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Steve O has been all about maps lately, dreaming about the book Maps As Art (while I have been dreaming about seeing the backs of my eyelids)
In all his visions and obsession with cartography, Steve O found Ian Hundley a Brooklyn based artist who makes really rad, inspiring quilts of maps. Watch a video of Ian Hundley here.
Noelle Olpin from thursday art on Vimeo.
My craftiest ladies and I headed up to Bear Lake this weekend for and craft-a-thon. We started sewing/sanding/painting/cutting and knitting Saturday morning and did not stop until Sunday night. Lots of laughs, great food, too many treats- loads of rad crafts finished for the upcoming Beehive Bazaar. Good times all around.
Meet 'Rosie'- an experiment in simple hand puppetry by Stephanie. I believe she and others will be available at the Bazaar.... 'cuz I know you want one.
I'll tell you what I'm not.... a very good journal keeper. I just ran into a journal I started in 2007... and never finished. I always have the best of intentions, and I really like looking back at what was written/drawn/glued/cataloged. I suppose it just finding a bit of time here and there and not having any expectations whatsoever. As God my witness, I promise to do better.
Steve O's project/costume from Call's Halloween party: take 1000 pictures. By the end of the night- 2100 photos were taken on 4 cameras, edited down to 1000. Lots of good images, costumes and fun. Check out 500 pictures here and 500 more here.
We spent the fall break weekend in Escalante with my family. My brother Adam's project is a wood fired pizza kitchen, soon-to-be restaurant as part of the Slot Canyons Inn. Adam was out of town at a wedding, but we gave the oven a test run- and fell in love. Steve O was in heaven and getting the hang of the peel after just a pizza or two. 
This pizza was one of our favorites. The simplest dough recipe made the best crust. I ain't lying when I say pizza cooked in a wood fired oven is heavenly. 
We took an afternoon and went to Devil's Rock Garden- out on the Hole-in-the-Rock road. Gorgeous fall day, I took lots of lovely pictures. Kids and cousins ran amuck. The desert was perfect- about 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. More pictures here.
I am always willing to sew up whatever the kids desire in the way of costumes for Halloween. As you can see, I have my work cut out for me this year. Except when it comes to C, who want's to be Bob from Monsters vs. Aliens. If you've seen the movie, you would know that this is pretty much a blue ghost costume- not very exciting to make or look at. I've always wanted to build a Max (from Where The Wild Things Are) costume- but C won't have it. Maybe I should make a big Max costume for Steve O (the Daddy)- he's so excited about the movie- he'd wear it. ...And then make all the kids into the monsters, now that would be funny.
They are buttons, the button that holds your pants up... yes, I was a little worried, and I had to ask. I've been trying to encourage leaving the 'pant button' out of his work, but they keep turning up in all his art. (Perhaps now is the time to do some explaining to Mrs. Tanner, his kindergarten teacher.)
One of the upsides of collecting fabric- you don't need to go to the fabric store when a project like this pops into your head. I could have gone on forever- adding different fabrics, and ended up with about 10 feet of garland, but I stopped... probably to take someone to gymnastics or soccer. 
These triangles were cut with regular scissors (this method makes you feel like you're back in elementary school) or a roller cutter (the easier and faster way). But, I think I like the look of pinking shears better, and the triangles fray better (after washing) with pinking shear edges.
The finished project- barely fits the mantle- good thing I stopped when I did... 
As I was finishing piecing this quilt top, the silly saying that you see posted in quilters sewing rooms or quilting shops all over the place kept coming back to me. It goes something like this, "My husband asked me one day why I buy big pieces of fabric only to cut them up and sew it back together again." I think some version of this line rolls through every quilters head when piecing a quilt top. In the thick of it you can feel like you're going a little crazy. But I do love the finished product.
The wind blew my camera over as the timer was set to pop and accidentally snapped this- I love it.
Took advantage of the last day of good weather this week and went on a mountain bike ride in Park City. The colors were amazing. If you are in Utah and everything above 6000 ft. isn't covered with snow this weekend- you've got to get out into the hills and take a peek. The colors this year are outta sight.
Q and I stopped by the Checkered Umbrella Boutique in Springville today. We ran into a bunch of crafty lady friends and yucked it up a bit, did some shopping, and coveted this yard. 
If you know Springville, you have driven by this house on 400 E.- we know it by the tiny house in the backyard. Today we found out the tiny house used to be a shed, but is now 3 bedrooms (no plumbing). 
Long exposure super fun with a burning stick. The moon was nearly full and just behind the rocks when this was taken. Something about this picture is so beautiful to me. The water temperature is exquisite this time of year, perfect for taking a dip any time of the day or night. To see more pictures look here.
