Happy Birthday wish...

To celebrate John Lennon's 70th birthday, I thought I would post a video of one my favorite JL songs. Although, we put Beautiful Boy on Sayer's playlist when he was a baby- and it is a favorite of mine too (hard to narrow it down). I also wanted to share this photo that I found of him today- I really love it. Do you have a favorite John Lennon song?

You can watch "The World Celebrates John Lennon's 70th Birthday" here.
{image via here}

{Fabric Friday} p's & q's...

My appreciation for typography and textiles often morph together. Helen Rawlinson is my all time favorite textile designer that combines these two loves of mine. Sayer has a wonderful drum shade in his room with her ABC design and it's one of my favorite fabrics to use in the klt:studio. But it's always fun to discover additional designers who appreciate typography and  I just found the screen printed textiles of  Melbourne's Spin Spin. Wow, they are gorgeous as well. 

The Spin Spin Etsy shop has more than fabric- you can find kid's clothing, pillows, & stationary too. My eyes immediately fell on the stunning tea towels though. I love the retro, clean patterns, and beautiful, rich colors. When it comes to textile shopping you really can't go wrong visiting either shop for handmade lovelies!  Both designers really know their design p's & q's! Happy Fabric Friday! 

{Good Read} The Snowy Day...

When I found out about the event today called, Read for the Record, I definitely wanted to participate with Sayer. The organization hopes to set a new world record for the greatest number of people reading the same book on the same day. The Snowy Day is their choice and it's one of my all time favorite books. I still have my copy that was given to me in 1976. My hope was for us to go to our local Children's Museum for one of their 2 readings today. However, Sayer has a bit of a cold & we decided to stay at home, close to the tissue box.  We thought we would hold our own reading and wondered if you would like to read along. 

This book had such a big impact on me artistically. I remember vividly, being really smitten by the illustrations and becoming quite interested in collage after seeing them. I can also remember trying to copy some of them in grade school. My favorite image as a child, was the bathtub. I loved the the shape, the tiled floor, the bubbles, and the colors. If you click on to this Read for the Record link, you can also watch a reading of the story. Thanks for reading with us. I hope you enjoyed this book! 

{Good Read} It's Nice That...

The new issue of one of my favorite magazines, It's Nice That, was just delivered and I'm chomping at the bit to dive in and read it. I just cracked it open and it looks to be just as good as the last 2 that I have. The colors, textures, ideas, and presentations are always visually interesting. Here are some quick snippets of the articles that I will read first....

It's Nice That Issue #4 from It's Nice That on Vimeo.

This little flip through video also gives you a feel for the magazine. Just thought I would share some of this magazine's coolness with you. I had better go finish in the studio so I can take another break to read this later.... 

{Part II} Fisher Price Love...

Do you remember the post last week about my love of vintage Fisher Price toys? Well, this is Part II.... there's more! 

I'm lucky enough to have had my path crossed by a very special woman, Janet. She has become one of my husband's favorite customers at hutch studio and is a huge supporter of everything that is created for hutch. Through him, she has become familiar with some of my designs for klt:works and owns many of my original thread drawings. Her dog, Macy, is even one of the dogs on my, "Chasing Tails" mobile. From reading my posts and comments on FB Janet honed in on the fact that I love vintage Fisher Price toys and she very generously sent me this INCREDIBLE register via hutch studio!

This  register has been in Janet's family since 1959 and she wanted to give it to someone that would appreciate it. She was a little concerned that I wouldn't like it because it was old and showed years of love. However, for the record, this is my favorite Fisher Price toy - hands down! I love the worn paint and everything about it. I appreciate this gift for a number of reasons and my plan was to keep it in my studio for inspiration.

But that means that I would have to get my hands on it first. Sayer seems to be very intrigued by this register as well. He loves the 2 little wooden coins in the drawer and his favorite thing to shout out is, "no sale"! Which really doesn't sound good for my klt:customer service guy to be shouting. I guess one of the things that I wanted to point out by this post is that there are truly wonderful people out there in the world and you never know when something extra sweet is going to come your way. I do believe, "what comes around, goes around...".

{Music Monday} Autumn harvest...

The Autumn months are here now and it's time to break out the Neil Young Harvest Moon cd. I don't just listen to this album in the Fall, but it just seems to compliment the season well. We actually have two copies of it because Chris & both had one when we met. It's the ultimate art studio music and has been a favorite for years. Neil has a new release out now along with a mini movie about the making of his album- both collaborations with the great Daniel Lanois. Neil is a true classic and continues to put his heart & soul into everything he does which is why so many people love not only his music, but him as well. Happy Music Monday! 

Corn mazes, tractors, & apples... oh my!

Today Sayer and I celebrated a local event, Festival of Family Farms, by visiting Gordon's Skagit Farms- one of my favorite places in the valley. I picked out my pumpkins in Gordon's pumpkin patch every year growing up. I even found a double pumpkin when I was in 5th grade if that gives you any idea of how magical a place it is. I took the first college painting class that I taught, on a field trip there to paint on location. So, I really enjoy taking Sayer to Gordon's when I have the opportunity.

I learned that Sayer is really good at finding his way through a corn maze. He is like a little GPS. It was awesome to watch him cruise through the mazes. There were also lots of carts to fill with either apples or pumpkins. We just used it to ride around in & push- we're going to get our pumpkins a little later...

But really what we spent most of our time doing, was going from one tractor to another. Sayer can't get enough of sitting and pretending to drive so he was in heaven. There were 4 different tractors scattered about - every vintage. 

Every now and then, we needed to let someone else get on the tractors. Which gave us a perfect opportunity to go visit the chickens.

After the last tractor ride, Sayer picked out some apples & some cider before we headed home. It was a nice way to say hello to October! What did you do this weekend?