It’s berry season!

One of our favorite summer time activities is to head out to Sauvie’s Island (10 minutes outside of Portland) and go to Sauvie Island Farm to pick berries. This year has been a little funny since, as you can see I am about 9 months pregnant and look like a berry myself. : )

We still were able to pick several pounds of blueberries, raspberries and marionberries with our good friend Amy and her adorable little boy. I love when we get home with all this amazing fruit and then have to start processing it to preserve it’s great taste. We’ve made jam, popsicles, muffins, and froze most of it to have throughout the year.

Next up is peaches!

Rachel

 

Sew! Cute baby toys

Hello,

Jon and I have been trying to have ‘Sewing Sundays’ where we sew a complete project. Last week we made these cute little toys. I made the elephant from the book ‘Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts’ by Joelle Hoverson. (Note to those who want to make it - the instructions are written a bit poorly and in some cases wrong. I finally just looked at all the pieces from the template and was able to figure out how to put them together. I read some online reviews and other people had the same problem and contacted the author to get better instructions.) Jon made these great fabric blocks with rattles inside - he took an empty film canister, put some dried beans in it, placed it inside the block and stuffed the rest with batting.

Fun times!

Rachel

 

Animal Sounds

Our friends Kris and Haunnah recently returned from working with the Peace Corps in El Salvador and were telling us a story in which they happened to spend some time with (I believe) a Japanese man and a Frenchman.  Their communication was rather hindered, so they ended up sharing the sounds that roosters make in their respective countries.  This testament of cross-cultural exchange led us to scour the internet for further examples.  We stumbled across bzzzpeek.com - a fun site with a slough of animal and vehicle sounds with recordings of speakers from around the globe.  Their graphics are fantastic too.  Have fun!

-Jon

 

Tilde Show

Thanks to all who stopped by last night for the opening of my show at Tilde! It was fun to chat with folks and spend time looking at all the cute things in the shop. We sold several pieces including one of my favorites, ‘Portland’ (shown above). The show runs for the month of July and will be my last solo show for a while as our baby is now due in just 5 weeks. This reception felt like a great way to start this long weekend of bar-b-ques and fireworks. : )

Happy 4th,

Rachel

 

Just a couple vacation photos…

Hello all,

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week - Jon and I went camping on the spur of the moment for most of the week.  We went to out to the Columbia Gorge where the Deschutes river meets the Columbia to explore the area and soak in some sun.  The area was so pretty - makes me want to do some landscape paintings!  The bottom two photos are from the Stonehenge replica built on a hill overlooking the gorge.  It was great to relax and get out of the city - we figured it will be our last real trip before our little baby is due.  Now it’s time to finish up and frame pieces for my show at Tilde going up next week.  : )

Happy Tuesday,

Rachel

 

Sew! More little things…

Hello,

Here are some non painting projects I’ve been working on - mostly things I’ve been making for our little girl (due in 10 short weeks! Yikes!). I made some plush creatures - an octopus that made great use of little scraps of fabric I’ve been hording and a stuffed elephant easily made from screen print I did onto fabric. I’m working on a matching elephant quilt with that design, too. Today I got together with some crafty women and worked on embroidering on a little onesie. It was supposed to look like a hedgehog, but I think it turned out like a mix between a mouse, sheep and turtle - which is pretty cute too if you think about it.

Have a pleasant Sunday,

Rachel

 

Places - Laurelhurst Theater

One of my favorite places nearby is the Laurelhurst Theater.  I’m not sure what draws me there - maybe just proximity, it’s only five blocks away.  Well, it’s also beer, popcorn with nutritional yeast and always a friendly crowd.  I’m always trying to drag Rachel to the movies even when there aren’t any good movies playing.  If you’re in the area, check out the Laurelhurst at 28th and E. Burnside in Portland.  $3 movies, tasty beers, and no obnoxious high-schoolers.

-jon

 

Crafty People : Sarah Symes

I first became aware of Sarah Symes work at the YES Gallery in Rhode Island, where I too am showing . Her artwork is completely amazing to me! I first thought they were paintings, but they are all sewn. She pieces together pieces of hand dyed fabrics that are then stitched together and stretched over a frame. Sarah has such a beautiful eye for color and design - lovely!

Rachel

 

New Music Society

Our friend Brandon started a group called the Portland New Music Society a few years ago. Here he is atop the Astoria Column, cowering in fear of the edge. I’ve known him since we both lived in Salem as wee high schoolers when he was a brilliant guitarist. He now studies composition at Portland State University and plays the clarinet. Check out the music society site for more information on his group. They have monthly events, at Jace Gace (waffles… oh yes) on Belmont, where you will always hear something interesting and unusual.

 

our first hello

Welcome to paper & planes!

We are excited to start blogging. This is a behind the scenes look at the husband-wife team of Jon and Rachel Austin. Rachel is constantly creating things and sometimes inspires Jon to make a few things as well. He also is lucky to work at home with Rachel helping take care of some of the more business-y aspects of creating and selling things. We hope to share things that inspire us to create, about happenings we might know about and stuff we are working on.

Enjoy!