craft geek goes to studio craft

Ok, finally a chance to sit down & write about Studio Craft, which was just about the sweetest little show I've ever seen.  If you read any of the blogs involved, you already know that each participant is already wonderful at the little details, so just imagine what happens when you get them all together.  For instance:

See what I mean?

Also, everyone was just flat out charming, even more so in hindsight when I realized that I was just one of many who came to the show to meet the crafters as much as to see the crafts, & so the very pleasant chats I had with Blair, Sally, Alicia, Abby, Melissa, & Stephanie (plus hearing a great story that proves that amazing vintage finds are cosmically attracted to Lisa) probably had less to do with me having fresh & witty things to say & more to do with them being excellent + tireless hostesses.

I loved seeing all the goodies in person (it was like celebrity sightings for the terminally craft-geeky, Look, there's one of Stephanie's squirrels! Ooh, & Sally's pin boards!) & picked up quite a few little things here & there, but I have to say that my score of the day was this notebook cover from Melissa:

I love so many things about it:  the brown, the white stitching, the polka-dots, the pocket.  I am a big believer in notebook pocket systems.

I also get a kick out of the Denyse Schmidt fabric on the inside; one of the things that was great about the show was seeing a bunch of familiar fabrics used in ways I wouldn't have thought of (craft-geeky, remember?).

After all the chatting & shopping, I rounded out my trip to Portland with my first visit to Bolt, which is a perfect little jewel box of a fabric boutique.  Portland really seems to have a knack for the perfect little boutique; I'd say that maybe it's all the time spent indoors that lends itself to creating that kind of thing, but we have rain up here too & there are far fewer amazing little shops than I'd like (though we do pretty well when it comes to the needs of knitters).  Anyway, I found & immediately snapped up all they had left of this fabric

which is something I've been looking for for months & had given up hope of ever seeing again in this colorway (it's one of those Alexander Henry short run prints).  For this, if nothing else, Bolt has my undying love.

Then a wistful glance at all of the other enticing but unvisited (by me) shops on Alberta, a sandwich from the Wild Oats deli, & a drive back north through horrible, horrible rain.  I didn't stop to fortify myself like Blair did, but only because I didn't think of it (though I did have a handy bar of Green & Black's in my purse).

Great show, great day.

Comments

[Sandrine (alias Didine ♥ )]

What a lovely fabric you found :) I'm happy you had a great day ! I hope one day I'll have the chance to see this show too :) Tons of smooches ! PS:I'm waiting for your news :)

[lla]

I does sound like a lovely time - thanks for sharing your account with those of us who couldn't attend! Sometimes living vicariously is the next best thing to being there...

I *love* the notebook cover that you scored - so clever, so gorgeous. I, too, am a fan of the notebook...

[Meg]

Argh! I missed you by a weekend. We're headed up Saturday. I love your crafty ass blog. xoxox

[melissa f.]

i love that ah fabric. it's sitting in the closet waiting for the right project.

thank you so much for coming out-- it meant a lot to have the support of so many good people!

[Blair]

I am so glad you made it to Portland. Wasn't the whole thing fun? I loved it all. I'm bummed that I didn't get to shop more, I had a list!

I will be seeing you soon at the Queen Anne t. show, can't wait!

I'd take green and blacks any day over a blizzard. But I should probably have a bite of both to be sure : )

Coffee and donuts soon?

[sally]

It was so nice meeting you last weekend. Thank you for making the trek down to studio CRAFT. I saw your cute cards at BOLT the other day! =)

[hillary]

gah! that fabric is sooo good!

[Catherine]

hi! i just found your website and loved your glitter things! i love the tiny glitter that you use for your crafts, and was wondering where you get the glitter. i'm doing a project myself, and need really small glitter-about a fourth of the size that you can normally get at a store. i'd be willing to buy some tiny silver glitter from you. i need it by the 15th of december at the latest, so please get back to me asap! again, i love your crafts! thanks...

[pandora armband]

Thank you ,it's really useful.