Crafts at the Capitol

I'll be in Concord, NH for Crafts at the Capitol, tomorrow and Sunday, 10-5. Hope to see you there at the Capitol Center for the Arts!

Want to see?

I felt like a proud parent, putting it all together. Our crazy umbrella and yet to be painted dowel all properly clothed, just like I always knew it would look (wink, wink). Even if it took us three tries to get there. So without further ado...





And they're still not completely finished. Each dowel will get a hat and has to be painted too. I need 30 hours in every day! And here are my adventures in applique. I haven't done a lot of this, but it was FUN! Like decorating with scissors and thread. I'm pretty thrilled with how they turned out, so there will be more...








Coming to you from Denver, Colorado where it is way past my bedtime...

I wasn't kidding...

when I said I had made a LOT of these skirts...







So, now the issue becomes how to display them at a show. I had some ideas right away as I was making them, and now it's time to show you just how ridiculously yankee we get around here. By yankee I mean cheap of course...

My husband is an engineer, and he had the best idea almost immediately, but no, no, I couldn't just go with it. I had to "devise some kind of system" to put these on display. My first thought was wire hangars. If I could bend them into some kind of spoke system, and somehow twist them together and nail them into a dowel, and, and, and...you guessed it. Total disaster.



My next thought was to use wire. It'd be easier, right?? So the thought process here was to get some metal rings which would slide over a dowel, and make a spoke system that would then attach to a ring below. Here is how far I got on this idea before total abandonment...





The problem was that the wire kept sliding around the ring, making it impossible to support the skirt in any kind of meaningful way. And I can just see myself futzing with the display every time someone wanted to look at the skirt. Unacceptable.



We then thought that something rigid might work. We have some foam laying around, and thought that by pushing the wire up through the foam and down the other side, we could create, you guessed it, a spoke system for support. This may have worked other than that the foam kept sliding down the dowel, and the spokes weren't perfectly symmetric. Which leads me back to my engineer husband who suggested a modified umbrella.





Oh, I wish I had just started with this idea in the first place...I couldn't find any children's umbrellas at my local drug store (our town's version of a five and dime), but I did come up with these trusty large ones. I took off the fabric, saved the plastic doo-gigs on the end so that no one gets hurt, cut off about 6 inches of frame, and voila...





Eventually, there will be two holes in the base; one to hold the umbrella handle, and one right next to it to hold a larger dowel with a cross-piece for a top. I anticipate adventures in applique later today. The larger dowel will fit through the spokes of the umbrella so that when the top comes down, it'll cover up the top piece.

Oh sure, I could have purchased some dress forms that would accomplish the same thing a whole lot quicker, but they're expensive, heavy, and that's just not the "yankee" way.

Note to self: listen to your engineer husband more often.

Concord Arts Market!

Well, for the past month, I've been gearing up for the opening day of the Concord Arts Market in downtown Concord, NH! Opening day is May 30th, so if you are in the area, come on down and check us out. If it is anything like last year, there will be some amazing handmade crafts, and definitely something for everyone. There is usually some live music, and this year it's rain or shine. The farmer's market is right next door, so get some delicious locally grown food, see some wonderful artisans, and grab one of my favorite sandwiches in the world (the tomato, mozzarella, basil) from Madeleine's on Main Street. Oh, and their raspberry palmier are my favorite in the whole wide world, and I can really say that!



I'm starting to get that nervous feeling already, as I know I don't have nearly enough finished. I especially want to focus on my collection, but when there are so many great new things to try out, it's hard to go back and make more sizes of the same. Anyone else have this problem? Even now I'm planning on a few new knit styles for summer. Ugh, so many great designs, so little time.

I'm in Minneapolis right now, but next week it's off to Washington, D.C. where one of my favorite fabric stores awaits. I first found G Street Fabrics when I was a student. I haven't been able to get back there for at least 10 years, and I am chomping at the bit to go. We arrive in D.C. around 11:30am, so I'll be there by 1pm at the latest. Wahoo! The thing is, there are plenty of quilting cottons to be had in the bold and colorful prints I love. But there just aren't that many fabric stores that cater to clothes-making any more.

When I was a little girl, my Mother and I had terrible battles over clothes shopping. I was extremely picky about fit, color, and conformity. See, I just wanted to blend in to the crowd because I was so shy. So, if we couldn't find anything ready-to-wear, it was off to the fabric store to get all different colors of gabardine for slacks, and cotton prints for tops. No skirts for me. Thank goodness I didn't pass the picky gene on to my own daughter! Back then, there were fabric stores everywhere. Now you are pretty much relegated to JoAnn's, which for me isn't ideal. So, thank goodness there are still some fabric stores that have fabric for actual clothes and not just quiltmaking. I'm particularly on the lookout for eyelet, anything with texture, and jersey knit. I'll keep you posted...

Down to Business

Couple of things going on for me, that are keeping me busy. First is the etsykids team trunk show that will take place in the etsy virtual labs (http://www.etsy.com/virtual_labs.php) on Thursday, December 4th, at 8pm EST. I will be doing a presentation along with others from the team about our shops and creative process. There are lots of special offers and free giveaways, so it should be lots of fun. Mark your calendars!

The other bit of business is that I will be doing a show in Canterbury NH at the elementary school on Saturday, December 6th. So, for those of you who are local, please come out and support handmade!