Monday, December 3, 2007

...Sew!

The moment has arrived for me to reveal the completed project, a set of coasters. I sewed them from a pattern out of the book by my newest love, Denyse Schmidt.

They are a late wedding present for my friend and former bandmate, Zoƫ.

Watching the design progress was a thrill (as you experienced from the pictures), but actually sewing them wasn't all that fun because of the small, oddly shaped pieces. Matching up all of those acute and obtuse angles so no piece protruded above is kind of a pain for someone who is a little spacially challenged. But I love them, despite having to use that darn seam ripper so much.

I love them and I wish I could keep them. But I also find that taking a picture of something and then giving it away as a gift is more fun than hogging them. Finally, at 29, I'm learning to share the love.

Thanks to Jody at Javajem for the help and inspiration on the coasters.

While I continue to love to sew with the beautiful woven cottons, I have something very different that I'm sewing now and I can't wait to flash them at you soon. One hint: Violin in the winter.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

More Graphic Design


Check out this logo that I finished awhile ago for Molly and Ashley's new naturopathic clinic. I think it's so perfect for them, with elements from nature, the friendly font just like their writing, and with a little Nikki McClure twist to the artwork.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Help. I'm a Craftoholic.

Every now and then, I have to battle reality and face my craftoholicism. I'm forced to delicately balance my craft addiction with my desire to be a self-supporting, functional adult who works and contributes to society. It's such a struggle! I mean, is there really more to life than crafting? You mean to tell me crafting isn't what life is all about? I know there is work to do, but don't you think my time is better spent sewing??? thanks, I thought so. Who needs work. (Zieg, I'm just kidding. Thank you for being so supportive of my crafting.)

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

BOO!

It seems Halloween is losing it's charm for kids. Kids can't wear their costumes to school, a lot of kids don't get to go trick-or-treating, and some go in *gasp* shopping malls. What is going on here?

I was a priveledged trick-or-treater. Year after year, a whole gaggle of kids from my street would go in big, jolly herd. With pride, we'd tackle a huge span of our residential south Minneapolis neighborhood. When we got old enough for no parents, the fun was practically off the hook. Those were great times.

But let's face it. The real reason for this Halloween post is to brag about my brilliant costume ideas as a crafty grown up.


A few years ago I was a string bass. The scroll was made out of floam on a stick which sat in a plastic bottle inside my hair. I used a colorful scarf as the fingerboard, shimmery ribbon for strings, and sewed big fabric f-holes onto my dress. Cool, yes, but that costume took way too much time to make!

Another year I was a rotten strawberry. I took an old strawberry costume that I made and put blobs of cotton and and green scouring sponge all over it for mold. Much easier.


This year's costume was conceived and created in about 2 seconds. Ziegy was the floor of a movie theater and I was a mop. He glued a bunch of candy and popcorn to his shirt. I put a paper towel roll on my head and strips of white felt around my waist. It was all made with just a hot glue gun and elastic. My goal this year was to not let my costume cause me any stress. I did well! Go ahead, steal my ideas for next year... I don't mind. :)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Quilting Kick

My new love is....
Drumrolll......

SEWING!!

My craft space, compared to before, is the size of a football field. I feel like I won the craft lottery and moved into a craft castle. It's great! My sewing machine now sits tall and proud on a large table in my upstairs funroom. It no longer hides in the closet.

I'm absorbed in the joy of sewing. It all started about a month ago when I bought myself a quilting kit for kids. What fun!! Super simple, fun instructions and all supplies included. After that, I immediately ran to the fabric store (there are so many good ones in Portland), picked out the most irresistible fabrics I could find, and started sewing away with my new tricks. Here's a funny threesome wallhanging that I sewed.


I guess you can't really call it quilting unless there is batting in the middle and you sew lines over the whole thing, but what-ev. It's basically like quilting cause it's sewing together pretty, pretty fabrics to make a flat design. I'm really inspired by a famous quilter named Denyse Schmidt who designs with an irregular, awkward look that I love.

Kathleen, remember when you had all of those juicy, wonderful fabric scraps from quilting? Do you still have those? (I hear you're coming to Portland in December... hint hint.)

On another exciting note, last week I had a craft night at my house. A handful of my girlfriends came over and it was so fun! This is something I'd love to have monthly or so. Below, Stacey works on a dazzling top she is sewing for herself. Nicky is doing some collaging with paint, dirt, and flower pedals. It's so much more fun to craft together. Craft on, ladies!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Hardly Strictly Fabulously Definitely Fun

We got back today from San Francisco, where we spent the weekend at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. It was about 65 degrees and sunny both days. So fun!


The festival is in Golden Gate Park and totally, completely FREE. About 40 bands perform, big and small, on 5 different stages. This years big acts were Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Del McCoury, and more. I thought I did a good job of not trying to see everything I wanted to see. A multiple-stage festival is much more fun when you just relax in one place, I've learned, especially when it's really claustro-crowded like this one.

Except for the fact that you have to fight your way forward to actually see the stage at times, I wasn't kidding when I said this festival is outrageously chill. For one thing, any ol' soul can just walk into the park and spread out a blanket. No ticket needed. For another thing, there is no beer garden or wristbands for drinking. In fact, they don't even sell alcohol, everyone brings their own and no one cares about it. No one gives a damn about smoking (well that's not true, there is a 'no tobacco' rule). The lack of law enforcment is pretty amazing in this day and age, considering the fact that this is a gathering of about 70,000 people.


Here is my one shot posing with the man of the weekend. Warren Hellman, the guest banjo player up on stage, puts on the entire festival. He happens to be a really nice billionaire and pays for it all out of his pocket. Just for fun! A gift from him to us. Thanks Warren! He doesn't do any commercial sponsorship, so there is no advertising anywhere. His name is often mentioned and everyone cheers. Wow. It must be rough. I mean, to have an endless pot of cash AND have everyone love you...

Hardly Strictly is a gem and I recommend it, no doubt. But get there early to get a good spot. This precious event is no longer a well-kept secret.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Connecting

Alrighty... you're all obviously waiting in pure agony (probably losing sleep) over not knowing what the mystery picture below is. I'll tell you... It's the blown up image of the inside of some sort of cable that goes deep down in the ocean. Ziegy recently went to his company headquarters in Denmark. They had it framed on the wall as artwork. So he took a picture of it for me! Neat, huh? He been in Vancouver, BC at the Oceans 2007 conference for the past week. The other day on the phone he told me he was getting ready for a seminar on underwater cables and connectors. Sometimes I think his job is fascinating, other times not as much.

He comes back tomorrow and then we are hopping on a plane to go to San Francisco. We are going to spend the weekend at this totally outrageously chill event. We'll see music friends and also my friend Kari down there. Fun is ahead!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Stitching Together Thoughts

I've been spending quality time in my upstairs hideout, where I have the juiciest space to do whatever creative thing I dream of. I'm stoked to announce: I have a new craft! I'd show you pictures of my new creations, but unfortunately, Zieg is traveling right now with the camera. So stay tuned for the return of the camera. I guarantee that next week's photos will be exciting to "unfold." In the meantime, rest assured that I am full of inspiration and jolly jubilee for life. I am definitely not bored!

Needletune needs new pictures. Since I have to hold off on showing off what I made, here's a pair of random musings about photos I found in the computer.


Here is a my silly friend Kari from college, who I recently bonded with while she was living in Astoria, Oregon (where "The Goonies" was filmed). Her house was on a hill overlooking the ocean. It had what appeared to be the Golden Gate Bridge out the front door. Breathtaking! But in return for the beauty, she had the shortest shower in the world. An elf shower. This is what she had to do if she didn't feel like going to the gym to take a shower.



Isn't this pretty? It was taken by our little camera just a few weeks ago. I bet you have no idea what it is. I'm not telling. heh. Any ideas? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think it is. If you're right, you'll be my new best friend! If you are wrong, Needletune points for you for effort.

It's late, I'm all crafted out. Good night.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

List of Lists

Right now in my life, I am doing a lot of little things to keep busy and stay afloat. A little of this, a little of that... all meeting together from different directions to make for what I think is a pretty interesting life. (Thankfully, it is all stuff that involves some creativity or I think I would go crazy.) Well, all of these things add up to what feels like a very big thing, a mass of thoughts in my head. So today, I did something that made me feel more organized and also made me laugh-- I sat down to make a list of the lists I need to make. Seriously. I'm not sure what that says about my life! Next, I think I might try drawing out a tree with branches to get my lists organized.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Ooh, Let's Join

Here are the 3 poster designs that I just finished for Girls Inc. I ended up being asked to do separate designs for elementary, middle school, and high school. Since the posters are laminated, it works well to write on them with a dry erase marker, so the white boxes are for meeting times, etc. The posters will be displayed at schools all over the Portland area. Enjoy!

Elementary



Middle School



High School

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Crazy Sexy Cancer

This lady to my left, Kris Carr, is incredible. She has cancer and made a movie about how she is kicking it in the ass and is embracing her life to the fullest. How cool! It's called Crazy Sexy Cancer and it debuts on TLC tomorrow night. Set your DVRs!

I love it when someone takes a bad thing and makes a good thing out of it. When I first heard the name of the movie, I thought I was hearing things. Most people wouldn't associate cancer with anything fun and sexy. Cancer sucks, right? It's not a fun thing. I'm one who fantasizes about a world where illness and death is not such an uncomfortable topic, so I ran to my computer and googled these three words. When I learned about Crazy Sexy Cancer I was refreshed. What a strong girl! By putting herself out there in such a positive way, she is helping cancer, and all of it's associated suckiness, to be just a little more approachable. Oh thank goodness.

I am so inspired. Seriously. The quality of shows on cable TV is amazing. And no I'm not serious about that.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Fun Design Job

I'm stoked to share with you that I was hired to do some graphic design work for an absolutely fabulous non-profit in town called Girls, Inc. They are a national organization completely devoted to empowering girls. Their motto is "Inspiring all Girls to be Strong, Smart, and Bold."

My job is to design marketing materials for girls ages 8-21, inspiring them to join Girls, Inc. and become members. My designs are naturally youthful and fun, so I am a good fit for the task. But I realized recently that I have no idea what is cool to girls these days! I know what I would want for them to think is cool, but that wouldn't necessarily make it appeal to the 13-year-old of 2007. Any ideas? I'm challenging myself to think outside the box of flowers, hearts, and swirls, and give this some real substance. This project will be a lot of fun.

I'm honored to be on board with Girls, Inc. and I wanted to share my news and also bring the organization to your awareness. I'm also using this as an excuse to share the link to my online design portfolio, which I'm quite proud of. Take a peak at it. (Click to enlarge an image.)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Good Stuff


My friend Sarette is so crafty. Look at these pants she sewed for herself!

Today I discovered the most fabulous new store in Portland that is only a bicycle spin away from my house. It's called Twisted and is has yarn, crafts, classes, and tea. Yet another reason why I love this city! Not only does Twisted have a weekly movie night, where you do the craft of your choice with other fun ladies (or strong men), but the two girls who just opened it are really nice. I'm hoping they decide to do some hiring soon.

Which reminds me that the other day, while shopping with Sarette, I discovered another store which is equally blogworthy. Saint Cupcake is a fun little boutique on Belmont Avenue. It's full of handmade things that you don't need at all, but you just want so badly. It's a great store to waste time in. And just when you thought this store couldn't be more scrumptious, at the back of the store, you'll find that you're actually shopping in a cheerful little cupcake shop! What's more fun than that?

Portland has a huge craft and DIY (do it yourself) scene and it is about half of the reason why I live here. I'll tell you more about that another day.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Movin' & Groovin'

Last weekend was a whirlwind! Not only did we transition from Seattle to Portland, but I personally shuffled from one music festival to another. The craziness started last week, when we packed up our stuff into a U-haul in Seattle, drove down, and unpacked it into our new garage. Then I drove out to the Gorge for the Stevenson Bluegrass Festival and played a dance set with Deadwood Revival on Friday night. (Yes, it was called a "dance set". And boy did they dance, thank the Lord.) Then, On Saturday I drove out to Hornings Hideout and met up with the Ziegman for the big String Cheese Incident weekend. In the meantime, we homelessly stored all of our stuff in our new garage. The move was chaotic, but the whole weekend was planned out and worked seamlessly!


String Cheese is a big jam band that puts on a huge camping festival every summer on beautiful grounds outside of Portland with a lake, a creek, and lots of forest. The stage area is a huge natural bowl-shape ampitheater that is perfect for thousands of people. Many people feel very at home at Hornings Hideout.


The weekend is not only about the band, but you see lots of costumes, dancing, workshops, and crazy circus-like hoopla. On Saturday night, they cleared out floor and put on a big theatrical show while the band jammed in the back. We were at the front of the crowd for this. I loved it! But also I was glad that we did not all go up in flames.


While frolicking in silliness with our friends Amy & Sean, we passed by a beautiful collage made with scrapes of random fabric pieces and glue gun. In the collage are images of flowers, water, animals, hills, etc. This is only part of it to show the detail. In my already blissful state, I thought this was pure luscious eye candy. Seeing this now makes me want to stop this unpacking nonsense and start crafting NOW!


I mean, could this be any more CUTE???


We are very lucky in that we are part of a huge community of friends in Portland called "The Visitors". Here is the group photo from the weekend. I, of course, was lost in my own world hula hooping at the top of the hill and missed the whole photo. But Zieg made it. He is the big guy in the lower left side with the scarf on his head.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Today is my sister Kate's birthday. She lives in Buffalo, NY, which in my opinion is way too far away. I wish she lived closer. Kate has a blog called Oh for Fun! named after a whimsical expression that our mother says. :) It was her blogging life that made me start a blog. Thanks Kate! This is fun!

Kate is always good for a laugh and, as her blog states, her writing is often over the top with fun. I wish I was as funny as her. Here is my recent favorite Oh For Fun! entry.

Kate, happy birthday! I miss you! Isn't about time for another audition in Seattle or Oregon?

Friday, July 20, 2007

Moving Along


One of my best friends, Catie P, moved away this week. Catie and I were housemates in Portland and when she left in 2003 to travel, I wasn't sure if I'd see her again. But, she landed back at our house with the same glowing light and it was like nothing had changed. Then she left to travel some more. Again, she surprised me and came back! But this time, I don't think Catie is coming back. She is going to poke around the country for a bit, visit people, and eventually end up in Asheville, NC where her family is. I've had lots of fun times and long talks about life with her. Catie, my girl, I will miss you! You are such a good friend!

Although I'm super sad that she is so far away, I hear there is great music in Asheville and I plan to visit.

While Catie is moving from Portland, I am moving back to Portland next week. Funny how that works out.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Hot Music


High Sierra Music Festival was long and hot, but fun and worth the heat and the lack of sleep. I worked on the ambiance crew which means decorating the stages and grounds of the fest. Very fun! For a jungle themed late-night stage hall, I did a lot of cutting, pasting, laminating, and hanging huge paper flowers. Also, with my friends Jen and Angela from the bay area, we made a 10-ft. tall waterfall out of pretty translucent paper and lights. I also spent a few late night hours stringing white lights from tree to tree in a grassy meadow with my good friend Lindsey. Since it is so hot at High Sierra (over 100 degress every day), the coolness of the night is invigorating.

The ambiance crew is really fun in an unorganized way.... there's a huge barn of supplies and decorations and for two days, we just tore through it and went to town! I wish I had more pictures of this. I did not hang the "I Feel Good" that you see above, but it captured how I felt at that moment.


Along with 4 stages of continuous music, there are a lot of crazy sights at High Sierra. These festival-goers are my favorite, and god I wish I was as cool as them. At night, their seahorses light up beautifully and it's fun to watch them cruise around.


There were probably 40 or so bands at High Sierra and I had my eye on the ones with fiddle. My favorite set of the weekend was Chris Thile (mandolin, formerly of Nickel Creek) and the How to Grow a Band, which I stood at front and center. They have great pickers and also a great name and I like their deisgn. At the end of the set, Darol Anger was invited to join, so he spontaneously ran to his campsite and hopped up on stage with his violin. Classic. I love that.

One of my favorite new bands is the Ryan Montbleau Band, a bluesy little troupe from around Boston. They have a dude who plays viola.

Brett Dennen never disappoints, with his soulful, fun-loving, crowd-rowsing songs.


It was really fun to see Raina Rose (above with guitar), a Portland singer who is full of positive light. I listened to her CD in my car repeatedly after High Sierra, passing through Portland for a couple days.

Here is a picture of ThaMuseMeant, a great band formerly from of Portland. The great Enion Pelta plays the 5-string violin, which I got to play at her camp. It's like a violin and viola in one. Her husband, Dave, plays a mean mandolin. I don't think you can see it in this picture, but can anyone tell me why, oh why, does he have a chinrest on his mandolin??

Believe it or not, the girl in this picture above is not me. But as I stood there trying to get a good picture of the band, I was sort of wondering if I was looking at the back of myself, with pigtails, a spaghetti strap tank, sunglasses, and a barrell clasp necklace, so I captured her in there with the band because I just liked her.

On the last night of the festival, I was well-rested and ready to GO BIG. But unfortunately, at 6PM I had one bite from a plate of unlabeled pot cookies. It was so strong that it put me to bed just as the night was starting to come alive. I was mad that it wasn't labeled! Apparently this was so it wouldn't be noticed by festival police, but my feelings are that friend's well-beings should come first and that plate should not have been innocently sitting there going "Eat me!" But oh well. Even though my fun night was squelched, it kind of makes a funny story and it was a learning experience. Beware of festival baked goods!

Listen to this craziness... Ziegy went down to High Sierra a day later than I did and ended up helping out a friend of a friend named Hannah, giving her a ride down from Seattle. They had never met. On the way, they stopped in Portland and were hanging out at Hannah's friend Emily's house. It wasn't until then that they realized that Hannah is also my old friend from Portland and the girl whose house they were at, Emily, is my old roommate of 2 years. Isn't that a fabulous connection? I screamed when I heard. I loved when people come together like that! And I loved getting to see Hannah at the fest.

Unfortunately, Ziegy's VW van did not make all the way to High Sierra and Ziegy, Hannah, Steve, and Stacey had to rent a van after it stalled in the mountains of northern California. So we rode back home in a luxury mini-van. It made for a good adventure for all and it's all covered under warranty. We kept on smiling.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Skirts and Stuff

Tomorrow we are heading to California for the fun and outrageous High Sierra Music Festival. It means I finally get to flaunt this cute skirt I sewed a while ago.


The skirt is fitted and stretchy. It's made out of spandex. The ladies at the sewing store tried to tell me that it wasn't going to work to sew on the red bobble garland at the bottom because it doesn't stretch (even if I stretched the spandex). Guess what. It worked! It's stretches wonderfully!


These are little hair ties. They're just strips of spandex and decorative yarn and they're about six inches long.


Actually, I've kind of gone crazy the past few days. Here's another skirt I made. The little blue guys hanging down are more spandex. I like the way that they hang straight and don't wrinkle.

One thing I learned: Spandex + hot glue gun = happiness and fun

I also just finished sewing the curtains for our VW bus that is going down to High Sierra. We'll be gone until next Monday night. Back with a lot of musical and creative inspiration of course.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Full Picture


It's not very often that a picture of a band is taken in which no one's face is covered by something and everyone is smiling. But, here is the Deadwood Revival opening set (Jason, Bryan, Kim, and me) from last Tuesday at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle. Bryan, the bass player for Hot Buttered Rum played the entire set with us, learning some of the tunes on the fly, just cause he's a rockstar like that.

After the the Seattle shows, I drove up to Vancouver, BC over the weekend to see another Hot Buttered Rum show. It was a much needed personal adventure. I had the full Canada experience by having my whole car searched at the border, catching the Sky Train to go shopping downtown, and then sleeping at a marginally-comfortable hostel. The show, of course, was a really fun! I chose not to sit in with the band in order to not disrupt the flow of just dancing and smiling. I united with some random new and old friends. I slipped away to the restroom at one point, and when I returned, this picture was on my camera.

Clockwise from left is Ben, who is Zac (the mandolin player)'s cousin and who sat in with them on guitar, Andy, the band's bus driver, and John and Michelle, Butter friends who live in Bellingham, WA.

I go through phases, but I'm definetely stuck in the Butter dish right now. Next up, I'll see them next weekend again at High Sierra music festival, which we are leaving for this weekend.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Fresh Butter

One person was confused about my last post, wondering if I was opening for Hot Buttered Rum by myself. Now that would be funny, but no, Deadwood Revival had invited me to play with them for their opening set. I was just tooting my own horn.

These musical experiences feel like candy to me. After all, Butter does rock my world. And Deadwood Revival rocks my world and I'm stoked to play with them. (Mom, thank you for taking me to violin lessons every week as a kid! A topic for another post.)


Here is my favorite picture of Hot Buttered Rum.



Deadwood Revival is a duo of my friends Kim on guitar and Jason on banjo, both with high energy vocals. I'm not officially in the band, but I play with them when I can.

Deadwood opened for Butter on the first night of 2 Seattle shows. On the second night another band opened but the Butter boys invited me up to play a tune during their set. It's always interesting to go up, play a few notes, and come back down... not much chance to get my groove on or get used to the sound, but I guess that's what sitting in is all about.

Oh, and notice Erik to the the left of me. He normally plays the banjo, but when he's in Seattle he borrows Ziegy's dobro and sometimes plays it instead. Do you like his t-shirt? It says "drop steel" which is another name for dobro. It's a shirt that I designed and printed for Ziegy, who loved it so much he had one made for Erik as well. Nice shirt Erik! To the right of me, Zac tells us about the "Red Clay Halo on his head."

Although Ziegy and I are moving to Portland soon, I'm so glad I got to live in Seattle for a year. If I hadn't, I would't have become such good friends with Kim and Jason and I wouldn't be zipping up to Vancouver, BC in a few minutes to catch 2 more Butter shows this weekend.

Monday, June 18, 2007

A Great Many Things

Tomorrow night I will be opening for my favorite band. Let me just reflect on that one more time. I get to open for my favorite band. I'll be playing fiddle with my friends Kim and Jason of Deadwood Revival, warming up the stage for Hot Buttered Rum.

Life throws A Great Many Things at me. When it feels cloudy and gray, it helps to remind myself that I get to do a lot of cool stuff.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Lil' Sack


A few months back, I sewed this little handbag. All I did was by cut off the bottom of an old pair of jeans and close off the bottom with just one little seam. For the handle, I sewed on something that was orginally meant to be a headband, but I never got around to sewing on the elastic. Super easy! Since it doesn't fasten at the top, I've never used it other than to toss household stuff in it. But I recently noticed that it makes a fine lil' sack for a small knitting project. Today I carried it around like this. What am I knitting, you ask? Just wait. It's almost finished.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Baby Legs

Take a look at these cutie-pies. They're baby legwarmers! Baby Legs was started a few years ago here in Seattle and now they're in stores in cities wherever babies live. The girl who started them first made some legwarmers out of sleeves (or something creative) for her baby, then she started making them for friends, and now it's a business that is flying off. Aren't they cute?? (That's pronounced kee-yoot.) Baby Legs are only $12 and are a great gift for anyone who has a baby or small kid in their life. I recommend.


On a totally unrelated note, I think this whole blogging thing is really fun! For a while now, I've been reading my sister
Kate's blog, as well as Ashley, Courtney, and Amanda's blog. Only now have a realized there is a ginormous blogging community out there! I almost had an accident in my pants when I saw the 62 comments on Hello my name is Heather or the 294 comments on Crazy Aunt Purl. And all of those people who commented have blogs, and all their people have blogs, and it is pretty much an insane chain of neverending blogs to read!! I've already done a fantastic job wasting hours upon hours weaving my way through this. And many more joyously wasted hours to come!

One thing I don't totally grasp yet is the whole feed thing. Luckly Mira informed me of bloglines, and Katt, the nice girl who works up at Hilltop Yarn, explained to me today more about how bloglines works, but it's still a little jumbly to me.

Friday, June 1, 2007

Good Times (Part 2)

Everything has been feeling really fun and exciting lately. For 3 reasons. I'll save the best for last.

1 Last night Ziegy surprised me for my birthday. He took me out on a mysterious venture and we ended up at our friend's Russ and Kerstin's house for a fun birthday celebration. Another thing to remind me that I have great Seattle friends! Too bad not everyone is in the picture, but it's the best one I have.


2 It's our anniversary! He would say we started dating the night we met up at Folklife in 2005 and watched Children of the Revolution together. I'd say our anniversary is my birthday, when just a few days later, he came down and stayed with me for my 27th birthday celebration in Portland. So, our anniversary is all week long.

3 The best part of all.... are you ready for this???
ZIEGY GOT THE JOB!! That's right folks, we are for-sure moving back to Portland. He starts August 6. This is a huge milestone, as he has been chasing this job for about a year now. It's an ocean science marketing job with a Denmark company. He'll be working from home and traveling a lot. He created the position. It's his dream job. I am so proud of him! He figured out what he wanted and he went out and made it happen. I admire him so much for this, as it is not something I've ever been great at. Now, with unknown territory and a lot of hard work ahead, it's my job to be extra supportive of him. Change is in the air.

So, we have a lot to celebrate this week!!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Good Times

My entire Memorial Day weekend was spent at Folklife, just as planned, and it was beyond all my expectations of fun. Today I am beat from all the running around. My favorite thing this year was the workshops, which I floated to and from with glee. I went to a Scottish fiddle workshop and decided that I want to learn more Scottish. I got Ziegy to go with me to salsa and swing dancing workshops. By myself I went to an Appalachian clogging workshop and a bellydancing workshop. They're really different--bellydancing is more my style.


There are 25 stages at Folklife. This is the stage that Cross-eyed Rosie played on. Our set was high energy and well received and I'm so honored to have gotten to perform again. Directly after our set was the lovely and fabulous fiddle player Hanneke Cassel and meeting her was one of my favorite moments of the weekend.


Aside from the over-the-top music and dancing, I saw many friends over the weekend. I'm trying to cherish my Seattle friendships because I know I won't be here much longer. And I bought myself some cute clothes for my birthday (which is tomorrow!). This green top I'm wearing is from Xylem Clothing in Oregon and it's the most comfortable thing in the whole wide world.

Being able to go to Folklife (which is free I might add) is the best birthday present this girl could ask for!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Play and Be Jolly

It's time.... for Northwest Folklife!! This is my favorite weekend of the year. It's 4 whole days of thousands of happy people gathering at the beautiful Seattle Center to relish in all kinds of music. Lots of performances, art, dances, and workshops. Any fiddle player is in heaven, especially me for some reason. Ziegy remembers me saying last year, "I wish everyday was Folklife!"

There's lots of reasons why I'm excited for Folklife. Aside from all the fiddle hulabaloo, this will be the 3rd year in a row that Cross-eyed Rosie is performing and I'm excited to sell our new CD. It will be warm and sunny. But the most fabulous part is that this year I do not have to drive 3.5 hours to get to Folklife. In fact, I live in the same neighborhood and I can walk there. Seattle is huge and not many people live right by Seattle Center. How LUCKY can I be? The band is coming to me for my favorite festival. I've been waiting for Folklife ever since we moved here.

I plan on just kickin' it there all weekend, soaking it in. Lots of Portlanders are coming up. My friends Finn and Abby are staying at our place. Their all-girl band, Chickweed ("high-octane bluegrass"), is also performing.

Last year at Folklife, I took a picture of a girl hooping while playing violin. I was jealous of her coolness, so I photoshopped my own head over hers. I disguised myself for an online photo directory for a music community that I am part of. Coulda fooled you, right? :)

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Toe Sock

You know how sometimes you just want a sock for your toe? ..... Well, maybe not. Anyway, this is my latest thing that I knitted while hanging out at my mom's comfy, sunny townhouse in St. Paul, MN. I was wanting to try knitting with little needles, something I've never done before. It was fun! The tightness is rad. No more loosey-goosey stitches slipping off the double-pointed needles. I like that. And suprisingly my toe sock came out just the shape of my toe! Now my toe will be clean and warm. And cute too!

My mom knitted me socks for my birthday (which is May 30). She only had one sock finished when I was home, but now I hear they are done. Mom, have you mailed them yet? I am excited!

Monday, April 30, 2007

CJ Fest

Our friend CJ threw a big party for herself for her 40th birthday. 6 bands and almost 300 people all gathered in beautiful Trout Lake, Washington.

On the way I started knitting my second camera sock. This one is a gift for Mario and Erica, who are letting us store our stuff in their garage.

Ziegy is wearing his VW bus shirt standing next to his VW bus. Our friend J looks on, excited for the weekend. Ziegy and I slept up in the pop-top. It was freezing at night!! I slept with gloves, a hat, socks, long underwear, a longsleeve shirt, a hoodie, a fleece vest, and a fleece jacket on. I could barely move, but I was warm!

I did some jamming with Billy, Heather and some other friends. I've been playing mandolin a lot lately. It's been fun. See that big mountain back there?! That's Mt. Adams. Another fun thing happened this weekend was that I ran into some other friends, Derek and Jen, who are friend's of John and Sarette's. I didn't know they were connected to this group and I love it when that happens.

Check out the cake decorations! A clarinet and everything.... Jeanne, who cut the cake, tried to tell me to take the fiddle... I'm glad I didn't or I would've had a big sugary mess in my pocket by the end of the night.

CJ has been planning this for party for over a year. Here is her plan of action, sketched out.

She knows how to celebrate herself. Yeah CJ!