Patchwork Underground

Unfortunately, this is the best picture I have of my costume at this time…imagine a really high waisted, super short jumper with killer shoulders, wings in the back + visible garters.

Here’s my hand made peacock fascinator:

Here’s our scariest family portrait to date:

Here’s my bestest friend Allegra and her hubby, Alyn.  They made rockin’ costumes.  Allegra’s is soooo Alejandro, I couldn’t stand it.

At the Ball……

Note the tornado in the background…

After the Ball…

Want more? Check out all my Tacoma Monster Ball pics here.

We dressed to kill and danced for our lives! That’s me with the phone strapped to my head…

OMG there’s Gaga….

And this is me stalking her after the show…note my fellow queer in the background also vamping before the bus…

As you can see, I did not wear pants. I know I told you all earlier that I was making the pointy-shoulder padded dress by Jeremy Scott that she wore on this one TV appearance….you remember, this one:

Well, I was totally all set to make that.  I had already developed the pattern and made a short blue version without the bolts.  What happened??  Well, a crazy heatwave hit Portland for several days right before the show and it made me not want to wear so much clothing to the show, which I already assumed would be HOT.  I had to throw this telephone-inspired ensemble together the afternoon of because I’m silly and of course I spent all the days leading up to the Portland show working on my outfit for the Tacoma show.  (You’ll see that doozy in a couple days!!)

Anyways, enough about my personal costume drama.  The show was amazing!!  When Gaga told the crowd that she had been biking around Portland I almost died.  (I crossed my fingers to see her at the Dollar Tree earlier that day in Oregon City but no dice.)  Julia, Kelly and I tried to stalk her and get her to sign our records after the show but I guess she ran away before we got there. Luckily, we are going to the show in Tacoma, WA tomorrow (Hello, Washington!!!!!!) so we’ll get another honest crack at it.

Next time: Binoculars.  Water.  *Successful* signature-getting.  More pictures of the crowd’s costumes!  I have to say the highlight of the whole evening was my on-going mutual lovefest with the other costumed folks.  So much FUN!

We saw the Bonneville Dam and Hydroelectric Power Station here in Oregon! (<—Click here for even more photos from the dam in this Flickr set)

Ever since I built my housebus and wired it for 12v and 110v power I’ve had a love/hate relationship with electricity.  I’ll be blunt: It disturbs me.  But I also use it and love it.  I’m totally fascinated by the way it works and the way we think of it in our society and the history of how it was first discovered and harnessed.

After moving to Oregon City, I realized that the first long distance transmission of power in the world (!) happened right here ~ from Willamette Falls here in Oregon City to Portland.  People at the time laughed at the newspaper reports because they didn’t think it was possible.

What does it mean to harness power from a river?  The more aware I’ve become of the rivers in this area, the more I understand the natural sprawl of my surroundings and it’s unique flow.  I consider the rivers we’ve added: freeways, railroads, powerlines, telephone lines, sewers.  I think about the energy that courses through those false rivers and wonder how it affects animals, humans and the actual river.

On another note: I want to make my own magnets and build a dynamo with them so bad!

<3 <3 <3 Erin

P.S. I updated my portfolio to reflect my most recent phase of designs.  Check it out! (You can still find all the old patchwork clothing designs here.)

My article on queer crafters and some of the possible meanings of queer craft is out in the July/August 2010 issue of Curve Magazine!  Go check it out at your local newsstand!

First, I want to send out a big thank you to the many folks and organizations (namely the Queer Crafter’s Collective and the Queer Etsy Street Team) who I had the honor of interviewing ~ what an interesting, well-spoken bunch!

For further reading, I recommend checking out Meaghan O’Malley’s thoughtful response to the article on her blog, Oh Meaghan, right here.  If you’ve found and/or written other responses, please let me know because I’d like to link to them here.

What do I think?  Well, I love the title for this piece (I’m sooooo clever!) but I’m not crazy about the tagline.  I think it was changed to make the article fit the theme of the issue which makes sense…except not really.  The article is about the growing community of queer crafters (like me!) who make a business of pursing their art/craft.  Saving money while doing that is nice, but it’s not really the (vegan) meat and potatoes of what we’re talking about here.  Oh, well - can’t have everything.  Frankly, I’m just stoked to see the words “queer” and “crafting” right next to each other in a major magazine.  (And OMG, the topless dready lesbian on the cover?  BONUS POINTS!)

Just wanted to share a quick snap shot my friend, Lara Colley of Mountain Hearth, took of me in my costume I wore Saturday at Oregon Country Fair this year:

I think you can tell from the pic that I was happy with my outfit this year!  My favorite part?  It’s a tie between the crocheted garter belt and the towering hat/headpiece.  Such a great fair this year - I’m still recovering!