our trip through Oregon last week
May 24, 2011 at 10:58 pm | Posted in chatty, craftivism, oregon, world of geekcraft | 11 CommentsI’ve been missing the kind of posts I used to get to write, before I was outnumbered by my children and my craft books, so tonight I thought I would write about (but mostly post photos of) our absolutely stunningly beautiful trip down the Southern Oregon coast last week, on the way to Maker Faire. And then I have a favor to ask you at the end.
We drove to Yachats on Saturday morning and stayed 50 feet from the beach, with steps right down to the sand. The entire Oregon coastline is public, so you can wander as far as you want, rocks and cliffs permitting. It doesn’t get much better than this, when the sun is setting and it’s still so light and lovely out.
We went to Cape Perpetua to see the tidepools and hike around the cliffs. Super beautiful. If you have a chance to hang out here, I can’t recommend it enough… and it’s just $5 for a day pass.
Drove on to North Bend…
and then on to Coos Bay and deep into the woods to stay at the base of Golden and Silver Falls State Park for a couple of blissful days.
I made my magnet kits for Maker Faire and Powell’s
and collaborated with Pearl to spell out all our names with the scraps
and even got to work on my Oregon Trail cross-stitch.
Then we headed south again
to visit The Prehistoric Gardens in Port Orford.
Amazing!
After that adventure, we kept heading south
and stopped for a picnic just before Brookings.
Then it was on to Trees of Mystery, Eureka, the Bobbin’s Nest, San Francisco, and Maker Faire!
We headed back home just in time to visit our beautiful state capitol in Salem and deliver a petition Monday morning in support of SB 695, the BPA-Free Baby Bill, with a group of Oregon families. It was an amazing experience – we delivered copies of the petition to seven legislators, and met with four of them. Here we are (on the left!) with Representative Ben Cannon, a sponsor of the bill.
I’ve posted about working for a BPA ban before (in several of my 241 posts on Oregon!), when a similar bill lost narrowly in our Senate last year. This year, it passed the Senate handily, with bipartisan support (20-9, actually!) and its chances to become the law our state deserves looked so hopeful. However, through ugly back-room tactics, it has been permanently stuck in its committee instead of getting a fair chance for a full floor vote in the House, and will expire without drastic measures. Its only chance is if many House reps band together to bring it forward – a long shot, but one worth fighting for. I love our state – all of it – so much, and all of our children deserve the same access to safe products, not just the ones whose parents wear themselves out doing tedious research or live close to a big grocery store that carries BPA-free products by choice.
I know this is not everyone’s issue, but it is mine, and as a mother who wants to feel confident spending my money on safe baby products right here in my home state, I’m asking for your help. If you live here in Oregon and can take a minute to call or email your House rep today and ask him or her to help save the BPA-Free Baby Bill, I can’t tell you how much I’d appreciate it. You can read more about the bill here, find your rep’s info here, and quickly take action here. This is a big first step towards banning toxins from many other household products and it all starts with you.
California book events + QfQ fundraiser underway!
May 16, 2011 at 10:38 am | Posted in books and mags, california, chatty, craftivism, crafty events, geek crafts, modern log cabin quilting, quilting, world of geekcraft | 1 CommentI’ve been looking forward to our trip to California for months (and all that nice car time to work on my Oregon Trail cross-stitch) and it’s finally here… I’m very excited for my first out-of-town book event for MLCQ at The Bobbin’s Nest in Santa Clara, this Thursday, May 19 from 5-8 pm!
Amy and the other Bobbin’s Nest employees have made up special log cabin block kits featuring some favorite fabrics from the shop, so everyone can sew a custom quilt block during the book party!
They’ve also sewn some gorgeous versions of my projects from the book, which I can’t wait to see in person. This is Amy’s baby quilt-sized Modern Crosses!
They’re all in the MLCQ flickr pool but here are a few I wanted to spotlight…
After everyone sews a quilt block, I’ll be signing books for anyone who wants one – and the Bobbin’s Nest is offering the book on a special sale, 20% off, until Wednesday. And I’ll be showing the log cabin quilting presentation I did for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild last month, too!
(love the button fabric! I’m definitely snapping some up when I get to the shop!)
Thank you so much to Erin, Amy, and everyone at the Bobbin’s Nest!
Modern Log Cabin Quilting book signing and sewing party!
Bobbin’s Nest Studio
1171 Homestead Road, Suite 130
Santa Clara, California 95050
408.246.1121
Sewing, shopping and book signing, Thursday, May 19, from 5-8 pm
Then, on Saturday, I’ll be at Maker Faire with World of Geekcraft! I haven’t been to Maker Faire since 2007 so I’m beyond thrilled to finally make it back, especially with my little Yoda and my littler Harry Potter in tow.
I’m doing a panel moderated by Diane Gilleland at noon, Crafting Your Online Presence, which should be really cool – I’m very interested to hear what everyone else has to say.
And then you can make a POW! ZAP! Magnet from World of Geekcraft with me at 2:00 – both events are in the CRAFT: Magazine area and totally free! I’ll be signing books afterwards if anyone wants their own copy!
PS: Quilts for Quake Survivors has launched our second wave this week – our QfQ Mercy Corps fundraiser is now underway!
You can browse or buy our first six fundraiser quilts, pick up a Surprise Bag to piece your own log cabin quilt top, or buy a $5 raffle ticket to win the Hello Gorgeous quilt in the Modern Domestic shop, online or in person in Portland at the shop! Each individual listing has lots of information on the quilt’s donors, makers, and details, and tons more photos are in the QfQ flickr pool too.
Our latest QfQ post with lots of details is here,
the QfQ Mercy Corps fundraising page is here (I bought the first quilt, made by Rachel and bound by me!),
and the Modern Domestic QfQ shop is here!
Huge thank-you to everyone who’s helped so much for the relief effort!
vintage craft workshop review + giveaway!
May 13, 2011 at 10:28 am | Posted in books and mags, california, crafty events, I love to make things..., vintage crafty | 10 CommentsI’m super happy to be on my dear friend Cathy Callahan‘s blog book tour for her lovely new Vintage Craft Workshop. I am an equally huge fan of both Cathy and vintage crafts, and her book is a total delight – two dozen projects from the ’60s and ’70s, reinterpreted in very modern ways by Cathy and her contributors, plus fascinating essays on some of the leading craft designers of that golden era.
I first met Cathy in 2005 at the very first Felt Club sale in Los Angeles. I was selling my crafts, and we chatted when she bought one of my skirt kits. At the second Felt Club, I stopped by her table and snapped up one of her burlap-covered wastebaskets (now a project in the book!). I am also the proud owner of a brown-and-pink ribbon-straw flower pin (now a project in the book), a mushroom pincushion (ditto), and a pink-and-orange Enid Collins-style papier-mache brooch (more on that in a minute…).
She contributed awesome projects to both Bead Simple and Button It Up, and when she asked me to do a project for Vintage Craft Workshop, I couldn’t say yes fast enough! She asked me to reinterpret one of my favorite vintage projects, Hazel Pearson’s mushroom pincushion from Burlap Bounty (1967). I love the pink one I bought from Cathy, so making my own in two tones of yellow and orange was super fun.
A few of my other favorite projects (it’s very hard to pick just a couple!) are…
Cathy’s Loomed Flower Wall Hanging – amazing. If you’re in Los Angeles, she’s doing a fantastic book event teaching this craft at my favorite store ever, ReForm School, tomorrow (5/14) from 2-4! Don’t miss that. I wish I could be there…
Nicole Vasbinder‘s Citrus Slice Bulletin Board is so cool (you can see the project instructions here on CRAFT: too!). It’s on my craft wish list – as soon as I get that magical, elusive free afternoon, it’s going to be all about cutting circles and hand-embroidery.
And my favorite-favorite has to be Lara Bobo’s Antiqued Jewelry Box. One of the big things Cathy and I bonded over was our mutual love of Enid Collins. I collect her handbags (these two are my favorites – I’m a Capricorn and my husband is a Cancer so I think it was kind of meant for me to find these ones). I love her work and love the painted details, the jewels, the papier-mache, the typography, just all of it is so good.
Cathy loves all things ec too, and found this treasure, a 1973 photo catalog of the current handbag designs – don’t miss her lovely post on it. Here’s just one of the photos, I just love it.
So while Cathy was researching Enid Collins for her book, she met Enid’s granddaughter, Lara Bobo, and asked her to do a project too… and the gorgeous Antiqued Jewelry Box was born. Lara’s father made the wooden box she embellished, so three generations of Collinsania combined in this lovely piece. I got chills reading Cathy’s introduction about it all.
So, that’s my dream project – not sure when I’ll pull it off but I hope it’s in 2011!
Now, the fun part – Cathy and Chronicle Books have kindly offered up a copy of the book for me to give away to a reader! Please comment on this post by Thursday, May 19 mentioning your favorite vintage craft, and I’ll ask Cathy to choose her favorite from all of them. I can’t wait to hear them myself too! Cathy’s blog tour has lots of great vintage craft posts and some other fun giveaways so be sure to follow along the way. Yesterday’s post was by Jenny at Exit Through the Thrift Shop (with bonus Felt Club pics!!) and Monday’s post will be at whipup and I know that one will be awesome!
And if you’re going to Maker Faire, Cathy and I are doing free book events, back to back – at 2:00 on Saturday, I’m doing a POW! ZAP! Magnets demo from World of Geekcraft (make one to take home!) and at 3:00 Cathy’s giving a new “Crafty Lady” slideshow all about vintage crafts and their pioneers. Both are in the CRAFT: Magazine area and we’ll be signing books afterwards – please come say hi!
crafty wonderland!
May 6, 2011 at 3:02 pm | Posted in books and mags, crafty events, modern log cabin quilting, oregon, world of geekcraft | Leave a commentI’ll be at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale tomorrow with both my books and craft kits for anyone who wants to pick up a copy of either one (or brings a copy you already have for me to sign!). I’m bringing lots of book projects to show everyone, too. Thanks so much to Torie and Cathy for inviting me to be part of the whole extravaganza!
You can get a brand-new POW! ZAP! Magnet kit with World of Geekcraft,
or a quilt block kit with Modern Log Cabin Quilting.
I’ll be at the author booth from noon to 1:30, and then Heidi Kenney and Cathy Callahan will be signing their books, too!
Also this weekend is the Quilts for Quake Survivors back-to-back bee at Modern Domestic – Saturday 2-6 pm and Sunday 11-2:30. Daniela and I have a lovely group of quilts in the final stages, so if you’re up for basting, tying, quilting or binding we’d LOVE your help getting them ready for the upcoming Mercy Corps fundraiser. Huge thank-you to everyone who has already pitched in, we appreciate the help so much!!
Today is my Pearl’s 3rd (!!) birthday so I better run – I need to get started on her specially requested chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, which is the perfect excuse to get out my Christmas copy of the Sunset cookbook! She has asked for cupcakes, cake AND a pie, so I have my work cut out for me.
Hope you have a lovely weekend! Everett is turning six months on Mother’s Day – can’t believe he’s halfway to cake already too! I need to get started on a new set of pennants…
World of Geekcraft blog tour!
May 2, 2011 at 3:40 pm | Posted in books and mags, crafty events, free crafty, geek crafts, oregon, world of geekcraft | 3 CommentsThe World of Geekcraft blog tour starts today – thank you so much to everyone who’s writing about the book with photo posts, reviews, giveaways, and sneak peeks. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the awesome support! This morning was a dual kick-off with posts at both Geek Crafts and CRAFT: Magazine. Chronicle Books also posted the whole tour on their blog today!
Shayne Rioux wrote a fantastic post at Geek Crafts that spotlighted Garth Johnson‘s Planet Plates, my Star Wars Terrariums, Renee Asher’s Atari + Nintendo essay, and Shayne’s own Buffy the Vampire Slayer portrait – painstakingly constructed from more than 10,000 fuse beads!!
Shayne said, “The coolest part of making the fuse bead portraits is seeing the faces emerge as I go row by row.” I would certainly agree with that!
And here she is with her finished portrait on the page! Awesome. She spotted the book at her local Barnes & Noble – very cool.
Geek Crafts is giving away a copy of the book to one lucky commenter! Just leave a comment mentioning your favorite geeky thing these days, by Friday, May 6, and you’re entered to win it.
I was also so happy to see the lovely post on CRAFT: today – one of the very last ones written by outgoing editor-in-chief Natalie Zee Drieu. Natalie is a lovely friend and a super-inspiring crafter and writer herself, and I was so grateful for her awesome quote on the back cover. I’m thrilled that my dear friend (and wedding officiant, and WOGC contributor!) Diane Gilleland has just come onboard as the new editor at CRAFT: and I am so excited to see all the cool things she has in store for us.
CRAFT: is also sharing a project from the book – the POW! ZAP! Magnets! Just visit the post to download a free PDF with instructions to make your own. (I’ll also be teaching this craft at Maker Faire, and giving away free kits to make your own at my Powell’s, WebVisions, and Crafty Wonderland events!)
So, here’s the whole blog tour if you’d like to follow along! Huge thank-you to everyone who’s signed up for a day along the way.
I’ll be posting more project peeks and extras over at the book site, World of Geekcraft, and if you make anything from the book or want to share favorite snapshots, I’d love it if you added them to the book flickr pool! Thank you again to all my amazing contributors, who I’ll be spotlighting more over the next few weeks as well.
See you at Crafty Wonderland on Saturday!
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