Shakes your hips like battleships!

I know it's October but my head is still processing September! My birthday falls at the beginning of September and often it was the first day of school - ugh! (woe is me!). Since this is my show and tell place I gotta just tell you about some really cool presents I received from some really cool people!

I love books! The Book of Awesome was given to me by my good friend Cori... and yes, IT IS AWESOME! It talks about noticing all the little things to feel good about, for example, when you put on warm underwear straight out of the dryer. Okay, I haven't ever done that (yet!), but I do yell out "WARM LAUNDRY!" when to the kids are home. They flop on our bed like fish out of water as I dump all the warm laundry on them. Really, is there anything better than someone pouring warm laundry on you?

This book has lots of awesome things in it... like finding forgotten money in your pocket or popping bubble wrap! Here's a little tidbit, this books concept came from the author's blog! That's (say it with me) awesome!

I have to admit I'm always a little perplexed when I'm at people's houses when they don't have any bookshelves. Guess what else I received...

You guessed it, another book, The Art of Toy Story 3, from my kids. Lots of colours and inspiration! I would even say it would go under the category of AWESOME! I thought it went perfectly at home on our shelf of toys...(clearing of the throat) my toys. Thus, I can no longer complain about my husband's action figures or snow globe collection and you can see why I was particularly drawn to a movie about toys!

Now! Cue the choir, let the heavens open up and "Ahhhhh. Oooooo!" Isn't beautiful! This gift was given to me by my husband! True, I love books but I all so adore records! (I inherited my Grandfather's record collection and have been making my way through it while I work in my studio. Old grandpa had some good tunes!) This particular album is by The Dead Weather, Jack White's latest band, and is appropriately titled "Black and Blue".  It was a belated gift but but it was totally worth it the wait, there were only a limited number pressed! (in a high pitched voice) Awesome!

Which brings me around to the title of this post, best line off the album "shake your hips like battleships!"

AWESOME!

All together now: Happy birthday to...

September is a very busy month for our family. I imagine everyone is busy in September, but with school starting, many birthdays and some new projects beginning our month has been crazy busy.

Beautifully displayed (as usual!)

School is back in! Oh, how I long for the days when the kids were little and September was just another month. It's taken a while but we are all slowly getting into the swing of things.

Speaking of new projects beginning, last Thursday was the first meeting of the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild held at Quilt Essentials. It was a lovely, rainy evening of meeting new fellow sewing folk, good conversations (I especially loved hearing the different sewing methods people use: meticulous vs. the sprawlers) and there were some tasty treats too!  

Not edible but Yum!

Funny I don't mind seeing Christmas stuff (even though it's September) when it's fabric!

Some flowers to brighten the rainy evening!

A work in progress!

I didn't get a chance to take a photo of everyone's quilts but they  were photographed and posted on the FVMQG site

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us (oh and Theresa from Quilt Essentials too! She opened the store for our meeting even though it was her birthday day-Thank you!)

Out of the closet!

I love sewing and fabric. I learned from my mom at an early age. I've been hooked ever since. In fact I would even go as so far to say it was one of most important classes I took in high school (believe me trigonometry hasn't done that much for me even though I was told it was a necessity). Growing up sewing was a real"girl-y" thing to do, not at all cool like playing volleyball (my versions of what hell is) so I did it in secret. When I studied art, sewing (aka textiles) was a little more acceptable but when I studied animation luckily, I had a friend, Linda who had  the same affliction and secret as me. We used to smuggle quilting (and the odd gardening) magazine between our desks, covertly, so that no one would see, God forbid!

Lately I've started noticing all these creative and crafty  people coming out of wood work and  they are organized, loud and proud...and so they should be! None of them treat craft as something only retired "grandmas" do. Don't get me wrong, grandmas know stuff, lots of great stuff but when you're sitting in a class and you're the youngest by 20 years, you start to question if you were born in the right era.  Most of these blogging, creative women are young, fresh and inspired stay at home moms like: Lesley of Smidge box, Christine of  From an Igloo or the luvinthemommyhood blog (I never did catch her name). The last two have  recently been  sponsored by the the Plum Project (a new organic fabric store in Deep Cove).

This growing community is why I was so excited when the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild popped up. People like me- yes! Instantly I joined and via the Vancouver group I met Cynthia another creative person living, way, way, way out here in the Fraser Valley (could it be possible?). Cynthia and I became instant friends and schemers of a Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild way, way, way out here. Since then Cynthia has built a beautiful site and we are looking forward to our first meeting this month... I'll keep you posted... oh and your grandma's invited because she's cool too!

Holy Crap!

Paper titled, appropriately
for today, "Monday"

I woke up this morning after a dreary, drowsy Sunday and checked my Facebook status. Quietly my friend  Cynthia Frenette (illustrator, graphic designer extraordinaire and all around DIYer) posted that she likes Hawthorne Threads. Hmm... I click on the link AND WOW! First of all you have to understand that I love paper and fabric like nobody's business. Every time I come across Cosmo Cricket paper, I admit it, I splurge. I can't help myself. I really can't.

"Early bird elements"-Paper

So there I am totally speechless as I oogle over all the patterns and design, then I stopped breathing all together when  I realized they have Cosmo Cricket FABRIC!!! Eeek!

Will trade produce for bunny poop!

The first harvest from our garden: baby red potatoes, crisp carrots and my favourite (especially for colour) candy striped beets. I always like to plant something a little different. A couple of years ago I planted apple cucumbers! I grew so many I took bag after bag to the food bank! There are only so many apple cucumbers, as yummy as they may be, one family can consume.

Recently I picked up a  book called "Small-Plot, High-Yield Gardening: How to Grow Like a Pro, Save Money and Eat Well by Turning Your Back (or Front or Side) Yard Into An Organic Produce Garden" -By Sal Gilbertie, Larry Sheehan.  I picked up this (longest titled book EVAR!) from my favourite book store, "Wendel's" in Fort Langley. If you ever need inspiration or just time away from the hustle and bustle, Wendel's is the place to go; it also had a great little restaurant attached to it. As for my new book (with the longest title evar) it has great, practical  ideas and advice that you wish your grandparents had handed down to you. It's a real easy read with a good sense of humour. By the time you're done the book you'll be asking everyone you know if they have a bunny (or bunnies) and if you can have their poop.  The authors swear by rabbit poop!... (hmmm) you don't have a bunny do you?

This is where the Prairie part comes in...

I was born and raised in Alberta. Not the rocky mountain part, or the desert part and not the foothill ranch land part... well I was born there but not raised. Often times I think people assume Calgary = Alberta.  Nope, I was raised around the rolling fields of wheat, alfalfa and barley.

"In  the wee hours"

Detail on back of  "In the wee hours"

Growing up I never really thought about the landscape much. All I thought about was getting out of Dodge! I was the girl who couldn't wait to leave her hometown. I wanted to bust outta there so bad! Eventually I did... to Calgary... but after two years of studying art there (and two years of driving in spectacularly horrible winter conditions to Edmonton to see my boyfriend, now husband-score!) we decided to jump ship and move to a city we could both study in Vancouver! The plan:  finish two years of school (print making for me, writing for him), graduate and move back home to Alberta...which never, nor will ever happen.

Detail of sun - "In the wee hours"

Detail of fence-"In the wee hours"

We loved Vancouver! Water as far as the eye could see, sky scrapers, trees as big as sky scrapers and mountains-all in one City! The gray skies were a little hard to get used to but doable.What shocked me the most about this move was my physical reaction to the landscape change. I wanted something new, I wanted to live somewhere other than where I had grown up, I wanted this... you know that saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder"-well darn it, it's true! I began to long for openness, solitude and a horizon. Skip ten years later and we haven't moved back to Alberta, but here I sit in my yellow farm house on a flat piece of  land that looks rather prairie-ish nestled by a rolling mountains in the background.

" Quietly"

I guess in a very round about way, my claim is this - if I had never moved away from the prairies, my prints of  grain elevators never would have existed. I'm not sure I  would have appreciated what the prairies had to offer me and I'm not sure I would have realized how ingrained it is in me to this day.

  

Detail of Railroad - "Quietly"

Detail of sun -"Quietly"

Recently, in the last year I've had quite a bit of interest around my grain elevator prints. Mostly it's been interest from people who have moved away, like myself but for these recent prints it was for a person who I grew up with in Alberta and now lives in Saskatchewan (nobody offer her condolences like everyone did when they heard we were going there for our holidays last year... Saskatchewan is a beautiful province). On these prints I did something a little different this time, I don't know why I didn't think of it before? I hope you like it as much as I do!

Detail on back of "Quietly".

 Lisa loved horses growing up and now, as it should be, raises horses herself!

So who would you dress up as for a Dead Celebrirty party?

My husband and I were invited to a "Dead Celebrity Party." We like to dress up: it's fun and this gave my husband a chance to combine two of his favourite things - music and zombies. He went as a freshly deceased Kurt Cobain (yup that's my man).

Who would I be? It's got to be a costume with the right mix,  reflecting one's personality with the person you're pretending to be. Actually I knew right away who I wanted to dress up as.

"No one will know who you are!" was the instant feedback from my husband on my costume idea.

I kinda knew this already but I had always wanted to dress up as this woman, even though in the 10 years we have been throwing our annual Halloween parties there was always something more Halloween(ie) to be. I had studied about this woman in art school, she was married to a very famous muralist and partied with the Rockefellers back in the day. She's on plenty of pop culture items such as buttons, posters, jewelry etc. She's had countless books written about her and had a motion picture made about her life. She was a strong female artist and sexy but not in a typical or blatant way.

There were plenty of sexy and awesome costumes at the party:

Marlyn Monroe (a staple)
Audry Hepburn (very classy)
Sid and Nancy (a great couples costume)
Jim Morrison,
Eazy-E ( I'm not sure who Eazy-E is but my Husband was impressed)

Steve Irwin, The Crocodile hunter, with the end of the stingray hanging out of his wet suit chest:
 

 Evil Knievel, although I'm not sure if the fellow dressed up as Evil was dressing up or really channeling him?

Our hosts went as Mr. Rogers and the sexiest Julia Child you will ever see (Hellooooooooo!):

A few brave people asked me who I was. They kinda had a feeling who I was from my eyebrow (or should I say unibrow?) and once I mentioned Salma Hayek they were like ahh.Then my husband would give me a look of "see I told you nobody would know who Frida Kahlo was", I didn't care! I felt my back straighten in pride just as Frida carried her body. I loved wearing all the bracelets and bangles, the shawl and best of all the flowers in my hair. I enjoyed, even for one night, pretending to own it the way Frida did.

I thought I did a pretty great job. Perhaps I was missing one little detail:

Now I put it to you, who would you dress up as for dead celebrity party? I'm dying to know (get it dying to know...)

Just in case your answer is Frida Kahlo too, here are some of my favourite Frida Kahlo(ish) things I've come across:

Mexican Maxi Party Dress 

Monarca Black Mexican Dress Tunic

Embroidered Vintage Blouse

Emerald Garden Necklace

Frida Azul Necklace 

Raven Necklace

Silver Skull Pendant