West Coast Crafty

What are you doing on Sunday, March 9th? If you’re in any of the cities listed above — including Portland — then I hope you’re coming to the CRAFT 06 Release Party! Diane wrote the party up yesterday, so I’ll just borrow her tantalizing preview…

Diane and I are co-hosting the Portland bash at Twisted, from 1-4pm. Moxie will be on hand, too, demonstrating how she makes these adorable monsters, the cover models for CRAFT 06. We’ll also have a hands-on craft table, where you can learn to make Pantyhose Flowers from the magazine.

We’ll have snacks on hand, and Twisted carries a delicious assortment of teas and juices. And if you haven’t visited Twisted, you’ll love it — they carry embroidery supplies, vintage buttons, tons of new and vintage craft books, felting materials — and Shannon and Emily, who co-own the store, are the nicest women ever.

So please come by, have some afternoon tea, and CRAFT with us! And please spread the word to other crafty types while you’re at it…

Don’t forget that the March Crafty Wonderland sale is the same day, from 11-4, so you can hit both for a super fun afternoon out!

I just heard from Faythe that she’s launching a new fundraiser for her film project, Handmade Nation: a raffle to win fantastic prize packages every month, starting with this bundle of cool stuff for March.

Just stop by her blog to buy $2 raffle tickets and you’re automatically entered to win the whole set, including a copy of I Heart Felt (Taunton, February 2008), a Handmade Nation T-shirt (you pick the size), a Handmade Nation pocket mirror, 3 Sublime Stitching iron-on transfers, and handspun yarn from yarnpunk. The drawing is March 26 and you can enter as many times as you like to improve your odds.

There is lots going on with the Handmade Nation film and book, too. Faythe says, “Cris has been hard at work in the editing room and things are coming along, this is the non-exciting part to share with you, but we are chipping away at our footage to bring you a great documentary about the community.

“In other news, Handmade Nation the book is in the design edit phase which is really super exciting — getting to see mock layouts and actually see the pages as they will look is really satisfying!”

I am very honored to have an essay in the book… it will be out in November from Princeton Architectural Press, and hopefully we’ll get to see a cover peek and hear more updates soon. Congratulations, Faythe!

When I was (super briefly) in Los Angeles before CHA, I was so excited to stop by ReForm School and see the Matte Stephens show… it’s fantastic. I got one of his small Gocco prints that reminds me so much of Alexander Girard — his work is gorgeous.

And if I had only had room in my suitcase I would have snapped up one of these mystery bargains for sure. Billie and Tootie have put together these big shopping bags full of cool stuff from the store and they’re offering them for only $25! How can you resist?!

Billie and Tootie also mentioned that they just found tons of new stuff for the store on a recent trip to New York so be sure to stop by to see it all! They have such a great eye for all things recycled, handmade, and above all well designed.

Just wanted to announce that my friend Charles Phoenix is guest-starring on the Martha Stewart show again! He says, “This Thursday I’ll be showing vintage Valentine’s Day slides to Martha Stewart on her show. I wonder what Martha will say when I ask her to be my Valentine?”

I am still organizing all my photos and crafty finds from my whirlwind trip to CHA so look for a post on that soon… in the meantime, I hope you have a very happy Valentine’s Day with plenty of chocolate and conversation hearts. I’m rushing to make a FedEx deadline so I’ll post again on Friday!

Sorry for the total lack of posts, I’ve been slammed with work and getting ready for CHA.

If you’re at the show, please stop by the CraftStylish booth #529 and say hi!

I’ll also be at Natalie’s fantastic CRAFT event on Saturday and stopping by to see Kathy Cano Murillo at #4001 and check out her sparkly new Crafty Chica line with Duncan!

I’ll post all about it with tons of pics when I get back — have a great weekend!

I am so pleased to announce that my friend Nicole Vasbinder’s beautiful new crafts and sewing studio, StitchCraft, is open for business today! I got a sneak peek at it a few weeks ago and it’s just gorgeous inside.

Nicole is such a talented seamstress and designer, and her classes look fantastic — she is an inspiring, encouraging teacher of all things crafty! Here she is at Felt Club XL modeling one of her Queen Puff Puff handbag and headband sets.

So if you are in or near the North Bay, StitchCraft is open Tuesday - Sunday every week, with new classes added all the time. And she’s offering hourly studio time, too — perfect for finishing up that project that has been on your back burner for way too long.

If you go:
StitchCraft
133 ½ Kentucky Street
Petaluma, CA 94952
707-773-4SEW

This weekend has plenty of crafty stuff going on here in Portland — first up, the second annual vintage sale at one of my favorite stores, Office, starts today and goes through Sunday.

Just stop by during store hours for your chance to browse the finds — I have always coveted a vintage typewriter and maybe this will be my chance! They’ll also have file boxes, metal lunchboxes, and lots of other midcentury treasures.

Then on Saturday, Lindsey Ross of Urban Craft Uprising is hosting the grand opening of her new craft store, Yarnia.

The concept is amazing: choose exactly the fibers, colors, and amount that you want and Lindsey will custom-spin you the yarn of your dreams, right onto a spindle, and charge you by the pound. Now that I can walk to an ultra-customized yarn store, I’m just not sure that Portland can get much better!

If you go:

Office PDX vintage sale
2204 NE Alberta Street in Portland
888 355 SHOP
Friday 11-6, Saturday 11-5, Sunday 11-4

Yarnia grand opening
4183 SE Division Street in Portland
503.488.0022
Saturday 10-6