::Devon Industry:: My Mid-Afternoon Daydream

Griffin is 10 months old

2012-01-19T23:37:00.000-08:00

Griffin turned 10 months old on Tuesday. It's amazing that he is just two months from turning ONE - where did all the time go? It's so true all the things I've heard about it going by so fast. Of course the memories from certain things are still intense (the reflux through 6mths comes to mind).

Griffy you are such a treat. You are not the best sleeper but I don't mind so much these days. I know there will be a time when you will sleep well on your own and you will no longer pull yourself up to the side of the crib and bounce and jiggle with complaint that I'm not picking you up fast enough.

Today you stood for a good 10 seconds on your own and clapped your hands. Yes, bravo, little man - bravo! You also figured out how to remove the caps from your sister's markers and really enjoyed the black one for the 3.5 seconds before I pried it from your extremely firm grasp. You were not so happy to give up the marker and of course went looking for more. And I of course handed you a screw top variety - try that one kid. And you probably will. I'm scared.

You love books - we read with you before every nap and bedtime and you talk along and grab the pages and fuzzy parts. At other times you wrestle them, gnaw on them, and simply enjoy the heck out of playing with them. I don't usually intervene, unless you're actually ripping pages and then attempting to eat the paper.

You love your sister...you look for her when she's not around and when you hear her voice you call out so sweetly. "Deh?" She's not enamored with your hair pulling loving enthusiasm, but often remarks on how cute you are. So far you've not held any grudge toward her toy stealing, biting (less of this lately thank goodness), "accidental" bumping into, etc., etc. She can do no wrong in your eyes. I love watching you guys play together.

We finally got your passport...so little in your picture. Now we are all ready for Germany. So many adventures ahead.

In the morning you'll happily hang out in your high chair for a few minutes (we did have to recently fashion a seat belt - whatever happened to the other one who knows) and eat a rice cracker while morning busy-ness in the kitchen takes place. Bird often wants one too and you're happy to "feed" anyone willing to offer a mouth.

You enjoy feeding yourself and especially like blueberries and tomatoes, just like your sister :o) I don't think you've turned down anything we've offered you.

You are such a delight. At 10 months you are really showing so much of who YOU are and it's a joy to watch. Playful, determined, curious, engaging, and so very sweet. We love you Griffybear. :o)

Hugs and Kisses, Mama

The eve of a New Year

2011-12-31T23:39:00.000-08:00

2012 is minutes away...I write this knowing that the year ahead of us will be so different than this past one. Not necessarily easier, but definitely different. That's been a huge lesson for me this year. That so much of our own life is beyond our control, and maybe it's a really good thing.

Tomorrow Jared leaves again for Germany for two weeks. It'll be the 4th trip he's made since taking the new job and he'll have two more trips after this one. Being a single parent to a 3.5yo and a now 9mth old has been something that has changed me more than most things. I have so much respect for single parents!! Being on my own with our kids through our typical daily grind plus managing our Herculean effort toward readying our house for renting out, and preparing to move everyone to Germany...I've been completely pooped much of the time. I can't even imagine if I were trying to work right now too.

I'm so excited to go...and so hesitant to leave.

I hope for a fresh perspective on many things, especially in my art and related pursuits. I can't wait to set up a new super sweet studio space that has me inspired to paint & illustrate, design fabric & sell my work both small from my shop & on a larger scale as well.

I hope for our family that we will cherish this time together in a new place. Knowing that all you really need when you go someplace new is each other. And with no almost 100yo house to work on, we should have more time to enjoy on other things like travel (4hr drive to Paris!) and biking and cooking and making things.

So right now I'm looking ahead with a smile but bracing myself for the next two weeks and all the busy-ness ahead. Griffy has been having a terrible time with teething and we are up for hours at a time at night with him screaming :( It's been going on for days. Bird has been a lot of fun lately (3.5 is very interesting, & cheeky!) but also has been pushing buttons as fast as she can. I found myself saying "if she didn't push the boundaries, she would never know what they are" - that was when I realized someone was praying for me to have a good attitude ;o) We watch more movies & live more simply when Jared is gone but I'm not letting myself feel guilty for this strange bit of time between California & Germany life.

It will all get done...and we will look back and be proud of how we got through what has definitely been the most stretching time in our lives so far! I'm thankful for how we are being shaped, even though it's often painful. Being a single mom for weeks at a time has taught me to be a better mom and I've never had to be more responsible for so many things at once before. Because of this my confidence level has grown tremendously - I really feel like I can handle so much more! I'm so excited to inject this new confidence into my business in 2012 and hopefully into taking better care of myself as well (exercise and eating well has not been the biggest priority - this needs to change!). I also hope to be as sincere & honest as possible...with you, with me. There's no reason not to.

Hugs & well wishes for a New Year 2012!!
Devon

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

Bird was the cutest cowgirl this year...she practiced a lot of giddyup's! and yeehaw's! and had been wearing bits and pieces of her costume for close to a month. We had so much fun last night :o)

No pics to share of Griffy in his stegosaurus costume - it was super cute. There are some pics on my phone but it was getting dark and he is a wiggly 7 month old. So you can imagine how not so great the shots are. I was a woodland fairy (sort of)...holding a whining/screaming baby in one arm while trying to paint leaves on my cheek with the other. Then he nursed and promptly fell asleep. I was going to feel so guilty getting him into a costume while asleep, then thankfully he woke from a 20 minute slumber and was good to go :o) Trooper.

We went with my lovely friend Mrs. Potato Head and her furry friend Hans dressed adorably in a sailor coat.

Happy Halloween everyone, and now on to November and December and other fun things ahead!

Hugs, Devon

Griffin is 7 months

2011-10-30T23:48:00.000-07:00

Griffin is 7+ months old and zooming ahead on things I'm totally not ready for!

Case in point...finding him climbing the pantry drawers, trying so so hard to grab that bright red box of Indian food.

Before I knew it he was moving along to the next thing - not happy to just be on his knees, of course!

So now he's pulling up to stand. Really? At 7 months, is this normal? And if I hold his little chubbers of hands he'll WALK from room to room. Maybe I shouldn't be encouraging this behavior. Lest I have a 9 month walker.

Griffy is just the sweetest and cutest at 7 months...we don't want him to keep growing :o) He has both bottom teeth (got those while Jared was traveling, along with a cold). Then a top tooth poked its way out a few days ago, followed by another cold (this time with a cough). I'm sure the next top tooth is coming soon. But really hoping for no more colds for a while, please?

Hugs, Devon

Cereal box kids

2011-10-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

I sent these pictures to family yesterday and the response I got was they'd be perfect on cereal boxes :o) Especially Bird's picture - can we say animated?? What a ham.

I've started Griffin on the baby led feeding thing...basically he eats real solid foods instead of purees. He doesn't mind the occasional puree/smooth baby food, but wow does he get excited for spears of sweet potato! It was really fun. I've ordered these bibs based on another mom's review and can't wait till they arrive (backordered!).

It looks like it's going to dump buckets of rain out there. I feel like Fall is arriving. Just in time for us to get a bunch of exterior work done on the house...oh well, can't always have the best timing. I'm dying to get to Lowe's (w/o kids would be heaven) so I can get paint samples. I'm leaning toward an artichoke heart green for the house body color, a firey orange/red for the inner sash trim, and a creamy white for all the larger main parts of trim. I'll also add an eggplant color in there (probably paint it myself to save cost) on some detail trim parts for extra fanciness. What fun! Can't wait to get this house painted. Now to line up the contractor for exterior rot fixes, and the gutter guy, etc.

Have a lovely afternoon & Happy Columbus Day, or Native American Day - whatever's your choosing!

Hugs, Devon

Sticky milky clumsy monday morning

2011-10-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Phylo doing his best & loving every second

I have no one to blame but me...what a crazy mess. Not a terribly great start to the week. Just before this Griffin bit me while nursing. I suppose his new 2 bottom teeth still feel sensitive. Add those things to a night of 4 hours of sleep and another week ahead with no Jared (till Saturday, this has been LONG 2 weeks), and a nanny who found full time work last Friday so she cancelled with us this week...sigh...I'm just grateful we have plans with friends this morning and preschool 2x this week so there are things to do. I need to get over myself and ask for help more often. My lovely friend Katie offered to walk Phylo for me. I feel bad accepting because he's so badly behaved on walks (think constant squirrel hunter). But I think I need to just say yes!

I'm also grateful Jared made sure there was lots of roasted coffee for me (he roasts our own), that my Bird is so sweet that she comforted me after the bite this morning (her comforting consists of hugs and kisses and pats and saying "sometimes...yeah, sometimes" which is how I often start a message of consolation), and that even though Griffin doesn't sleep so great he's such a happy little guy. When he wasn't napping yesterday, I was starting to get frustrated as Bird was napping and I was hoping to sleep too. I was hanging out on the bed waiting for him to relax in his crib. The little bugger kept cooing and chattering at me and pulling himself up as high as he could to catch my eye. He's so amazing to me - Bird was not like that as a little babe. There would have been lots of crying and whining, not playing and flirting. I'm so happy for the differences.

Gotta run...I'm still half dressed from the milk incident this morning and Bird is starting to get buggy. It was nice to vent for a few minutes. Have a lovely day!

Hugs, Devon

Griffin is 6 months

2011-10-09T10:24:00.001-07:00

Dear Griffin,

Happy half year birthday to you!

It was officially on the 17th of September but the time has gotten away from me. There is so much going on in our lives right now. The busiest we've ever been I believe. You contribute to that busy-ness quite a bit but we don't mind so much :o)

At 6 months old you are so active and physical, so into your world. You've been eating solid foods for over a month, practically launching yourself into them. You loved munching on a half of a ripe peach and you've eaten entire figs from our tree. You are quite the eater (like dad!). This morning you munched blueberries from my fingers and last night at dinner you ate sweet potatoes and quinoa. It's quite fun seeing your enthusiasm.

You are sitting up on your own quite nicely and scooting yourself vigorously across the room. When you see something you want you really go for it. Hardly getting upset, just doing whatever you can to get that thing in your fat little hands then into your mouth. You love when Phylo or Sanguine (especially Sanguine, who is at your height) get close so you can grab handfuls of fur. Sanguine will hiss at you but has not bitten (yet). This really makes you laugh.

Laughing...you are such a happy little guy. Very ticklish, so incredibly charming. There is nothing like the sound of you laughing :o)

Sleep is challenging...naps are often short but I think it's because we drag you around everywhere and it's too hard to nap. At night you're up a lot but we're working on that. With dad gone to Germany for 2 weeks I'm so tired but your smiles motivate me to stay cheerful.

We love that you joined our family and have planted yourself quite nicely in your own unique spot. You are just what we needed! We love you Griffybear.

Love, Mama

It's official :: Auf Wiedersehen!

2011-09-30T23:52:00.000-07:00

That's right...I just said goodbye, in German ;o)

We are moving!!

Not forever, just a 3 year commitment and we're keeping our house and doing storage and such. So we're definitely coming back (can you hear my relief?).Jared resigned from his job of 11 years and took a new one with a company in Germany. We will be moving in March. Until then (and maybe then too?) things are going to be tough...Jared will travel for 2 or 3 weeks at a time every two weeks :( But the pay off will be living right on the border with the Netherlands, 4+ hour drive from Paris, quick trip to Belgium, 3 hours from my parents (they're by the Air Force base in Ramstein), with 30 days vacation a year, oh, and Ikea (Netherlands) just 25 minutes away which is the same amount of drive time it is for us here ;o) It's the important things right?

Mostly, it will be a new experience. A fresh start, a paradigm shifting maybe. I think we've been needing it. I've been trying to accept my current situation of having so little time to myself and being so busy with two young children. I may as well go focus on that in a different country right?

Speaking of no time to myself...I'd better publish this now before it takes me a week to come back to it.

Hugs, Devon

Griffin is 5 months

2011-09-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

And three days shy of 6 months but I am determined to record 5 months on my blog before the opportunity passes.Griffy, at 5 months you are extremely grabby & strong (!), happy and laugh easily, take painfully short naps and don't sleep through the night (but we love you anyway...). In fact, you are up from your nap right now and I have to go get you. I'm sure you'll have a smile for me :o)hugs, Devon

I'm here but not really

2011-09-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hello there...I don't even know where to begin.It's been a month and a week since I posted lasted. To say I've been busy/overwhelmed/scattered/unmotivated/tired etc. etc. is an understatement.And just now there's a little non-napper calling my name.I'll be back when I hopefully have two nappers later. There's a lot to catch up on.hugs, Devon

Book recommendation for busy 3 year olds who should be sleeping

2011-07-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

It's laaaaate and I should be getting to bed (Griffin is up a lot at night these days for who knows what reason) but I'll be mad at myself if I don't type this out right now. I'm already a little sad I didn't take pictures.

Anyway, a certain friend of mine gave Bird the book pictured above for her 3rd birthday. It's awesomely funny. And my mischievous inner child can't help but egg Bird on a bit while we're reading it. "Look, see where his mom stashed the paint so he won't be able to get it", etc. etc.

Tonight I checked on Bird before going to bed. She's often in odd little places about her room. It's strange to find her tucked in with nothing else strewn about. This time I walked in and found her on the floor. She started to get up when I came toward her and I immediately saw black marker all over her hands (like gloves people) and lower half of her face. I scanned the scene and saw THE BOOK opened up like an instruction manual on her bed. Markers uncapped all over the bed. And scrawls across the sheets, bed frame, dresser. I scooped her up and got Jared, hand over my mouth to keep the howls of laughter in (not entirely successful at that one). Jared got her cleaned up while I changed out all the bedding and wiped off all the markered surfaces (thank goodness for washable markers!!!). Looking at the scene more closely I found a baby wipe totally covered in black marker. I think she was actually trying to clean herself up after the whole wild escapade and then fell asleep in process on the floor.

So if you need a little excitement in your life please give your child this book. Or give it to your friends child ;o) They may not find it as funny as we did but hopefully so.

Hugs and good night!!
Devon

33

2011-07-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago I had friends over to help me celebrate my birthday. It was sooo much fun that I want to do it regularly - without the birthday part :o) We ate rum cake and drank two types of sangria. I set out a table of supplies and a couple of crafty project ideas: tiny felt strawberries and needle felted flowers.

A couple of strawberries were sewn and stuffed but there was mostly a lot of furious felting going on. Possibly a few drops of blood from the accidental looking up to answer a question (never take your eyes off the needle). Thinking about it, maybe it's not safe to mix needle felting with sangria but it sure was fun.

I also got to set the yard up all pretty which has been such a joy this summer. The garden has been amazing & I can't stop checking out all the new blooming flowers and fruits/veg. Every morning when Jared drives off Bird tells me it's time to look for sugar snap peas (in her cutest 3yo version of the words) and then we move on to strawberries, then tomatoes. Then we ogle at the corn and talk about the growing melons and ripening figs.

It's so fun to share this space we've been working on and nurturing for nearly 6 years now. My studio is still pretty rough around the edges but we can't justify working on it with full focus till we get a few other things done on the house. Plus, with a 4mth old and a 3yo it's been more than difficult to get time to myself out there. So for now it will have unpainted baseboards, leaky old windows, lots of entrances for spiders (and hopefully nothing larger than that), and mediocre lighting. Frankly, I don't care what it looks like really - I just want some time to get working and stocking my shop again. I have SO many ideas...bursting at the seams.

Have to mention, of the friends who were over the other night...some fabulous blogs, sites, and projects they are involved in. My lovely friend Klay has partnered with Anna Maria Horner and is selling her plushes in Anna's shop. They are made with an assortment of AMH's fabrics and they are incredibly cute and meticulously sewn. They would be perfect in a living room as much as they would in a kid's room. Here's Klay's post about the news and here is Anna Maria Horner's "Visiting Artists" shop page. And this is Klay's shop. I'm so excited for Klay!

My friends Wendy and Laura also came and they are both talented crafty ladies. Wendy used to work in a high tech job (same company as Jared, that's how we met) and has since left and is now, hopefully, going to be making and selling more of her beautiful things. Wendy's blog site is here and shop is here. You will love her design aesthetic - I totally admire her clean and modern design sense.

Laura is an illustrator here in San Jose. I can't even remember how we met at this point but I just enjoy her company so much and think she's such fun to be around. Her illustration work is so light hearted, colorful, and energetic. She's been working on building a licensing career and I think she's doing an amazing job. Her blog site is here and her main (fancy!) site and shop is here. She posted about the evening over here too :o)

Have you attended an evening of crafting and hanging with friends? What kind of projects did you work on? Have any advice to share? I think it's such a great time - I definitely recommend it. It's the perfect opportunity to share a new skill or just connect with creative friends. I wasn't sure what crafty project to offer and looked online a little for ideas but didn't find much. In the end, I just thought about what I like to work on and possibly what others might be interested in.

The two glasses of wine I had tonight have made my brain a little (more) mushy...I'm just happy to be finally getting this posted after 2 days of attempts. Such is life these days :o) Hope you're having a lovely week.

Hugs, Devon

3 adults 3 kids 2 dogs::Camping in Big Meadow

2011-07-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

We were just a little afraid...but we did it anyway :o) Like most anything with small children, camping was a lot of work but it was so worth it for the change of scenery, fresh air, new experiences for Bird, time with friends, time w/o internet and phones, etc., etc.

We drove into the Sierras on Friday and luckily found a spot at Big Meadow campground. Our initial plan was to camp at Lake Alpine but our friend David got there before us and found it to be less than ideal (boggy, no fire ring which meant NO fires, eep!, & LOTS of mosquitos) so we found a sweet little spot at Big Meadow. Picture huge granite boulders, towering redwoods, creeks with crystal clear cold water, miniature everything else - mosses, powdery blue butterflies, teeny alpine flowers. Just divine.

We spent time both hiking & exploring as well as trying to get Griffin to sleep, haha ;o) I walked up and down the road for half an hour with Griffy in the sling while reading my Sunset magazine. Heck, that actually was somewhat relaxing.

Jared did what he normally does. Made me nervous by throwing Bird "high in the sky please?!" (her words) and crossing rivers on fallen logs with 4mth old Griffy strapped to his chest. Not too happy about that one still...

Bird LOVED it all. We are planning our next trip and hopefully one for each month next summer as well.

The only real issue was how crazy cold it got at night...and that when sharing one space for sleep, if one person wakes up often everybody wakes up. This can be a bit of a bummer. Note photo below...hard to tell but that is the sunrise behind Jared and the kids :o)

David and his little guy joined us in camping. Bird loved having someone to dote on.

We'd only been at the campground half an hour and look how dirty Bird was already! I'm STILL washing clothes & bedding, etc. Even the ergo carrier smells smoky.

This picture is great because it shows that Phylo is the same while camping as he is at home. Always wanting to be up on something. He chose the little table for his bed. And tada! That is our new car...sadly, we had to let go of the Element. It's a bit of a bummer - it's been such a fun car and was awesome for my mural business. But the Odyssey can do just about everything the Element did and possibly better. It fits a 4x8 sheet of plywood or drywall FLAT on the floor and you can close the doors! It gets better gas mileage. It can fit 8 people. And Phylo. And lots of stuff. And I can't tell you how much easier it is to get kids (especially in a rear facing carseat) in and out of the car. WOW. Yes, we have a minivan and I really LOVE it. :o)

We also played at Alpine Lake on Saturday. Beautiful deep cold lake. I'd love to go back with a canoe and paddle to the inner islands. Maybe next summer.

Bird was nervous about going in the water at first. But when she finally did it was near impossible to get her out.

I encourage you...if you have kids and have not taken them camping, you should REALLY do it! It's worth it.

Hugs, Devon

What's new on a Thursday in July

2011-07-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

I hung these shelves in my studio. They are spice racks from Ikea. Got the idea from Ohdeedoh but I think lots of blogs have been featuring them (because they're functional and super cheap!).

Josef Frank is still inspiring the heck out of me.

I'm making this cake for my birthday celebration this weekend. And three types of sangria. Yes, three!

Griffin is 4mths old & killing us with cuteness. He had his 4mth appt. today and weighs nearly 16lbs. Big boy chunk of love.

Sanguine (our 12yr old tuxedo cat) is driving me nuts...along with Phylo dog. I think they're keying in on my anxiety when I have two kids sleeping simultaneously. Or it's probably that they think it's their turn for attention. I can't even step outside to take photos w/o Phylo erupting into whiny barks at people passing by. It's making him crazy that I walk him at night now. He has to chill the whole day waiting. Such is life. It's not forever.

I'm really enjoying this blog lately. Everything you ever wanted to know about alignment and strengthening your muscles and really just about how our bodies (should) work. Fascinating stuff. And she just had a baby which adds another component of interest to it for me. Did you know it's important to have diaper free time for babies so they won't have their legs separated by a big 'ol diaper all the time? Or that maybe you don't need to be doing kegels? (like I've been doing them hmm...)

I'm designing a collection of fabrics that I'm reeeaaally excited about :o) But shame on me for leaving my open sketchbook and pen right in the open on my desk. Talk about an invite for collaboration from Bird. Thank goodness for Photoshop.

Bird will be going here this fall. Her name came up in the lottery - thrilled!!

Lots of beauty from the garden these days. Flowers for sure but also blackberries, figs, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, corn, strawberries, herbs, apricots, avocados, and oranges. You would not go hungry in our backyard.

We made apricot jam again.

I'm getting this book and this book for my birthday. And this for Bird because she really really needs it (story will follow soon if I have time).

And I'm headed here tonight.

Hugs, Devon
:o)

Griffin is 4 months old

2011-07-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

Sweet Griffy boy :o) 4 months old!

Hands in the mouth, grabbing everything, decent sleeper, happy kid.

Bird is still just as obsessed with her little brother. It's lovely, most of the time.

He has super hearty laughs. Bird didn't laugh like this so we're really enjoying every bit of it :o)

Hugs, Devon

Leah Evans Textiles

2011-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Googling" is just amazing. You never know what you'll find right? In my quest to find things related to a certain key word I'm exploring for a fabric collection I stumbled upon the work of Leah Evans.

To say her textile pieces are detailed and worthy of getting completely lost in is an understatement. I can't get enough of these amazing pieces. I really wish I could see some of these in person, and run my fingers over all the hours of stitch work. My favorites (photos from here):

And some detail shots (photos also from here)

The odd thing is that I feel like I've met her before?? Did she go to RISD? She certainly knows textiles - I knew a couple of Leahs in our department but who knows. I would love to hang out with her for an afternoon and learn more about her process.

Happily sweating in the studio with 2 kids napping,
Devon

Beachy loungy fun

2011-07-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

We did a lot of nothing over the long weekend...aaahhhh. Jared got back from work travel to Asia and the jet lag has been pretty serious. So we played it simple - made and ate lots of good food. Salmon steaks, cucumber salads, bbq ribs, papaya and melon salads, grilled pizza, strawberry ice cream. Jared and Bird went to see Cars 2 and I stayed home with Griffy and did chores around the house while he slept. Crazy how fun chores can seem when you're by yourself. I took Bird to the pool. We went for walks. And on the 4th we went to the beach and it was a great time.

How was your 4th? Parades? Picnics? Family time?

Phylo was a well behaved doggie the entire time! He's usually a real PITA and we dread bringing him but this time, wow, he was on his best behavior. Maybe he got the memo that we were fed up with taking him. He's also 6 now which may help too.

The sun was shining (my back is unfortunately a little burned but every one else came out unscathed) and the water was COLD as usual. Griffy slept in the travel crib for an hour so it was actually somewhat relaxing. He had the best sound machine sound track that day...crashing waves. Plus a cool breeze. How lovely.

Jared and Griffy had plenty of cuddles :o)

This little profile shot kills me.

I'm in the studio snagging hopefully more than an hour to work on new drawings.

Have a fabulous day :o)
Hugs, Devon

End of June::Flowers Fruit & Veggies

2011-06-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Zinnias...LOVE them! They're in full swing right now. I've got shades of coral and lime this year and I love how the corals are playing with the purple clematis next to it, and the fuschia dahlias next to those.

My favorite Simpson's episode was one where they ended up on the old family farm by making a wrong turn. The tractor continually falls over on Homer, they grow a crazy nuclear infused crop they call tomacco (tomato+tobacco) which every one (including a sheep) who eats it gets addicted to. And they mention corn growing to the height of an elephant's eye. Well, this is just about there eh? Uh-mazing!

Another huge favorite of mine - dahlias. The more the merrier.

This says luscious salad to me. Basil, sugar snap peas, and pineapple sage. That plus the mint behind them would also make quite the mojito (maybe minus the peas).

And some sweet pics to share...Gigi with Bird & Griffy.

Alright...Griffin's trying to eat my pen and the dryer full of clothes is calling. Enjoy this last day of June :o)

Devon

Mater was telling the truth

2011-06-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

This is a post just for Jared (so he'll stop bugging me)...

"Mater was telling the truth!" That's what Bird's Lightning McQueen toy says among other slightly annoying but sorta cute sayings. But Jared pointed out that there isn't any scene in the Cars movie in which Mater would be telling the truth or not. So apparently this is a spoiler eh? In the new Cars movie there must be a situation with Mater being hung out to dry, where no one believes him. But now folks, a little toy car tells you the truth - that Mater was indeed telling the truth.

There ya go babe ;o)

Stripey siblings sing about spiders

2011-06-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's finally summer here and we have great light again - yay! It's been fun to take pics of the kids together :o)

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout..."

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out..."

"No Mommy, no sing it!"

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."

Hugs, Devon

Bird's Birthday Party

2011-06-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

We threw a party for Bird's 3rd birthday this past Sunday. The photo above is the "after" - I love it :o) She had just gotten up from her nap and was a crankypants (as usual after nap) but happened to throw a yawn in there in between whiny cries and I managed to catch it. I think it's my favorite shot from the day because it's pretty much how we all felt - bone tired but surrounded by all this fun party stuff so still feeling a bit of a high from it all.

I made a "vintage" birthday cake from a clipping in an old cookbook we had from my family. I had this cake as a kid too :o) This is in process, right before the buttercream frosting and the coconut. The cake recipe was a cross between a funfetti and strawberry cake. We used fabulous organic strawberries from our farm. So delicious.

In order to entertain 12+ kids without exhausting ourselves (and maybe to limit the amount of screaming and squabbles?) we called on Happily Ever Laughter and they sent over Faerie Violet who was an absolute doll and VERY much captured the attention of the kids, and all of us (including Phylo who thought her dog puppet was REAL and became a ball of excitement sniffing and nipping at it until we dragged him away - one of my favorite moments of the party...). Violet put on a cute interactive magic show then made balloon animals & flowers, then spent the rest of the party painting faces and arms - she was uber talented. Yay for faeries!

I sewed Bird a simple "3" shirt which she was so proud to wear :o)

Griffy has been on a difficult sleep streak...he's sleeping right now which is a relief. Too much excitement + a little cold + moving past 3mths and changing habits = tough times for sleep. I'm trying to figure this one out so we can have less drama during the day.

I had too much fun decorating the backyard. It was so so so cute. We're leaving up a few things from the party because they look so fun. I'm somewhat concerned about leaving the sofa outside but will worry about that later.

Indulgence. Cute shot of Griffy.

Faerie Violet turning one of our guests into a dragon.

Bird's bunny, with a carrot of course.

The bunny cake!

Can I tell you how happy Bird was to have so many people sing her happy birthday? It's like her favorite song, haha, and loves to have me sing it to her. At random times.

I discovered the fun of mylar balloons - especially when they come in giant number form. I picked them up a few days ahead of time so Bird could play with them in the house. In fact, we tied them to one of our umbrellas and they're still floating.

I have a good stock of paper lanterns from an art installation I did with a friend a few years ago. Many of them I painted with watercolor because I couldn't find colors I liked. I tied a bunch together and hung them from our avocado tree (well, Jared did - he had to climb the tree to do it). They'll be living there for the summer.

Please ignore the garish rug under the cute picnic table. This is the table we built from Anna White's site. Jared built it with Bird's help ;o) Saturday morning and I painted it Saturday afternoon. It's a really fast and rewarding project and it's SOOO functional. Three kids can fit on either side, and adults can squeeze into it too. So happy we pulled it off for the party.

Another "after" shot I love :o)

I parked myself next to Jared and Griffin on the sofa (Bird was happily playing with her new automoblox) and snapped pictures from that perspective. It was fun to just hang out together and sort of do nothing at all.

Grocery list making, laundry washing, dishwasher emptying, paper filing, and dog walking is calling. Have a lovely Thursday!

Hugs, Devon

ps - most of the party pics were taken by my super talented friend Klay - check out her site to see all the neat things she's been up to.

11 years

2011-06-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

I can't let the day slip by without acknowledging Jared's and my anniversary today - it's been 11 years!!

We've been busy all day preparing for Bird's birthday party tomorrow...cleaning, building, painting, planting, playing. I love parties, but all the more so for the motivation we get to pull things together around here. It's really a fun deadline.

This morning (6:30am) Jared took Bird and Griffin and let me sleep a little longer. He then made cappuccinos, vacuumed (this helps Griffy fall asleep), got Bird breakfast and dressed for the day, then headed outside to start building the picnic table we wanted to have for kid's seating for the party. Is he not the most wonderful guy ever?? I feel so lucky to have found him (as seniors in high school no less), to have shared so many years and all the good & not so good times, and now to have our two beautiful kids together. Jared really is my rock - happy anniversary to you!

And the table is built...I put on two coats of the same yellow on my studio door. It's super lovely and quite happily, we big people fit (just barely) into the picnic table seats too.

Now for some sleep...happy weekend to you!

Hugs, Devon

Happy 6 to Phylo

2011-06-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

Getting the short end of the stick here...running out of time & energy & minutes till needing to get Griffy up for last diaper changing/nursing for the evening (till hopefully 4am).

Our Phylo Bones Twinkletoes is 6 years old today :o) He came into our lives at 8mths old, a Cypriot (he's originally from Cyprus and found his way here with his siblings via some kind Americans).

My constant shadow, mind reader when it comes to any inkling of an idea regarding a walk (followed by some extreme harassment on his part), cozy spot seeker, sweet sweet furry boy and very flexible these days with all the new busy-ness in our lives. It's good he bugs me daily for walks - I need them as much as he does.

'Night all...
Devon

Happy 3 months Griffy

2011-06-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

Griffin's one quarter of a year old...he's such a doll, growing way too fast we'd all say. Here he is hanging with dad :o)

hugs, Devon

Miranda Bird is 3

2011-06-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd birthday to my little Bird!! I am nothing but honest most of the time...it's been a very average day. Challenging, fun, tiring, at times exasperating, at times touching & joyful. Very much a picture of life with Miranda Bird every day :o)

Today I lost her at a playground that was just popping with kids & mayhem. It was just too much for me...she doesn't always remember our continual chat about "staying with mommy". I got to the point of near panic when I finally glimpsed her over by the baby swings, waiting for me to magically appear and give her a push (you'd think she'd have tried to find me too, but no...). Two minute time out later (and deep breaths from me) and everything was okay but this 2 kid thing is tough sometimes. Griffy was a spitting fountain and needed clothing changes, diaper changes, and nursing too. Maybe we're just not ready yet for busy places (not without one of those backpack leashes at least?!).

I've been squeezing in bits of baking and decorating all week - too much fun. Lanterns hanging from the trees, big painted "3" waiting to be put under the pergola, cheery red geraniums popping out of planters, and the strawberry "funfetti" cake waiting in the freezer for the big day. We also have someone from here coming for the party. It will probably be as much fun for me as Bird - you already knew that I'm sure ;o)

Tomorrow Griffy is 3 months old. Then Friday our Phylo dog is 6 years old. Then Saturday Jared and I celebrate 11 years of marriage. Sunday is the party - lots of celebrating around here, can't help but smile through the rough patches.

Hugs, Devon

The fun stuff

2011-06-07T08:59:00.001-07:00

Setting up for Bird's birthday party.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

At Ardenwood Farm

2011-06-03T12:23:00.001-07:00

Currently riding the train woo hoo!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2011-06-02T10:33:00.001-07:00

Heading out with my buddy.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Recording the normal::Errands

Breakfast

2011-06-02T08:00:00.001-07:00

How we start the day...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Griffin is 2 months old

2011-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 2 months to Griffin (aka Griffy or Griffybear - I'm sure he'll love that one someday)!!

I tried to post this yesterday but Blogger was down all day. Why??

And...he is currently getting really fidgety so this is going to be a shorty little post. Just wanted to share the cute pic and say Happy Weekend to you all.

Hugs, Devon
:o)

Made :: Griffin's Quilt

2011-05-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

I could have titled this post: Things I made before life got really crazy. But I will be choose to be positive, haha. I'm spread a little thin today...too little sleep, a cranky and sick almost 3 year old, and an almost 2 month old who spit up nearly everything he ate today (twice). When I say spit up I don't mean your average spit up by the way. No sir. I'm talking quantity - splashing when it hits the floor and having to use thick baby blankets for burp cloths - this is life with little Griffy. I'll be happy when we're beyond this phase.

Quilt front

I had wanted to make a "real" quilt for some time and figured what better occasion than for Griffin's arrival. I love sewing but am not so great at it - working on that! But I know the basics of quilting and what I was looking for so in many ways it came together easily. I had a specific little stash of fabrics I'd picked up from Hart's over the months. I'm big on red, aqua, orange...and am happy to have most other colors come to play as well, just in smaller quantity. I also very much appreciate white as a background color.

Dark photo sorry - arranging fabrics on my felt wall

I cut 9"ish by 16"ish sized rectangles and sewed them together to make a generous crib size. It took one of Bird's naptimes. Then another naptime was spent cutting out the fabric for the back (LOVE the AMH flannels - so soft!) and the organic bamboo batting and basting it all together. I finished the quilting and binding the day after that. My kind of project - super quick and love the results. And Griffin is currently napping on it.

My hummingbird print from school days

Yummy mix of cotton & linen, backed in flannel

Happy with my first (super simple) quilt!

I will definitely keep quilting! It's super gratifying to make your own objects of cozy & color. Next time I may try something more technical and would of course love to use my own fabrics. Griffin's quilt has just one of mine - a screenprint of hummingbirds from my days at RISD.

Griffy approves

Have you tried quilting? What's the best part for you? Picking out fabrics? (mine is!)

Hugs, Devon

Home Improvement :: Vintage Train Rack

2011-05-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Happy (day after) Mama's Day! We enjoyed a homemade (by Jared) breakfast of cinnamon rolls and eggs and some mighty fine mimosas. I got in a little more gardening and a trip to lowe's for some fun additions into the yard (black jack dwarf fig tree for one). I took Griffin with me as Jared was trying to catch a little nap and Bird was taking hers. Unfortunately I had to walk around the store for 45 min to get Griffin to settle into the sling. Then I realized I had forgotten my phone. After picking up some plants I was ready to go but of course Griffy was peacefully sleeping and I had to stick him in the car again (just like his sister when she was a babe, he's not a fan of car rides). Thankfully no one missed me at home (do you feel naked w/o your phone? I sure do!).

Jared managed to get our ebay find up on the wall in the kitchen. We really like it! It's a vintage train rack from the New South Wales Railway. We used to hang our pots on an adjacent wall and while they looked cool they were in the way and Jared often banged his shoulders against them while passing. I don't know why we didn't think of this spot before but it feels good and look, there's room for more pots! :o) Have to tell my parents...they got the other ones for us in France at a thrift store. We had so much fun at those thrift stores!

Beep beep beep...!! Dinner's ready ~ time for the frenzy to begin. I've got to get Bird fed and bathed so I can feel good about leaving the kids with Jared while I jet out to Zumba :o)

Hugs, Devon

ps: this is what was waiting for me on the counter on Mother's Day. Such sweetness.

May Garden

2011-05-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Come check out a bit of our garden!

It's totally blooming & not yet dried from the coming hot days. My descriptions are typed below the photos (is there a general rule on that?).

Be still my heart...love these two together...it took a couple years for the passionflower vines to meander over to the cecile brunner roses.

Grow corn - it's fun! That's what everyone keeps telling me so I went ahead and am doing so this year. When does the fun start? Sorry, snarky tired comment, ha ;o) I'm assuming its in the speed at which corn grows and the reward of perfect sweet ears of corn to steam or grill then eat with butter & salt - yum!

I may be in the minority but I'm loving this crazy mash of color and form!

If you love purple this should really do it for you.

This one really does it for me personally.

New Zealand wind grass - wild and lovely!

Left side of the front garden - we bucked neighborhood tradition and have no (mowable) grass. I assume we save on water as well as time. Though I'd love a little patch in the backyard. Maybe someday.

Hot Lips salvia - dontcha love a name like that?

Drowning in irises...it's a sickness. I love all my pretties.

Sweet delicious flax - the backbone of the garden.

Right side of the front garden. Yes, we live next to a pink and turquoise house. Jealous right?

Bird's touch - pinwheel in the forsythia and daahlias.

Hope that was fun eye candy for any plant and flower lovers :o) Hoping to get more gardening on this weekend too.

Hugs and Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there!
Devon

Tired

2011-05-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

TGIF....I've got next to zero energy but the day's not over yet. Hoping Bird will surprise me with rays of sunshine after waking from nap - wouldn't be typical! I'd love a glass of wine and a nap myself. I forgot to get a present for the birthday party we're going to tomorrow. Griffin is sleeping on my chest. There are birds singing in our orange tree. There's 17 bean stew and a ham bone simmering in the crock pot. I'm wearing my favorite skirt that Bird thinks is hers. I got my Cintiq tablet set up inside the house (holy crazy cables!) because it's too hard to get out to the studio. I have no motivation today to fire it up. That's what's floating around my brain. How are you on this lovely Friday? Plans for the weekend ?

Hugs, Devon

Spring planting

2011-05-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's 87 degrees today! Sooo lovely! I'm thrilled I didn't take the advice of many and went ahead and planted my tomatoes (and everything else) back in early April. I really only did so because I had a window of time...then got lucky we were done with cold nights. So much time in the ground so far means I'll have tomatoes by July instead of August (and cherry tomatoes much sooner).

Last weekend I put in corn, sugar snaps, a french melon, and lots of herbs like an especially beautiful pineapple sage - yum!

This past week I read a super inspiring post on Apartment Therapy that featured Amy Butler's home. She mentioned gardening is as much a passion for her as her design work. I happily feel the same way and am grateful for that since it's much easier these days to spend moments outside pulling weeds and planting heucheras than it is to hole up in my studio with my laptop and tablet. That time will come again...

Speaking of time - I have run out of it :o)

hugs, Devon

Bird's room WIP

2011-05-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

I posted earlier that we've been working on Bird's room to prep for Griffin to share the space with her in a few months. If she could have it her way it would have been yesterday! Bird is convinced Griffin is her own personal baby.

I took a whirlwind trip to ikea with Grif in my ergo carrier (and Bird at home, whew!) and picked up a bookcase, art table and extra chair, and a few accessories like a clip on light and boxes for markers and crayons.

While I've really enjoyed the lilac/red/pink/orange color scheme of the room I've been fairly over it for last year. And it's pretty girly - I think a little too girly for a boygirl shared room. In my crazy schemes where I imagine I have hours and hours of time and very few responsibilities I would paint the room a light airy aqua shade and paint over certain parts of the mural - phasing out the lavender and bringing in more red, orange, and shades of aqua and celadon. We'll see what kind of baby Griffin turns out to be...maybe he'll be content to watch me paint? Ha...not getting my hopes up.

See that second piece of molding up there? Above the picture rail molding Jared mounted a train track and actually got his HO scale train to run on it! It's awesome and runs around the entire room.

Toys toys toys - Craig's List find (ikea piece) to hold it all.

Our new favorite place to do "everything" - the oilcloth is working out like a dream.

Windsee for Griffin that Bird immediately stole.

Hope you enjoyed the photo tour of Bird's space...this may be the final version of her room before it changes again in a few months. If there was nothing to alter, redo, tweak, etc - life would be boring :o)

Hugs, Devon

Shifting

2011-04-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

Bird's new activity table

Lots of things are happening around here...I can hardly keep up with everyone's needs and demands. I keep telling myself that this crazy chaotic time will pass and be a faded memory with mostly positive things coming to mind when we think back. For now it's moments of insanity - temper tantrums, keeping on top of nursing for Griffin and potty times for Bird - followed by moments of total quiet where Jared and I nearly forget we have an almost 3yr old and a 5 week old.

Over the weekend we started a spruce up of Bird's room (someday to be Griffin's room too). Out went the sofa, in went the crib (in sofa style). In came a bookcase (yes - storage!) and a nifty new activity table that I covered in polka dot oilcloth. We moved Bird's bed to a better spot. It's still a little awkward in there but it's a small space so compromise is a must. Next to come is painting over the lilac wall color with the same light aqua from our bedroom. I'm debating whether to paint the aqua around the mural, or just paint something new. I would love to paint a gorgeous and huge goldfish on the wall. Odd?

stickers

Bird loves her room and we're so excited seeing it come together. I've been learning what little people need in their spaces. Surfaces to do things on is imperative! And having a bookcase to hold items (especially books of course) on both the kid's level and also the parents' level. A cozy place to sit is also really nice - usually the bed works great for this but it's fun to have other options too.

naptime funsies

I found some great little containers at ikea (where just about everything else came from). They're perfect for crayons, markers, stickers, etc. They're fairly difficult to open which is comforting to me - this girl tends to get in lots of trouble at nap and bedtime. Note the green belly button.

hugs, Devon
:o)

Easter

2011-04-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

Happy (belated) Easter to you! Hope yours was filled with chocolate bunnies and eggs and if you are a Christian a lovely reminder of Jesus' sacrifice for us. We didn't make it to church this year but found time to squeeze in some egg dyeing and after nap egg hunting. Gigi (my mom as called by Bird) sent some treats from Germany including the beautifully printed cardboard egg.

gold bunny

Bird has had WAY too much sugar for the past week and it's been showing in her behavior (or maybe it's that plus a delayed reaction to her baby brother??). In any case, we need to go cold turkey off the white stuff (myself included...).

this one took a little time to find

I hid eggs throughout the back yard and Bird totally enjoyed herself finding them all. I think I need to organize a real scavenger hunt with friends one of these days. They love it!

Bird actually loves hard boiled eggs :o)

The prize was the big gold bunny (lindt milk chocolate - yum!). We all (except Griffin who was sleeping soundly on the sofa) plunked down next to the wine barrel planters and shared pieces of it. Bird claimed the ears.

Hugs and Happy Easter!
Devon

Egg hunting young love

2011-04-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

My daughter has been fascinated with this little guy since she first laid eyes on him (maybe 2mths old?). I thought she'd be heartbroken when he started walking and could get away from her but he doesn't seem to mind the adoration and she's still (obviously) just as smitten.

Yep, I said I had things to accomplish but couldn't resist sharing. Now I'm really going - I'm just so excited to clean up around here (yes sarcasm...). Toodles :o) Devon

When everything seems crazy just have a party

2011-04-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jared's birthday yesterday with a few friends and as low key a set up we could muster. Ordered yummy Mexican food, set out bags of chips rather than platters, and truly just used what we had on hand and could grab easily. The cake however was a few day's effort - I picked up supplies last Sunday, baked the cake Monday morning, made the buttercream Tuesday morning, then assembled it right before guests arrived. I was super thrilled with it. When it's tough to escape to the studio at least I can be creative in the kitchen.

hamburger cake!

I followed this tutorial for the cake with the exception of using a brownie mix for the "meat" layer and I didn't go crazy with the gourmet aspects (as in, there was no ganache). But it was tasty and oh so cute and Jared loved it :o)

More pics from the day...

the birthday boy, with Griffin, looking a wee bit tired

bubbles: birthday party necessity

Both kids are napping - time to get a few things accomplished.
Hugs, Devon
:o)

Moment to moment

2011-04-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

Living moment to moment here...some have been tough and I'm embarrassed by my lack of patience with Bird and her antics (patience proportionate to lack of sleep?). Then I remind myself that she's not even yet 3 and as my friend told me, "just keep swimming"...we'll get through. There are also totally lovely moments - our little Griffy is a doll and we are loving him to pieces. When two kids are crying simultaneously it's not such fun. When Bird is chipper and laughing and demanding to kiss her brother and he's putting up with it nicely then life is really good :o)

Spring is springing here...I got my tomato plants in, along with 3 hot pepper varieties for Jared. Plus some hopefully gorgeous zinnias and some new strawberry plants (yum!). Our deciduous trees are swinging with full lush leaves and the apricot and cherry trees are dotted with tiny fruits. If patience is proportionate to lack of sleep then happiness is proportionate to abundance of sunshine. That's how things balance out around here I guess :o)

yes, we did take griffin to the beach at 2wks - babies are portable!

So, for now, there is no "new normal" - there's just getting by. I figure we'll have a routine in a few weeks. Some things we've done to help are (from my friend's suggestion) doing meal planning and prep for the week on Sunday (as in, all the chopping, browning, etc.), and swearing off any new projects for a little while (hard for us!). Jared and his dad constructed an amazing new driveway gate when his folks were here (w/ automatic opener - swoon!) and we still have to get it all sanded and sealed. I'm dreaming of how to gussy up our driveway now and soften all the concrete and pebble. If woolly pockets were a little more affordable...or if I could figure out how to make our own? Wait, is that a project?

Jared's birthday was yesterday. I feel somewhat bad it was overshadowed with an all day offsite meeting (including dinner which meant I was on my own with these two through the evening) and then coming home to a somewhat cranky emotionally spent person. Making up for it this weekend with a get together with friends and mexican food (that I'm not cooking) and cake (that has taken me 3 mornings to put together - now that's a reality check).

Wishing you a happy rest of the week and weekend. Hope it's lovely where you are and you're getting out to enjoy some sunshine. My midwife reminded me of something I apparently told her a few weeks ago (no, I don't remember saying it, but I don't remember a lot of things right now). When things are difficult it's important to remember to just be nice to each other. So that's my advice to offer today - just try and be nice to each other - it makes a really big difference.

hugs, Devon

ps: check out the beautiful mail love we received my lovely friend Klay!!

quilted pillow by kleja

a most intriguing rattle inside

Day 7

2011-03-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

:o)
Devon

Griffin

2011-03-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

He's here!

Griffin - born 12:49am on St. Patty's Day. 8lbs even, 20.5", very very cute :o)
I had him at home just like with Bird and it was awesome.

A few pics to share & more to tell later...
Hugs, Devon

A Santa Cruz morning

2011-03-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

We've started hitting up a different Santa Cruz beach after hearing the rangers were ticketing dog owners at Its Beach who weren't following the leash policy. It's actually not so bad though...Mitchell Cove is just a little further down the stretch and has been surprisingly varied throughout the different seasons. The first time we went it was covered in a low tide of kelp forest seaweed (bulbous masses) and tons of flies (yech). Sunday was just gorgeous - the mosses were emerald green and the sandstone and ice plants seem to scream out with color. There were a handful of friendly dogs & owners and enough open space for all to explore.

This picture captures the joy of running from the surf as well as the agony of feeling your iPhone dropping from your pocket into the ocean. All's well now.

Mmmm, moss...Grandma & Bird admired its beauty.

Phylo wanted to climb the rocks too! We helped him up there a couple of times then he managed to get up all on his own with a good running start.

The coolest cave.

Funny thing about the ocean here - it's supremely cold at first then you just get used to it and start romping around like the dogs do :o) Of course, you'll usually see people in bare feet with wool sweaters on. It *is* still early spring here.

Loving having my lens back.

A day is not complete without lots of jumping off things (and in this day's case, a whole lot of cliff climbing too - the girl is unafraid!). Jared is excited to finally have someone who will likely bungee jump and sky dive with him (in the future of course - how young do they allow kids to do those things?? Scary!).

A perfect morning in Santa Cruz (with or w/o your furry friend): hit a beach to get your feet wet and sandy - Mitchell's Cove or another less crowded one, then take a walk along the ocean (W. Cliff Dr.) and watch the surfers battle it out for waves, then head over for coffee & breakfast burritos at Emily's on Mission. If you have young people with you (who still nap) this may be the end of your day and time to head back over the mountain. But if not, you could always then go play disc golf at the local course, or go hit up the boardwalk rides & arcade. Another awesome place to get a bite to eat is Charlie Hong Kong's which is where we ate on Sunday, followed by a little meandering through Greenspace (both on Soquel). And if you're fabric nutty like me then you would absolutely not miss the opportunity to go around the corner on Seabright Ave. to Hart's Fabric!

Seriously fun stuff in Santa Cruz...enjoy :o)

Hugs, Devon
39 weeks pregnant, totally uncomfortable & irritated, trying to maintain great attitude

Good job Mommy!

2011-03-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

What Bird said to me while I was in the bathroom yesterday:
"Good job Mommy! No more diapers now!"

Last night going on 9, Bird was standing at her door giggling saying "I'm Dory, you're Nemo!" What could I do but laugh along? Then after a while it wasn't so funny anymore - go to bed kid.

Here's a couple shots from making 15 minute cream biscuits the other day. The recipe is here and it's totally worth it! They only take a few minutes to make, and maybe half an hour to clean up since I let Bird "paint" with flour all over the counters.

Oh, and about baby #2 we're waiting on...I'm already a week past when I had Miranda and will be at 39 weeks this Tuesday. Yep, ready to have him. But he'll come when he's good and ready I assume. Already quite different from his sister.

Have a lovely weekend!
hugs, Devon

In case you need a reason to keep the toilet lid closed

2011-03-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

I consider this a public service announcement. You'll appreciate it I'm sure :o)

Yesterday before heading out to pick up Grandma & Grandpa from the airport, Bird and I headed into the studio so I could print some things for preschool (only printer in the house is in my studio). Phylo came too of course - my little shadow. As soon as he stepped through the door he started whining and desperately wanted to get into the bathroom. He'll hardly ever push through a door on his own and will typically whine & complain till we open it for him. I told him to hang on and chill out and to my surprise he shoved the door with his head and ran in the bathroom. Then he really started whining!

I finished my printing stuff then we went in to check on what the heck the dog's going crazy about. He was actually drooling! I looked behind the toilet, in the shower, etc. and didn't see anything. Sometimes he can go crazy for little things - spiders and whatnot. Or for things we can't see like when there was a mouse family in the garden bed. So I started teasing and egging him on a little. "Go get it Phylo!" & "What is it boy?". Then I jokingly lifted the toilet lid...and thought confusedly for a moment, "Is that a kitten?" In the next nanosecond I realized it was a healthy sized drenched rat (!!!) and dropped the lid from my fingers. I seriously didn't get why/how there was a rat in the toilet? And the next thought was how in the world to get him out?? So of course we called Jared who said to flush him (haha, thanks so much for the help hon). This obviously wouldn't have worked - and anyway, I had realized at this point that he had come from that direction anyway (a true sewer rat!) and Bird told me also that rats don't go down the toilet. SO...my next thought was to open the window, then the toilet lid, then quickly close the bathroom door. But Jared shot down that idea saying it wasn't cool to let him go into our yard or the neighbor's yard. I really wasn't into the idea of the rat losing his life :(

Then we remembered I needed to go pick up Jared's parents and decided to make it Grandpa's problem, heheh. He was happy to help and...well, I'll spare you the details. It wasn't awful but I'll definitely say I've cringed a bit every time I've lifted the toilet lid since then. By the way, we have a really heavy ceramic lid out here - a plastic one wouldn't have held him in and then you know, I would have had a totally different scenario on my hands - yikes!

So anyway, keep your toilet lids closed - this could happen to you too!

You're welcome :o)

hugs, Devon

Long overdue but look my Nikon's back!

2011-02-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

I have a few free minutes so I figure I may as well post something. I have no idea how long it's been (whoops!) but it feels like quite a while.

So much going on these days...first thing to report is that my awesome camera lens is back - yes! I'm so happy and inspired by my camera again. I have only great things to say about the camera shop that helped me out. International Camera Technicians in Mt. View. A very sweet German man and his son who run an old school shop. He ended up sending my lens out to Nikon with a note saying "Rush! Baby due in March and needs camera ASAP!" I didn't tell him to do this at all of course but it sure made me smile when I saw it on the receipt. Pricing was fair, service was awesome - can't ask for more.

The trees are popping out all sorts of blooms around here. We have some major chill and rain on the way again but Spring is 'round the corner. Such a relief to me...I'm hoping for lots of outside time once our little babe is here. Bird'll be happier, I'll be happier, hopefully baby will be happy. I've been wondering what he's going to be like. How I'll cope if things are totally different than expected. Mourning a little bit my last days of having Bird as my only child. That might sound strange but I bet most parents go through this.

I technically have to get to THIS FRIDAY to be able to have the baby at home (37wks). I've been really taking it easy. Then I plan to get back to my regular self as much as possible (heavy lifting, busy busy, etc.). Last week we all went through some version of the stomach flu and it was terrible. Really. Terrible. I got sick Tuesday night and although I only threw up a couple of times my stomach was in pain for a few days. This for some reason caused me to be in a near constant contraction. It was so uncomfortable. Thankfully it was done by Friday and I'm also thankful it's only the second time in my life I've ever had some kind of stomach flu. At this point in my pregnancy it's like I have no immune system (!). I'm ready ready ready for a change. Even if that means sleepless nights ;o)

My days have been full of Bird of course...playing (a little slower than normal) and entertaining and teaching. I found her a trike off Craig's List and she loves it, although is totally frustrated by it too. Ah, new skills to tackle.

I've also been in deep clean/organizing mode in the studio. I've just been chucking stuff that I don't need anymore - no mercy! And going to town with a label maker, haha. I've been learning what I enjoy organizing (paints & sewing supplies) and what's a total drag (papers).

I'd love to have this place all picked up and set in order before baby arrives. I'd love to be able to come out here and say "oh, that's what I was working on" and get back into it, rather than come out here and frown at the piles of things I need to mail out, take to the basement, file away or sort. Currently on my list to complete is a simple quilt for baby. But I'm making myself wait till every thing else is done - a reward of sorts.

Below are a couple shots of some of my ceramic work :o) They aren't fired or glazed yet. And it's been near impossible to get over to the clay studio to take my last load of stuff (house #'s for a friend and a big platter I rolled from the last of my bag of clay). It's kind of an odd process to me. Clay work seems to take forever...you make something from wet clay, wait till it's at a certain state of dryness before you can do additional things to it, bisque fire it, then glaze it, then finally fire it again. When you're doing this on someone else's time table it can take a really long time. But I'm totally thrilled to have taken the class - ceramics are SO fun and I've loved being able to apply myself in a different medium.

Now to tackle another pile of papers!

Happy day to you - hugs, Devon :o)

Remodel, renew, refresh, then rest

2011-02-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Hipstamatic pic of the "coffee cup shelf" and glass knob hook in new laundry room

Mentally & physically exhausted here...we've been determinedly working away on the house in preparation for a home appraisal today (which will determine a value for our home & thus determine if we can refinance). Combined with the "nesting" nuttiness I already have, I've been in Jared's words a "tasmanian devil". Now that the inspection is done I've fallen in a bit of a heap. Sucking down my afternoon life blood of English Breakfast tea and chocolate chips/walnuts has helped but mostly I can't wait to veg on the sofa tonight and do nothing.

Just last night I painted our bedroom trim, painted touch ups for the hallway, painted the back door and areas of trim throughout the kitchen, stripped the porch french door of its protective film and razor bladed the dry paint from 2 days ago, then helped Jared cart out dry wall chunks from the wall he was demo'ing in the laundry room (future) bathroom. Then swept up the gazillion rocks Bird decorated the back patio with (while I was painting the french door...) and did general clean up throughout the house. And that was after making dinner & getting Bird fed and with Jared getting home an hour later than usual. Insert long sigh here. In the days before I also (finally) painted the (unfortunate) feature wall in our LR to match the rest of the room. And I should probably note that our laundry room is done (!!) - except for soft goods like a panel of fabric next to the washer/dryer and curtains. It looks amazing & it's super functional. I included just one tiny picture above - no Nikon yet - so just an iphone hipstamatic image for now.

Little painter

The weather has been crazy phenomenal here. I'm so sorry for all of you living in the winter freeze from hell. I got my fill in Montana over the week we were there for Christmas. I'm a Panama girl through and through - and start to wilt w/o soaks in the sun. Today Bird ran outside in just a shirt and diaper and laid on the deck in true sun worshipper style. Hilarious. Needless to say, we're spending lots of time playing outside :o)

Now to get my head back into the things I was working on previously - what were those things anyway??

Hugs, Devon

A Stuffy Gorgeous Afternoon

2011-01-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

Losing the battle to my second cold in 3 weeks (what??). Not happy about it. But I'm continuing on with my "can't take anything" (as in, no hard core cold medicine) regimen of neti pot with salt water, airborne, and oscillococcinum. It does seem to be helping me at least feel human and functional.

Bird is napping...only because I got wise about using a baby gate. This is one of those days she wasn't into the nap idea but I was really into it. Thank you baby gate. And thank you to Bird for being so sweet & playing for a bit and then getting yourself into bed and covering yourself with the duvet and the blanket. Left me with nothing to do but get myself some hot tea & prepare for the afternoon ahead.

We're meeting with a mortgage broker today to see about refinancing...big stuff. Please cross your fingers, say a prayer that we're able to accomplish this. It really is about taking care of our future selves. Which is hard to do (meaning you make sacrifices here & now in the present) but will make life easier later on. It's the responsible thing to do - wow, J and I are so grown up now ;o)

In other news...my clay class is over but I have a gazillion projects left to complete. Here are the house numbers I'm working on for our place.

Hand carved stoneware clay forming into house numbers

And in what I think is even bigger news (since I'm hardwired to the sun) it's been freaking gorgeous here!! Talk about a mood lifter :o) Sending sunshine to everyone!!

Hugs, Devon

ps - yes, that's an iphone picture above...still no fixed Nikon.

Worker bees

2011-01-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

Tuesday morning here...feels like Monday because we were off yesterday with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. I admit we didn't do anything to serve the public & honor Dr. King. We were working our tails off on the laundry room (well, Jared was mostly). Saturday we got all the drywall installed, Sunday we flubbed around a bit (chilly foggy wet weather wasn't very inspiring) but then Jared got a late afternoon jump on the window & door trims and got a good head of steam. And Monday was a biggie day - Bird and I played together most of the day while Jared pounded away at all the beadboard & trim installation. It's a small space - tiny. But it's FULL of trim - 3 windows & 3 doors worth. And being an old porch with a sloping ceiling and parts of the exterior house shape and stucco defining the interior space, it had plenty of tricky cuts. I spent a bit of time at Lowe's Saturday night trying to find a contour gauge tool (their website said they had 4 in stock...) with no luck. Eventually we found one at another store on Sunday. It's basically a row of pins set into a metal bar - you push it against a shape (a curving wall, etc.) in order to get the negative space. Very handy tool!

Now it's my turn in the space. I'm essentially the "finisher" in the family. The room requires an obscene amount of patching & caulking before I can get going on the priming & painting. Luckily, I love this kind of work. It's annoying wearing a respirator & gloves (caulk is pretty nasty stuff) but it's so satisfying seeing an old beat up piece of wood blend seamlessly into the room with a little TLC (we used a mix of old & new wood for the project & it's a lovely combination - the old wood came from our former tiny closet).

In other news...I'll hopefully have my camera back soon. I dropped my nikkor lens off at a nifty little camera shop yesterday. A older German man (and his son too maybe?) run this gem of a shop & I've heard the best things about them. Hoping they work some magic on my sad lens. I miss it.

I'm 31 weeks pregnant! Starting to feel like it too. I have braxton-hicks contractions OFTEN and have definitely had a tougher time keeping up with everything with a 2.5yo to tend to. I'm really trying to cut back on how much I carry Bird (which is a lot) and letting Jared walk Phylo as much as possible. It seems getting out for a walk by myself is near impossible (it's still dark out so early & we're just so busy).

I've been keeping at it with my sketch book and putting together textile designs. One of my goals this year is to make art every day. Be it a tiny scribble or a big chunk of time in the studio it all accumulates into progress & keeping the gears moving. It's been totally fun to have the last few weeks delving into ceramics as well & I can't wait to share some pics (just need the camera...). One thing I'm working on in studio today is a set of house numbers for us. I'm super excited about them!

Have a lovely day all! I'm going to get a bit more painting in (via Photoshop) for my last hour of babysitting time. First, I have to share a painting Bird did the other day (below). I dripped bits of concentrated watercolor on the page where she directed and then she went to town. I just love it! :o)

Hugs, Devon

Bird's artwork - ink & paint, 1/2011

Travel sketchies

2011-01-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to some coloring today. It's something I love doing - taking quick sketchbook renderings and giving them a shot of color using my tablet & computer. From this point it's easier for me to tell if something has potential for a textile design too. I'm a little smitten with each one for different reasons - in general the color palettes are making me happy which is the bit of inspiration needed to keep going with a design.

Happy weekending to you! :o)

hugs, Devon

Airplane doodling

Doodle from airplane window

Doodle of an airplane :)

Changes

2011-01-04T22:46:00.000-08:00

I made some to the blog.

It's not perfect but I really needed something different.

Working on goals for the year. Not as many as the 19 I had two years ago but still some good ones.

My nikon needs servicing- I'm not as into posting w/o having pictures to go along with the words.

I dug out my old canon powershot from years ago. Bird had fun with it after nap. Hoping it'll keep the blog going while the nikon's being fixed.

Pregnancy: I'm about 8 weeks from when I had Bird (she was 2.5 weeks early) & I've just started getting that anxious feeling. Is that nesting?

I think the baby (boy) has a name :o) !!

We got our washer & dryer back in and the new laundry floor looks amazing. It was worth all the trouble.

Been staying up way too late these days (vacation mode still on) - Nighty 'night!

hugs, Devon

Year end transformations

2010-12-30T09:23:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

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

Hugs, Devon

Excavating Treasures Event Tonight

2010-11-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

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

2010-11-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

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...!!

2010-10-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-11T10:08:00.001-07:00

DSC_0038, originally uploaded by kleja.

In the giant pumpkin

2010-10-11T10:07:00.001-07:00

DSC_0047, originally uploaded by kleja.

Tomatoes & Strawberries

2010-10-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

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

What I've been up to :: Round Two!

2010-08-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

Our Bird is going to be a big sister!

It's been so difficult to hold back with the fun news...mostly because it hasn't been much of a party & I wanted to be able to complain to all of you about the nausea & exhaustion ;o) I don't remember my pregnancy with Bird taking this much of a toll physically but I also didn't have a toddler around before to sap my strength and desire to go above and beyond what I feel up to doing.

So, I'm totally behind where I wanted to be with work on designing and printing fabrics, but with my limbs having grown into the sofa the past few weeks I can say it's been impossible to spend hours in the studio during nap & bedtimes. I'm (YAY!) starting to feel a little better - coming out of the queasy fog - and it's good timing. I have my SIL ready for fabrics from me for her custom purse line, I have a big sale in November that I would love to fill with lovely goods made from my own very fabrics as well, and I'm still enthused & inspired from my weekend with Heather and definitely ready to take it all on and start stocking my shop.

The clock is ticking...this baby is due early March (and if anything like Bird, it will probably be February). We're psyched to be adding to our family and giving Bird a sibling (her ultimate dream it seems). Besides my textile design work there's no shortage of projects we'd like to cross off the list in the next few months. We've already completed a few - some minor, some more boastable - finishing trim & painting out Bird's closet, total basement overhaul, getting our bathroom door to close (finally). This weekend we're taking advantage of the extra day and going for a twofer - replacing basement doors & sanding/sealing backyard deck. I'll be ready to put my feet up by the end of the weekend I'm sure.

Cheers to a new baby! And to new challenges & opportunities to grow.
Hugs, Devon :o)

Sewing: Phylo gets a new collar

2010-08-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

It's not easy to photograph a wiggly GSP who'd much rather be hunting mice who have been hiding in the garden (you should see the hole Phylo dug by the garage...), much less with a wide angle lens I have to hold inches from his face (counting the days till I have my Nikon kit lens back...SO over the wide angle). But here he is in his fresh new collar!

The collar was originally from Annie's Sweat Shop on etsy - super cute, got it 3 years ago and it's been through the wash a million times, plus lived the GSP life. It was dangling by threads about a week ago. So I ordered cotton webbing, perused my fabric stash for durable fabric that would complement Phylo's lovely brown spotted white fur, and studied his old collar.

The sewing part was really easy actually. I drew myself little sketches to remember which way to loop the fabric through the parts & then (just like with a painting or any other project) proceeded carefully with each step. The final touch is a "silent tag"...attached to the collar using grommets (first punching little holes for the grommets with an awl). I love it! And it's adorable on our boy. The fabric is by Etsuko Furuya and is a linen/cotton blend, nice and sturdy. I actually used a more lightweight webbing for the interfacing because my sewing machine frankly can't handle any more than that - and it barely handled this project. I got at least two "safety warnings" as I slowly prodded the needle through all those layers.

Now to keep him from digging holes and getting his new collar all filthy!
Hugs, Devon
:o)

ps: This is what not napping looked like yesterday - Bird helped me construct an ikea shelf. We had a really great time - my girl loves tools!!

And back home

2010-08-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

We're home from sunny HOT texas...happy to be getting back into some form of routine. & do I ever need a dedicated work day. My brain is popping with ideas & I'm working on a couple of projects using my Spoonflower printed fabric. Can't wait to get on it & share with you.

Have a lovely day!!

hugs, Devon

My weekend with Heather Ross, textile design, & Portland

2010-07-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

My pattern, "Strawberry & Tomato Patch" from the Heather Ross textile design workshop

I can't believe it's Thursday already...this time last week I was packing my suitcase for Portland and absolutely giddy about what could be ahead. Today I'm desperately trying to get this written while packing for another trip - this time to see J's family in Texas, aka the Mohave.

Long story short...it was a really special and amazing time!! Meeting Heather Ross (well, I actually met her last year at Hart's in Santa Cruz and chatted with her twin sister for awhile - not knowing till this trip that it was actually her twin, haha) was so FUN and she really is so great. For me, getting into this class was a dream come true and I didn't take it for granted - believe me that my rear end still hurts from those computer chairs ;)

Day 1 Heather started us out with introductions and then we jumped right into drawing, all squeezed around two ikea tables pushed together, elbow to elbow. It was challenging for some...I admit I love any reason to draw & didn't mind the exercise. I drew little houses, a sea turtle (ripple on the brain), a girl in the rain, a whistle (you can see I really embrace randomness), and then ended up spending a bulk of time (20min) on tiny tomatoes & strawberries.

We picked our favorite sketch then proceeded to make copies of it and move around the pieces, composing patterns. At this point several of us were a little hesitant to commit to using our half thought out morning scribbles for our workshop's feature pattern. But I went with it, adding a little sketched out Bird to the mix - you know, the ultimate strawberry & tomato eater - of course! ("shawbees and matos" as she would say).

By the end of the day we had our sketches scanned and some of us were already up and running on the computer, coloring away in Photoshop. I was looking over my pile of copies thinking of what in the world I was going to do with the mess. But oh! it was 4pm and time to head out for eats. Portland doesn't disappoint. We all thought it was cheap to eat there. And that there is no shortage of mac & cheese.

That evening was also Heather's public talk at PNCA...it was really enjoyable, & funny, & very candid :o) She is working on several new & exciting things - wallpaper, children's books, her own book with printable designs! Such an inspiration.

I have to say that Portland is a ridiculously walkable city. And clean too - noticed that right away. All those responsible Portlanders putting their recyclables in the readily available dispensers all over the place. And the bikes! It's truly a cyclist's meca.

I got coffee from many (many, many) different places but my favorite cup - a latte - came from Stumptown which was connected to the Ace Hotel where I stayed. The bathrobes they provided were really cute & comfy - so much so apparently Heather bought one to take home :o) Great souvenir! (click on the Heather link above to see her post on the weekend)

This was the cave, I mean classroom, at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) that we did all of our work in. Heather went over her basic set up for working on fabric & it included: iMac, wacom tablet with stylus, color wheel, sketchpad, coffee, and a posable model for when drawing people. I think there were a few other things - oh yes, a scanner for sure. And probably a printer (we got to use the incredibly nice, large format printers - gorgeous!).

Day 2 we got to work with our computers & tablets! Heather went over how to use the stylus (and emphasized ergonomics which I really appreciated) and started us off in Photoshop using channels to lay out our patterns (instead of using layers). It was so liberating to break free from layers!! I have been trying to figure it out for a while (longer than I'd like to admit) and just couldn't get myself past a point of frustration or a long enough naptime (from Bird) to do it. It really isn't so difficult but it is a different way of looking at things - and it makes a lot of sense once you get started. I probably cut my drawing/coloring time in half using channels instead of layers. That's remarkable.

The day was an absolute blur...just being pasted to my chair and drawing in Photoshop...tomatoes & strawberries, tomatoes & strawberries. The best part of the day was figuring out how to get out of the city and go swimming (picture below). Sometimes there are just things that round out your time in a place perfectly & that's what our evening outing to Sauvie Island did (& only 20 min away!). I came back with just one mosquito bite...it could have been lots worse. The water was so refreshing and you know, it sure beat staring at a computer screen. Later on we went to a cute restaurant, Ping, and had chinese food (with a thai twist).

Heather (these shots are taken using the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone)

Adorable new friends, Jamie & Vera (Eliza not pictured but she was there too)

Day 3 was crunch time.

I was still (hand slap) working on my artwork instead of getting it into a pattern & ready to print. And my flight was soon after class was ending. So it was a bit of madness. I raced like crazy to color in every last tomato and strawberry and my little berry patch raider and then spent lunchtime running back to the Ace (in heels no less) to get my suitcase, grab and eat lunch and tea (while running in the heels & pulling the suitcase), then back to the computer. Heather was really helpful with suggestions for layout and color ways, as well as suggesting an inspiration to consider when planning out my patterns (Josef Frank, who I already am mad about).

By 2:30 most of us were printing out our patterns on glossy 13 X 19" paper and the excitement level was high. People were rushing in with gorgeous printed patterns that they had designed from start to finish from just Friday morning - it was a really cool thing.

Then it was on to quickly burning files, getting group pics, saying good byes, buying mailing tubes from Office Depot, catching a cab to the airport, an hour + plane ride, having my awesome neighbor pick me up, and arriving home to see Jared (and not Bird as she was sleeping). Then crashing for the night (and really not having any energy till probably Wednesday)!

Our group of ladies, and "Quilt Dad"

Going over our work

My roommates and buddies for the weekend, Eliza & Jamie

Jamie, Heather, & me :o)

Post-swim at Sauvie Island

Hope you enjoyed the re-cap!

And hopefully soon I'll have printed fabric to show you...we are getting a credit from Spoonflower for printing what we made in class. Yay! I have some tweaking to do on my pattern - with color and pattern balancing - and then it's destined for linen I think. Not sure yet what I should make with it. Ideas? And should I put yardage or fat quarters in my shop?

I'm off to throw the rest of whatever clothes I'll need for 100+ degree weather into a suitcase and cook up dinner. We have farmfresh squash, tomatoes, green beans, and kale...think it's time for a summer pasta toss (with prosciutto, yum!).

Have a lovely weekend all :o)

hugs, Devon

ps: more photos at the Fabric Design with Heather Ross flickr group

Birthday weekend & days till Portland!!

2010-07-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

We crammed last Friday & Saturday with so much fun stuff that by Sunday we didn't want to get out of bed (but of course, we were summoned!).

Here are pics from Mitchell Cove Beach in Santa Cruz. It's an excellent dog beach in that I believe it's actually a legit one (beats having to scan for rangers all the time). And it's long and wide and, you know, beachy, which we love :o) We hit it up for the morning & Phylo had the best time. Bird loved the (cold) water but would climb us when the waves rolled up the shore.

Then delicious eats at Emily's Bakery (breakfast burritos are VERY worth your while) followed by playground time at De LaVeaga Park and then some frisbee golf at the De LaVeaga Disc Golf Course. It's an amazing course for any of you interested in throwing discs! You feel like you're on top of a mountain overlooking the ocean (which you sort of are) and it's spaced out enough you're not having to yell "fore!" all the time.

So...just 3 days till I leave for Portland and Heather's class - I'm so stinking excited!!

And tonight is noteworthy too! I'm going to be at Kaleid Gallery's Two Buck Tuesday event as a featured sketch artist. I'll be sitting a table drawing for the evening as the other entertainment (speakers, other sketch artists, performers, etc.) do their thing. It's free and open to the public. Come purchase affordable artwork from fabulous local artists! (I'm not sure exactly what is $2 per se, but I'm sure something is - most other works are under $50 I believe and I'll be selling prints for $10 and possibly some original stuff).

Please come say hello!!
88 S. 4th St., San Jose
Tuesday, July 20th, 7-10pm
www.kaleidgallery.com

Hugs, Devon

32 - thirty-two - thurteetoo

2010-07-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Turned 32 today. As my friend Mel of Ask Miss Mommy said, birthdays aren't quite the same with kids (young kids) but Bird took it easy on me today and was pretty sweet (except for getting up at 5:40am). We didn't do too much...long walk with Phylo, a bike ride to a different playground, just hanging out mostly - refreshing compared to our very structured & busy last couple of weeks. And tonight we went out for Pizza Antica followed by ice cream cones for all :o) It was messy fun. And highly entertaining as there was a live salsa band playing and my girl can't help herself when it comes to a catchy beat. She was shaking & swinging & stepping and never dropped her ice cream cone (of course!). We got lots of laughs and comments as you can imagine.

Did you see that pretty lady up there? That's my new bike, an Electra Gigi! It was my (early) birthday present & I very much heart her. That's an ibert child seat attached. Bird and I really get around with this rig & it's such a laid back cushy ride. It's even sweeter that it's named Gigi, which is what Bird calls my mom :o)

I took the photo using my iPhone and the Hipstamatic app - it's so fun! I heard about the app from the lovely Miz Booshay contributor on the Pioneer Woman blog. Here are other shots from the day using my phone:

Have a great weekend!

hugs, Devon

Side project: Geeky cool bamboo phone case

2010-07-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days (or nap times, rather) I've worked on an iPhone case design for Jared's spiffy new phone (which he really digs even with that one issue - dang it, 'nother dropped call). He found a company named Grove Made through one of his favorite online haunts (gizmodo). They take solid blocks of bamboo and shape them into cases, then laser engrave artwork onto the backs. They have really fantastic selections of current amazing artists' works but you can also upload whatever design you want using their template.

Jared hemmed and hawed plenty about the design - to the point where I was a little exasperated, I admit it. Most of my work just isn't his style. He loves my work, thinks it's fabulous, is totally supportive, but is not so into the idea of sporting illustrated owls or sketched California wildflowers you know? He finally found some more "manly" or maybe "geeky" ;o) ideas in the gears and mechanics of clockwork. In fact, he said it may be a hobby he'd be interested in at some point. This made me laugh - I can only imagine little old men bent over old garage work tables building the innards of clocks. But Jared is a mechanical kind of guy and loves to figure out how things work so maybe it's not so surprising. I still think he'd rather play frisbee golf.

Check out the site: http://www.grovemade.com/ - all hand made in Portland, Oregon! That's where I'll be in about a week!! :o) :o)

Hope you're all staying cool...I'm writing this from our deck outside, under an umbrella, in 87 degrees which feels marvelous. No complaints here.

hugs, Devon

New Fabric Patterns: Bunny Sunday & Nancy Flora

2010-07-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of the Summer I've been in a different work mode. No more murals. No more side jobs. No more plushes. Etc., etc., etc. It was a difficult, slightly squeamish decision but a good one. So what am I doing with my time (besides being with Bird full time save for a morning of babysitting 1x a week)? Well, thanks for asking! I'm finally working on fabric again. It's a wonderful exciting feeling. I'm meeting awesome fabric peeps on twitter & by visiting inspiring blogs and am trying to steep myself in the world of textile design once again. It really was a LONG time ago now that I was in school for textiles. I graduated in 2000 from RISD and it was only in my final year there that I did any textile work on the computer (using CAD for textiles) and only in my very last semester of school that I used Photoshop & Illustrator. Wow, that makes me feel kind of old :0

Flash forward to today...what isn't on the computer?? Really, the most important consideration is how much easier it is now to be a designer of textiles. I felt so stymied after school without a fancy CAD system. There was no way I could work freelance without having a space for hand screen printing fabrics (which I really wanted but never pulled off fully) or some kind of computer design support (which didn't really exist, at least not to me at that time).

Now we have amazing companies like Spoonflower (and Fabric on Demand which I haven't tried yet, as well as other companies - check out True Up's post on this topic) that enable you to easily print whatever you want to on fabric.

Last month I designed a pattern called Nancy Flora (Nancy is a city in France we fell in love with while visiting family). I definitely have some disconnect with the colors, and I feel squidgy about the pattern - it's not quite right, not balanced. It's also possible that the scale is off. But no worries, I'm moving ahead! It's so important for me right now to just KEEP GOING! There are so many distractions in my life as it is. Better to just keep being fresh, current, and inspired by a new day.

Black & white sketch

Sketch colored in Photoshop

Fat quarter of Nancy Flora, printed with Spoonflower on quilting cotton

2 printed samples of Nancy Flora, one on linen cotton canvas & the other on upholstery weight twill. There was a little oops! at the factory I believe but an understandable one - the samples were printed from two different files (with very slightly different color variations) so it's difficult to compare them based on base cloth.

I've been working on a new pattern called Bunny Sunday. This is a watercolor sketch that I scanned into the computer and then did modifications on in Photoshop.

Loving blues & peach lately

My original watercolor painting of the pattern

Bunny Sunday, in the blue & peach repeat

I'm still not sure what scale this should be...teeny tiny to match all the teeny details? Or each running bunny at 2 or 3 inches long? I'm also admittedly not satisfied with the current repeat...I think I'm just over complicating things. I may revisit. After starting a new pattern. Really - have to keep going with this momentum.

The most exciting news however (!) and definitely to feed the momentum is that I was moved from the waiting list onto the enrolled list for Heather Ross's class in Portland later in the month. It's a 3 day class focusing on exactly what I've been working on - creating textile designs using Photoshop and printing with an on-demand printer (we'll be using Spoonflower).

Pinch me!!

I feel so grateful.

Tthanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think about the new designs. If you sew/craft what would you use these fabrics for?

hugs, Devon

Strawberry U-Pick Day

2010-07-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

This evening after unsuccessfully selling Jared on designs for his iPhone case I started messing around with my blog page again (still not happy - please don't hold this look against me!). I realized there had to be a faster way to upload photos. I downloaded a program that is helping me move photos more quickly from iPhoto to flickr. And then while in "future" mode in flickr I just started grabbing the html code of pics and pasting directly into my blog page (while in "edit html" mode). It's working beautifully!! I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before...could've saved myself a bit of time. Maybe I should have asked my lovely twitter peeps for advice long ago as well - they always have the answers it seems! :o)

Anyway, since it's now so darn easy to upload pics I figured I'd share some from the Summer vault of my iPhoto stash. Here was strawberry picking & strawberry jam making from last month.

We picked (and Bird ate) tons of berries...perfectly ripe, humongous, organic, amazingly sweet.

Once home Jared separated the berries into categories: ripe and more ripe. I then used the more ripe berries for jam!

We really love Jamie Oliver's book "Jamie at Home" and the strawberry jam recipe is simple and straightforward. We took it one step further and did the whole canning process rather than leaving it fresh. That way we can enjoy jam for months.

Mashing the berries by hand is so awesome...I definitely recommend it!

The magic happening.

Rows of ruby red jam - & it tastes as good as it looks :o)

Well this was probably my quickest post ever...

Nighty night!

hugs, Devon

Strawberries & Rainbows: Bird's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-06-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

Intoxicatingly colorful photo heavy post ahead!

(many of these photos were taken by my friend Klay - klaydoughdreams.blogspot.com - thank you!!)

:o)

Bird's party was really fun - slightly chaotic with how many people were squeezed into our backyard (with half of them under the age of 5).

I had planned to make a rainbow "something" for dessert...maybe rainbow cupcakes, maybe a swirly rainbow cake. I really liked this look but thought it would be too much work. In the end because of how irresistible it was to play with color & because I goofed on my measuring I ended up making both a 6 layer rainbow cake AND rainbow cupcakes.

It was a long night.

Now, here's the fun stuff:

By the way, Bird had a great time at her party. She also had at least 3 timeouts (Jared and I lost track between the two of us and a couple that were interrupted). Since May she's been on a pushing craze...not aggressive pushing but definitely pushing. "I push" she says with matter of factness and a playful glint in her eye. It drives us nuts but seems like one of those things she just will work out of soon enough and then we'll barely remember how embarrassing it was to apologize to every kid/parent at the playground (and even at 2, she has no qualms about going after a 4 yr old, though she may choose to approach from behind - sneak attack).

Anyway, it was so enjoyable for me to exercise some creativity into Bird's birthday party - to make something beautiful & well thought out. I know I'm not the only one who appreciates these things. I was explaining that to J...it's so much more than making something pretty. To me its the same as making a painting or designing a pattern or gardening for that matter. I love the aesthetics. And if you're reading this, I bet you feel that way too!

Have a great week all...I'll be back to share what I'm working on. New pattern! With rabbits! And I got my fabric back from Spoonflower! Too much excitement! Or maybe I'm just thrilled about Bird's uber long nap this afternoon.

:o)

xo,

Ripples, felt, beetles & captured moments

2010-06-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a cheery envelope from across the pond was sitting in my mailbox. I purchased this original watercolor painting by Sarah Wimperis (for $10!!) through the Ripple site set up to support 2 non-profits working to aid in the recovery and support of wildlife in the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. I absolutely love it! I still can't believe all the generosity of so many artists who have offered up beautiful original works of art. I admire and respect them. I hope to add my own piece to Ripple this coming week. Here is the ripple site address: http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com/ - please visit, please purchase!!

Bird's 2nd birthday party is this coming Saturday...so of course I'm making tiny felt strawberries for the table. I mean, isn't that just as important as baking a cake or cleaning up the backyard?

(Here are lots of great felt strawberry ideas from How About Orange)

Oh, and that teeny orange thing is our first tomato of the season! Bird already ate it.

Happy I caught this yesterday morning. Bird likes to help Jared get his boots on before work. I think it's really sweet. Then they jump in the "fast" car together, back out, and wait for me to come with Jared's bag & lunch. Routines are always changing but this one has stuck for awhile.

Beetle painting I made for my dad. When my dad was a kid he probably would have liked insect plushes (more than the owls or whales or penguins that I make) - beetle & butterflies fascinate him. My parents' downstairs bathroom is full of mounted insects they've collected over the years. The royal blue butterflies are the most amazing (though I feel torn about them...would rather see them outside, flying around of course). Anyway, I thought he'd like this for the space and I put my own spin on it with the vibrant flowers.

Off in the mail it goes!

Hope you have a lovely Tuesday!

xo,

10 years + Father's Day + Apricot Season

2010-06-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday to you all :o) I'm home with Bird today while Jared is out enjoying a Nascar event he was invited to. I've been teasing him by saying it's "Jared's Day" instead of Father's Day. For a little while I was bummed when hearing about everyone's different plans for the day out with their families - brunch, parks, camping, etc. But we've had a nice day and I'm sincerely okay with Jared getting some time with friends getting their ears blown out by race cars on a track (hoping he remembered the earplugs...). Bird and I met up with friends for lunch & playground time, walked Phylo, and hopefully will do some gardening together (my plan at least, haha).

Yesterday Jared picked ALL of the apricots off our tree. It's something we always do with our cherry tree - harvest all at once. We're thinking it's a good way to go - rather than little by little. You get some overripe fruit, some under ripe fruit, etc. but it evens out with some being perfectly ready for jam making and some giving you more time to get to them for processing into smoothies, sauces, or just plain eating (which is best! - especially on vanilla ice cream!)

Lovely shot of our huge copper sink filled with just 2 of the 5 bags we picked.

I could eat all that color.

One thing I wasn't able to blog last week was that Jared and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on June 11th! We got married 10 years ago - pretty amazing... Of course, the day wasn't how I had pictured it being but I'm often off when it comes to imagining those sorts of things. I always think we'll have more time than we do. It's just not that time in life for us of course. Bird was a handful all day & we had no plans (because we had no babysitter). When my sweet friend Di offered to stay at our house so we could head out to celebrate we were so grateful!! It's a busy crazy time of life & I accept it. I'm just thankful for the little things & for friends who help make things better & for the time Jared and I have had so far. Looking back at our photos reminds me how much fun we've had over the last 10 years(+). Here's to many, many more!! :o)

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!

I'll be back later in the week with new drawings, paintings, and an update on fabric design.

Hugs,

Happy 5 to Phylo!

2010-06-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's a big week around here (with another big day tomorrow too) :o)

Today is our sweet boy Phylo's 5th birthday!! 5 years ago he was born on the island of Cyprus (Greek side), was found with his brother & sister by an American couple, brought over to California through the South Bay Purebred Rescue, fostered by a lovely family, then discovered by us and brought home. What a journey.

We gave him two presents this morning. A wool dog bone toy & a kong braided frog plush (great for dogs like ours who just want to rip out stuffing - this one has minimal stuffing but is still fun to chew). Phylo grabbed the wool bone and took off. Bird grabbed the frog and has refused to give it to Phylo. I think it's a little bratty, Jared didn't mind. Maybe he's happy everyone seemed content.

Phylo drives me nuts sometimes, but he is the best buddy - happy to hang out with me wherever I am. & I love rubbing that soft head and those silky ears. Bird likes putting them in her mouth :o)

xo,

TWO

2010-06-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

Our little Bird is TWO today!!!

The second year has definitely gone faster than the first - whoosh! And here is this awesome little girl who takes great fun in copying all of our mannerisms, tickling & carrying her babies in backpacks turned Ergo's (baby carrier), whose favorite color seems to be red based on how everything is "red" when I ask her "what color?", who picks roses from our backyard to carry around and smell, is sensitive & sweet to people and animals, who eats strawberries like they're a food group, adores Elmo, rocks, shoes, and being chased ("chase you? chase you?!").

Two isn't terrible...in fact, it's funny & sweet & there's always something new. Of course, there are still the tantrums (see below, and note Phylo's stance, indifferent, used to having a little girl throw herself on the floor in front of him).

Much LOVE to our Bird!

Love love love love love you :o)

xoxoxo,

Seeing (with New Eyes)

2010-06-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

When I was little I always said I had 3 wishes:

To be able to sing.

To be able to breathe underwater.

To have perfect vision.

At 13 I got my scuba certification after I came to grips that I would never become a mermaid.

I've been a part of many musicals but never for my singing ability (I can dance & therefore get hidden in with the chorus). I'm OK with that.

And yesterday I got my perfect vision wish. I'm awestruck, amazed, in disbelief - I can really see!! Words can't express how grateful I am.

And giddy :o)

Check out what I've been working on over here at Spoonflower.

More to come! Full speed ahead!

Giddy!

Have a beautiful weekend & thanks for stopping by, really.

xo,

Spring Travel, Part 2: Sarreguemines, France

2010-05-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

After getting over the worst of the jet lag we headed over to France, just an hour+ from my parent's home in Germany. Now maybe it's all in my head (because I do have quite the soft spot for France) but I could tell a difference as soon as we had crossed the border. It's like when we would go visit family in Costa Rica for Christmas and as fun and exciting as it was I always knew when we were back in Panama (besides literally crossing the border) and I would stick my head out the window to breathe in the air of home :o) Anyway, maybe it's not too that extent but France did look & feel different from Germany. The houses had shutters, there were even more gardens, the people were a bit more stylish - even at the McDonalds we stopped in for Bird to run on the playground (we didn't know where any were at that point). By the way, it was the first time I'd been in a McDonalds in years - I bet they don't serve cafe au lait at the ones here in San Jose.

We went to Sarreguemines first (I have to look up that spelling every time - sheesh) and hit the first playground we saw. It was so peaceful. No one around but us & we sat on a bench and ate our packed lunch and Bird made us laugh. My mom ("Gigi" as she's known to Bird) got her inner child on and had fun on the rocking cars. Made me happy. So happy that I did it too (actually it doesn't take much to encourage me...).

We did some thrifting in both Germany & France. At the flea market we went to in my parent's area Jared said "Wow, their crap looks just like our crap" :o) It's true really.

We had much better luck at the French thrift stores outside Sarreguemines & Forbach. It was there that Jared joked that we were cleaning out all the copper in France. It felt like it. We picked up so many pots & watering cans & planters (the molds were a present from my parents) that we had to ship back two large boxes! I love having these "treasures" scattered throughout our house & garden now. It's even sweeter that they were thrifted, yes!

Even though the thrift stores were in more industrial areas one had a lovely field next to it and we had fun picking daisies, tossing Bird, and just goofing off before having to make the trip home.

More of those fields of brilliant yellow rapeseed! Wish we had stopped, haha. I realize all my field pictures are from the car, flying by.

Thanks for joining me on this part of our trip...next up will be a German castle and some fun in the trees :o)

More pics from this leg of the trip at my flickr.

Have a lovely weekend!!

Spring Travel, Part 1: Schwedelbach, Germany

2010-05-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's our first week back from our European jaunt through Germany & France. I confess that I was terrified about the plane rides with Bird. It really wasn't so bad. It helped (quite a bit) to have my iphone along - full of photos & family videos and toddler game apps. Oh, and the jumbo sized charger as well. We scored an empty seat for Bird on BOTH flights. We were so grateful.

My parents live in Schwedelbach, Germany. It's sort of a country side village. My mom is a teacher and works on the local American military base. My dad is retired and able to pursue all the creative outlets he wants to (and there are a lot). The entire bottom floor of the house (and its a big house) is his studio and is full of paintings, clock projects, model ships and cars, various furniture projects, gardening tools and experiments, etc. - he is a tinkerer. It's been so long since I've been to their house...they usually come see us since they lived in Japan for the last 7 years (we visited just once). It was SO wonderful to see them in their own element again, surrounded by their well traveled and collective style. Every where you look there are treasures. And books - so many books.

I wish I had photographed their house more. The twelve foot long Japanese fish wind socks hanging in the stairwell. Their large eyes peering at you from the second floor, reminding me of something from a Hayao Miyazaki film. The Turkish rugs in rich reds and blues. The copper kettles, pots, pans in casually assembled collections throughout the house. What I admire is that as artfully as things are arranged, they really aren't just collections and vignettes, they're useful everyday items. My eyes had never been fresh enough before to see the artistry of my parents' home, and it was really inspiring. And it was another one of those moments where you look at your parents differently. Oh, growing up.

Bird had a great time exploring the house and getting to push her "yaya" (stroller) around their neighborhood. Just down the hill is the area's glass recycling receptacle where you drop off your glass by color. Brown, green, clear - all organized, so German. It's actually pretty fun I thought - sliding the bottles through the holes and hearing them smash at the bottom :o) Bird cringed at first then got really into it.

I got to see one of my favorite teachers from way back in junior high, as well as my former school nurse. They're at the same base my mom is now and they all love to hang out together - visiting new restaurants, taking tours, exploring. It's a really small world.

At one restaurant we walked to Bird made a new friend, Josephine, who captured Bird's interest (and taste buds) by reaching from her high chair over to Bird's with french fries (pommes frittes). One after another. It was giggly and cute. And I was just glad that Bird was eating something. Then they raced around the courtyard together and made us all laugh.

One of the most picturesque parts of this area of Europe in spring are the flowering fields of rapeseed. They're just everywhere! And the yellow! It's a true lemon yellow - acidic, bright, attention getting, soul lifting yellow. Driving from the airport in Frankfurt, down to Schwedelbach, and all over into France we were surrounded by the fields of yellow. Jared said they provided the sunshine since the real sun was too stubborn to come out for most of our time there.

More photos of Schwedelbach and beginning of our trip at my flickr.

Now it's back to work for me! Working on a new design for fabric - it's fun stuff, share soon!

Have a lovely Monday and come back soon for part 2 of our trip - forging into France & exploring the forests of Germany.

:o)

xo,

Drawing, Painting, & Granny Square Gluttony

2010-04-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

We're getting ready for a trip to Germany (and France because we'll be so close & because we simply HAVE to!) to see my parents and get a little time off from the day to day. So things are busy busy as we prepare for traveling with our not quite yet 2yr old (which means she'll be in our laps for 10 hours :dread:) and getting things shipshape at home with house sitting, pet sitting, farm share picking up, etc, etc...makes me realize how many responsibilities we carry around on a daily basis.

I've been painting - yes! Joy! And working on a project specifically for my sister in law who makes custom purses. It's very exciting and I'll share more as it develops.

I've been so inspired by SPRING. Maybe because it's been dragging its feet 'round these parts. Maybe because I'm just a total sun worshipper and I can't help myself.

I've been so happy to sit at my work table with my pencil & watercolors and float colors across awesome heavy paper and make the images from my head pop into real illustrations.

It's like a big drink of water when you're thirsty.

Bird's long afternoon naps have been a huge blessing (we're still trading Peter for Paul though as she's been going to bed late & occasionally getting up at night, but 's okay).

It's especially sweet to see Bird taking an interest in painting too! Her favorite kind so far is coating the deck, adirondack chairs, garden beds, and our dog Phylo with a water soaked paintbrush. I give her a big fat one that holds a ton of water and she's thrilled. Too fun.

When my MIL was here a few weeks ago she renewed my love of the granny square, heh heh. They're SO addictive!! I figured it out that if I were to crochet one every night for the next 187 days I'd have a decent sized blanket. That thought made me feel like it was a deadline or something and I stopped crocheting for a few nights.

Happy Monday to you and hope your week is wonderful!

:o) :o)

Waving at you as I'm skipping by

2010-04-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's been an incredibly busy month, though it's hard to sum up what all I've been doing - just lots of stuff...work/life/dreams. I've got cute pictures to share...Bird is 22mths and quite my little buddy these days :o) I'll be back soon with new illustrations to show you (oh yea, that's one thing I've been working on!).

Happy busy, exciting, Spring-popping-out-all-over-the-place April to you!

xo,

Big Floorcloth :: Tiny Papercut

2010-03-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

After planning, researching, measuring, cutting, applying gesso, designing & painting, hunting down the right (zero VOC) polyurethane, applying said polyurethane, then applying more polyurethane, then still more...the floorcloth is finally finished!!

The process was really fun and it's very rewarding to now have a floor covering in our dining room that is beautiful & durable, and that I made myself. It's also pretty sweet that unlike a regular rug I can simply wipe off the gunk that Bird spills on it throughout the day.

I wish I had had a larger piece of canvas to start with. I used my largest remnant but it still only got me 7' diameter. Sounds big, but now that it's under the table it seems smallish. No biggie. Someday we plan to make a larger top for the table (and I'd love to paint the whole table white...yes, really, Jared would be quite unhappy with me...) but till then I think it works just fine. Maybe in the future I'll find another spot for it...it's always fun to move things around.

Thanks for coming along the floorcloth making journey with me! It feels so great to accomplish these kinds of projects. I have to remind myself that even if I don't have tons of time, if I just apply myself in short spurts and chip away eventually things will get finished. And that's a real boost for the next thing in mind.

On that note...

I made my first papercut! I love Elsa Mora's work and she is such an inspiration. She is amazing at whatever she touches it seems, and one of the things I appreciate is how many mediums she works in & types of artwork she creates with. It's always apparent that it's Elsita's work...whether drawing, painting, jewelry, collage, or papercutting! She even created a separate blog from her original blog devoted just to the art of papercutting. And we have a print of one of her papercuts in our office. They're gorgeous...you can find them in her shop.

My mom's birthday is today (happy birthday!!!) and I wanted to make her a special piece of art she could have on her desk at school (my mom is a teacher) or on the wall at home. I really wanted to try papercutting so I created this piece with a bird in a honeysuckle vine. The process was totally different than working on a floorcloth and it was refreshing to go from something very large to something small and precise. It was a little unnerving to make the tiniest of cuts and I did have one oops! but it's very difficult to find (please don't look too closely, haha).

After cutting it out with a curved x-acto blade, I used a tiny awl point to make the round holes in the flower blossom and the bird's eye. Then I applied adhesive to the back (I used a ballpoint-tip glue pen) and mounted it to a bright spring blue paper (an intense robin's egg blue almost) and put it into a thrifted frame (I'm always on the hunt for frames). The papercut is cut from a heavy & beautifully textured watercolor paper. It's yummy.

Now to send it off to my mom in Germany where Spring and the birds are starting to make their way out and saying goodbye to Winter. Hope she likes it :o)

Have a lovely day!

Floorcloth update: polyurethane found!!

2010-03-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

I've been kind of stumped with my floorcloth...(not just because we currently have company staying in my studio this week) because I haven't wanted to toss on 5+ coats of regular old polyurethane or polycrylic after painting it with zero VOC paints. I mean how silly would that be?

So I started hunting down zero or low VOC polyurethanes and I tell ya, there aren't a lot of them. First I found this one by Safecoat whose paints I've used and really like, but at $88/gallon I couldn't pull the trigger.

Then I found a product by Ecoprocote called Poly-Soy...$45/gallon (still pricey, but with 400-500 sf of coverage we should be able to use it for many things around here). I like what I read about it - ultra-low VOC, self-leveling, protects and adheres to practically everything, and is virtually odorless. Oh, and it comes in a satin finish. Sold! It's on its way.

The back of the floorcloth is another story...traditional rug pads are gross (just sayin'). I had thought of piecing together bits of non-skid shelf liner but that's kind of cheesy (plus it would take a LOT of it to cover a 7' diameter area), and so that's leading me toward the idea of adhering a fabric to the back. Just gluing it on. I need to think more on that one, but at least I can visualize it, and I definitely have enough fabric for it. And non-skid isn't really an issue since it will be anchored by our heavy wood table.

And then I'll have to address the edges at some point. To be honest I keep trying to wave off the critique that a round canvas floor cloth isn't a good idea because it will fray so it's better to stick to an octagon. Phooey! I really want a true circle. I may end up either hand-applying glue to the edge (like fray-stop for quilting fabrics but more durable glue in this case...or maybe I really will use fray-stop, hmm). Or I'm going to adhere bias tape. Seriously. I just might do that. Why the heck not.

Allright...enough rambling with no photos to show for it :o) That just makes me feel weird.

Time to figure out the rest of this wet, soggy, and hail-filled (yes, hail!) day. My inner Panama girl is threatening to jump on a plane about now.

xo,