End of Summer

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

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

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

Hugs, Devon

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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