Bumbershoot 2011

Mighty Tieton

Rob and I went to Tieton this weekend to check out this exhibition, where I have a piece on display. There were lots of interesting pieces to see, in all different mediums and styles, so be sure to check it out if you're going to central Washington sometime this month!

The old warehouse turned gallery space, artist studios and printmaking center!

Another reason to head out to Tieton: apples and peaches and pears, oh my! These vintage fruit ads were part of another exhibition about American journey stories and the history of Tieton.

We also caught the last day of the Highland Community Days celebration and finally checked out the bookbinding and letterpress studio where all the products are made for the downtown Paper Hammer store (ahem, which I manage).

Catalogs for the 10x10x10 exhibition after gluing and binding!

A stack of blank notebooks (a custom order)

Handset type 

Book stitching machine! So beautiful.

The smaller paper cutter.

Donkey rides for kids for $5!

Then we drove out to the Wilridge Winery where Rob had a little taste of the wine and I took pictures:

Hawthorn tree!

Swing under the hawthorn tree!

Everything in the fridge quiche recipe.

You know how sometimes you just have a random assortment of produce in the refrigerator and just want to eat everything before it goes bad? This is the perfect recipe for getting rid of it all. And you get a rather fabulous quiche in the end! You can substitute your favorite butter-loaded pastry crust, but I was hungry and I wanted food fast! Besides, the phyllo dough crust is lighter (better for summer!) and healthier (I hope...)

Kale, Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Quiche!

4 eggs

1/3 cup of cream

A few big spoonfuls of strained cottage cheese

Any kind of cheese (I had a chunk of St. Andre.)

7 or 8 sheets of phyllo dough

Big bunch of kale

Small bunch of spinach

Handful of mushrooms

Half pack of turkey bacon

Some sundried tomatoes

Some basil

Salt

Pepper

Oil

Line a pie pan with the phyllo dough, oiling between each layer. I didn't have a pastry brush and we were out of the oil in a spray bottle, so I just slopped some olive oil around with the back of a soup spoon. Sloppy but effective. 

Chop the mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and bacon (Big chunks if you want to go rustic, diced if you like a bit of everything in each bite). Blanch the washed and roughly chopped kale and spinach for a minute or two. Squeeze out the water.

Mix the eggs, cream, cottage cheese, the other kind of cheese (cut into small chunks), salt, pepper and basil.  Add the blanched greens, mushrooms, tomatoes and bacon and mix until incorporated. Pour into the phyllo dough lined pan and bake for about a half hour at 400 degrees F, or until the filling is lightly browned and puffed up. 

Ohmygodshoes.

I pined for these (beautiful, interesting, feminine yet boyish, gorgeously made) handcrafted oxfords for about four months before finally biting the bullet. They'd been in and out of my Etsy shopping cart more times than I can count. So anyway, I just need to brag about them a little. They were made by Israeli shoe designer Esti Drori Hayut, who runs the Etsy store The Shoe Story.

They have such a lovely yellow floral lining, too! And yes, those clear gel things are Dr. Scholl's inserts. So comfortable I could walk miles and miles. Are you listening, people at Dr. Scholl's? Send me some insoles! 

Eats and treats.

Art vending machine in Las Vegas!

Carved mammoth tusk at Treasure Island Casino. It looks Chinese to me and the placard said that it was probably carved over the course of several generations.

Pulled pork eggs benedict at the Border Grill.

Polar bear in a book somewhere in Arizona.

Avocado BLT for brunch at Macy's European Coffeehouse and Bakery in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Kachina brooch.

Before leaving on my recent trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, I knew that I wanted to buy Native American jewelry. I didn't want a bunch of postcards or magnets or t-shirts; I wanted just one memorable piece of jewelry, ideally made by an artist who was living. As an working artist myself, it was important to me to directly support someone who works at the metals craft and is still around to benefit from someone buying their work.  

After seeing lots of both contemporary and antique pieces, I realized that I was always drawn to the overlay technique used by Hopi artisans. A design is pierced from flat sheet silver and then soldered onto another darkened, textured sheet of silver. Zuni needle point jewelry makes my heart beat a bit faster too, but I love the clean, graphic quality of the overlay. Piercing flat sheet is my favorite technique for embellishment, so it's not much of a surprise that I love Hopi jewelry!  

In Flagstaff (awesome little town), I stopped in at the Painted Desert Trading Co. and found a darling little brooch made by the artist Ricky Coochwytewa:

This guy is a Mudhead Kachina, one of the spirits of the Hopi religion and a clown figure who interacts and plays games with audiences at Hopi ceremonies. The brooch is only 1 3/4 inches tall, so all that detail in such a small area is really impressive.

Painted Desert also had some other really nice pieces:

Eagle belt buckle by Darren Seweyestewa 

Lots of Zuni needle point brooches!

I didn't get the artist's name for this little guy.

Light and sky.

Dusk at the Grand Canyon.

Pinching the morning sun between my fingers!

Sunset on the Navajo reservation.

Clouds over Sedona.

Texture bomb.

The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas 

See the frowning face?

What are these plants?

Dusk at the Grand Canyon.