Life in Color Photo – Page 105 – Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.

The reason I haven’t blogged:

Our internet was all over the map yesterday, but mostly off. Turns out we needed a new wire from the main wire/cable thing. I don’t really understand it but he monstrosity of a tree that is across the street was ruining our cable. Side note: this tree across the street is so insanity. It is super old and super big and takes up my neighbor’s whole yard. It’s messed up the sidewalk and every storm the whole block holds its breath. The city says, we have no proof it’s doing anything to anyone, so the tree stays (I don’t know how it is everywhere else, but here you can’t just cut down trees for no reason, at least not big old ones). I love trees, but this has to be one of the ugliest ever and I feel really bad for my neighbors because their house is going to take a big hit someday. Anyway. So the lack of internet/down time of USPS click and ship made getting out all my packages a freaking nightmare. So that’s all done now and on to the fun happenings.

V came to visit us this weekend, with her lovely parents of course. I took them to the Gilbert House and the Salem Riverfront Carousal. She is almost ready to join in on the fun. Right now though, she’s mostly observing:

I can almost hear her brain working, "what is Bj doing, hmm…." It’s so so so cute. I’m going to have to make her more cute things to wear for her cuteness, so so cute. Too cute? I think not. I’ve gotten a few more patterns from eBay and I put them up on my flickr page. I also got a few more Foster Art books for my collection and some old knitting books:

I’m going to frame a bunch of the foster books, I have one pinned to

And some really weird ones:

I mean I see how it would be nice and cozy, but to me it looks like a creepy baby bank robbing outfit. Speaking of knitting I have been doing some of that as well:

that was blocking, this is seaming:

Looking at me sewing in my ends as I go, do I get a gold star? In other exciting news I got my typewriter back from the repair guy:

It’s an old Remington and when my husband went to pick it up the repair guy told him to tell his wife that I have a valuable typewriter. He had never seen this color before so he looked it up and sent Bj home with a printout of this webpage. Sweet! I finally found out how old it is (c.1928) and that it’s worth more than the $30 or so I paid for it years ago. The only thing is that mine has a slight dent in the back. Remember when I lived in the loft bedroom in Corvallis? My roommates were always telling me I shouldn’t stick thing on the ledge. I didn’t really listen. I always had papers up there and things, but nothing major. Then one day I stuck this thing on the ledge. Stupid, stupid. It fell literally minuets after Bj walked underneath it, it’s so heavy it could have seriously hurt him. Luckily it only hurt itself, and now it’s all straighted out. I think I need to reintroduce it to my scrapbook pages. I am signed up for the Big Picture Scrapbooking class, A Library of Memories. Is anyone else out there taking the class? I am super excited, just got a yummy welcome packet in the mail today.

So that’s the wrap up, hope you are all doing fabulous!

It’s Snowing

Okay it’s not really snowing, but that is the theme for this month’s limited edition jar:

I decided to make up 50 jars, instead of my normal run of 20, because I got so many complaints about how hard they were to get. I hope this makes things easier. I’m just about to release them right here. Also head’s up, I have a fully stocked sale section. Yum, yum.

The Quilt as Art

I had to return my library books today, and among them was a huge anthology of Gee’s Bend Quilts. Since the book is no longer in print I thought I would scan in some of my favorites and give you a little inspiration for whatever crafty thing you are doing today. I recommend learning more about them, as these quilts were made by truly amazing women under extraordinary circumstances.

Also from old clothes. If this looks familiar it was one of the quilts choosen for the Gee’s Bend Quilt stamps the post office put out last year (I used them for my save the date cards).

Being so isolated they came up with really interesting takes on traditional patterns, like the log cabin.

So many quilts have a great patina because the fabric was all used before as a garment.

Maybe my favorite?

If you look closely (or click on it for a bigger version) you’ll see the quilter cut apart those printed panel patterns that have directions and everything on the fabric, and used every piece, genius!

Even when they had only a tiny bit of brightly colored fabric, they used it just right.

Hope that gives you some great inspiration for today. I know that many designers site Gee’s Bend as their inspiration for modern sewing/crafting, now you can too!

Speed

The day after the day after Christmas Bj decided to be very pro-active about our returns (we so sucked when it came to getting each other gifts this year, but that’s another story), and went on a late night "get something better back" spree. This adventure took him to Borders, and unlike me who would have just got myself a bunch of stuff from my wish list, he actually called me to see what I would like. He said, "hey they are having a sale on DVDs and I’m looking at Speed, what do you think?" What did I think?!?! Get it man! I have very fond memories of Speed. Ah Keanu, how I loved thee. And he is so so hot in this movie:

It was the first rated R movie I ever saw. I really didn’t have any desire to see one, just like I had no desire to drink before I was 21, because I’m such a goody two shoes, oh wait, or maybe just a big wimp, either way…. I watched the movie four times before I actually saw the very first part (and even tonight I watched it with my head covered in a quilt in Bj’s lap). I believe I joined in somewhere around, "Jesus. Bob, what button did you push?" Brent (my YOUNGER brother) finally convinced me not to be scared. I hadn’t seen the movie in a while but boy did I have fun tonight, it was like an old friend. I wore that VHS out, my old dog Edward got a hold of the case for it and bit right into Keanu’s head. I was so pissed I walked up and down the stairs (where the destruction took place) picking up tiny bits of paper and taping the thing back together. Hahahaha. Now all I need to do is rent A Walk in the Clouds, no wait, Point Break, LOL. Don’t worry that obsession died with my adolesense, I’ve never even seen all the Matrix movies.

Well enough about that. I worked on this all the while:

Could you just eat that? It actually made me crave peeps it was so pretty so I had to dig out my Peeps Christmas Trees and down a pack (I was all over healthy eating today wasn’t I?). Sciarrino your Christmas yarn is hanging in my shower drying so come over tonight and get it!

I also have to give a shout out to my mom for coming over to help me with inventory today. Counting ribbon is not as fun as you may have been lead to believe. I also really needed the sandwich and pickle you bought over (as you can see from the above food statements). Love you mom!

Oh and while getting on IMDB to hook up to all those movies I came across this. Click on that link Tracy, that’s the Complete Jane Austen on PBS, hot damn! We have some serious knitting time coming up in front of the telly I think!

Vintage Pattern Love

Thanks to the wonders of eBay and a nice little gifty from a blog reader (thanks Mrs. Beachwood!) this:

Has been making my flickr account crazy with new photos. Only they are really scans of the vintage sewing patterns that have recently come into my life. I was enamored with the results of this one when I made it for Violet.

I so love the illustrations on the patterns as well. A few of my favorites:

I love the hat, but I’ve gotten a yuck response from my mom and Michele on it. It’s also in this pattern (which I adore). Also:

So Mondrian! I want one for me!!!!

If you love Vintage patterns like me you should check out the vintage pattern pool over at flickr (and a note if you’re searching for a specific pattern make sure you include content type: art/illustration on your search settings). I’m awaiting a few more packages from eBay, and Brenda is sending me something from Australia (we’re doing a little swap, ooh I can’t wait!). So I need to hurry up and get out the last of my Christmas packages so I can get cracking on some new outfits for V!

Because I have enough craft supplies for an army…

And because going to the Scrapbook Oasis with Nora was so inspiring (yummy products + awesome layout ideas) I had to pull out the paper and glue (and brads and flowers and pictures and well you know).

I swear it’s not wonky in real life, but since I’ve sworn off trying to scan and merge two sides of a page in together I just prop up the page, take a pic, and then crop it down. Not my favorite ever, but good to get my stuff out again and play. Also playing with:

Those darn mitered squares. That lot represents total squares (like four complete quarters to make one big square). I think i need to start blocking and seaming so I can see where I’m at with this insane project. Oh and it’s sitting on this (well okay not that one, the hard back version) Gee’s Bend quilt book, which my love got me for Christmas. I’m so into Gee’s Bend right now it’s not even funny. I have this checked out from the library and will try to scan in some of my favorites soon (the book is out of print). Great inspiration for any one, those woman. And just for fun:

Please rush more time to craft!

*edited to add: The Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend is on PBS (at least in Oregon) on Tuesday at 10am. I haven’t caught the program yet, but wanted to give anyone else interested a heads up.

The Californian Sunshine… did not come out

This last week Bj and I headed south to Cali to hang out at my dad’s winter place. I was hoping to get my sun on, but the planet had other ideas and it was a bit cloudy and rainy. Not that I minded much I spent most of my time doing this:

Polo is sort of insane!

And (at least at this club) not really as fancy as Pretty Woman would have you believe. Still it was interesting, and the horses were so beautiful.

But the best time of the trip was driving over to Orange County to hang out with Nora. Emile were driven over by Bj and Brent (who then went to drool over cars in Beverly Hills), and we hung out most of the day. We went to the Art Bar, Scrapbook Oasis, an antique mall, yummy, yummy Mexican and Chinese food, it was a fantastic day. I was especially fond of the area behind the Art Bar where all these pictures where shot.

By the number sixteen. Nora and I were a little too old for this trick.

Emilie the photographer. She got a D40 for Christmas. If anyone else has one of these can you tell me where you change a lenses auto/manual focus if the lens doesn’t have the switch on it?

Nora and I were wishing we got a picture of Emilie with three dSLRs around her neck, funny! And Nora took this awesome shot of me:

I love it. I wish I would have taken my necklace off, but oh well. Still, I can get some air huh? (I think this illusion is heightened by Nora’s placement). Thanks again for a fabulous day Nora!

Christmas Crafting – the rents

I actually finished most of my Christmas gifts before Christmas, shock of all shocks. I’m going to show you the good stuff first, the parent’s gifts. Being married means joint presents! Yeah! So that basically means that Bj pays for supplies and I get to crafting. First up those quilts I gave you a taste of. I only got a finished shot of my dad and Kim’s, as the battery on my camera died when I went to visit Bj’s parent’s (that is the only problem with the Nikon battery, it’s so long lasting sometimes you forget you ever need to charge it, oops!).

Kinda of a crap picture, but I made two of these quilts from Last Minuet Patchwork and Quilted Gifts book. I freaking love that book! The things that makes these quilts really nice is a hand bound edge. All I have to say is thank god for the thimble I got back in the day. I still managed to poke myself a few times though. And…

They liked it! So did Bj’s parent’s, which is similar with different fabrics. I would say these take about 12 hours total, with 4-5 being the hand bound edge, so if you machined it, that would be one quick quilt!

My mom and Bill didn’t get a joint gift because I had started spinning her present in the fall, and we decided on Sigg bottles for the boys. I handed this off to my mom yesterday:

It’s actually a lot of yarn, enough to do a baby sweater, or a scarf and hat, or something similar. I can’t wait to see what she knits up with it. (Here’s a link to it on my Ravelry page if you’re on there). Oh and one more easy knitted thing:

This is actually for Tex, but I bought way more yarn than I thought I would need so I’m going to make a couple. If you have any Rowan Big Wool sitting around it took me about 2/3 a skein on size 17 needles. Details here on Ravelry.

Bj is having some neck issues, so we didn’t get to go to the Depot for their awesome New Year’s dinner as planned, but we did have yummy homemade dinner from one of his presents (the totally awesome Apples for Jam cookbook), lit a fire, and spun, spun, spun (well I did). Not what we planned, but that’s okay. Nothing about this year has been as planned, and I find I’m totally fine with that. Things happen, sad things, happy things, and everything in between. That’s life, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this year has to offer. I say, "bring it on!"

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s????

I need to catch you up on everything, but first, let’s take a minuet to see what Bj and I saw on our drive up to the Tri-Cities to visit his parent’s. I didn’t get the first shots of it since I had to reach for my camera, but basically it looked like the weird smoke monster from Lost. It was crazy. This sequence is about 20-30 seconds.

a cloud?

it’s birds!!!

um, what?

And it wasn’t even windy. I mean maybe a little up there, but not enough to drive the birds this nuts.

I asked Bj, "What were they doing?"

Bj, "I think they were prepping for nationals."

edited to add: Erin’s dad (a bird lover) says: "The only birds here that flock and swirl in such large numbers are Starlings (with a few Brewers Blackbirds mixed in). Not sure why they swirl in groups, but suspect a social aspect."

The Pence Family

Last night was a little get together for my dad’s side of the family at my aunt and uncles, low key, dinner and games. The thing is we get serious with our games:

I love that picture. Here we’re playing electronic catchphrase (boys versus girls). So the guys try to get the other guys to say what is on the screen, and the gals do the same thing, thus the alternate seating. My family is very loud and if you want to be heard at all you best keep up with the shouting.

(My second cousin "Reno") So yes, we’re crazy. But I love it. And I love that we yell at games and laugh at each other, and tell stories. Now it is Christmas Eve and I really am going to go finish all those gifts, swear!