Debbie Stoller (whose birthday is today – happy birthday Debbie!) and Laurie Henzel have rounded up hundreds of how-tos from contributors and editors alike and organized them into hefty chapters like “BUST-ier Homes and Gardens” and “Your Style, Your Way.” Along with craft projects of just about every kind, there are dozens (hundreds?) of recipes to try, plus tutorials on tuning up a bike, buying a house, polishing a resume, and just about anything else you might want to to figure out how to do. Here are a few of my favorites…

terrariums, by Lindsay Stetson Thompson

embroidered shopping bag, by Jennifer Reichert

living room string lights, by Heidi Andrea Rhodes

cassette coin purse, by Rachel Benefiel

I’m so happy that two of my articles for BUST made it into the book, too! I wrote “Chains of Love” in 2005, I remember making those three necklaces in our apartment in LA. I was so excited to see it on the page!

And I wrote “Get it Together,” a quick organizing guide, within a year or so of that one too. I could do worse than take my own advice when it comes to my craft room these days…

This Saturday afternoon, Debbie and Laurie will be at Powell’s here in downtown Portland for a signing and party – I would love to see you over there! Powell’s has a nice display of the book (sorry, the photo is blurry – Everett was in the carrier and really wanted to help) if you want to flip through and see some of the awesomeness for yourself.

The BUST DIY Guide to Life signing with Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel!
Powell’s, 1005 W. Burnside St. in Portland
Saturday, November 5 at 2:00
Free!

I am so fortunate to have two dozen amazing crafters and writers contributing awesome projects and essays on a myriad of geeky genres, from Star Trek and the Periodic Table of the Elements to space, Morse code, and video games. If you’re into Harry Potter, MIDI, Second Life, Coraline, Star Wars, WoW, D&D, or sci-fi (on the page or on the screen), this is the craft book for you!

The crafts to try include sewing, quilting, embroidery, woodworking, paper mosiac, knitting, crochet, needle felting, perler beads, and terrariums. The five projects I did were some of the most fun things I’ve ever made, and I was constantly wowed by the incredible things my contributors created. Public School knocked it out of the park with the photography and design, and my longtime collaborator Alexis Hartman made fantastic diagrams throughout.

my Star Wars Terrariums

I’ve been a Star Wars fan since standing in line to see The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, at age six, and it was a huge compliment when Chronicle approached me about writing and collecting amazing projects for this book, back in May 2009.

Cathy‘s Pac-Man Fever Wii-mote Holster

I am so honored to include such awesome crafts and fascinating essays from my geeky and crafty friends and heroes. Thank you so much to the many remarkable people who made this book so rad!

Rachel‘s Needle-Felted Solar System Mobile

World of Geekcraft comes out on May 1, but you can preorder it from Chronicle, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Amazon.I’m really excited to do some book events at Powell’s, Maker Faire, and Crafty Wonderland (with some favorite projects for show and tell) and will be posting more about those soon!

John‘s Oregon Trail Cross-Stitch

I’ve made a book website at worldofgeekcraft.com that I’ll be adding tons more stuff to as the publication date gets closer… and I’ll post a few updates over here and of course at geekcrafts.com as well. I’ve made a flickr pool for book project photos, too. Thanks to everyone who has spotted the book somewhere online and liked it – I am so thrilled with it!

I adore log cabin – it was the first kind of quilting I ever tried, and is still my absolute favorite. This collection includes ten full-size quilts and fifteen smaller patchwork projects, including pillows, zip bags, camera cases, handbags, and market totes, with a short history of log cabin quilting, lots of information on tools and materials, and beginner-friendly instructions for everything from choosing your fabrics to binding your finished quilt. Twenty-three of the projects are mine, and two are contributed by my lovely and talented friend Daniela Caine! The cover quilt is my favorite one – Modern Crosses, which I made for my button-loving Pearl. Each of the crosses is a different fabric, “tied” securely with a different vintage button. I found out I was expecting our new baby while I was designing the tenth and final quilt for the book, Bright Furrows, and so that one is his. I’ll share a photo of it next week – it’s in the hospital bag waiting for him!

my first-ever log cabin pillow

The book comes out March 22, and it’s already available for pre-order on Amazon (!). This has been a really beautiful and meaningful project to work on – I feel so fortunate to have had the chance to spend a year making quilts for my family, and fun projects for my home – and I am really looking forward to sharing more about it (especially some photos!) soon. In the meantime, just in case you are in Portland, like to plan way ahead, and actually have a 2011 calendar already (impressive), I will be doing a book event at Powell’s on Sunday, April 3rd and will have mini-quilting kits to give everyone who can make it.

my anniversary quilt

If all goes well, I’ll be meeting my baby boy early next week, and things will probably be relatively quiet over here for a bit (though I’ll definitely post an announcement when there is news!). But in case you’re interested, I set up a Facebook page for my craft writing and will definitely be doing more regular mini-updates there. I’d love it if you wanted to like it and get my little craft posts there. And thanks to the magic of scheduled publishing, I’m excited that my interview with Elizabeth Hartman will go up on CRAFT: next week – she shared tons of helpful tips and advice on quilting, along with some favorites spotted at Quilt Market.

See you soon!

ps: to everyone who liked my Pendleton patchwork quilt I made this month (thank you!), I am thrilled to mention that I have a full-size Pendleton log cabin quilt project in the book, too. That was an especially fun one to work on, their wool is a delight to sew with.

Along with my regional picks for out here, Julie Schneider handled the East Coast, Amanda Mauer Taflinger covered the Midwest, and The Wondercraft spotlighted the Southwest – there is some awesome crafty stuff around these days, to say the least!

I’m also very happy to be posting weekly at Geekcrafts.com again, and I just fell in love with this sweet little amigurumi R2D2 pattern by Janama on Etsy. I need to get a refresher course from the super-talented Linda and start crocheting again…

Thank you, Venus! Thank you, geekcrafts! I have one more writing-related announcement tomorrow that I am super excited about as well, more on that whenever Pearl lets me have a little more laptop time.

I also included Amy Karol‘s darling bonnet pattern, available right over here, which ties right in to my Halloween costume dreams. Pearl has the most adorable handmade bonnet (a gift from Meredith) that she loves wearing. Here it is this summer at the Division-Clinton street fair.

Another huge favorite around here is her Radio Flyer red wagon. We use it to pick up berries, go to the park, and take her best friend around the neighborhood for adventures.

So, knowing my mercurial kid who likes what she likes and doesn’t want to wear anything else even if I like it, I thought I’d try a Halloween costume based on her favorite things instead of mine… and bonnet + (covered) wagon led me straight to Laura Ingalls Wilder territory. She doesn’t know who Laura is yet, so I’ve been calling it “pioneer girl with a bonnet and a wagon” and she’s been happy with that. So, if this costume is the winner (see below), I’ll be baking some corn dodgers from the Little House Cookbook and making her a little lunch basket just like Mary and Laura’s to carry while we trick-or-treat. Bonnet, apron, skirt, plain long-sleeved t-shirt, and maybe a shawl for both me and her, and I think we’re good. Andrew even said he’d dress up with us! Oh, and I’m going to invent the covered wagon top with some hardware-store stuff and an old sheet, which works very well in my head at least.

But… that was about a week ago, an eternity in preschooler time. And in the meantime, Pearl has mentioned the following ideas, each with equal enthusiasm, as THE Halloween costume SHE wants to wear, NOT the other ones:

1. Dog
2. Monkey (sometimes Curious George, sometimes just monkey)
3. Princess
4. Walrus
5. Cowgirl
6. “A big piece of orange cake”
and a 7. is coming any minute now I’m sure… I’ll be sure to update when it does.

Here’s what I actually know how to make, costume-wise:

1. Monkey (so there is some overlap at least!)
2. Harry Potter
3. Yoda
4. Laura Ingalls Wilder

So, I guess all I know is that I’m making myself a bonnet, and hoping that by the time her first Halloween party rolls around on the Friday the 29th we have something cool organized for her to wear (hopefully handmade, but I’m no miracle worker). The glory days of Harry Potter and Yoda, when I could dress her up any way that sounded awesome and weather-appropriate, are long gone.

But I’m confident that no matter what I will have the cutest Laura Ingalls Wilder, monkey, walrus (though I’m hoping not walrus, to be honest, I can’t figure that one out yet), or piece of orange cake in town!

I’m part of a panel on Teaching Your Craft on Friday (2:45-4:00) and leading a discussion on Craft Activism on Saturday (1:15-2:30). I would love to see you at either one, or at the panels I’ll get to attend the rest of the time! We’re also planning on dim sum, a Bainbridge ferry ride, a park picnic, and a visit to the big beautiful public library.

Many thanks to Megan for her fantastic blog post this morning detailing a whole slew of great places to eat, shop, hang out, and enjoy yourself in the conference neighborhood. I don’t know Seattle well enough to confidently run around on my own (after a mere 13 years of visiting from just south) and her tips and links are super inspiring.

Hope to see you there!!

p.s. If you are into photography and looking for some new things to try, I wrote up my five favorite photo-related things lately over at CRAFT: for the July Bazaar round-up: Big Huge Labs, Photobooth Finder, Blurb books, Photo Transfer Fabric Sheets, and Qoop Calendars (here’s the September 2010 page of ours, featuring my teeny little Pearl in a big covered wagon at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City). Happy picture-taking!

I wrote up my five favorite sewing products for CRAFT: – scissors, invisible thread, Hope Valley fabric, an heirloom tomato pincushion, and my binding tape maker – which are all listed on the Bazaar section of the site. I especially loved the pincushions by Machete Designs, which I first saw at Crafty Wonderland this spring.

And I wrote up four handmade wedding ideas I fell in love with, too – cake toppers, etched glasses, tissue poms, and hand-stamped rings. (I found these pretty poms, by Prost to the Host, at Crafty too!) Our fifth anniversary is this summer and it was really fun to find some sweet celebratory things people might like, with none of the stress of, you know, actually planning my wedding again.

photo by Lee

Finally my three-part series on the truly epic Summit of Awesome is all up now – Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3 + beyond. There was way, way too much cool stuff to cram into one post so I am super appreciative of Natalie Zee Drieu letting me basically triple my assignment in length!

Speaking of awesomeness, we squeezed in a three-day trip to my favorite place in the world, Mt. Hood, for Andrew’s birthday last weekend. It was just amazing — perfect summer weather, visiting five rivers, grilling all of our dinners, hiking, playing with Pearl, listening to music, and reading a bunch of books. I always take a picture from the same spot when we hike Trillium Lake and I loved this year’s…

Hope you are enjoying some summer awesomeness of your own!

Day 2′s post should go up on the blog shortly, and Day 3 (+ the Show of Awesome) will post early next week. Thank you so much to Natalie for the chance to cover the Summit of Awesome!

Speaking of garden stuff, here’s how things look for mine now that we’re in week 2. Not a ton of progress, but the plants look pretty happy, so I’m happy too. My herbs (the row of containers behind the bed) are mostly doing awesome, but I managed to kill a brand-new dill start in just a couple of days. Oh well.

I also have another gardening how-to up over at CRAFT: – some simple recycled garden tricks to try. Personally, I would love to walk into Portland Nursery and snap up all kinds of new things more often, but reusing things I already have around the house is a frugal (and easy) alternative, and leaves more cash for say, fabric. If you’re interested, the piece is right here! I’ll be posting one more round of gardening stuff this week with a giveaway, too, which I’m super excited about.

Dipping back into recipes and cooking, I wanted to share one of my favorite things for planning meals and grocery shopping: this great shopping list I found in Kate Pruitt’s DIY column at Design*Sponge. I printed a bunch of them (there are three options, each a little different, and this one works best for me) and start one every week as I decide what I want to cook, and note what we’re running out of. This one (decorated by Pearl, in red), is a mix of basics to get and stuff I’d need for these recipes: cheesecake brownies, pigs in blankets, vegetarian posole, asparagus farro risotto (from Edible Portland), and spring minestrone (from this month’s Sunset).

And back to crafts with Pearl, we collaborated on a fun little project yesterday! We hosted a crafty baby shower (which was my excuse to bake those pigs in blankets and cheesecake brownies) and I made the project on the left, and she dreamed up the one on the right. Andrew asked her what we should put on the bib for her new little friend-to be, and she said, “A BLUE bib!” so that’s what we did. She designed, Andrew cut and I appliqued… doesn’t get much more blue bib than that!

A few more things…

•Crafty Wonderland is coming up on May 1 + 2! They are looking for volunteers to help out in general, and to teach crafts at the event, in exchange for fun crafty gifts. You can sign up here to help! And in other exciting news, superstar Mark Montano is going to team up with DIY Lounge for a free craftathon at the sale — you won’t want to miss that!

•Jeff of Portland Haiti Container Relief announced a little while ago that the two giant shipping containers full of food, water, supplies, and good wishes from Portland have arrived safely and Lifeline has been distributing it all – wonderful news. Thanks so much to those who donated so generously! There’s also another fundraiser/event coming up soon too (a documentary at the Bagdad to raise money for 500 dome tents) if you’re interested.

•Another update for everyone who supported our efforts to get the BPA ban passed here in Oregon: I’m very happy to pass on that both the House and the Senate have introduced new federal legislation, the Safe Chemicals Act, this week! If you have a minute and would like to sign a petition of support, that would be awesome. You can find the petition here and a few updates about the Safe Chemicals Act here. I was so disappointed that our state’s bill failed, but strong federal laws would be even better.

Okay, I’ll be back with that giveaway soon! I hope Monday is treating you well. I have to say that this has been a good week so far, we are happy here in Portland!

I had a lot of fun making all the bits and pieces, especially the hat (I actually ended doing a set of three, in baby, small toddler, and big toddler sizes — they are super easy to sew up!)

and the snake.

You can see the whole tutorial with lots more photos over here — thank you, CRAFT! And now, instead of frantically knitting away on Halloween afternoon (ahem), I have a whole month to do a few little costume extras. First order of business: add some snaps to keep that snake securely on a speedy Yoda’s shoulders!

p.s. just a friendly reminder, please ask my permission before using any of my photos… thank you!!