SUBURBAN HOME RECORDS Mixtape Volume 1, “Raising Hell & Living Cheap”

1 Tim Barry – Thing Of The Past
2 Tim Barry – Shoulda Oughta
3 Tim Barry – Tacoma
4 Chuck Ragan – Don’t Say A Word
5 William Elliot Whitmore – Old Devils
6 Micah Schnabel – American Static
7 The Takers – Taker Easy
8 The Enablers – Whatever You Like
9 Drive-By Truckers – Gravity’s Gone
10 Deer Tick – Straight Into A Storm
11 Drag The River – Lost Angel Saloon
12 Josh Small – Fifteen Twenty Eye (Demo)
13 Horse Feathers – Curs In The Weeds
14 Have Gun Will Travel – Salad Days
15 Joey Kneiser – Bruised Ribs
16 Portugal. The Man – People Say (Acoustic Version)
17 The Builders and The Butchers – Red Hands
18 Yesterday’s Ring – Quebec City Blues
19 Chad Price – Cursed
20 Lenny & The Piss Poor Boys – Lonely Days & Whiskey Nights
21 American War – Rhetoric
22 Jon Snodgrass – Wild One
23 Lizzie Huffman – Tumblers and Tea
24 Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Good Bye

You can order your own here. Some of these songs I love. I mean without abandon. LOVE. The Enablers, Horse Feathers, Lizzie Huffman, Langhorne Slim, Joey Kneiser, Portugal. The Man…and OF COURSE I put Wild One on my 2009 mix because that song is just beautiful.

Some songs…well. Look. I don’t like Micah Schnabel. He is from around here, kind of, so I WANT to like him…but he’s an emo kid playing dress up in alt-country. That and his voice makes me want to murder unicorns and kick puppies. FAKER! *ahem*

Some of it is a little twangy, I know. But overall, it’s solid. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go listen to it a million more times.

My lovely friend Roh has been in the midst of moving house over the last week or so….Dave & Her must really love being in Wanstead & me because they were living just off the high street, but have moved about 8 doors down from me!

I loved them living so close before but now I can annoy them ALL the time! heh heh

Anyway they don’t have any internet in the new place at the moment so I’ve tried to help out by knocking together a couple of posts for her, thus meaning my poor little blog has nothing much to show for it of late.

Have a look at my last-minute Christmas Present buys for under 20 squids….

Let me show you my favorite, I wish i had an iPhone so I can get this

Chocolate iPhone cover £12 Urban Outfitters

It’s been a musical week, which started with being given a ticket to see Kate Rusby on Sunday night, who’s ethereal vocals and unusual versions of Christmas songs (mostly Yorkshire versions) invoked some serious festive feeling. Extra kudos to Kate for getting up on stage 11 weeks after giving birth to her first baby. She sang the poignant and heart achingly sad My Young Man, a song she wrote for her grandmother. We both cried at the live version, which I can’t find on youtube but you can listen to the track here here:

Her beautiful performance made for a great mood on Monday, made even better by a performance in Islington from the excellent Catherine Paver. Catherine is a country singer and journalist who tells enthralling stories about the Wild West and Africa though her music. The week went out with a bang with a very special reunion gig from Deaf School at the 100 Club, in which I finally got to meet John Wood’s alter ego; The Reverend Max Ripple. Deaf School were really big in the 70s. Their music is fab, and seeing Ms Bette Bright sing live was a real treat, what a lady; I hope when I’m in my 50s or 60s (Ann looked so great, I couldn’t tell her age) I’m on stage wearing red lipstick and a sequined keyboard dress. They even had Ricky from the Kaiser Chiefs drumming.

This week has also been about discovering new music. I’ve been listening to a lot of female folk and country singers, including a lot of Laura Cantrell, turned up really really loud. You might recognise Not the Tremblin’ Kind (bit of an anthem in female country circles, and now in studio EW too).

Co-incidentally, I’ve been noticing that a lot of female country and folk singers have beautifully illustrated album artwork. Check out the cover of Cantrell’s Humming by the Flowered Vine.

My musical week finished with watching some weird band in Brixton, who were nothing special but fun anyway. It was whilst watching them (and thinking, rather than concentrating on their bad lyrics) that I decided to make music part of some serious 2010 resolutions. It’s really important, I don’t think we place enough everyday importance on it. I’d like to explore the links between music and illustration, and if any music-makers out there want to collaborate please get in touch.

This post is a lot less thought out than usual. I spend ages working out the point and plan for ages working out what on earth I want to say before actually posting things.

I’m a bit bored of that at the moment. Bored of writing about pictures, and stories, and ideas with no practical application. I’m not sure where all this is going, but think it’s something about making this blog somehow a more practical record of process which doesn’t just use images and working things out through writing; but something more experimental and multi-faceted, perhaps involving more sound, video, concepts and ideas.

Maybe 2010 will shed some light. Maybe this blog needs a new name, or a different focus, or to be something else entirely. Maybe it’s not written by an illustrator. Maybe it’s co-authored.

Whatever it is, it’s time to turn up the volume.

Technically it wasn’t much of a rainy day, but I got to do some good crafting anyway. Since I already finished making stockings and my gingerbread men ornaments last week, I indulged in a little personal crafting and made a little sketch book.

I’ve also been spending this week getting more and more excited for the Digg holiday party (tomorrow!) while practicing my hairdo and makeup, as well as toying with my new camera. After finding out there is another holiday party next week (with a balls-to-the-walls-ugly-garb theme) I whipped up a Christmas tree pin for Jeff to wear since I’ll be donning my elf hat. So of course, here’s the lovely pin itself:

Have I ever mentioned that I also have a Tumblr page where I post all the weird/cute/wtf/hilarious pictures I accumulate from the depths of the internet? No? Well, now I am. All kinds of gems in there, just take a peek. Maybe try getting one yourself, it’s good for people who want more than Twitter and less than Blogger/other.

Oh and look another piece of my craft antics has been featured today on the wonderous blog by Rohini : The Beat That My Heart Skipped, see if you can spot my carefully handcrafted (with love) patchwork quilt on her post “Old homes, New Horizons”

Today I finished my first batch of D.I.Y. Gingerbread Man Ornaments and they’re now in my Etsy shop. Next up are single ornaments to add on, including gingerbread men with bites taken out of their heads. I still have gifts to buy and crafts to make, but I’ll get back to this when I have more done. Please take a look at my shop soon for more holiday treats.

From Bigger Picture’s blog (which is so awesome it’s going in the blogroll!)

I’ve been a busy little sewing bee recently, I’ve just finished Cinderella’s Ball gown for the Woodhouse Players panto . It’s a gorgeous velvet & satin Navy vision!

My second project, which actually something I’ve been commissioned to make, is a lovely little empire line silk dupion dress.

I just had to take a picture of the fabric as I unwrapped it from the carefully wrapped tissue paper, yes wrapped in tissue paper! When youre spending this much on fabric from Broadwick Silks, it bloody should be delicately folded & wrapped for you to take home & create beautiful things with.

The young lady, who’s lovely boyfriend commissioned me to create this dress, has not yet seen it made up so i’ll only show you a couple of close up & working shots.

Here’s the contrast trim on the sleeve’s cuff…

… and here is me mid stitch working on the precise topstitching on the pleats along the front of the dress…

…and the finished pleats on the empire line…when i’ve got the lady in question in the dress i’ll take a full length picture.

Look at the lovely Christmas lights that are all along St Christophers Place this Year, I spotted these whilst caning my debit card today in the West End looking for a Christmas Dress….

My grannies taught me to knit when I was little, I remember endlessly working on stripy jumpers & scarves as a kid, for many years I fell out of the habit of knitting, but in the last couple of years i have taken it up with a vengeance, some of my creations can been seen in previous posts. But this particular post is a little special, I have acquired from one of my grans a pattern book from what I think must be sometimes in the 60’s or 70’s, the patterns specifically themed for little items to be sold at Bazaar’s…..who remembers them?? There really is not enough of them nowadays!

of patterns featured in this booklet which do you think I made on the page below?

Yes of course it was the hat….. although i was greatly tempted by the toy bunny & elephant, here’s my first attempt,  Teal green with a contrasting pink ribbon

What do you think i should make next? Maybe one of these smashing tea cosies or maybe the sweet little egg cosies…I do love egg & soilders after all!

I think i’m getting a little obsessed with embellished dresses…. I’ve been invited for the first time to a Christmas Lunch hosted by my company for our biggest client at the Mint Leaf on the Haymarket & obviously i will need to buy a new dress as everything in my wardrobe has been worn & is generally too big since i seem to be shrinking in size (YAY!)… I’m not buying a dress JUST for this one occasion it’s also to cover my work Christmas Party & any other Chritmassy event i may well end up attending….not New Years Eve mind you, this is usually spent in Panda PJ’s with Tammy having a film-a-thon! oh i seem to be getting off the point as usual; as i was saying I am becoming obsessed with embellished, sequined, embroidered & studded things, & who can blame me just take a look at the these lovely examples:

and of course what Christmas party outfit is complete without a feathered tiara….

Metal Embellished Headband £18 – Topshop / Black & Ivory Embellished Dress by Ben Di Lisi £250 - Debenhams / Spike Gold Studded Platform £75 – Topshop / Black Studded Mini Dress £225 – Butterfly by Matthew Williamson at Debenhams / Pearl Embellished Bolero £125 & Snow Queen Tiara £35  - Both Topshop

It’s a story about you and I
How lovely that first sign
How curious at first look
Was the love between me and you
It’s a story simply told
It’s about a boy
A girl
And the bold.
About the you and the me
About how fun we can be
It’s a story to tell
Fun
And since the dawn of time
Always prevailed.
It’s a story that’s been written about
Many times
Around and around
the world it has gone
To china, India and even Milan.
Its about two main characters
The boy and the girl
Who usually talked late into the night
And missed each other all the time.
This story also grows
It’s already been a month
And the pages are much more!
There is drama, and fights and everything nice
There is action and rattling and kissing delights
There is love and pure goodness
Moments galore
It’s that type of story that’s meant
To be told.

As I try to figure out who I need to shop for this holiday, I’m also tracking down what I’d like to get myself. Most importantly (i.e., costly) is the consideration of an iPod Touch, at first I was going to hold out and eventually get an iPhone but in reality the phone service is too expensive for a person like me (someone who doesn’t make/receive many calls). The only real downside is there is no camera, but then again if I really want to take pictures I’ll carry my good camera. Plus it’s a pretty flashy gift to get myself, but at least it’s more useful than another tattoo.

Other odd bits include:
Christopher DeLorenzo Picture Keyboard

Toilet Necklace

Spittin’ Sweets tshirt

CSS To My HTML button

Too many posts brewing and not enough time to write them all! In the absence of the usual long-winded ramble I’d like to share some inspiration from today. At Reos we’ve been working with AED on a proposal, who have kindly sent the lovely Anne Quito all the way from Washington DC to help. Anne has been the director of the visual communications studio at AED for 9 years now, which produces some great materials including the gorgeous design ignites change poster above. We were also inspired by these cute tote bags:

I was impressed and inspired by the way Anne manages to run an efficient department which produces such fresh looking materials. One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of North American design is a bigger emphasis on illustration and colour, and often a very sensitive approach to typography. This seems a fitting approach to communicating social change, and these practical elements combined convey high impact without feeling aggressive.

Design indeed ignites change, and the smallest spark can start the strongest of fires. These unexpected gifts added a lot of warmth to my day, so thank you Anne!

The most awesome hair of my life.

The color! The TEXTURE!! The length! Where did this hair go? What is this flat, blonde, stravy mess with Farrah bangs on my head today? Maybe because I’m having the worst hair day of my life, maybe because I’m bored with being blonde already, I don’t know…but I want this perfect hair back. NOW.

That may mean I need another beach vacation. Because THAT is what the ocean air does to my hair.

I promise you with warm salt air
hallowed breezes in your hair
days on end and days long gone

Indeed.