A Moment of Winter's Wondering

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When you read this it will be Monday evening but as I'm writing it, it's actually in the early hours of Sunday morning. The house is quiet and the sun is streaming through the front window, catching the Christmas tree branches and ornaments and then the edges of furniture, tumbling those odd shapes and elongated shadows across the cool hardwood floor. The celebration and bustle of yesterday's Christmas is now over and the house feels especially spacious, quiet, still.

Christmas Eve crafting resulted in a half dozen fabric ornaments, a shared bottle of white wine, and several hours of conversation with an old friend. Christmas morning was full of giggles and awkward pauses over speaker phones with families too many miles away . And Christmas dinner was the continuation of a double-date that started twelve years ago and will, with any good luck, continue in sporadic double dates for years to come.

This morning I have a few moments of solitude with the scarce winter sun, a cup of black tea, and a disappearing pack of Polaroid film. We are headed down the coast for a couple nights of winter vacation. At some point, I will stand at the cliff's edge and toss my wishes into the great Pacific. I'll shed the lingering moments of a full 2010 and stand in the wonderment of a nearing 2011. I hope to set my intentions and wishes with all the force of those great waves crashing, tossing up against the cliff's edge with hope and wonder.

xoxo,
k.

Renegade & Merry Winter Solstice

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Thank you to my lovely visitors who attended the Renegade Craft Fair despite the soaking, sobbing rain. Like any big show, this one was certainly worth the effort and I can only hope that the planning process will get smoother as the fairs go on. (Fingers crossed.) Sadly, I forgot my camera so I can't share any photographs of my booth. Drats!

At least I can share a few of my favorite vendors instead. While it's always hard to narrow the sprawling list down to just a few favorites, this is my best attempt: the necklaces of Muak, the plates & pitchers of Rae Dunn, the fabric ornaments of Rebe, the hats of Mosey, and the cashmere fingerless gloves of MODify/d. I have three words for these crafters: Swoon, swoon, swoon.

Now that Renegade is over I'm turning my attention fully and completely to the nearing holidays. (Dear holidays, I'm sorry I've been neglecting you but I'm about to make amends.) I have a tradition of crafting on the day of Christmas Eve with a dear friend; last year it was handmade stockings and a knit hat, this year it's either a tree skirt or a batch of stuffed fabric ornaments. Regardless, I hope my fingers are still willing to stitch.

Happy Holidays to you, my friends! May your winter solstice be very merry and bright.

xoxo,
k

Almost Ready: Renegade Craft Fair this Weekend.

Hello friends,

I've finally finished my new booth banner. It's heavy white cotton with brown felt letters, brown binding, and an up-cycled striped denim for the backside. I took the extra time to sketch and cut the letters by hand, but I didn't take the time to make my own binding. (Instead, I used an extra-wide double-fold bias tape--such a quick finish.) I love the current trend in paper and fabric garlands and I double-love the festive use for recycled bits of paper and fabric.

As you know, I'm making the final preparations for the Renegade Craft Fair this weekend. (And I'm so close--woo hoo!) I'll be selling letterpress cards and prints, paper garlands, new block-printed fabric goods, and a handful of photographs too. If you're near San Francisco, please do come say hello. And if you're not in the area, be sure to check my Etsy shop where I'll be listing a few of my new products before and after Renegade.

The details: the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale in San Francisco on December 18 + 19, from 11am – 7pm in the Concourse Exhibition Center at 620 - 7th Street. I'll be in booth #202 with spout studio where we'll be surrounded by over 200 vendors sharing their artful wares. Okay then, back to the studio. Wish me luck.

And Happy (almost) Holidays.

xoxo, k.

Sew, Sew, Sew: Paper Garlands from My Stash of Scraps.

I am happily sewing my crafty heart out. This weekend I finished 18 paper garland strands made completely of recycled paper. I picked up a very old book at a local thrift store and it's enjoying its new life as the main ingredient in this season's wintery paper garland. Using kraft paper scraps, vintage book pages, letterpress offcuts, and other colorful odds & ends, I was able to make the garlands entirely of re-purposed material. Hip, hip, hooray!

The garlands remind me of snowflakes or shooting stars or raindrops. They remind me of something small and fragile and seemingly faraway that just can't be held in the palm of your hand, though you want to cup your fingers around it and hold it up to the light. They are so delicate, so full of movement, so full of promise and shape and just a little bit of romance and sparkle too. I am liking them very much.

I hope you are happily crafting your way through December. If I wasn't preparing for Renegade, I'd make several sets of fingerless gloves and scarves out of thrifted sweaters, or maybe I'd start a patchwork quilt. Perhaps that's what my January will bring. xoxo, k.