Trip to Mt. Rainier

On Saturday, Jeremy, Joel and I headed to Mt. Rainier to visit our friend Scott. Scott is working as a ranger for the summer.

After he showed us the cabin that he was sharing with his sister, he took us to a point nearby where we could get a really nice photo of Mt. Rainier. We forgot our camera, but I have included a photo of the spot taken with my iPhone 4. Joel, who has a digital SLR went to get a photo and managed to fall and hurt himself.

We took a shuttle to the Nisqually Falls trail and hiked down it. We then took the shuttle up to Paradise, but it was super crowded. We got off the shuttle, hung out for less than 30 minutes, and then headed back down.

After a bottle of Joel's homemade brew, we headed to the Copper Creek Inn for dinner and a slice of fresh blackberry pie.

Stalled out on projects

I stalled out on my tote bag. Issues with the zigzag stitch and tension issues. I went to Quality Vacuum and Sewing last night, and I think I figured out the problem. Now to learn to sew close to the edge to protect the fabric from fraying!

I have a few more items in the queue. I've been washing fabric, and trying to cut things out, to get everything ready to make while Jer is out camping with his cousin Jeff.

Drawing Lab : Lab 2

This is from my second drawing lab, where you draw an animal figure from an image. The drawing instrument never leaves the page, and you never look at what you are drawing. I started off with a giraffe, then an elephant, and finally an image of Gravity.

I doctored the photo of the elephant with eyes and some trunk wrinkles when I was done, I was so pleased with how it looked.

Drawing Lab : Lab 1

I am currently going through a new book that I bought at the Sunday Fremont Market. The book is Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists : 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun! by Carla Sonheim. You can purchase the book from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Lab-Mixed-Media-Artists-Exercises/dp/1592536131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279729095&sr=8-1-spell

Here are some drawings of cats from Lab 1

Cool classes to take in Seattle area

A book making class from the SCBA.
http://www.seattlebookarts.org/classes-and-events/scba

How to make a tote bag.
http://www.stitchesseattle.com/pages/events.html

A drawing class from Carla Sonheim
http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/teaching-update/

Art retreat/classes from Teesha and Tracy Moore
http://teeshaslandofodd.com/1/workshops/workshops.html

My First Sewing Project

I am working on my first project out of Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing" book. I am currently on page 59 and stuck between steps B and C. I keep expecting it the main piece to need to be cut in 2 pieces..

I also think the fabric I chose is too light weight for this project. But, it is my first project.

Back to figuring out what to do.

Update : Finally figured out what to do. The drawn photo makes it hard to understand. I expected to need to cut the main piece, but really, you place it in between the bottom piece, to give the bottom more support.

Sunday

Sunday, while Jeremy was riding around Lake Washington, Gravity and I took a walk around Green Lake. After the walk, we went to the Fremont Market. At the Fremont Market, Gravity and I got our picture taken. I made a quick stop by Theo Chocolates, had a couple of samples, and bought Jeremy a couple of pieces of chocolate.

Urban Craft Uprising Summer 2010

This Saturday I started off by helping my hubby get his kayak on the car. After that, we went to check out our garden in the backyard. The next few moments were not so good. A bug flew into my eye, and then got caught underneath my eyelid. Ouch! It took a good 5 minutes before I could get it out.

I dragged by best friend Maya out to Seattle just after 8 am. We got in line for the Urban Craft Uprising, arriving at 8:45 am for a chance to get one of the highly talked about swag bags. 8:45 am turned out to be a little too early. By 9:30 am however, the line had wrapped around the corner and out of site. If you got there by 10 am, it was probably too late to get a swag bag.

Was it worth it? Standing for two hours? I think the experience was worth doing it once. Would I do it again? Probably not. What you get is kind of a crap shoot. Some of the bags have really cool things, and some of the bags were not so cool. I had one of the better bags. I had a journal, felted hair clips, buttons, scissors, and a lighter. The lighter was from Yarnia. I was confused at what they were trying to promote by having their name on a lighter. It would have been more helpful to come with a card to say what it was used for, if it was for crafting with.

The rest of UCU was fun. It was the same as summer before. My favorite booths included ShellyEtc and glam.spoon. I was a little sad, glam.spoon didn't have the colors I was interested in this time. They had one skirt I was in love with on the sale rack, but it was a smidge too small. :(

There was a new outstanding booth. Bella Designs. She modified jackets and gave them a hoody and other decorations. They were incredible. I tried a few, but they didn't fit my body type so well.

It's always a good time when I get to hang out with Maya and crafts.

I win! I win!

Just found out today that I won a Brooklyn nightlight from Shelly Etc. I am very excited to get it.

http://urbancraftuprising.blogspot.com/2010/06/shellyetc-interview-giveaway.html

I have now used up the rest of my luck for the year. :P

I recently won "Where is PT Stitchy?" contest.

Yay for winning things. A contest from the Plush Team came across my RSS feed the other day. Where is PT Stitchy? The following photos were provided by Zazu Faire.

I searched on Google using the terms "Cactus" and "Red rocks" and came up with a photo almost identical minus PT Stitchy, labeled Huntington Gardens, CA.

My prize was the little yellow leaf brooch, inspired by the trip to the gardens.

4th of July weekend.

This weekend was fun and crazy. The very opposite of peaceful.

I started Saturday off by dropping Gravity at daycare at 7 am. I drove past North Bend to Rattlesnake Mountain trail, and hiked the Ledge trail by myself. It was the same trail I hiked with some friends the previous Saturday, but without a beagle to pull me up it. It took me an hour to get up. I was passed by a big buff guy carrying a cooler and another bundle. I was also passed by a man with a dog. At the top of the trail, I talked to the man with the dog. He was from Slovakia and now lives in the Kent area.

I drove home to get prepped up for Steve and April's Canada Day party. That is always a lot of fun. We were unable to go the previous year. Gravity was busy having seizures, and Jeremy went to hang out with some relatives. This year was no exception. There was badminton and street hockey. Jeremy managed to score a couple of goals in Birkenstocks and a big huge blister on his foot!

Sunday we drove to Heather's mothers place in Stanwood. It was cloudy, misty, and cold. We hid treasure bags for the kids. I hung out inside when I got too cold and had my feet kept warm by Ali the pitbull. She was a super sweet dog that was terrified of fireworks. There was lots of drinking, chatting, and hanging out by the bonfire. I made an attempt to eat a S'more and got it all over my fingers.

Today we hung out for the first part of the morning. I woke up early, but ended up catnapping several times. When we got home, I washed two loads of laundry, cleaned out the cars, washed dishes and weeded a small area of the lawn! Now headed out to play bridge. Busy busy!