Year end transformations

At this time of year I'm usually writing down resolutions but instead we're knee deep in a laundry room renovation. Where you see those pipes against the wall is where our stacking washer and dryer usually is. I washed/dried 9 loads on Monday preparing for this week! The space is the former back porch of the house and needed some extreme leveling (long hard day for Jared on Tuesday). Yesterday we had our babysitter for the morning and got our first layer of thinset down then the cement board. Last night when I hit a wall Jared kept going and got the next layer of thinset down then the nifty tile underlayment called Ditra. It's a cheery bright orange. We had a rough night of disrupted sleep from Bird then leg muscle cramps for me but we're back to it this morning! I have a tiny window of time to write this then need to lay out all the slate floor pieces while Jared and Bird do the coffee/playground run.

Have a lovely (and hopefully relaxing) day!

Hugs, Devon

Ps: I'm posting this using blogpress on my iPhone - hopefully it works and looks okay. If so I'll probably use it more often - super convenient and easy.

Merry Christmas from Montana

We've been sledding (lots)!

Enjoying cozy fires & a constant stream of Jared's espresso drinks (oh my the heartburn).

Pulling on & peeling off layer after layer of clothing.

Remembering what cold really feels like (not since my RISD days in Providence).

Exasperated by ill-fitting (pre-pregnancy) snow clothes & all the rigging needed to keep them in place.

Thoroughly enjoying watching Bird enthralled by her older (8 & 12yr) & younger (7wk twins) cousins.

Trying to soak up the extreme beauty of Montana - Big Sky country.

Wishing I'd brought more than my iphone for pictures.

So happy & grateful for family, fun times, new experiences, and this beautiful wild place.

Merry Christmas to you wherever you are this season!

hugs, Devon

Felt Garlands, Family, & Keeping Traditions

We're fully recovered around here from a family Thanksgiving and, wow, now it's almost the 2nd week of December! To celebrate the season with at least one handmade item I cut 200+ felt circles and sewed them up into the most cheerful garland. There's nothing that can lift your spirits like stringing swags of colorful circles all over your backyard and taking pictures. Wish I could leave them out there - if but for the rain. Tonight the garland will go on the Christmas tree that we just cut down in the Santa Cruz mountains yesterday. I love traditions.

Our Thanksgiving was a flurry of family & food (much like most people's I imagine!). My parents flew in from Germany & my brother and his lovely wife were here by car from Florida in one leg of their road trip for upcoming work they have (and a move to Oaxaca, Mexico!). We had fun in Golden Gate Park in SF, went on lots of walks, and Bird had WAY more attention & audience than normal & took full advantage.



My parents stayed in my studio so I checked myself out from most work for the week (& blogging, & twitter, etc..). It was refreshing to have a break. And have more hands here that wanted to take Bird to the playground & help with dinner. How nice.



Bird is really pushing my limits lately with her 2.5 year old'ness and I'm having to adjust my attitude to compensate. I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of this over the years. Wish I could just be happy and relaxed ALL day rather than feel my patience grow majorly thin by the time evening rolls around. I've definitely threatened out loud that I'm finally going to get the backpack leash - for REAL this time. It's exacerbated by being beyond 6mths pregnant and starting to feel the drag of the new baby on my body just a little more. Still, it's been awesome to feel pretty much as good as I did when I was pregnant with Bird. I'm still doing Zumba classes, walking every day with our crazy hound dog, giving Bird tosses in the air, and still have enough energy for the late night ceramic class I've been taking for a few weeks (which is crazy fun).

Today I have our super lovely babysitter here (this is why I'm blogging) & finally am getting some work done. I've got a series of patterns in the works for a new collection - they're based off a gorgeous little city in France we spent time in last May. I can't wait to show you some of it!

For now, here's a picture from the weekend...in the Santa Cruz mountains searching out the perfect tree :o)



Have a fabulous day!
Hugs, Devon

A happy sunshiney hello

If you live in California you HAVE to be amazed at the weather today (80?!) as well as over the weekend. All I can say is enjoy it!! Pretty soon it's going to be drippy & gray (sorry - not trying to be a wet blanket, but it's how I reality check my sun-loving self).

We had to drive up to Berkeley to get Bird a new (big girl!) mattress. We found an awesome deal on an organic zero VOC twin mattress for kids. It's difficult to find affordable mattresses without flame retardants (and fyi, Ikea's mattresses have flame retardants too...though you could cross the border & buy from Canada to get around it). The trick is to include wool in the cotton mixture making up the mattress. Wool is a natural fire retardant and therefore no icky chemicals are needed (not that we NEED fire retardants do we? Anyway...). European Sleepworks in Berkeley started making a kid's mattress just for this reason - they wanted something affordable for kids that would fit into the health & environmental beliefs of their company. Thank you for that!! So ironically, Bird has a ~$200 loft bed from Ikea and a ~$400 mattress. She loves all the extra space in her bed - so cute :o)

So anyway, long trek to Berkeley...on our way we took a wrong turn and ended up having to cross the Bay Bridge (this is a costly mistake). Poor Jared had to hold his hands to his head to keep it from exploding (very goal oriented guy). But we made lemonade from the situation by getting off the bridge onto Treasure Island which we'd never been to. It was awesome! The view from the island is completely amazing. It was a gorgeous clear day and the Bay was gleaming beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, and city of San Francisco. Bird REALLY wanted to climb down the barrier rocks into the water and after nearly losing her shoes we decided it'd be best to hit a different water spot after getting the mattress.

We found Birdshore Park and had playground/lunch/sailboat watching/Bay splashing time and felt so grateful to live in such a beautiful place that never runs out of things to do & see.

Today I'm working on sketches for a new collection of fabrics. There's some geometric, some art nouveau, some floral, and of course stuff that's uniquely Devon :o) I'm loving it. My parents arrive for Thanksgiving family time this weekend so I'll be kicked out of my studio for most of next week (...sigh). Important for me to get a lot done this week.



Hugs, Devon
:o)

Owls & Penguins in the Shop

These sweeties are ready for new homes! They're in my shop :o)





Hugs, Devon

Excavating Treasures Event Tonight

Come join me tonight in San Carlos! This is such a fun event - I absolutely love it and look forward to it every year. This year I'll have lots of products made from my own fabrics :o) Plushes, soft baby toys, bags, etc., plus a huge assortment of hand cut wool felt hair clips and brooches.

For anyone who can't view the image above the details are: Excavating Treasures Boutique Sale at Inside Source, 985 Industrial Rd., San Carlos. From 5:30-8pm.

Hope to see some of you there!

Hugs, Devon
:o)

Late Night Install & a Little Ladybug

It was a late night but I got my art show installed at The Abbey in Santa Cruz yesterday. Unfortunately my photos are blurry and dark but you'll get the idea. It's a small show - just 21 pieces. It looks really fun all together - a grouping of my watercolors & paintings on wood as well as the fabrics I've made either directly from the artwork or into repeats inspired by the art.

I had to wait till the space was closed (it's essentially a coffee shop/hang out space for Vintage Faith Church) to install so I didn't get to start till after 8 & didn't make it over the hill from Santa Cruz till nearly 11. Tired today but still so much left to do for the sale I'm doing Thursday night.

Bird is sitting on my lap eating an apple...short nap today. I'm hoping my friend who offered to have her come hang out with her little guy is still up for it :o) I've finished all the plushes and accessories but have lots of sewn goods still to make. With time to kill before the install yesterday I got to swing by Hart's Fabric and pick up some lovely FQ's to fill some gaps in my stash for the next project.











I suppose I have to share a Halloween picture or two! We had an awesome time trick or treating with Bird - she's really grasped the concept this year :o)







Happy Tuesday and beginning of November to you!
Hugs, Devon
:o)

Penguins, Owls, Wood, Ink, Fabric & Felt - that crazy time of year

So here's what I've been up to! Bet you thought I was just playing at pumpkin patches all the time based on my last posts ;o) All I can say is it's hard balancing being the cool, fun mama and the productive artist/designer, as well as keep up with other parts of life (did I mention all the renovation projects going on around here??).



I have a sale coming up on the 4th - I do it every year because it's just so fun. Basically I get to hang out with designers & architects & all sorts of other creative folks for a night of shopping & selling. And I usually do really well. I'm going on year 5 with them. This year I have more of what I usually offer (plushes, brooches, itty bitty hair clips, etc) with one BIG difference. All my sewn products this year are made with my own fabric!! Can you believe it? I can't!

This is a really positive step in the direction I want to go & I'm so excited to share it with you. I feel like even a year ago it seemed out of reach to get it together and design/print fabrics, much less end up with finished products in my hands to show for it. To be totally honest I was somewhat disappointed by my first round of prints from Spoonflower - many of my colors were deeper or lighter than expected, or bloomed in a way that I felt threw off the print. I also saw issues with scale and proportion. But really I needed to give myself a break and realize that this is part of the process & it's impossible to get it perfect the first time round. I don't know why I'm so hard on myself, sheesh.

Happily, I have enough fabric to put together a great group of new products and I'm thrilled with them. And a little cranky from the late nights working, haha.



My friend Cheryl reminded me (thank goodness at the beginning of the month & not at the end!) that I'm the featured artist for November for a gallery space in Santa Cruz. I had totally forgotten. Really. Where's my brain huh? So things are actually more busy than usual - I have several painted pieces on wood I'm pulling together (as well as some original watercolors & some pieces of framed printed fabrics) and will install on the 1st. Then I have the sale on the 4th, then the show opening on the 5th. Then I will crash & sleep on the 6th.



I've also been having fun catching up with family popping in unexpectedly & hosting another Creative Night at my studio with an awesome bunch of artists & designers. There's so much going on this time of year. Just need to hang on and go with it.



And this week puts me at halfway through the pregnancy! I've felt so much better over the last few weeks (just in time for all this craziness). We're already brainstorming on how to best design Bird's room to hold two kiddos (eventually - we'll have baby #2 in our room for first 6mths probably) and still be a place for fun & creativity. There is so much inspiration online - my favorite place to check out is Ohdeedoh. Definitely visit the site if you haven't before!



Now it's back to work for me...Bird's still sleeping so I need to hustle! Thanks so much for stopping by.

And I'm curious~ is this a crazy busy time of year for you too? What are you working on?

Hugs,
Devon
:o)

Pumpkins everywhere...!!

It seems like we can't get enough of pumpkin patches this October - and of course all the things that go along with them: train rides, carousels, hay mazes, wagon rides, and just frolicking in that awesome hay.


We've had unusually warm weather for Fall (like over 90 today!) and it's been lovely being outside ALL the time - just soaking it up. I'm a Summer girl...and of course I'm from Panama too so I really should say I'm a warm weather girl. In any case, I'll try again to have a good attitude about the upcoming Winter and Spring (Spring is actually most challenging as it rains endlessly at times and the sun barely says hello - I'm sure I'll be so busy w/ #2 starting in March I'll hardly notice eh?).


After seeing the 1001 scarecrows at the farm we went to I'd kind of like to make one and set it up in our garden. I bet Bird would love it.

Hugs, Devon

Pumpkin head & Bird

DSC_0038, originally uploaded by kleja.

In the giant pumpkin

DSC_0047, originally uploaded by kleja.

Tomatoes & Strawberries

This is the pattern I worked on during Heather Ross's class in Portland - now in 4 yummy colorways :o) It's such a happy pattern & makes me smile thinking of Bird in our garden munching on all the goodies growing wild out there. The other day she had not only strawberries and tomatoes, but also figs and an orange. You have to love California's bounty - especially at the time of year.

This pattern will soon be real fabric - a la Spoonflower! I'm a busy bee trying to get all the color calibration and uploading complete, along with several other patterns. I have a sale on the 4th of November and would love to sew up a bevy of products & plushes with my own fabrics (a goal I've had for a while). This somewhat depends on how fast I can get the order placed...and how fast UPS delivers. I admit I'm pretty stressed about it.

I also had forgotten about a show I'll be doing in November as well :O November 5th actually haha!! It's going to be a busy week of mad sewing and making, painting installation, pricing & display, packing, and being extra clever about making sure Bird's needs are met too. I'm sure I'll fall in a heap on the 6th...

The upside is I'll have lots of beautiful new patterns and paintings complete and hopefully more encouragement to keep going.

Okay, back to it! Have a lovely day!

Hugs, Devon

:o)

Favorite pictures of Summer

Long weekend camping - exploring redwood forests & wild empty beaches.


Bird really getting into our cold west coast ocean.


Trying to keep Bird from swimming away and appease Phylo's nervousness around water!


(Jared doesn't usually look so GI Joe, but always wears these pants while camping ;)


Mmmmhh! First smore.


Humboldt Redwoods State Park - big trees, river, little critters all around.


Getting into Daddy's things too.


Visiting family in 105 degree Texas - cooling off whenever possible.


Bird turning two.


The beautiful pergola Jared built!


Our first really warm day (in a fairly chilly summer overall).


Popsicles made from yummy farm picked strawberries.


We really enjoyed a ton of Summer fruit this year...strawberries, apricots, figs, raspberries...


Picking strawberries at the farm we subscribe to (and my last week with glasses).


Peonies...the beginning of warm days.

And now onto Fall & pumpkins & Halloween & Thanksgiving & more good times with family!

Hugs, Devon
:o)

End of Summer

In between enjoying the last bits of summer: camping, bbq's, beach time, trips to local amusement parks, and watching the sun set earlier each evening, I've been busy in my studio whenever possible crafting away a line of fabrics for printing.

So I apologize for being absent...I've been making amends in my mind about how I could make a pact to blog each day (even if it's just posting a picture like my friend Klay says) in order to stay current and not feel like my blog is a stranger each time I open the page. I hope to do this...soon ;o)

My upcoming posts will have my favorite pictures from Summer. And definitely it's time to share some of what I've been working on. I have a sale in early November and I'm scrambling to get my fabric designs done and uploaded to a digital printer so I'll be able to actually make something with them for the sale. It's a tall order and I'm more than a little nervous about having just a week to make all my (sewn fabric) product. Gotta love a deadline I guess.

Hugs, Devon