Vernazza, Italy

In the middle of a national forest on the northern coast of Italy right next to France are five villages ("Cinque Terre" in Italian) perched on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We instantly fell in love. It was just our style- lots of water and cliffs to jump from, tiny winding streets, flowers spilling from window boxes, not very many tourists, just a handful of cars, and miles and miles of hiking or biking trails. Truly a picture perfect place. This picture is in the village of Vernazza, the swimming was wonderful.


Walking up through the village the storefront of this artist caught our eye. His name is Antonio Greco and he is a native of Vernazza. I took this picture because I couldn't get enough of his art- especially now that I fancy myself a driftwood/collage devotee, artist in training, so-to-speak. Take at look at his other works of collage art here, he also collaborates with his wife Michele Lilley and artist Maya Von Geldern to make purses and jewelry- you can see their goods here. I really loved all of their art, it gave me all sorts of inspiration to get crazy with the collage. And I so love the internet because although I didn't buy anything that day- Christmas is right around the corner and online shopping is so easy.

coming up in the world

Today I finally made my first pilgrimage to the new Draper IKEA. It was such an emotional experience for me. What a treat to wander the warehouse, kids in school, just me and Crew, looking at every little (and big) thing. No more shopping online. I could actually buy something bigger than a few rolls of wrapping paper, some napkins and a colander if I want to, and- here is the trick- get it all back to my house.
I didn't have to cram my purchases into the car with all my people, all of our luggage and miscellaneous crap that come along on road trips with kids and drive it 12 hours back to Utah.
I actually did buy a smaller Expedit shelf for my fabric in my work room, to go along with the big one I inherited from Steve O (thank you dear), and some bin and drawer inserts that go with it. I could return them or go get more tomorrow if I needed to. Ahhh...what a luxury.
But, I must admit I did feel like an In-n-Out burger when I was done...

driftwooding

In the absence of fabric or a sewing machine on this summers trip I found I myself itching to make something. I wanted to keep a journal of the trip, but make it un-boring unlike so many of my previous journaling attempts.
I have never before been a serious journal keeper, I always try for awhile then stop for no good reason other then time constraints, lack of personal motivation, and perhaps the thought that what I have to say is dumb and no one will ever want to read it. My lovely spouse- on the other hand- is a fabulous journal keeper. He has stacks of journals, all filled up with words, drawings, pictures and "driftwood".
Driftwood goes back to a Saturday Night Live reference from the 80's. Does anyone remember John Malkovich's driftwood artist sketch? Very funny...(I think I'll look for it on youtube later)
Anyway... "driftwood" refers to found objects- put into one's journal. It became the catch phrase of the summer. It always made me chuckle it when one of my kids would nonchalantly rip off a corner of some poster we passed, hand it to me and say, "Here you go Mom, some driftwood."
I decided that this trip of a lifetime needed to be documented for the family. Just words are visually a bit boring, so I took a lesson from the master- Steve O and started adding driftwood, drawings, some watercolors, and glitter. What I discovered was a surprisingly pleasant and interesting way to keep a journal. It satisfied all of my creative urges and documented the trip. I didn't get much reading done this summer, but I wrote everyday, went through about 20 glue sticks, and had lots of fun picking up driftwood (a.k.a. trash) all over Europe.
I think I'm hooked on paper now. I have continued the driftwood tradition since I have been home, not everyday- but close. I think it's a habit that is worth acquiring, so- I am going to try and keep at it for good....you know- for posterity.

home at last

Alright, enough already... I have been on vacation too long, I can't even remember how to clean my house, run my vacuum or that the dishwasher needing to be loaded is perhaps my job.
We have had a long splendid 9 weeks touring Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Denmark. The RV we rented for 6 weeks of the trip worked like a charm keeping us cozy, comfortable, with the necessary amenities (especially for kids) traveling along with us. I could always accommodate the child who- literally 5 minutes after a meal has been cooked, served, cleaned up, and put away- tells me, "I'm hungry..." Or the universal childhood request, "I need to pee..."
Our last 3 weeks were spent in Denmark at the home of the fabulous Ream family. Here's a little shout out and a huge THANK YOU to Jason and Pernille for letting us so comfortably dwell among them, giggle and grin, play games, bicycle, swim in the fjord, get the insiders tour of Denmark, stuff ourselves with delicious food, and watch the kids happily play together after a year long separation.
So, can you guess in which European city this picture was taken? The winner gets some Danish chocolate.

summer adventure

We are off on the great Euro summer adventure. The whole family is headed to Europe for 2 months. To follow along in the travels go to our travel blog traveling is my hobby

super fun ride

i got a great ride in today, 54 miles. the ride was organized by jerry warren, for his 60th birthday. let me tell you...if i can come anywhere near moving like he does at 60 when i'm that age then i'll be very, very happy. (thanks for inviting me to your ride/party)
the group consisted of ski folks from all over the wasatch mountains, family and friends. about half of the group pictured here rode a century- 100 miles. the second half of the ride was going to be up mt. nebo, i decided...another day for me. i haven't ridden enough this year to do anything but look and feel awful on a climb like that.
we left from springville, went out and around west mountain, stopped for snacks in payson and split up there- to finish out our 50 or 100 miles. it was super windy off and on, mostly a crazy head wind but when your in a big group the wind matters a lot less, and I appreciated that today. it was such good fun.

too many puppies...

our friend's siberian husky had puppies, we just couldn't help ourselves- we had to visit and snuzzle those little fur balls. under any other circumstances, this would have been torture to visit puppies when you know you won't be taking one home, but with our europe trip just a week away, the kids didn't bother begging to take one home.
we have promised the kids a dog when we get back in august. unfortunately it won't be a siberian husky. enzo, our siberian husky, our first born, doggie love of our lives, "prince of dogness" died two years ago this memorial day weekend. we had him for ten years. we loved everything about him except his super-naughty won't come when he's called, get out of any fence situation doggie nature. steve o says- no more siberian huskies. while i can see where he is coming from, there is still something in me that might be tempted to own another one.
maia, the puppy whisperer...

there were 6 in the litter, two with blue eyes, two with brown, and two puppies with one blue one brown eye.


enzo, doggie supermodel. sorry, this is a picture of a picture, but you get the idea.

sexy apron

i just made this apron for my mother-in-law, a belated mother's day gift.
my own mother got an apron with a tamer print, and i'm pretty sure that's ok with her :)
i'm sure jan (my mother-in-law) will love it, it's right up her alley. she's even at their beach house right now, so she can show it off to all her neighbors. hopefully they'll all appreciate the fabric as much as i do.

camp noelle

saturday was perhaps, the perfect day. steve o and often discuss what a day at "our" camp would be like, what combination of activities would we choose for those involved our camp to take part in to make it the best-ever day, in our opinion of course. we like to dream about and organize a day full of our favorite foods and activities. "camp noelle" would go like this:
1. sleep in, just a little bit
2. leisurely breakfast- grapefruit, strawberries and some yummy cereal
3. a bit of yard work, to keep the place looking nice (don't forget i'm a gal who likes to get things done)
4. lunch- kashi pilaf mixed with grape tomatoes, avocados and tuna,- super delicious
5. a mountain bike ride all afternoon with my ladies, at sundance, lots of splendid single track
6. major pool party in the backyard, with every blow up water toy we own, and i think- a few borrowed from the neighbors
7. dinner, yummy thai food with my lovely spouse
8. and even a movie- year of the dog (pretty good, a bit wacky, but that's how we like 'em)
9. baskin robbins- chocolate and peanut butter ice cream...or a chocolate malt
10. some tivoed SNL
so that's how my saturday went down. i loved every minute of it, but especially the part about the mountain bike ride. it was just about the perfect day.

lex, kipper and me, on archie's loop


the major pool party...
as well as having the blow-up pool out, two large blow-up rafts were also necessary- i suppose. this one was the "hot tub". it was made hot by filling up buckets and tubs, (probably bowls and cups too) with hot water from the kitchen sink, then sloshed in numerous trips through the house, across the carpet and finally into the rubber-hot tub-raft. as we know, rules are different when daddies are in charge.

cool fabric

i ran across this fabric a few months ago at a fabulous little fabric store in salt lake city called "a fashion affair". it was like $75 a yard, so i didn't get any, but i did snap this photo for later inspiration or so i can dream about making it into a skirt or apron, or curtains for somewhere in my house.

call your congressman

some of you out there know about our passport problems. i have been freaking out (you can ask my husband-this is no understatement) because our trip is quickly approaching (june 2nd) and our children's passports we applied for in february were still not here.
i am ecstatic, overjoyed, relieved, and moved to tears to announce the passports have finally arrived.
how you ask, did i finally do it? well, here is the special secret trick: in the end i didn't have to lie about our departure dates or drive my entire family to san francisco to pick them up...i called my congressman's office. i gave them all our information, and (barely- without crying) told them of our plight. they got in touch with the passport agency, then told us we would get them by next week. two days later i received them fedex priority overnight on my doorstep. i can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me to have all our passports in my hands. i'm going to call chris cannon's office right now and say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
please pass this information on, calling my congressman certainly helped us get our passports, it could help someone else too.

mr. bubs

our littlest fella just turned three. oh, how the time passes...way too fast that's how.

crew (aka "mr. bubs") requested a yellow truck cake, and here's how it turned out. as you can see- i'm no professional. but, i am very against store bought cake-they look gross and taste gross. i love getting creative (and perhaps a little crazy) when making cakes. i learned it from my mom who always went all out with our custom birthday cake requests. (i was always so impressed when she could pull off the barbie in the dress cake) so, thanks mom for years of custom cake inspiration.
a yellow truck cake?... it's the least i can do for my precious little dreamlet-on his birthday...
as you can see some chubby little, grubby little fingers couldn't wait and I had to scrape off and re-write the end of "happy birthday crew" as best i could, it was still a little smudgy- (that's what i get for not taking a picture right away) but now it's all in our tummies, so it doesn't matter. oooh, and it tasted scrumptious.

rest and relaxation

i have been dying to read this book since the book group read it last month. i picked it up yesterday and just finished it this afternoon. it was very, very good. you can find out more about it here
i'm so glad the beehive bazaar show is finished so i can catch up on so many other things, like reading twilight all day and all night.

the art of happiness

Here is a quote I read in shape magazine today.
"canadian researchers have found that people who engage in the arts on a weekly basis enjoy a stronger sense of community, feel better emotionally, and experience a higher quality of life than those who don't. I think the creative impulse is hardwired in us. So whether it's doing needlepoint, painting a portrait, or playing the trumpet, get out there and indulge in it!"
so folks, get creative!

sew-a-thon

to see more aprons i'm making for the beehive bazaar go here

the art ball

maia in pink, jane in green and blue, quinn in coral, erica in orange


last year i took my oldest daughter quinn to the springville art ball. we went to watch our favorite, best-ever babysitter/nanny erica get crowned art city royalty. quinn has been anticipating the return of this annual event ever since. well...the day finally came. she designed her dress (months ago) and I made it for her. thankfully, the other two gowns i had made previously (for halloween). her little sister maia, and friend jane also donned ball gowns for the evening.
we all had a fabulous time, being mainly an adult evening with very few if any other kids in attendance, the little ladies were truly "the belles of the ball".
i'm sure people...how could you possibly be a gal and pass up the opportunity to put on a ball gown, hoop skirt, up-do, makeup, rhinestones and a tiara?

steve o de mayo

today is the big day... steve o's birthday. here is one of my favorite pictures of my fabulous spouse. steve o is notoriously badly behaved in front of the camera. like when he was in high school and his big brother got married, he wore these big dorky black glasses in every single wedding picture he was in. (in hindsight- very funny) I must interject- he is quite the opposite behind the camera.
so anyway... when you get a great candid photo of him-you have to cherish it. this pic is from back in his day as a cougar when he was breaking all the ladies hearts, just before we met.
i'll save all the sentimental, lovey-dovey stuff for off-line, but I will say...you are the best.
happy birthday, i love you.
i can't wait to spend 2 months in europe with you, (and our offspring, in an rv) not working our guts out.
if you weren't in southern utah shooting a commercial for fuel tv, I'd spank you 43 times.

busy as a bee

i've been sewing when i can fit it in between laundry, dishes, running kids around, getting ready for the trip, paying bills, etc. I'm glad it's next week, so i can finally close up the sweat shop and move along to the thousand other things i need to do. there are not enough hours in the day.

tees

here are some t-shirts i've been making for the beehive bazaar. they are sooo very fun to make, i could make them all night, oh wait i already did...
to see more go here, or maybe i'll get some uploaded into flickr if i get a chance.

hobble creek canyon ride

l to r: becky, lex, kipper, off the back- jerry, scott- hiding behind kipper

saturday was beautiful and delightful.
i had the good fortune of riding with my ski people.
we went up hobble creek canyon- right fork, about 26 miles in all. the weather was perfect, the smell of lilacs in the air, everything finally turning green, good company and conversation, not too many cars, only three flat tires (geez lex!) and one redneck hunter-hitched ride down the canyon (note to self: bring more CO2, tubes, patch kit and a pump perhaps).
good times.

skirts on the line

first of all, thank you cass barney for painting our fence, we truly love it, and may just have to never move because of it. it's a fabulous backdrop for skirts, or maybe too distracting, but-oh well...whatever.
i am making all of these skirts for the beehive bazaar, coming up here in 2 weeks, mother's day weekend.
we have just started a beehive bazaar blog so everyone can see the great artisans and crafters that will be participating and their goods.
check it out here.



this skirt is from the nothing to say show steve o and i did at gallery one ten at the beginning of april.
i just got it back, i can't wait to wear it.

how do you get it all done?

since high school i have been a big saturday night live fan. with all of the craziness we all seem to be feeling these days, i remembered this hilarious SNL commercial that played a few years ago. check it out...it really sums things up.

a few more favorite things...

i looove dark chocolate, the darker the better.
here are two of my favorites, i keep on hand at all times. it's easy to keep around, i don't even have to hide it because my kids won't touch the dark stuff.
i keep a good stock of swiss, german, and danish chocolate, thanks to pernille (whom, i'm very happy to say, i will be seeing soon!) i enjoyed dipping this mork choklad bar into crunchy peanut butter. (probably a very american thing, but i don't care)
what can i say, my second most favorite thing is peanut butter and chocolate anything.

quilt archives

This pattern of quilt is what got me interested in the sport of quilting. I think I made it in 2000 or 2001, it is the first quilt I ever made. Way to start out simple huh?
There are so many dumb and boring quilts out there, I am not interested in the traditional patterns with the baskets, Sun Bonnet Sue and bad colors. But when I saw this pattern, I decided I could give quilting a try.
It's all appliqued by hand, that means each square took about a month to make. I would lay the little dreamlets down for their naps then quietly sew for 20 minutes or so (not nearly enough "personal me time") until someone woke up. It was quite an accomplishment when I finally finished it. My mother-in-law talked me into having a group of ladies hand quilt it, I wasn't going to do that part myself. I could still be trying to finish it...
It is now hanging in one of the rooms at the Slot Canyons Inn, my parents bed and breakfast.

spring break fun

upper calf creek falls, group photo (l to r: my mom holding crew, quinn, maia, fischer, me)
the perfect jumpin' in pool (when it's a bit warmer) above the upper falls.

good times were had by all over spring break. we got some hiking in, and some sewing too of course, a little bit of relaxing, (but only because i find sewing relaxing) the kids were very happy to get treated right by their grandmas and grandpas.
friday we hiked to upper calf creek falls, between boulder and escalante. a fabulous hike, i highly recommend to everyone and all ages. it was a little chilly, perfect for hiking but not swimming. but the kids are ready to go back when it's hot enough to really enjoy the water.
the smallest fella fell asleep on the hike back out. i had the pleasure of carrying the sleepy load on my back for about a mile, now i know why my back and neck are still a little sore.

stack o' purses

here are some purses ready to be sewn...

i really like the way this detail on one of the purses turned out. we'll see how it sews up.

the kids just walked in from school, and asked for ice cream. um...sure- why not!? let spring break begin...

tiny apron

life is getting crazier by the minute...
we've got spring break coming up at the end of this week. so- we're going south, to the torrey/escalante "grandma loop". my parents and steve o's parents live 60 miles (as the crow flies) from each other, on either side of boulder mountain, in perhaps one of the most stunningly beautiful places on earth. it's always fun to go relax, get treated right by grandmas & grandpas, and get some outdoor fun in.

then...i may as well mention that the whole gang (or herd- as it sometimes feels) is heading to europe for june and july. yes, we are loading all the kids up for some european fun. that's my part time job of organizing, planning, researching, calls, emails, guidebook reading, google earth searching, making sure i've got everything covered... phew! it's going to be so fun! it will be all chronicled on a soon-to-be organized travel blog. (yeah, i'm working on it...) more on this trip later.

what does any of this have to do with a tiny apron? well, the beehive bazaar is also just a month away. so...i've got a lot ( i don't think "a lot" is really a strong enough word) of sewing to do in the next few weeks.

so... YEE HA! let the madness begin.....

snow line

1st ride of the year

a few of my favorite things...my road bike and lilacs

today i got in my first road ride of the season. being very short on time, i rode solo. this is a picture of my favorite section of road, i don't know the street name- it's in spanish fork. very few cars travel on this road, there is a canal, lots of trees, protected from the wind- cute little road.

i call it "mother's day road" because a few years ago- happily riding on mother's day some jerk in a car came right up behind me, and honked his horn. i just about jumped out of my skin. i was too chicken to make an obscene gesture (and his kids were in the car) i was a little worried he might come back and beat me up, you never know with cowboys... the moral of the story is don't ever honk at a cyclist!!! (they just might have a rock in their jersey pocket)

no trouble today, and very few cars...maybe everyone is at the home and garden expo or spraying their dandelions with weed killer (i saw a lot of this) it felt soo very good to just get out and spin. i finished with 20 miles, but when you leave 2 ten year olds in charge you gotta make it quick, and let's face- my butt will be plenty sore tomorrow anyway.

friday the thirteenth

thankfully, there is nothing unlucky about this apron. i made it yesterday as a special order for a friend. i love this sparkly skull fabric, i'm so sad i'm also out of it. but then again maybe it's better to have favorite fabrics exist in memory, in pictures, or pieces of quilts or other things made, instead of cluttering up my house.

you can kind of see the sparkle in the fabric...(in the gold colored parts)

i really miss my dress form, (it's at the gallery until the end of April) i had to model in this shot, and wrangle a kid to take the picture.

much needed pocket detail added at the last minute, crazy gold and black rick rack found on ebay.

mama would be proud

here is the delicious lunch i had today.

two things i hated as a child were tomatoes and egg salad. well, i've grown up (a little) and now they are two foods i can't live without.
so, mom i'm sorry i threw away every egg salad sandwich you ever made me, and went hungry. (believe me, i know this trick now that i am a mom- just pack the unwanted kind of sandwich in their lunch anyway, they'll get hungry enough- try it and perhaps like it)
tomatoes i despised for a long time, well into my twenties. then one day when standing in a friends garden, i was offered some grape, pear, and cherry tomatoes. i took a deep breath and gave them a try...what do you know, they are now one of my favorite foods. i still prefer garden tomatoes, but then again who doesn't?
so i always quote to my children from green eggs and ham "try them try them and you may..."

camera club

so my washer needs some fixing, and it could take awhile (warranty crap) i have been dreading going to the laundromat, because, well- there are 6 of us...and that is a lot of dirty clothes. but, when i washed, dried, and folded 8 loads of laundry in an hour and a half, I was singing a different tune. it was kind of handy.

as you can see from the pictures, it wasn't the nicest laundromat in town, but it was across the street from the local library. the kids did homework, read, researched lemurs, and played on the playground to their hearts content. i took these pictures in my few minutes of downtime- playing around with the features on my camera (i forgot my book)