Greetings from beautiful Napa on this glorious May day! 

I’m going to get to the point: I have pulled the plug for an in-person event for Craft Napa next January. I’ve said all along I wanted to be as transparent as I could regarding the decision-making process for this, so here goes. I posted this yesterday both in the Craft Napa e-newsletter and on the Craft Napa website:

Join Us for a Boutique Crafting Experience
 
Craft Napa 2021
January 13-17, 2021
  
With health and safety concerns of COVID-19 lingering for the foreseeable future, we are creating a multi-media, immersive event next January. We are planning a very fun adventure and time together, so please save the dates!
 
 
More information to follow in early June.

 We are going to bring Craft Napa to you, in the comfort of your own studio. In early June, I will be announcing a bit more about the concept, and share important dates (program announcements, timelines, add-ons, registration, etc.). 

Personally, I am very relieved to be making this decision now rather than waiting until later. All of the science points to the fact that we more than likely will not have a vaccine widely available prior to January 2021. Even with practicing social distancing, deep cleaning of rooms, etc., I don’t feel it’s prudent to be offering  an in-person event for clientele that for the most part, are over 60 years in age, and considered to be a bit more vulnerable to suffering the consequences of COVID-19. I’ll feel a lot more confident hosting an in-person event when the vaccine becomes widely available–hopefully by the middle of next year.

Making this decision now frees me up to plan for something really, really fun. So I hope you will check back in early June!

In the meantime, I am continuing to interview quilters, fabric designers, and mixed media artists, every single day (weekends included) at 1:00 PM Pacific over on Instagram (Pokey Bolton account). I have been doing these for more than 30 days, and some are uploaded onto the Crafting a Life YouTube channel, but the last 11 days of interviews are now all available right on my Instagram account. So far we’ve gotten a sneak peek of a number of fabric lines debuting this spring, learned some tips and best practices for moving to online teaching, not to mention take a candid and inspiring peek into people’s studios! It’s amazing to me what people have been making in terms of art, and also people’s coping practices for staying sane through this pandemic. 

A sample of some of Leslie Tucker Jenison’s Warehouse District fabric line for Robert Kaufman that she shared on my IG Live. This fabric line will be available in August.

Soon I am going to be putting up more merchandise (i.e. Craft Napa project bags, and metal water bottles) on the craftnapa.com website, and will post a giveaway here when available.

Stay safe and well,

Pokey