June 28, 2008

Two of a Kind

Desk Chair Reupholstery 2

Yay! Matching desk chairs for me and the hubs. I'm unreasonably thrilled with my doings.

June 27, 2008

Collage landscape

Collage Landscape

I found a rusted piece of metal on the street - it's the "dog" thing on the left side of the landscape. What could it have been? A mechanical part for some gear works? Something decorative (unlikely, since there are no holes for threading anything through or any glue remnants)? No matter, now it's a fun part of my found paper/found object collage.

June 25, 2008

Purple Skirt

Purple triangles skirt

It's really, really fun to make little summer skirts for Lara. This one is from baby clothes printed with various purple patterns. What's amazing is that Lara's waist size is still the same as it was at nine months (or so the labels in her baby clothes would have me believe), so I was able to use the waistband from a pair of little purple pants to attach a bunch of randomly cut and pieces triangles to. Well, I guess not really trianges, but reasonably symmetrical trapezoids with very narrow tops.

June 23, 2008

Photo Shoot

So... guess what? Craft Magazine is going to feature the reupholstered rocking chair I made in its last page column called "Makeover"! I know! When they emailed I was totally flabbergasted and may well have overgushed about, you know, all the love in emails back.

First they compiled a knowingly insightful series of interview questions, and then yesterday they sent out Dustin, a friendly neighborhood photographer, to take some pictures of the rocker - and, of course, of Lara riding it.

Craft Magazine photo shoot 2

Getting the model to pose for longer than 15 minutes involved some cajoling as you may well imagine, and someone - not mentioning any names - may have gotten an extra piece of "vitamin candy" for cooperating past the point of her innate interest.

Craft Magazine photo shoot 1

But overall, Lara was a fan of the "photofographer," and I think I might have even ended up in a few pics as well. Should be in the next issue.

Oh, and incidentally, check out this cool light-diffuser thingie that was part of the very cool, very elaborate photography equipment setup:

Craft Magazine photo shoot 3

I feel like it could be a cool ring or necklace.

June 22, 2008

Good-bye, City by the Bay

Well, we're back in Philly. There are a fun couple of things brewing around here, and some that were done brewing before we left but I never got to show you, but before that - one more San Francisco post. As we walked around I became more and more obsessed with the neo-Victorian, gaudy, ornate style of the houses. It really looks like nothing that I've ever seen anywhere else. And what's more amazing to me is that they continue building them like this - new construction is just as busily appointed with masonry bits, ribbon-like designs, and molding upon layer of gorgeous molding. Just fantabulous.

peach castle

A peach castle up the street from Amy's house. The owners have been there since the 70's, amassing their impenetrable floral moat. I'm thinking a small army of gardeners must be lurking in those bushes.

sale house with fountain

We stumbled on this one ascending hill after non-stop hill in my misguided attempt to find a shortcut. It was enormous - it easily goes at least twice as far as this photo in each direction. (And hey, if you're in the market, looks like you're in luck - that's 415-401-9966 for Sotheby's own Payton Stiewe!)

shingled house

We ended up buying this one... Ok, not really. But doesn't Misha look like the proud home-owner in that shot?

sushi sign

Hey, those cocktails mom used to give us kids were really great!

ornate house

This one just looks like it was covered in brocade. I am crazy about this ornamentation. I wonder if neighbors would complain if you built a house like this in Philly?

gaudy house

Opinion here is split on this one. I think these colors are perfect and an amazing combination, but Misha is a little overwhelmed by them. What do you think?

fog rolls in

And finally, you know the expression "the fog came rolling in"? Did you know that that's actually exactly, literally what fog does? That huge billow of fog that Misha is pointing at was moving at an incredible speed, unfolding like a rolled up carpet onto the city. Completely insane-looking.

June 19, 2008

More Little Kitchens!

Andreas converted inches to centimeters and built this one (love that plaid oven):



And Christine put this adorably girly number together, complete with the awesome matching apron:



Too cute.

June 17, 2008

Muir Woods

This morning we visited the redwoods. Words don't really do them justice. (And neither does my camera.)

June 17 - Muir Woods - 5

Lara climbed into a couple:

June 17 - Muir Woods - 1

June 17 - Muir Woods - 2

After that we ran ran away from the Big Bad Wolf, since in her outfit Lara was clearly Little Red Riding Hood - and who else would Little Red encounter in the woods? Then she found this log along the path and declared, "That's a saw-nose shark! There's the eye!" which she promptly poked:

June 17 - Muir Woods - 3

Small girl, big forest.

June 17 - Muir Woods - 4

June 15, 2008

Amy's House

In San Francisco we've been staying at the beautiful house of Misha's aunt Amy and uncle David, whose amazing sense of style I have always really admired. The house is one of the ornate Victorians that line the streets here, a bright and warm place arrayed with a lifetime's worth of discriminating collecting. Love at first sight for me.

It sits right on top of Dolores Park, a block away from this view:

dolores park view

See the playground in the middle? That's where we've been going in the mornings.

The chair in the entry (and behind it, the amazing embossed wall finish):

hallway

To the right of the chair, you can see a bit of the living room - here is the rest:

den

That pottery collection on the fireplace? All made by Misha's cousin Emily. Em, they are incredible!

Opposite the entry, the gorgeous dining room. Two views of this beauty:

living room

living room 2

A few more shots, in no particular order - the garden, one of the staircases, an apothecary chest in the entry:

garden

stairs 2

stairs

You can see why I'm going to really miss it when we go! (And a huge thanks for putting us up, Amy and David!)

June 11, 2008

Greetings from Sun Francisco

That's right, I've renamed it. Pass it on.

It has been the most perfect, geographically incorrect weather here all week, and we have been really loving the relaxing trip. I am here so infrequently that each time the architectural beauty of this city surprises me afresh. The pastel Victorians lining the streets, the ridiculous hills, the unfamiliar trees... we'd move here in a second if only it weren't a world away from the east coast.

We are staying in Misha's aunt Amy's gorgeous house near Dolores Park - which is where we've been spending our mornings, discovering Lara's climbing skills. Seriously, she's a monkey:



We've also been going to Golden Gate Park most days to hang out with my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my dad and Linda:









Lara has fallen in love with Liza, the calm resident dog, who is extremely tolerant of Lara's aggressive affections. Mostly everyone likes to chill on the round couch thing in the den. To wit - Lara with Max and Liza:



One of the joys of living in this climate has to be the ability to mingle the indoors and outdoors. To me being here feels like being in a beach house because of all the open windows, open porch doors, and easy access to nature. It's such a relaxed, happy vibe. I've been raving about it nonstop since we got here. Lara likes it too - particularly smelling flowers in Amy's lovely garden:

June 5, 2008

Smoothing out...

...life, that is. Or at least seems to be. We'll keep our fingers cross and hope for this even keel to continue. I just wanted to pop back in and say a big thank you to everyone's lovely comments on my last post. It still fascinates me that we can become so enmeshed in the lives of those whom we only know through blogland, but the connections are real and wonderful, and your words cheered me up.

I wanted to share all the paintings I've done in the last few weeks - a really fun and varied bunch. I put a little ad up on the Etsy Father's Day showcase, and it really seems to have worked! I was pretty shocked.

Adrienne's son:
Oils - Adrienne's son

Kristen's family:
Oils - Kristen's family

Liz's son:
Oils - Liz's son

Jill's family:
Oils - Jill's family