criminal crafts
April 12, 2012 at 2:35 pm | Posted in books and mags, button it up, chatty, crafty events, free crafty, geek crafts, modern log cabin quilting, oregon, reviews and interviews, world of geekcraft | 3 CommentsPortland author Shawn Bowman has a fantastic, funny new book out called Criminal Crafts (also the name of her stellar website + twitter) – a collection of thirty outlaw projects for scoundrels, cheats, and armchair detectives.
From cocktails to crime scene carpets,
Shawn has created some pretty incredible projects for mystery, thriller, and noir lovers. They range from the super-simple (Invisible Ink)
to the cleverly complex (Case-the-Joint Craft Caddy).
A few other favorites of mine include the Pulp Fiction Pendant
and the Instant Disguise Drink Bling.
Shawn will also show you how to hide a file in a cake, mix an absinthe cocktail, add a secret smuggling compartment to a vintage handbag, and stitch up your own voodoo doll. She is incredibly awesome, and I am so excited that we are teaming up for a book party at my favorite-favorite neighborhood bookstore, Murder By The Book, in a couple of weeks!
MBTB will be hosting an event for both of us on April 29 at 4:00 for snacks, drinks, craft projects to make (think invisible ink, ransom notes, and comics magnets) and a book signing. Along with Criminal Crafts, they’ll have copies of World of Geekcraft, Modern Log Cabin Quilting, and Button It Up on hand!
I will bring my most mysterious book projects along (like the Coraline mystery sewing box and Linda Permann‘s crocheted Tribbles) for folks to check out, and word on the street is that MBTB will be getting their very own Shawn-made Crime Scene Carpet to decorate the store. Speaking of decorating…
I was amazed to see a brand-new addition to my favorite part of the shop a few months back… Crafty Crimes! Jean set aside all the light-hearted crafty mysteries into a new mini-section and let me bring in lots of vintage craft supplies to decorate the shelf. It was so much fun and I LOVE stopping by and finding something new – I think crafty mysteries are very relaxing to read, and most of them have a free pattern or project included, which is a nice extra. For anyone else who’s interested, here are a few of my favorite series I’ve read. Monica Ferris is a prolific author whose amateur detective heroine, Betsy, owns a needlepoint shop in Minnesota called Crewel World.
Maggie Sefton’s detective heroine, Kelly, is part of a knitting circle who meet up at their Colorado yarn shop, The House of Lambspun.
Sally Goldenbaum’s Seaside Knitters series is set in a tiny town on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, centering on a yarn shop as well. (Are you starting to see a pattern here??) I really love reading this one, I love her characters especially.
My absolute favorite crafty mysteries series is Cricket McRae’s, which is beautifully done. It follows a multi-crafting (like me, she does all kinds of stuff) heroine named Sophie Mae, who lives in Washington State (PNW pride!). There are five books and counting in this series – highly recommended. I also really enjoyed Buttonholed, by Kylie Logan… a mystery about vintage and antique buttons, what’s not to like there?!
You can swing by Murder By The Book to pick up Criminal Crafts or any of these crafty mysteries (or they do mail-order by email – books@mbtb.com – or over the phone at 503-232-9995)! I love MBTB – well worth a stop when you’re in Southeast Portland… or in my opinion, a destination worth planning a trip to Portland around.
If you go:
Criminal Crafts + World of Geekcraft + beyond Book Party
Sunday, April 29 at 4pm
Murder By The Book, 3210 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland
Drinks, snacks, craft projects and book signing
Free!
PS – On another crafty note, I’m teaching my wool cross pillow class on Saturday, April 14 at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store (another SE Portland treasure!). The class is from 10:30-1 and $40 covers all the materials you’ll need to make a cross pillow in class, plus fabric to bring home for your next one. PMQG members always get $5 off classes… hope to see you over there too!
saturday afternoon and a couple other things
August 18, 2011 at 3:11 pm | Posted in books and mags, chatty, cooking is crafty too, crafty events, free crafty, modern log cabin quilting, quilting, world of geekcraft | 6 CommentsI mentioned the book party last week, but wanted to share some new peeks at the cool things we’re planning for the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store this Saturday afternoon – I would love to see you over there! The reception is for both Modern Log Cabin Quilting and World of Geekcraft, which I’m really excited about. It’s been fun making up some special craft kits for both books! I’m teaching a new Woolen Cross Pillow class from 12-2 ($45), and then from 2-4 you can stop the (free!) party to sew MLCQ-style quilt blocks in their gorgeous wool fabrics
that look like this,
make comics magnets from WOGC,
and have snacks and lemonade. I was planning to make cupcakes (my favorite book party treat) but changed my mind – now it will be cheesecake brownies, which seem a little more summery! I love those too.
(so picture brownies here instead…)
You can also work on your own crafts, check out lots of projects from both books, and find all kinds of good treasures in the by-the-pound bins and on the tables there. I snapped up all the wool squares to make this patchwork throw from one of those bins, and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever made.
Pendleton has also graciously put together a tote bag of prizes for someone at the party to win! My MLCQ publisher, Potter Craft, sent me this handy canvas satchel for the gift bag. I put copies of both my books and both of the craft kits into it, and handed it over to Pendleton to see what they might want to contribute. So far they’ve added a bunch of colorful carded wool, a spindle, fat quarters of lots of different plaid wool fabrics, buttons and zippers, and it sounds like there’s more on the way!
Also – Aimee of the Woolen Mill Store was nice enough to do a little interview with me about my new craft room, my favorite designers and artists, and how NOT to baste a quilt. Thank you, Aimee!
Book Party!
Saturday, August 20 from 2-4 pm
Pendleton Woolen Mill Store, 8500 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Portland
(free!)
A few other things…
-Speaking of Pendleton, they just posted this lovely short film by Chris Hornbecker about the making of the Portland Collection, which I love. I got to preview the clothes last month – they’re amazing, and all made in the US from fabric woven in mills right here in Oregon and Washington, which I also very much appreciate. I’ve got my eye on the vintage-inspired shift dress in Neskowin plaid, and plan to snap it up as soon as it’s out in the shops this fall!
-Speaking of sewing, my super-talented friend Christine Haynes (famous for her wonderful book, Chic and Simple Sewing), has a new Kickstarter campaign to help publish two of her sewing patterns – the Derby and the Chelsea. Please check it out, watch the video, and consider pledging to support her work! Here’s a peek at the Retro Shift Dress I made from her C&SS book… an all-time summer favorite for sure.
-Still on the topic of sewing, I’m working on a post for Quilts for Quake Survivors on our lovely party last weekend (HUGE thank-you to everyone who came to sew with us) and our next steps and final donations. I’ll post a link here when that’s up (we’ll see how long Everett naps) but here’s just one photo for now… Teresa‘s amazing 1954 Pfaff!
-and last – see you at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting tonight?? They’re also hosting a fabulous all-day sew at Fabric Depot on Saturday. I highly recommend sewing over there, zipping over to the book party mid-afternoon for a quick wool-quilt-block and treat break, and heading back to sew some more. Sounds like the perfect day to me!
Powell’s and a Craft Party!
June 1, 2011 at 10:17 am | Posted in books and mags, chatty, craftivism, crafty events, free crafty, geek crafts, oregon, quilting, world of geekcraft | Leave a commentThanks for the super nice comments and emails on my Oregon photo post! I was so happy to share some pictures of our favorite places along the southern half of the coast. We had such a lovely time. Back to regular life up in the northwest corner of the state, I wanted to spread the word about a couple of free crafty events I’m doing in the next couple of weeks – I’d love to see you at both of them!
First, this Sunday (6/5), I’m doing a World of Geekcraft book signing and craft project event with my fantastic Oregon book contributors at Powell’s downtown! I was totally amazed that they listed me on the marquee – huge thank-you to Powell’s for the kind support for a local book. The event is at 4:00 in the Pearl Room upstairs, and everyone who comes by can make a POW! ZAP! Magnet, or take home all the stuff to make one later! I’m also bringing lots of book projects, so you can try out the LOST Tin-Can Telephones or hang out with a Tribble.
Here are some of the super-personalized comics magnets people made at my last few WOGC events… first, at Maker Faire,
and then last week at WebVisions!
Then, the following Friday (6/10), I Heart Art PDX is teaming up with the Museum of Contemporary Craft to host the Portland Craft Party, our local chapter of the worldwide Etsy extravaganzas!
It kicks off at 11 am with lots of free crafts to try, from paper cutting to freestyle embroidery, and I’m happy to say that I’ll be there hosting a Quilts for Quake Survivors bee. Please come make some cool things at all the different DIY stations, and jump in if you’d like to help us sew, quilt or bind one of our Mercy Corps fundraiser quilts in progress! We would love that.
The crafting and quilting bee continues all afternoon, and then at 7pm the daytime event transforms into an evening party/Mercy Corps Japan Relief fundraiser!
From the post:
At 7:00 pm, the doors will open back up to the Museum and the real party will start! We’re taking over the entire space with complete with food, beer and wine, a DJ, and even more crafting stations. Your door donation will get you an entry into the drawing for a whole slew of crafty prizes (books, gift certificates, handmade goods and more!), some food and beverage tickets, and a lot of crafty fun!
Throughout the evening you can rotate through hand-felting, origami, hand-weaving, and make your own crafty artist trading cards. The quilts made for the project will be on display, and Modern Domestic will have them available for sale and sell raffle tickets.
Yay!
The newest QfQ fundraiser quilt – Sea Glass by Petra
If you go:
World of Geekcraft book signing and craft event
Powell’s, 1005 W. Burnside St in Portland
Sunday, June 5 at 4:00 pm
Portland Craft Party!
Museum of Contemporary Craft, 724 NW Davis St. in Portland
Friday, June 10 starting at 11:00 am
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!
book release + fabric giveaway!
March 22, 2011 at 8:15 pm | Posted in chatty, free crafty, modern log cabin quilting, oregon, quilting | 156 CommentsIt’s my book release day today and to celebrate, I wanted to offer up a special giveaway of a signed book plus, courtesy of Bolt Fabric Boutique, a set of eight fat quarters I picked out last week! I’m so excited for spring, and choosing some pretty, spring-y fabrics from the kind of store where you simply can’t go wrong was a lot of fun.
Gina asked if I’d like to jump in for the first in a series of crafter-curated fat quarter sets to celebrate the book coming out this month, and I couldn’t say yes fast enough. I got to wander around the store for half an hour putting cool fabrics together, which is pretty much my idea of heaven. (Huge thank-you to Bolt for offering a really awesome little kids’ table and to Caitlin for watching Pearl and reading with her there while Everett and I orbited the store!)
I started with these three. I fell in love with the Tammis Keefe crocodiles when I saw a sneak peek online but this was the first time I’d seen it in person – so I snapped that up right away. Last time I was shopping, I’d bought two yards of the Urban Chiks Dream On in green… so that was an easy one to bring up to the counter, too. And the brown and white print just really made me happy and felt like a nice serene contrast to the splashier prints. After lugging sets of new bolts plus baby up to the counter to check things out a few times, I just snapped a phone photo of the three definites and carried that around with Everett and held the picture up to the contenders instead. Much easier.
This is the set of eight I ended up with. Love the Castle Peeps pennants (and actually bought a yard of that too last time I was in… I like what I like!), whales are a lifelong obsession, and the calmer all-over patterns just felt so good with the brighter prints. This was such a fun half-hour and I really thank Bolt for the chance to do it! You can pick up a set of FQs at the shop or at Modern Domestic. I’ve pieced a few simple blocks so far (these are for a little project I’m going to unveil at my book events, as well as the log cabin block how-to video Daniela and I made) and I just love how neighborly these fabrics are.
So – thanks to Bolt being awesome, I am offering up a signed book paired with one set of these fat quarters for giveaway! To enter, just leave a comment on this post and let me know your favorite thing about log cabin quilting by midnight Pacific time on Thursday, March 31. I’m working on my Log Cabin presentation for the April 21 Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting and would love to hear what people are most interested in so I can make sure to include a good mix of things! I’ll be bringing in some vintage log cabin quilts, tops, and blocks I have along with my book projects and other favorite quilting books, and showing lots of photos of antique, vintage and modern quilts… I can’t wait!
Yesterday was the start of the MLCQ blog tour, too. A huge thank-you to Cool Cottons for their lovely post offering up a signed copy of the book, and their more detailed book review today! You can still enter on the blog – in fact, you can enter more than once between now and March 31 by commenting on different entries.
Here’s the full blog list – thank you so much to the lovely crafters and quilters who are writing about my book. I am so appreciative of the support!!
M 3/21 Alyssa + Marie – Cool Cottons (plus a series of posts all week on log cabin!)
T 3/22 Book release day – me!
W 3/23 Daniela – Tangerine Samurai (who designed two projects for the book!)
Th 3/24 Melissa – All Buttoned Up and Bolt
F 3/25 Lupine + Meredith – Modern Domestic
S 3/27 Linda – Lindamade
M 3/28 Elizabeth – Oh, Fransson!
T 3/29 Amy – Angry Chicken
W 3/30 Shelly + Karen – Patterns By Figgy’s
Th 3/31 Rachel + Natalie – CRAFT:
F 4/1 Diane – Craftypod
S 4/2 + S 4/3 Modern Log Cabin Quilting event weekend – would love to see you at Modern Domestic or Powell’s!!
M 4/4 Megan – Not Martha
T 4/5 Kayte – This is Love Forever
W 4/6 Amy – Amy a la Mode
Th 4/7 Alissa – Handmade By Alissa
F 4/8 Kathy – Crafty Chica
M 4/11 Kim – True Up
T 4/12 Vickie – Vickie Howell
W 4/13 Claire – ReadyMade
Th 4/14 Jenny – Exit Through the Thrift Shop
4/15 Blair – Wise Craft
Portland Modern Quilt Guild rock block!
4/18 Christina – A Few Scraps
4/19 Christina – Sometimes Crafter
4/20 Megan – Megs Monkeybeans
4/21 Jen – Betty Crocker Ass
Also 4/21 – my Log Cabin presentation at the PMQG meeting!
Ok! That’s it. I would love to hear your thoughts on log cabin (so please do leave a comment to enter the giveaway) and I will pick a winner on Friday, April 1! A huge thank-you to everyone who has pre-ordered, put it on hold at the library, left a nice comment, told me they’re excited for one of the events, or just been lovely about the new book. I’m so grateful for the kind words and support.
and the winners are…
April 28, 2010 at 1:43 pm | Posted in books and mags, chatty, free crafty, outside | 1 CommentI closed comments and drew two random gardening book winners on Friday afternoon, but things have been crazy busy around here since then, so I’m sorry to keep everyone who commented waiting til now! The winners of The Western Garden Book of Edibles and Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades are:
#15 – Gillian, who said
We just made some raised beds, and these books would be perfect for my inaugural gardening adventure. I will be growing (if things go well) strawberries, tomatoes of all kinds, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and a bunch of herbs. Crossing my fingers!
and
#33: Pam, who said
Whew! Am I glad i just ran across this! Not much time to spare!
What a great giveaway, Susan. Thank you.
We are currently enjoying the flowers on our reblooming lilac bush. And even though we promised ourselves we were only growing tomatoes and cucumbers this year, we lost our resolve at the garden store and are also growing zucchini, tomatillos, rosemary, and Anaheim chile peppers. We have mint, Greek and Turkish oregano and garlic chives that wintered over and we discovered a large pot sprouting potatoes my sweetie had forgotten he planted! So – way more than we planned!
I am emailing you both for your addresses now!
Thank you SO much to everyone who commented and shared their garden plans… I was so happy to read about them and hear what folks are planning. I really wish I had a book for everyone! I hope we can stay in touch about how all our summer gardens go… thank you for reading along with my gardening posts.
And speaking of giveaways, I am excited to pass on that Vickie Howell is hosting a whole month of them to celebrate her new book, Craft Corps! Today’s is fantastic — a Handmade Nation DVD from Faythe Levine!
Craft Corps is fantastic and inspiring, with profiles of 60 crafters and longer interviews with 30 professional crafters, from Denyse Schmidt to Natalie Zee Drieu. I am very honored to be included! Be sure to comment over there to enter today’s giveaway, and then tomorrow’s will give you the chance to win a copy of Button It Up! I will post more on that, and a full Craft Corps review, tomorrow — I would love for someone I know from over here to win my button book.
a gardening books giveaway!
April 21, 2010 at 9:45 am | Posted in free crafty, outside | 34 CommentsI was very excited to review two of my favorite gardening books for CRAFT: this week — The Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles: The Complete A-Z Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Herbs and Fruits,
and Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening.
The publishers have generously offered up a copy of each one for a giveaway! Just leave a comment on this post by 5pm Pacific time Friday, April 23rd (with a valid email address in your profile – no need to also include it in your comment itself). Optional: let me know what you’re growing this year, or share a gardening tip!
I’ll draw two names randomly and notify the winners soon after the deadline. US addresses only, and one comment per person, please.
A huge thank-you to CRAFT: for the chance to review such fun books, and to Sunset and Sasquatch Books! Good luck!
Value 101 and the Buckman Art Show + Sell!
March 10, 2010 at 10:30 am | Posted in art and craft, crafting with kids, crafty events, free crafty, oregon | 3 Commentsokay, I am re-entering the world of blog posting slowly after being way too busy for the last while, and have a quick couple of things to share with you guys! One is global and the other is local, so there is something for everybody… two somethings for those of us in Portland.
First, Diane Gilleland of Craftypod is hosting a free online class all day today called Value 101.
To join, simply visit her site and click the link. There is lots more about it in her post yesterday, too… here’s a snippet of her description:
The beauty of online classes is, you can take the material at your own pace, as you have time. So, the class space will be open for sixteen hours – 6:00 am – 10:00 pm PST. You can pop in at any time during those hours, stay as long as you like, and even pop in and out.
If you read, watch, and listen to all of the content, it should take you about an hour in total. Nobody, not even me, has to stay for the full sixteen hours.
Closer to home, Buckman Elementary School’s 20th annual Art Show and Sell is this weekend! This such a cool fundraiser: kids at the school and local artists and crafters sell their artwork to benefit the school, plus there’s live music, food, and activities for kids.
my favorite find from the Art Show + Sell two years ago – a print by Berkley Illustration
Stop by Friday, March 12 from 5-9 pm, or Saturday, March 13 from 10-5. Buckman is at 320 SE 16th Avenue in Portland.
Hope to see you at both events — and I’ll be back soon with actual crafts to share, too!
i heart art – tonight!
February 26, 2010 at 10:10 am | Posted in art and craft, free crafty, oregon | 2 CommentsCraft powerhouses Etsy, PNCA, the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and the Portland Etsy Team are hosting a very cool event tonight — stop by if you’re in town! There’s lots more info here on their blog, too.
Etsy, PNCA, Museum of Contemporary Craft and the Portland Etsy Team welcome Portland’s vibrant community of makers, PNCA students, Portland craft guild members and the general public to connect during I Heart Art: Portland Meet ‘n’ Greet.
The event is a great opportunity for Portland-based makers to network and learn more about this burgeoning partnership and future opportunities for professional development. Featuring light food and drink, music, button making, Gocco printing (with Cathy!) and more.
Such a cool partnership — since I teach at PNCA, sell (occasionally) and shop (lots) on Etsy, and got married at the craft museum, I am a big fan of all parties involved! I’m so hoping to make it — see you there?
tiny ribboned gift bags!
December 17, 2009 at 12:57 pm | Posted in bead simple, books and mags, button it up, chatty, free crafty, holidays, projects to do | 8 CommentsI made Pearl’s teachers some carnelian and black agate earrings for gifts this year,
and stitched up a set of Tiny Ribboned Gift Bags to put them in. Both halves of the project are very quick and easy (perfect for a day like December 17th, ahem) and I thought I’d share the how-to over here if anyone else is looking for a nice way to wrap up some small things like jewelry or trinkets, too! These bags are great for jewelry storage or travel, or just for re-using for the next gift, and you can make dozens of them from a quarter-yard of fabric, or use up your scraps making a whole rainbow of them. It’s been far too long since I’ve had the chance to post a tutorial over here and I hope you like it…
Tiny Ribboned Gift Bags
For each bag, you’ll need a remnant of fabric, an iron, scissors, a piece of ribbon, sewing machine (or needle and thread), and pinking shears. These instructions are for an earring-sized bag with some size variations at the end of the steps!
1. Cut your fabric into long rectangular pieces, about 7 inches by 2.5 inches. Press them in half with right sides facing (as shown).
2. Stitch up both sides with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, back-stitching at the beginning and end of the seam to hold it. Turn the bag right side out and give it a quick press to shape it. Trim the top with pinking shears to give it a pretty edge (scallop-edged scissors would be nice too!)
3. Cut a length of ribbon (stitching it to hold it at the back if you like — I left mine loose) and place your gift inside the bag. Tie the ribbon in a bow above the gift and trim the ends.
For a wider, larger bag that would work for a pendant or bracelet (like the center one above, which holds the Circle Deluxe Pendant from the jewelry photo), cut your piece of fabric 7 or 8 inches long and 3.5 – 4 inches wide. For larger gifts, just place the present on a folded piece of fabric and cut generously on each side and above (since some of the width will go to a seam allowance, and the top will be tied with ribbon too). For a larger bag, fold your fabric, stitch, press, pink the top and tie with a (wider) ribbon the same way described for the little version.
If you’re interested, I also have two more holiday craft tutorials up today — please go check them out if you’d like to!
The Carnelian and Black Agate Earrings I put inside these little gift bags are over at Bead Simple,
and I designed a new Tiny-Eyed Owl Ornament project for Button It Up!
I’ll be around this week with a few more holiday things (we decorated the tree and the house last weekend, which was so much fun) and I’ll be part of Kayte’s blog tour for Applique Your Way, too! See you then.
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