why need to try leaving much earlier.

The moment the plane took off it was time to relax a bit, well for 10 hours of non-commercial seating and no entertainment, yet feeling hardcore that is what I get to do to for work! Ear plugs and all. Plus check flying aboard C-17 off the bucket list.

Unplanned mini work+vaca-tion in San Francisco and seeing friends – double check!!!
The week of absolutely delicious food, amazing wine and great company!!!

California greeted with early morning clear skies and warm temperatures.

Unprecedentedly SUNNY and hot weather has certainly made it feel welcome while catching up with Vanessa and Cookie. I’ve got a chance to visit local yarn store mecca A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland and meeting lovely Kristine, her staff including ever adorable dog Cleopatra Antonia. Seeing some of the fabrics there certainly started sewing bug anew for me. I picked up some lovely cotton and locally printed linen.

To be perfectly honest it felt amazing to be back in a real yarn store with yarn brands that I am familiar with and seeing what’s new in the market and just enjoy colorful feast for your eyes and hands. Especially since my last time in any LYS was over a year ago. Certainly gives you much more appreciation when living very far from one. Kristine’s shop is known for sewing, knitting, felting classes as well as classes that teach you how to spin and to dye with natural ingredients. Here is the line of yarns that Kristine dyes herself. I am dying over a skein in French Monk’s Finest (which is incredibly gorgeous but hard-to-dye shade of mustard) and Indigo… My only regret is not living closer to this store so I could learn more for myself, motivate to sew more and be craftier all around besides being close to a great source for all things DIY!

Best coffee in your life – check!

We tried siphon coffee for the first time in Japan, but nothing stands close to Blue Bottle Coffee‘s fresh coffee beans. Coffee connoisseurs will approve! Here is a video filmed at that same location in Mint Plaza. The process is amazing and looks really like a project in a lab.

While enjoying that coffee spotted something new to me.. food trucks are apparently old news, now it’s boutique trucks – fashion on the go! We need more fashionable people in the world!

Before long though it was time to head down to HOT Columbus and get excited about the booth set-up and the show!!!

To be continued…