Craft fairs coming right up!
November 30, 2007 at 5:48 pm | Posted in california, crafty events, washington | Leave a commentIf you’re in Seattle or the Bay Area, be sure to mark your calendars for some stellar craft fairs on the horizon. I wish I could go myself, but I’m here in Portland this weekend…
This weekend (Dec. 1 and 2) Urban Craft Uprising is going on at the Seattle Center with over a hundred vendors, daily fashion shows, and goodie bags for the first 100 shoppers both days.
If you go, keep an eye out for Cathy of Bossa Nova Baby, Torie of Totinette, Quentin of Monsieur T., Rachel of Lucky Loo Loo, and Ryan and Lucy Berkley — in a crafty rock block*, no less! Yay Portland!
Then, on Tuesday, Dec. 4, Christina of borrowed bought stolen will be selling her pretty jewelry and accessories at a sustainable-crafts sale at Ambatalia Fabrics in Mill Valley. It sounds just lovely — stop by for a glass of wine and shop for eco-friendly gifts, what could be nicer?
I better run, there’s a Trail Blazers game on TV tonight — go Blazers!
*aka: with their booths all in a row for maximum awesomeness
Felt Club recap + my handmade haul
November 27, 2007 at 3:28 pm | Posted in bead simple, california, crafty events, crafty to buy, own it love it | 2 CommentsI had such a great time in Los Angeles the week before Thanksgiving — and of course one of the biggest highlights was teaching, shopping, and hanging out at the magnificent Felt Club Holiday XL event! The night before, I helped tireless organizer Jenny stuff goodie bags for the first 250 shoppers (everyone got a copy of Adorn, and there were also lovely giveaways from Chronicle Books, Sublime Stitching, and Bossa Nova Baby, among many others).
Alexis and I got there bright and early to help with goodie bag detail, and I got a chance to walk around early, before the crowds poured in at 11. I snapped pictures for my upcoming indie fashion article for BurdaStyle, and got to see lots of friends and some of my favorite crafty vendors from near and far.
I got to meet Monica of White Peacock Designs and see one of her lovely tiaras in person — hi Monica!
And here are a few dozen of Cathy of California‘s beautiful mushroom pincushions — some of my all-time favorite crafts. I love mine (it’s hot pink like the beauty in the front row!).
My Bead Simple demo started at 1:00, and it turned out to be amazing. It had filled up well in advance and then another 20 or so people showed up as well! I wrote up a recap over at Bead Simple with more photos in case you’re interested… here are my little handmade necklace and earrings kits and some photos of me with my fabulous students, modeling their new earrings (bottom left) and necklaces (bottom right). Thank you so much to everyone who came to the class!
Once the class was over and I was a free woman again, I got to walk around to check out Maker Square and shop. I won’t post photos of the gifts I found, but here are some of the non-surprises I can show off:
I love Cathy of California‘s work — it is so amazing. I found two bundles of vintage fabric (from her mother’s collection) and this fantastic ribbon straw flower kit with loom. I also got one of her handmade ribbon straw brooches and wore it all day (as you can see on me above).
I also found some super fun Christmas ornaments — the gingerbread boy is from My Paper Crane and the tree is from Cathy.
I picked up two adorable whale notebooks from Rock Scissor Paper and a set of awesome cards from biggerKrissy…
…and this sweet sock monkey card case from Textile Fetish, and the vintage scissor-print sunglasses case from Jekbot. I also got several packages of her lavender shortbread but those vanished long before I had a chance to photograph them!
I also picked out this stunning carnelian necklace from Hannahmade. I absolutely love carnelians and I thought this piece was gorgeous!
I was about to pass out by the time we left, but it was an amazing day! Thank you again to Jenny for inviting me to teach and I can’t wait until my next visit to Los Angeles.
the last week in pictures
November 26, 2007 at 5:01 pm | Posted in cooking is crafty too, holidays, washington | Leave a commentThings got so busy with work last week, and then it was so tempting to just take a few days off from everything for the holiday so sorry to be absent for so long! Here’s a little photo catch-up of a few of my favorite things (food and day trips) and I’ll write up some crafty stuff (Felt Club, the Sampler) starting again tomorrow…
food
The night before real Thanksgiving, we had low-key vegetarian Thanksgiving at home and it was awesome. I made acorn squash stuffed with wild rice, cherries, and cranberries along with sesame green beans. My first actual Veggie Dinnerplate entry!
Then for Thanksgiving we cooked at home and brought everything over to a potluck: sweet potatoes with maple-glazed pecans, vegetarian gravy, and stuffing with vegetarian sausage and cranberries. There was also a big piece of salmon in the oven that didn’t make it out in time for the photo:
day trip
We had a really low-key weekend, which was so nice, and then went up to Centralia, Washington yesterday to walk all over downtown, go to thrift stores, and check out the train station. It was beautiful out and we had such a nice time.
I loved the window display at Centralia Printing Co. downtown.
There are so many murals on the sides of buildings, I liked this one especially:
And the train came through while we were there!
patchwork swap redux
November 20, 2007 at 3:05 pm | Posted in I love to make things... | 2 CommentsI just got back from LA yesterday and I’m so glad to be home! I had a great but super exhausting weekend and it is nice to catch my breath for a minute and be done with flying and packing suitcases for a while… more on Felt Club and the ReForm School party tomorrow.
I can finally post pictures of what I sent and received in Linda‘s patchwork swap! Yes, the one that happened last month. Lucky for me, I was assigned to send to my friend Wendy, so when October vanished in a whirlwind of monkey costume-making and article deadlines, I threw myself on her mercy and asked if I could hand-deliver her package to her at Felt Club a few weeks late. It was really fun to give her everything in person!
But first, here is what Jenny sent to me — it’s so fantastic. A stack of all kinds of fabric, including fake fur galore, and this amazing creature she sewed up just for me!
Thank you so much, Jenny!
Here’s what I put together for Wendy: a stack of prints, mostly cotton, with some bigger pieces in the mix (like the strawberries and sunglasses patterns).
For the patchwork piece to send along, I peeked at her blog and saw that she just made a bunch of pillows for her new couch so it seemed like one more could be a fun surprise, and I know she likes pink:
I loosely based it on Lisa Congdon‘s lovely how-to in a recent issue of ReadyMade — I cut eight fabrics into 2.5-inch strips and then randomly paired them at different lengths (or added three in a few cases) to create each row, then stitched the rows together to form a 12-inch pillow top. I quilted it horizontally, stitching an inch apart, and then added a pink corduroy back of the same size. I like all the pink!
Chronicle Books sale!
November 16, 2007 at 4:47 pm | Posted in books and mags, california, crafty to buy, holidays | Leave a commentI love books from Chronicle — I always do so much of my Christmas shopping with them and I love that 30% off + free shipping package.
LA has been great so far — the ReForm School party was amazing and I got to hang out and walk around the neighborhood all day in between working on my laptop. Tomorrow, MOCA and crafty shopping downtown!
Craft-off in San Francisco and a sale at ReForm School!
November 15, 2007 at 11:51 am | Posted in california, crafty events | Leave a commentI just heard that ReForm School is having a 15% off sale all weekend, starting at 6 pm with the Craft Inc. party and running through Sunday. Billie and Tootie have tons of new stuff in the shop, I can’t wait to see it all.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Craft Gym is having their second annual Craft-Off competition on Friday!
Jackie says, “Craft Gym is excited to offer you another opportunity to channel your inner Iron Chef and unleash your creativity. Join us for an evening of crafting and creative ingenuity as we reveal a “secret ingredient” and set teams of participants into a 30-minute DIY battle. Teams will consist of 5 participants. Teams can be created on Friday, or you can rsvp to the shop to save a slot for your team.
“A random assortment of craft supplies and tools will be available for teams to use in the creation of their creative masterpieces. Prizes will be awarded to the winning team, who will be determined by popular vote. Spectators are welcome and refreshments will be provided!”
If you go:
This Friday, 11/16
Open house begins at 6pm
Craft-off begins at 7pm
Revelry to follow
Craft Gym
1452 Bush St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
Craft Inc. party + Felt Club = super fun weekend
November 14, 2007 at 5:22 pm | Posted in bead simple, california, crafty events | 2 CommentsI’m going to LA tomorrow for the first time since we moved back in April — I am so excited! I’ll be staying with Alexis, and we’ll be going to fun crafty events all weekend.
First up, just an hour or so after I get off the plane, is the sure-to-be-lovely Craft Inc. party at ReForm School tomorrow night! I can’t wait. Just look at all the cool prizes and fun things going on…
I’ll be working on Friday, and then on Saturday we’re going to MOCA, having lunch at Clifton’s, and stopping by Berger Beads and Michael Levine. I have missed downtown LA so much. Living a subway ride away from bead and fabric shopping like that was incredible.
And on Sunday from 1-2, I’ll be teaching a Bead Simple jewelry workshop at Felt Club. I’m really looking forward to it!
I’ll be showing everyone how to make the necklace on the cover of the book along with a pair of drop earrings, if you want to try your hand at some fun wirework.
Please come by if you’re at the sale — there are tons of great craft classes all afternoon to check out, plus amazing handmade stuff to buy (look at this vendor list!!), cupcakes, music, door prizes, and fabulous goodie bags for the first 250 shoppers. You can pick up a $2.50 wristband in advance at ReForm School , too.
Hope to see you this weekend!
DIY Lounge party + Santa Lucia dolls
November 13, 2007 at 5:39 pm | Posted in crafty events, crafty to buy, holidays, oregon | 3 CommentsTomorrow night (Wednesday 11/14) is the fantastic DIY Lounge/Collage opening party! It sounds awesome. Jen promises there will be raffles, prizes, in-store discounts, tasty refreshments and music by DJ Richard Rockstar!
The only thing I don’t like about all the cool stuff going on on Alberta, like Amy’s book party last week, is what a PITA it is to get over there from Southeast — I feel like I know all the tricks and twists of eastside Tri-Met like the back of my hand and I have not gotten the most efficient Division-to-Alberta route down, especially at night. (If anyone at Tri-Met is reading this, please consider adding a north-south route somewhere between MLK and 39th, thanks.) Oh well, it’s well worth reserving the car for!
If you go:
DIY Lounge/Collage party
Wednesday, Nov. 14 from 6-9 pm
1639 NE Alberta St., Portland
On another Portland note, I ordered one of Alicia‘s super lovely Santa Lucia doll kits today — I’m so excited about it!
thanks to Alicia for the beautiful photos…
She has put together everything to make these five lovelies (see the wonderfully exhaustive list below) — all you’ll need is pinking shears, needle and thread, scissors, and paintbrushes and you too will have a set of pretty little dolls to celebrate with next month.
Each kit contains:
5 doll pins
5 doll-pin stands
5 doll head beads
(5) 8″ square pieces of calico (for dresses)
5 pieces white pipecleaner (for arms)
3 pieces silver pipecleaner (for candles)
1 piece green pipecleaner (for crown)
Yarn bobbin (for sashes)
Custom acrylic paint set
Varnish and glitter pots
Full-color instruction cards
Dress pattern
I am secretly very excited that Andrew and I are staying in Oregon for the first time ever this Christmas — I’ll be sad to miss everyone on the East Coast, but I’ll be back for a visit in January so that will be cool. Work has been so crazy for both of us that a chance to relax over the holiday with no flights involved sounds fantastic. I bought a little light-up tree for us at Fred Meyer today and I’m planning to make (and swap for) some fun little ornaments, and with these pretty dolls and some candles and the felt stockings I want to sew, I think it will be a nice, low-key Christmas up on Mt. Hood!
Bend-the-Rules donuts and prizes and quilts and babies and…
November 12, 2007 at 1:06 pm | Posted in books and mags, crafty events, oregon, own it love it | 5 CommentsDiane and I went to Amy Karol‘s Bend-the-Rules Sewing book party at Bolt last week and it was so much fun! As promised, Amy had plates of donuts out for everyone to enjoy and prizes for the first five crafters with completed projects in hand. I really love her book, so it was a lot of fun to come to her party and see some of the gorgeous finished projects…
My lovely friend Daphne was in town from Seattle and brought in her beautiful lap quilt, which is shown off here with its handsome recipient, her nephew Henry, and a little corner of the fabulous prize she received: a Small Object needlecase and some of Amy’s beautiful notecards!
I got to see Melissa and Sam, meet Sally for the first time, and chat with Mariko, who had been back from Japan all of 12 hours or so at this point. Instead of falling prey to exhaustion and jet lag (as I am sure I would after that flight!), she was polishing off multiple donuts with impressive enthusiasm. I can personally attest to how fantastic the donuts were.
Amy was such a delight! I had never gotten to meet her in person until now, but she is the sweetest, loveliest person and it was so nice to get to say hi and chat while she signed my book. Thank you, Amy! If you’re interested, her super nice write-up and pictures are here.
Stitch Austin and a prairie girl apron contest!
November 9, 2007 at 2:09 pm | Posted in books and mags, crafty events, projects to do, reviews and interviews | Leave a commentI wish I could teleport to Texas this weekend! I’ve always wanted to make it to Stitch and so far it’s never worked out… hopefully next year, though. If you are in town, it should be a super crafty weekend of fashion, drinks and fun!
First, of course, there’s Stitch itself: close to 20 runway designers, make-and-take booths galore, super amazing goodie bags to the first 500 attendees, DJs, and ice-cold beer!
And then there’s the guerrilla craft bazaar, featuring over 100 crafty vendors — here’s a tiny sampling of all the indie goods you’ll find there:
One of my favorite designers, Queen Puff Puff, will be selling her beautiful handbags, totes, and accessories. Love her stuff…
And then after the show winds down, stop by the afterparty!
If you’re not within shouting distance of Austin (sob!) here’s a crafty assignment for the weekend: whip up a Prairie Girl-inspired apron for CRAFT’s contest! Just send in photos of your handmade apron for a chance to win.
Taunton has generously offered a copy of Jennifer Worick’s new book, the Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life, to each of the five winners, and their aprons will be featured in the Curio section of the next issue of CRAFT. Send photographs of the aprons you’ve been working on to curio@craftzine.com by November 12th. (Be sure to include your website or Etsy shop!)
I just got a copy of the book and it’s lovely. There’s such a nice mix of 19th-century-meets-21st craft projects to try (think mixing up lavender linen water, making a nine-patch quilt, canning cherries, designing calling cards on a home printer, making candles… even predicting the weather!) and it’s charmingly illustrated and full of sweet little extras. There’s a great CRAFT interview with Jennifer Worick to check out too. I grew up reading all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and this is the perfect complement to them — don’t miss it.
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