Fremont Bridge

This spring, along with my friend Bryan, I took a wonderful digital photography class through PNCA’s continuing education program. (Shameless self-promotion alert: I’m still teaching there–check out all their wonderful, high-quality courses for the community over here.) I loved, loved, loved it–I did photography a million years ago back when I was in high school and it was one of my favorite things. (Okay, it wasn’t really a million years ago, but it was the early- to mid-nineties, before google and all that other snazzy stuff.) It’s remarkable how much I’d forgotten, but I have to say, I much prefer the digital darkroom to the “real” one I learned when I was a kid. Of course, now I’m jonesing for a fancy-schmancy DSLR. (Hey, Nikon! I’d be happy to “review” the D5000! And while we’re at it… Hey, Beats by Dre/some other headphone company! I’d also love to “review” some noise-reducing earbuds! [I obviously screwed up and never hopped on the blogger free stuff gravy train of the mid-2000s. Damn integrity...])

Some of my favorites that I took during the class are over here, if you care to peruse them…

This photo of my mom is one of my favorites I've ever taken. She looks pretty hot in that hat, right?

This bad boy's on sale right now--I receive no kickbacks from C & B, but I sure do love this couch.

In completely unrelated news, we got a new couch this past fall. (We really try to buy locally as much as possible, but this was from a chain, Crate & Barrel. And, I’ve got to say, I cannot explain how fantabulous they were, from the ease of order–we ordered online–to their wonderful delivery people. It didn’t hurt that we got a great deal on a really good couch that’s made with sustainable materials, in the United States. I have really bad reactions to the off-gassing from things like foam and the stain treatments that are put on fabrics, and this particular sofa had none of those issues. Plus is nice and wide and two people can sink into it comfortably, unlike our old, beat-up “small scale” sofa.) It’s been a great sofa, but the colors are a bit blandish–kind of a woven mix of olives, golds, rusts and sable. We have a totally funky rug that goes in front of it, so the sofa needed some livening up.

The blue in this Denyse Schmidt cheater print is one of my favorite colors ever.

Saoirse "customized" this pillow for us--do you see it? She's such a talented pooch.

These were the most ridiculously simply pillows ever. We had some of Denyse Schmidt‘s Patchwork Promenade from her County Fair home dec line laying around the house (Josh ordered a little too much from Kathy last year) and it had the perfect colors to match our funky circle rug that my mom got us for Christmas last year. I literally just cut the large 18×18 block pattern out, stitched them right sides together and stuffed them–it was certainly the easiest pillow project ever. And, they compliment our osprey pillows beautifully. I’m thinking of using the same fabric to create some large floor pillows using sets of four of those blocks and maybe some weird button action. We’ll see where that goes…

Mulberry silk fibers.

The afore-mentioned Bryan went on a really cool trip to Scotland this month, and being a totally badass friend, he picked up this bundle amazing hand-dyed mulberry silk fibers for me. How fantastic is it to have friends who know how delighted that I’d be to receive a little pouch of special fibers from Scotland? The thing is, I really don’t know what to do with it, and the tag isn’t that helpful…

"Suitable for any number of imaginative wool work and creativity projects!"

So while my first inclination is to just keep the fiber in its little pouch and play with it every once in awhile, I would love to know what to do with it, should I ever decide it wants to be something else. Ideas? Anyone?

Finally, some very exciting news–I met a BIG celebrity: Melissa Averinos’ Unicorn!

Melissa, Unicorn & I. I first met Melissa at J. Caroline's first Fabric 2.0, which Quilt Market was held in Portland in 2008.

If you haven’t watched Melissa and Beth’s awesomely quirky Unicorn Stories, you’ve missed out on something kind of mind-blowing. Stop reading and go watch right now! Turns out, I wasn’t the only person at Quilt Market who wanted to have their moment of fame with Unicorn… Unicorn gets around. Melissa has assured me that he’s just in it for the snuggles. Plus. since I now have a copy of Melissa’s new book, I can make my very own Unicorn.

Speaking of Small Stash Sewing, it is, as you’d expect, just wonderful and I love that Wiley really produced it so Melissa’s personality really shines through. I’ll write a longer review of it (urging you to hit up your nearest independent bookshop to buy it immediately) later, I swear! My copy, however, is pretty special… Look at the inscription.

I love the internet! It's amazing how the internet has allowed so many wonderful inside jokes to evolve--enough to fill up an entire book page. Though all the parts about my being "so pretty" are completely true!

Whoo! Isn’t that the best? Anytime you can slip an Atomic Fireball reference into just about anything, it’s is a good thing…

I also recently met (in real life!) the wonderful Cherri House, who it really seems like I’ve known forever, and her sweet daughter, Lizzy, who is such a talented and creative fabric designer. It’s always a treat to actually meet internet folks in real life–I love how conversations carry on like you see each other every day. (Actually, that reminds me of one of my current pet peeves; I went to a marketing seminar and the presenter talked about how “young people today” don’t make meaningful connections because they’re using the Internet and cell phones to communicate. I know that those technologies have enabled me to connect with like-mind people that I count as dear friends all around the world–and that’s a meaningful thing!)

Alrighty… That’s about all that’s up with over at Casa de Sewer-Sewist. Hope you’re heading toward good things this summer.

~S

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Up on a high shelf, there's something pretty awesome hidden in some inauspicious cardboard magazine holders.

Anyway, the magazine is an extremely cool snapshot of textile–and cultural–trends. I spent a bit of time thumbing through an issue from fall of 1949 (I snagged this one, because I love post-war fashion–the hats were just wonderful during that time). Check it out my mediocre cell phone shots of some of the highlights.

The cover. There was a Van Gogh exhibit at the Met at that time, and so there was a feature about his use of texture and how it relates to fabric.

There are lots of ads with fabric swatches throughout the magazine.

This one's called "Everglaze" and it's got a weird burnished surface.

This is an orange pique--but made out of some sort of synthetic, not cotton.

I couldn't come close to identifying what sort of fabric this is... Some sort of synthetic.

This fabric is a melton fabric that's just dreamy, it's very textured and the color is deep. Also, check out the model's rad hat!

This issue had a special feature on nylon. Which is not one of my favorite fabrics–actually, I think it’s extremely creepy and kind of gross. But, this nylon is far nicer. (It’s still creepy, though.)

What you should know about nylon!

One of several spreads on nylon fabrics.

Didn't you know? Nylon provides "psychological uplift?" Of course it does...

I think I'm going to add this to my favorite quotations list on my Facebook page.

This had some weird narrative in the caption about "the human chemical plant." I believe it was intended to describe how synthetic fabrics are made. The illustration is kind of amazing, actually.

Then there is just some random fabulousness…

"The Fight Against Bureaucracy." This is an article about rayon labeling.

What's amazing about this little blurb, is that in 1949, textiles were still the #2 industry in the USA.

This is an insert about textile & textiles--inspired by a Van Gogh exhibit that was showing at the Met. The type is beautifully handset, by the way.

I love this ad so much, I don't even have words for it.

When I have more time, I’ll bring my good camera, and take notes, so I can share more of the awesomeness that’s in American fabrics with you. There are some intriguing-looking issues from the sixties, that look very Mad Men.

~Sarah

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Image courtesy of Denyse Schmidt Quilts

This Friday, July 17, Portland folks have the chance to attend a very exciting talk from a really fascinating person–quilt artist, fabric designer and entrepreneur Denyse Schmidt. She’s a really interesting person–I’d highly recommend that you read this article that appeared in American Craft Magazine awhile back for a bit of insight on Denyse’ and her work.

PNCA’s Continuing Education program has organized and is sponsoring this talk as a part of their Summer of Making program–and Denyse is also teaching a (very full) weekend-long class (that I wish I could take). My pal Susan is taking the class, and I bet she’s going to blog about it a bit–so make sure to check out West Coast Crafty next week for a bit more about that experience.

The talk–generously provided free-of-charge by PNCA-CE–is being hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Craft here in Portland, starting at 5:30. It’s bound to be pretty crowded, but it’s really a can’- miss if you’re interested in fabric, quilting, textiles or craft.

If you read this site, and you go, please let us know–we’ll make sure to say “hey.” And, if you go–consider thanking the folks at PNCA for providing this high-quality free public programming as a supplement to their Summer of Making classes, I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

Be there.

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As I mentioned in my last post, I didn’t get a chance to finish up my project during our letterpress seminar last week. But I did go back on Monday and work on the fronts a bit. This it half of my postcard project. I haven’t printed any of the other side yet. I think I mentioned this before, but this project is inspired by a couple of my favorite Portland-y things–the Steel Bridge and the Loretta Lynn-Jack White song, Portland, Oregon.

Photo (c)2006 by Andrew Hall, PortlandBridges.com

I created the letterpress using three different techniques, which always makes me happy. Not because it’s more complicated (it’s really not), but because I love the vastly different results you can get in letterpress, depending on your approach. For the back, I used type–obviously. For the front, I carved a 4″x6″ linoleum block in sort of a freeform oblong shape and printed it in an ultra transparent gray with a good measure of reflex blue mixed in.

Here’s what the lino block looks like set up in the press bed:

(Thrilling, huh?) And this is how it looks printed on the paper:

Then, using a photopolymer plate and artwork I’d created of the Steel Bridge, I printed over it in a darker, bluer gray.

The idea with using the lighter gray first was that it created that hazy, monotone look the Willamette River (pronounced Wil-am-it) gets sometimes, when you can’t tell the difference between the water and sky. It’s quite beautiful, and something that I’ve really only seen here. I wish I had a photo of that effect… I love the functional beauty of the Steel Bridge, and how trains pass under it all the time without anyone really noticing. It’s a real workhorse of a structure.

Anyway, I’m printing the other half of my cards with another version from the song,

Well I lost my heart.
It didn’t take no time.
But that ain’t all.
I lost my mind in Oregon.

More on the artwork for that soon…

~Sarah

Steel Bridge photo via Portland Bridges.

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Josh's locked up type for his baseball project.

Josh operating the press.

Locked up type from Josh's project.

The first color on Josh's postcards--check out the names, they're awesome.

Both colors printed on fawn-colored paper.

And another--you can really see how the type cascades across the paper.

Detail of this beautiful type called Prisma.

Josh should probably write about this some more, but he radically changed the nature of his project over the four days. He started out trying to create a linoleum cut print about the demise of the economy of Dayton, Ohio, but he found that it was making him stressed out and frustrated. He then switched to this baseball-themed project and it really took off. I think that really speaks to the importance of thinking about how the subject will make you feel while your working on your creation, doesn’t it?

~Sarah

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Inked rollers...

Inked rollers & locked up type.

Hot pink ink. (Not ours.)

Hot pink draw down. (Not ours--but a fabulous color!)

Green ink--this is a gorgeous transparent green that another student mixed. It's lovely seeing something so vibrant also be translucent.

Green ink draw down.

Back of my type project.

This is an ink-stained table in the print studio.

~Sarah

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Josh printing for the first time.

Josh's first printing project--some calling cards for his dad.

Letterpress gears--this one's on "Tony"--the larger of the Vandercooks at PNCA.

Josh's type.

The type in the corner is six point--so tiny, and so lovely. This is from my project.

~Sarah

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Josh's intro type-setting project. The stag is actually an impala--like would be used in an old Chevy ad.

Times 12 type--this is from my project this spring. I have quite a bit of type set from that project that I still need to print. I plan on finishing that up in the next few weeks.

More type from my spring project--the script is Raleigh 30, which is a beautiful italic type. It's very difficult to set because you have to use "wedgie things" to make sure everything's straight.

Ornaments. It boggles my mind how many unusual ones there are.

88 - Spartan Bold Condensed 72. I love this type so much it kind of makes me hyperventilate. This is a piece of a block from my spring project still needing to be printed.

California job case. This is where type is stored. I believe this one was for Bank Gothic.

This is from my summer project--it's part of the lyrics from a favorite song of mine, "Portland, Oregon" sung by Loretta Lynn and Jack White.

Brackets--you just can't reproduce this with a computer.

Punctuation. Did you know that printers invented punctuation?

One of my favorite types, Ad Sense.

I also experimented with the “Chroma” setting on my camera. I love how it makes the images look like they were taken with a lomographic camera. Type is perfect for photographing on this setting.

The two blocks of type from my spring project still needing to be printed. I am really proud of the type-setting on these.

The song lyrics for my summer project.

I’m going to keep my camera with me all weekend long, so I’ll have more photos of type and projects to share…

~Sarah

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Red, black & white banners flying on the stage outside the Rose Garden Arena before the Trail Blazers' first playoff game in several years. These semi-transparent banners are really beautiful rustling in the breeze with the cityscape in the background.

I’m hoping that “Josh per a tres!” actually does mean “Josh for three!” in Catalan, because that’s what the online translator said, and those things are never wrong–right?

I thought I’d share Josh’s latest screen printing project–an impromptu one, at that. (Although, let’s all agree that normal people don’t plan and execute a three-color screen print on an “impromptu” basis–Josh is weird.)

It’s been well documented that Josh has officially jumped on the Portland Trail Blazers bandwagon in a big way. (Although, really, he’s been on the bandwagon for about three years, but he’s reached the terminal stage of BlazerMania–emotional investment.) He has also sucked it up and finally become, like the rest of us here in Portland, a big Rudy Fernandez fan. Portland hearts Rudy, an flashy player from Spain–and people are wearing the T-shirts around to prove it. (Seriously, the now-defunct G.I. Joe’s sold them. First they were just women’s shirts, but then they started stocking men’s and you’d see a lot of very old male Blazers fans wearing them too.) I think the final straw was last Wednesday, at the Trail Blazers’ last regular season game, and Josh’s return to going to games after nearly a month of dealing with a nightmarish situation with regard to the horrendous customer service by the Trail Blazers season ticket staff and dealing with the thugish occupants of section 322 in the Rose Garden over the course of 41 games (and really, I’m pretty sure that I’m not quite ready to drop my complaint after the service folks’ pathetic reaction to our concerns). What was so special about Rudy’s performance that night? Well, he made six freaking three-point shots! Six! Which meant that he also broke the rookie record for most threes in a season. (You can check out some highlights of Rudy hitting threes this season here and if you’re feeling really wild and crazy, check out this phenomenal bit of play from Rodolfo.)

So, a bit more about Josh’s inspiration. Rudy makes a really unique and energizing hand gesture when he makes a three, and fans have started imitating him when he scores. It’s joyous, and it gets everyone fired up.

Portland, Oregon - Where the NBA Playoffs are finally happening again!

Josh got the idea to create a screenprint based upon the logo from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain–you know, as a shout-out to that awesome city and country. (We went to Spain in 1998 and spent quite a bit of time in Barcelona, it’s one of the most wonderful places we’ve been–and we’d love to go back sometime.) Do you remember that logo? 

This is Josh’s re-interpretation:

A last-minute three-color screenprint? What a maniac!

Josh elongated the “face” to better resemble Rudy, and added Rudy’s signature “3″ hand gesture. The results are pretty nifty, if I do say so myself. 

The Trail Blazers put up this awesome banners of all the players all over the Rose Garden Arena outdoor concourse. They're really swell-looking. Here, Josh demonstrates Rudy's "3" sign under one of the Rudy banners.

Now, Josh would be the first to admit (actually, he did admit it to me yesterday), that he got all nervous about the playoff game on Saturday night (with good reason, apparently) and had to do something, hence the complexity of the three-color screenprint. He also printed me one. 

Josh tried to get me to take my picture under a certain players banner, but I thought that would be 1) a mixed basketball metaphor and 2) too Fan Girl.

Sadly, the Blazers lost their first playoff game, and I was–frankly–devastated. I never imagined that they’d lose, let alone get blown out. But, I’ve got to believe they’ll come back with a vengeance. So, I’m asking y’all a favor: If you currently have no NBA loyalties, or if your team’s not in the playoffs (I’m speaking to you, Phoenix Suns fans–I rooted for y’all’s team for a long while during the Jail Blazers Era and have even read :07 or Less.), please consider sending some positive playoff energy our way. It would mean a hell of a lot. For inspiration, here’s a video we shot at the Playoff Rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Thursday. 

15,000 of us showed up to cheer on the team just for making the playoffs! Look how excited everyone is! We need this here in Portland! So, please, send some positive vibes here to the Pacific Northwest.

~Sarah

P.S. You can check out my Flickr set for our pics from Saturday’s game.

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Some of last year's bounty. Those beans were so, so, so good--an heirloom mix of bush beans that were almost leggy enough to be pole beans. Very sweet and crisp.

We’ve still been sick around here. Between the two of us, there hasn’t been a single healthy day in all of March. Pretty crummy, huh? We’ve been keeping thoughts of warmer weather and less sickness alive in our hearts, though, by dreaming about this year’s vegetable garden.

We plant an organic vegetable garden every year. In fact, we have gardened together since 2001, when we had a plot in one of the original Victory Gardens in the middle of Rock Creek Park in the Glover Park neighborhood of Washington, DC. That year, we had put our names on a waiting list for a garden plot in the community garden near us, knowing that it usually took several years to get a plot. However, right at the beginning of the season, someone was unable to care for their plot anymore (there were a number of people who’d had their plots since they were originally developed in the 1940s), and the garden coordinator went down the waiting list, and we were the first people who answered the phone. And that’s how we wound up with a primo piece of D.C. real estate–a large garden plot right across the street from our apartment building, for the very small price of $40 a year. Our plot was pretty overgrown, and we didn’t have garden tools per se, so we spent a lot of time on manual labor churning up the soil and preparing it for planting. We walked all over the city in search of vegetable plants and seeds and, not having access to a car, carried some pretty wacky things on the subway and bus. That summer was incredibly hot, and our garden flourished. Quickly, vegetables started producing. Soon, we were feasting on fresh lettuce, peas and all sorts of other goodies. And just as quickly, wildlife began having our way with our bounty. Oh yes, Rock Creek Park is home to a lot of urban wildlife–coyotes (we would hear them howl from our apartment), turtle, foxes, rabbits and deer. Those damn deer. They would crawl under our fence, leap over it and just push through it. No matter what we did, the deer would get in and eat our vegetables. Despite that trauma, it was one of the best summers ever–and we spent hours every night outside in our garden. We’d often take our dinner out to our garden and sit in lawn chairs, enjoying the opportunity to have a piece of the country right in the middle of the city. Friends would stop by our plot and say hi. We made friends with the older folks who’d gardened there for decades, many of whom were also seed savers who shared seeds and knowledge with us. It was a special place. After 9/11, the garden was one of the first places we visited, and when we left D.C. later that year, the garden was the last place we said good-bye to.

We’ve pretty much gardened together ever since.

In Santa Fe, it was tough. Our beloved herbs would bolt and turn bitter. Lettuce was a waste of time–not enough water. The soil was so alkaline that tomatoes whithered and didn’t really fruit. And, apparently, even chile peppers hated the pine needles that fell all over our yard.

Back here in Oregon, gardening is a dream. The soil is rich, and most things thrive. Peppers don’t produce like they did in D.C., but those that do are sweet and beautiful. Herbs thrive, and many of the annual varieties actually last through the winter. In 2007, we had an amazing bounty. It was hot and dry and our tomatoes went crazy–and we had lots of fabulous heirloom varieties that went nuts. We’ve had great luck with beans–especially the varieties we planted last year. Just a few plants kept producing beans all season. We also plant loads of herbs like oregano (homegrown oregano tastes so much better than the store-bought) and basil (can you ever have enough fresh basil?).

This year, we’re going to plan our garden a bit better. We need to, believe it or not, plant more summer squash. We love zucchini and other summer squash and have all sorts of creative ways of cooking them and storing them for the future. (Hint: You can grate zucchini and then put it in freezer bags and use it in all sorts of dishes.) We need more peas and beans, because we just love them so much. And Sarah, as usual, can’t get enough different varieties of cucumbers. Also, this year, we want to be more strategic with our herd garden, and expand it to experiment with some different items, more thyme, different sages perhaps and maybe something we’ve never tried before. Also, we’ve not been so great with planting some of the other things we love–particularly brussels sprouts. Mmmm… Brussels spouts. If you don’t love them, you’re missing out. Sometime we’ll post our favorite brussels sprouts recipe here. Try it and you’ll love this much-maligned and oft-misunderstood vegetable.

These are the definites on our gardening list:

• Tomatoes (heirloom, of course–we’ve got lots of faves; would love to hear about your favorite varieties)
• Cherry tomatoes (these are for Sarah and the dog–they grow them in pots and sit out in the patio and ear them together)
• Peppers, sweet and hot (cayennes are very versatile and Josh likes to have a couple jalepenos, too)
• Summer squash
• Cucumbers, slicing and pickling; we’ll be trying some Armenian cukes again this year–we grew them several years back and they were super
• Lettuces; Josh doesn’t eat salad, but Sarah’s a fan of sweet baby lettuces
• Chard; Josh is learning to love sweet rainbow chard
• Beans; we prefer the three-color heirloom varieties we’ve planted the last few year
• Peas
• Brussels Sprouts (they’re good, really)
• Basil
• Oregano
• Sage
• Thyme
• Chives

Things we won’t be growing:

• Beets (we both hate them)
• Onions (we love them and really love the young, green Walla Wallas, but we’ve not had great luck with them in the past)
• Cabbage; it’s so cheap here, it seems silly to use the space
• Winter squash; no fun
• Corn; no fun/you need loads of space

There are loads of other things that we’d love to grow, but space is limited, since much of our yard is–unfortunately–taken up by plantings (not our choice), but this year we’re going to try and squeeze some veggies in around the ornamentals. We’re pretty jealous of the 1,100 square feet of organic kitchen garden, including room for berries, that Michelle Obama has had put in at the White House. (And what a great thing for her to be doing as a model for the rest of the country–food gardening seems to be something that people have gotten away from, and it’s so great for folks, young and old, to be involved in where their food comes from.)

Are you planting a garden this year? Any favorites that you think we should consider?

Happy gardening all! If we keep dreaming of warm, sweet tomatoes and fresh, crunchy green beans, and the accompanying sunshine, we’ll just will this cold weather and all the icky sick germs far away!

~Sarah & Josh

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