How are all of you doing right now? How are you feeling?

I’ll start:

• I am anxious and trying to keep my level of worry at a manageable level–a challenge, for sure. I am worried most for my friends who are in the medical field and on the front lines of this. They are a husband/wife team, a doctor and nurse at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, working with children with cancer–another vulnerable group besides the older population. These little ones have compromised immune systems, and are vulnerable to something of the likes of COVID-19. My friends reiterate what our surgeon general bluntly said this morning: please stay home so we can flatten the curve and not overwhelm the healthcare system. 
•  I am quarantining alone with no family nearby (and I’ve got this and I’ll be fine), but sometimes the anxiety gets to me. But I have been creative with FaceTime, etc., art journaling, making masks (more on that in a later post), walking Clarence to visit the horses nearby, and it all *so* helps. If you are quarantining alone, email me–pokey@craftingalifellc.com, and let’s communicate!

• I am worried for all of us who run small businesses or are independent contractors. This is an overwhelming punch to the gut and it’s hard to breathe. We don’t know how this is going to play out in the upcoming weeks/months, and I have 1) cancelled all retreats for the foreseeable future at my place, but 2) extended the deadline for teacher applications for Craft Napa 2021 with a new receive-by date of April 30th, 2020. I am totally planning on hosting Craft Napa 2021. We all need something to look forward to, right? I am going to meet with the hotel soon (once they are back in business, they are closed for now) to discuss the contract and particulars. I think it is fair to say we all want some extra cushion and safety measures in place for this next round.

   

  In the meantime… One thing I thought to do while we all do our best to stay home: I thought it would be fun to do an Instagram LIVE from my art barn to share what I am making, and then invite someone who is watching into the video/ split the screen to show what they are making and interview them. Do you want to play? I hope so…this could be a fun way to connect and share what we are making right now. I am going to try doing this tomorrow (March 24th) at 1:00 PM Pacific. This will be through my own account on Instagram–Pokey Bolton. 

So let me know how you are feeling and what you are doing in the comments section. I’d love to hear from you!

A picture of Clarence a couple of days ago visiting Fellow, a very sweet horse in my neighborhood:

Until my next post, be gentle with yourselves, and stay well,

~ Pokey

28

Hold onto that number  for just a second while I go off on a small, newsworthy tangent:

I have been secretly helping to work on something for nearly half a year that was announced just today. Late last summer Heather Grant reached out to me to bounce her idea of starting a sewing and quilt summit for those entrenched in this industry to truly collaborate to further the industry in today’s retail and digital environment. Growing our industry has been something I have been passionate about for more than a decade wearing different career hats in publishing, TV hosting, and events.

I started Quilting Arts when I was 28 years old (hence that number in bold at the top), and I would love for people of that age in today’s environment to be entrepenuers and launch quilting and sewing businesses.  I have enjoyed much success in this industry over the past 20 years and I would love for others to enjoy success and career satisfaction like I have–not to mention for younger generations to immerse themselves in quilting and sewing.

Heather Grant is exceptional at launching a non-profit entity and is super knowledgable about this industry.  I am proud to say I am on the board of what she is spearheading: the Strategic Sewing & Quilting Summit. The first Summit will take place in the Chicago area this summer (more information to follow).

I think the assembly of industry leaders in a two-day, roundtable-style forum will help further a candid discussion of what we can all do to grow the industry. The more we talk, the more forums and places we have to discuss, the more who are invited to the table, the more we try to think outside the box, the better.

My second bit of news is that I just posted the proposal form for Craft Napa 2021 (our 6th edition), and the link for the proposal form can be found here. If you have thought about teaching and want to join us, please submit! We have more than 40 workshops over the course of five days, and we have a super fun time together. The receive-by proposal deadline is March 31 and we will announce the line-up by April 21st, 2020.

Thirdly, I am finding a lot of joy in teaching again– specifically small groups in my art barn. I will be teaching a two-day surface design class in my barn on April 4-5th, 2020–limited to six students.

Details can be found here.

Wishing everyone a great weekend and an early spring,

I can’t believe our 5th edition of Craft Napa is over already! Has it really been five years I have been doing this? It doesn’t feel like it. This past retreat went super well, and I am so happy that people overall seemed to have a great time. I am truly honored that people invest their time and discretionary funds at Craft Napa to start the new year off, and I don’t take that for granted. I try and make this annual retreat the best it can be, and I thank you to all who came and continue to make this retreat so special!

Some quick stats: this last edition had 41 workshops, led by 17 teachers over the course of five days with about 250 attendees. We held classes in everything from modern quilting and mixed media jewelry to surface design and encaustic work. All in all I think it was our biggest edition yet. Having said that, the facilities–the Embassy Suites/ Napa and my art barn (just a couple miles up the street from the hotel)–meant there was still an intimate feel to the retreat, and that will always be important to me.

A few additional pix of collage work, indigo dyeing, art quilting, free-motion quilting, among other disciplines:

Now that Craft Napa 2020 is completed, I am busy working on a micro-retreat schedule for my barn this year (look for an upcoming notice in my Crafting a Life e-newsletter for a retreat I am soon to announce for next month). I am also posting the 2021 Workshop Proposal form on the craftnapa.com site, so if you are interested in pitching a proposal, please go download the form. The receive-by date for the form is April 1, 2020, but the sooner sent the better. 

Lastly, save the date! Our 6th edition of Craft Napa will take place January 13-17, 2021. More info to follow in the next couple of months, and registration will open June 1, 2020.

On a more personal note, last month I invested in a used Airstream for both recreational and safety purposes. For recreation, I can leave for a night (or two or three) to go camp in NorCal. The advantage of living here is that within three hours or less I can be in Lake Tahoe or on the coast to Santa Cruz or Monterey, as examples. If I venture a little further  I can be in Yosemite, or if I want to stay close to home, within one hour I can be in Bodega Bay (yes, home to Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”). In an emergency situation I can retreat to the Airstream during a wildfire/evacuation or an extended planned power shut off–both of which I have experienced since I moved here.

The start to my 2020 has been to learn how to hitch the tow, safely tow and drive, get her ready for camp, and to overcome my anxiety when something isn’t working and I need to problem solve without letting my nerves get the better of me. I get anxious at times when I can’t figure something out or something is very heavy for me to lift (both can lead to a lot of swearing), but the achievement I feel when I problem solve is so gratifying. It’s just like working through a design problem on an art piece you want to throw away in frustration but you save it and you make it work…and I know all of you can relate to that. 🙂

My airstream at Bodega Bay.

Here’s to a challenge- and creative-filled 2020,

Pokey

I began teaching for the first time in more than five years this past month.  It felt SO fantastic to teach again after so long! This was the first time I taught in my own barn, and after doing it once (thankfully with success) I plan to teach several micro retreats next year here.

Last month I taught a two-day class on layered surface design techniques including indigo and shibori, deconstructed screen printing, Gelli-plate mono printing, and Thermofax screen printing. Below are my class samples I had posted to promote the workshop:

Some student work below. (They got inventive about where the fabrics could dry.)

More work:

Gina Lee Kim had worked back into her fabric with screen printing with fig tree leaves she found at my place:

Fabrics drying on my porch, getting ready for the second round of surface work:

I limited this first class to five students, and it was a great crowd!

I made a small scrap quilt using some of my samples:

All in all, a fun time, and I am planning my next surface design retreat retreat (limited to seven students) for March 21-22, 2020. Meanwhile, there are a lot of classes being offered at Craft Napa 2020 that still have some spots! All of the Craft Napa workshops can be found here.

Hope everyone is enjoying a fantastic November!

~Pokey

I’ve been a little MIA since the last time I blogged here, which I know, I know…was in February. I have a couple of good reasons though.

First, I’ve been getting everything ready for the next Craft Napa to take place January 15-19, 2020. I can’t believe it’s our 5^th edition already!  I contracted 17 teachers for a total of 41 workshops over the course of five days.

I am a one-person company, and it just takes a lot of work and double-checking to make sure I don’t make mistakes in the scheduling, the contracts, editing all of the info. for the site, etc. It takes me a year to pull this event off.

Springtime is probably the busiest time planning for Craft Napa, at least until I open registration in early June. My spring looks something like this:

• Gather and study the workshop proposals. I don’t make these decisions lightly or alone—I vet them by a group of artists, quilters, and crafters and they gave me their honest opinions on each one.
• Negotiate (or in my case re-negotiate several times) the host hotel, catering, and meeting space. This past time it took several rounds of contract revisions, and frankly, a lot of time.
• Meet with BERNINA and Meissner’s Sewing and make sure they were happy with the previous year’s event with the number of machines they brought (and sold), and make sure that they want to sponsor again!
• Contact the accepted artists and double check their schedules to confirm availability and times. Also make sure I don’t overbook the rooms requiring a machine per student (easy to do).
• Contract the artists for said days and times (and don’t make a mistake and double book them).
• Schedule all the workshops for the meeting rooms and in my art barn for each day and evening.
• Schedule special events and book talent (i.e. wine tastings, special luncheon speakers, wine train, or artists’ market as examples).
• Start planning and price out any special event or session that requires catering, and figure out a reasonable cost per person.
• Edit all of the above, gather all of the images, and load everything onto both the main Craft Napa website and also the sister site for registration (CVENT) for launch in early June. In my case, I open registration six months prior so people can plan for the new year. 
• Plan an e-newsletter and social media schedule.

This spring while choosing, contracting, and scheduling the above, I also completely overhauled my company’s website: craftnapa.com.

Why?

I met with several website developers in early spring, and I was told the same thing by each one of them: a business website’s functionality and branding should undergo a makeover minimally every three years.  This makes total sense to me, given how fast technology changes and the functions of a site become outdated.

Take for one, the slider (also called a carousel): not only does a slider kill your SEO on a front/homepage, but it is also considered, shall we say, pas de la mode. My front page consisted of a slider, so I 86’d that, and replaced with what I am trying to publicize at the time: right now that’s Craft Napa.

Other functions I wanted to be able to feature included making every image on the site Pinterest-able, and every materials list for each workshop printable with a printer prompt. 

The overhaul took weeks, but I am pretty pleased with how it looks. Some snaps of the site:

Above: A smaller image of the top of the home page. There is a navigation bar at the top (not shown).

Scroll down a bit on the home page and there is the option to view featured workshops:

Above: I wanted the ability to feature workshops and rotate them out to give prominent airtime for each. This also gives me the option to feature workshops outside of Craft Napa down the line.

This page (below) is a snippet of the overall Craft Napa Workshops page where everyone can preview images of all of the 41 workshops offered at one time for this event:

I also switched ecommerce services from Shopify to Stripe which has great functionality and is less expensive (if you have an e-commerce site and want some info about Stripe, feel free to email me). And I continue to use CVENT for all of my registration needs, which I have been using since 2015 with huge success and ease of execution.

With registration open now, I can breathe a little easier and plan some other ventures, which I will announce in the next couple of months. And now that the summer solstice is just about here and we are entering the second half of the year, I still have a full plate of things to do for Craft Napa including:

• Order merchandise and the totes for the swag bags.
• Plan for a SUPER fun 5^thedition and scheme up some memorable and community-building offerings throughout to commemorate it.
• Reach out to companies for swag and door prizes. This is a hard thing for me to do (asking for stuff), so I try and give as many shout-outs as I can (pre-, during, and post- Craft Napa) to the generous folks who take the time and investment, and send goods for Craft Napans to play with and read about.
• Plan on some elective activities that people can add to their registration line-up (like wine tastings or a visit to the Culinary Institute of America chapter downtown).

On another note, in a couple of weeks I am heading to Monterey to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to take some photos and gather some information to promote Craft Napa’s soon-to-be-announced fundraiser. I don’t have the name or the particulars defined yet, but I will give you a clue as to what it’s about: how to help save our oceans and get away from single-use plastics like water bottles, which are beyond devastating to our environment and sea life.

Until next time, which will be in early July (I promise) have a happy start to summer!

Yours,

Pokey

Happy February everyone! I have finally cleaned, sorted, and put everything away after Craft Napa retreat last month and guess what I have extra of…SWAG BAGS! I thought I would give a Craft Napa swag bag away once a month for the next six months.

UPDATE: Patti Kaplan, you won the swag bag! I will email you to get your mailing address!

This swag bag is full of great swag from some of the best quilting brands and companies in the industry:

Another angle…

The loot is from the following companies:

• Quiltfolk Magazine Thanks to the publisher, Michael McCormick, Craft Napans received a complimentary copy of Quiltfolk! Want to subscribe? Use the coupon code CN19 for 15% OFF at Quiltfolk.com. It’s “CN19” and can be applied in the cart. 

• UPPERCase Magazine– And more thanks to Janine Vangool who also provided magazines, and has a special discount for Craft Napans and friends, too: Receive $15 CAD off UPPERCASE subscriptions, gift subscriptions and renewals with this link. https://shop.uppercasemagazine.com/discount/craftnapa?redirect=%2Fcollections%2Fsubscribe

• Quilters Select—MANY thanks to Alex Anderson, Quilters Select, and parent company RNK for generously providing all of these incredible supplies! Visit https://quiltersselect.com to see all of their offerings!
• Dharma Trading for generously providing surface design supplies for class use and selling supplies most of Craft Napa. They are running a special discount just for Craft Napans and friends. Visit https://www.dharmatrading.com.   Use coupon code CRAFTNAPA10 to receive 10% off your order!

• Craft Industry Alliance—This is an informative and comprehensive networking trade organization for professionals in the craft and art industry. They also have a wonderful online magazine that offers tips for developing and expanding your business. Use code craftnapa2019 to get a discount on your membership! https://craftindustryalliance.org

• Havel’s’ Sewing—This is personally a favorite scissor, rotary cutting, and mat company of mine! If you have not tried their products yet, I recommend doing so ASAP. They cut like butter. Visit https://www.havelssewing.com.
• C&T Publishing & Jennifer Sampou for generously donating door prizes and patterns! https://www.ctpub.com  and https://www.jennifersampou.com
• RJR Fabrics for providing complimentary charm packs for all by CRAFT NAPA teachers Leslie Tucker Jenison, Jamie Fingal, and Victoria Findlay Wolfe. https://www.rjrfabrics.com

• Robert Kaufman Fabrics for providing door prizes of gorgeous fat quarter bundles. http://www.robertkaufman.com
• SOAK Wash for generously providing spray jars of FLATTER, which makes ironing your fabrics for quilting so much easier (and smells great too!) https://soakwash.com 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SWAG GIVEAWAY:

Please answer the following question in the comments area below, and I will randomly select a winner next Wednesday (February 6th). I apologize to our international friends, but because this bag is heavy and expensive to ship internationally, I can only ship to those who reside in the United States. 

QUESTION:

I was honored to be asked to give the opening keynote at the annual SAQA Conference this upcoming April in San Jose, CA. The theme of the conference is Threads of Innovation. I have been thinking long and hard how what I might say may have relevance to anyone in the audience–mostly enthusiasts and professionals in the quilting industry. In the context of this theme…what would you be interested in hearing or learning about from me? 

Hope everyone has a great start to February,

Pokey

I can’t believe our 4^th edition of Craft Napa has come and gone!

This year was a lot of fun, thanks to our teachers and all who attended. 16 teachers taught 38 classes over the four-day period, in everything from surface design, modern quilting, free-motion, collage, encaustic work, batik, indigo and shibori, printmaking, screen printing, monoprinting, making dollies and monsters, appliqué, stenciling, and watercolor. We introduced a welcome dinner to Craft Napa this time around, and had a special luncheon lecture with Jennifer Sampou, which was incredibly inspiring.  

Our Artist Market was a hit (some vendors sold out in the first 5 minutes…note to vendors…bring more stuff!), and we held our first- ever movie night!

We also raised more than $2300 for our Stay PAWSitive fundraiser, which benefited animals that were displaced, hurt, or surrendered due to the Paradise fires. I still have a lot of postcards as donations came pouring in at the last minute. To raise more money, I am going to bundle the fabric postcards I still have on hand, most likely in sets of 5, and offer them online on the Craftnapa.com site starting February 1^st.  

Some fun class and event pix:

Sandra Johnson sharing her latest indigo-dyed fabric she made in her Indigo, Dye, and DIY workshop.

Students in Leslie Jenison’s Mark-Making Potpourri workshop getting good and messy in my barn.

Teacher and author Gina Lee Kim with her son Steven working the Artist Market.

Frances Holiday Alford coming to night class in her pajamas. (If you know Frances, this isn’t a surprise.)

Teacher Libby Williamson helping a student free-motion a painted fabric collage piece.

Student working on her Picture This! Faces in Fabric portrait in Jamie Fingal’s class.

Soy was batik fabric by teacher Jeannie Palmer Moore that was laying on her teacher table. (It was very tempting to steal.)

Student work in one of Maria Shell’s workshops.

Pup portrait in progress in Jane Haworth’s Pet Portrait workshop.

Students working on their Polygon Play quilts with Jennifer Sampou in the barn.

This one is coming together spectacularly! (Photo credit Jennifer Sampou)

As is this one! (Photo credit Jennifer Sampou)

We were incredibly honored that Tim Jenison joined us at Craft Napa for a viewing of “Tim’s Vermeer,” and to host a Q&A afterwards.

We also learned what Tim has been working on for the last four years in Tasmania, and it is an equally ambitious project that he will be announcing to the greater public very soon.

And on a more personal note, I got to reconnect with a former coworker of mine, Amanda Schlatre (many may remember her when she worked in Special Exhibits at Quilts Inc.). I was delighted when I saw she had signed up for Craft Napa, and it was fun catching up and learning what she is now doing for the Houston Rodeo.

 Lastly Craft Napan, Jollyne Toste who had also attended Jennifer Sampou’s Polygon Play retreat last March in my barn, brought her finished quilt for show and tell. Look how beautiful it is! This picture was taken behind my barn. (Photo credit Jennifer Sampou)

Next year will be our 5^th edition, which I can’t believe has come so quickly. I am planning on some special commemorations, swaps, and gatherings for this anniversary and scheming a fun time. If you have ideas for special events, I am all ears—just email me at pokey@craftingalifellc.com.

Save the dates! CRAFT NAPA 2020

January 8-11, 2020

I want to extend super special thanks to our sponsors BERNINA of America and Meissner’s Sewing for providing sewing machines for classroom use, and being on hand  to help everyone use the machines.

Also special thanks to Dharma Trading for generously providing surface design supplies for class use) and selling supplies most of Craft Napa. They are running a special discount just for Craft Napans and friends. Visit https://www.dharmatrading.com.   Use coupon code CRAFTNAPA10 to rceive 10% off your order!

I’d also like to thank the following companies for donating swag to the totes and also providing materials for classroom use. Note that a lot of them have a discount code on their products (some expire soon) so check them out!

• Quiltfolk Magazine Thanks to the publisher, Michael McCormick, most (if not all) Craft Napans received a complimentary copy of Quiltfolk! Want to subscribe? Use the coupon code CN19 for 15% OFF at Quiltfolk.com. It’s “CN19” and can be applied in the cart. 

• UPPERCase Magazine– And more thanks to Janine Vangool who also provided magazines, and has a special discount for Craft Napans, too: Receive $15 CAD off UPPERCASE subscriptions, gift subscriptions and renewals with this link. https://shop.uppercasemagazine.com/discount/craftnapa?redirect=%2Fcollections%2Fsubscribe

• Quilters Select—Did you see all of the incredible goodies provided? MANY thanks to Alex Anderson, Quilters Select, and parent company RNK for generously providing all of these incredible supplies! Visit https://quiltersselect.com to see all of their offerings!

• Craft Industry Alliance—This is an informative and comprehensive networking trade organization for professionals in the craft and art industry. They also have a wonderful online magazine that offers tips for developing and expanding your business. Use code craftnapa2019 to get a discount on your membership! https://craftindustryalliance.org

• Havel’s’ Sewing—This is personally a favorite scissor, rotary cutting, and mat company of mine! If you have not tried their products yet, I recommend doing so ASAP. They cut like butter. Visit https://www.havelssewing.com.
• C&T Publishing & Jennifer Sampou for generously donating door prizes and patterns! https://www.ctpub.com  and https://www.jennifersampou.com
• RJR Fabrics for providing complimentary charm packs for all by CRAFT NAPA teachers Leslie Tucker Jenison, Jamie Fingal, and Victoria Findlay Wolfe. https://www.rjrfabrics.com

• Robert Kaufman Fabrics for providing door prizes of gorgeous fat quarter bundles. http://www.robertkaufman.com

Thanks to all!

Oh what a year… I have a lot of numbers and thoughts about 2018, but I am winnowing down to three numbers, three big accomplishments and events:

6

The number of quilts and pieces of art I made in 2018–all made and given away to children, baby quilts, to charity, and loved ones. I planned on twice this number but hey…I got to six! Here’s one, and the recipient, my best childhood friend’s youngest child’s “baby quilt.” (It was a little overdue, but we all had a good laugh about it.)

$4000

The amount raised for the first CRAFT NAPA Stay Pawsitive fundraiser for Friends for Life animal shelter in Houston for Hurricane Harvey victims. We are on fundraiser #2 for the Paradise Fires victims…so if you want to make something, click here! We have more than a week to create and accepting donations!

And my most important number.

My Number 1:

Dorothy Bolton.

I lost my mother-in-law in August. She has been a mother in every way to me since I was 19, and I was fortunate to be able to have a bed-side conversation and say goodbye before she passed away this past August. We had a pretty heartfelt but funny conversation that day. And I will always be grateful for this final time together. I can’t say I have been totally right since, and I may never be. But I am so grateful for all she taught me and for having her in my life.

After she passed away, a few health issues happened in my own biological and extended family, and it has been a challenging second half of the year.

And so here is my wish for 2019: for all those who have had a hard year, for those who have lost loved ones, and those trepid to go into the new year, let’s step into it together, and  support each other. And let’s be grateful for those who have loved us and taught us to be gentle and loving human beings.

In memory of Dot.

Happy New Year,

Pokey

I hope everyone had a wonderful family-filled and friend-filled Thanksgiving! Mine was very low-key, which was exactly what I wanted.

The fires in Northern CA have left us all speechless. Quilters have been wanting to figure out how to help…can they make quilts for people? Well, some 14,000 residences are lost, so multiply that by the people who are still displaced and have no home to go to and currently living in shelters or temporary housing. Money is what is needed and will be for the foreseeable future. So what can quilters and artists do right now? One option: maybe spend a little time making something that we can raise $ for at Craft Napa, about 100 miles away from Paradise, CA. We have been really successful raising money in the past, and if we can raise a few thousand bucks at our retreat…it is something.

Many families have surrendered their pets to Wags and Whiskers in Chico, CA, which is overwhelmed at the moment trying to take in pets that were lost/found after the fires, and those newly homeless who surrendered their pets because they can’t care for them anymore.

So here is what I am proposing:

The Stay Pawsitive! Pt 2 Art Fundraiser 

How to participate:

1. Make 1 or 2 (or 3, 4 or more) 4″ x 6″ fabric or mixed-media postcards where all proceeds will go to Wags and Whiskers and also to other organizations helping displaced families, their livestock, and pets. These pieces of art can be made of fabric or paper, watercolor, acrylic, mixed media, quilts and stitch, metal, recycled bits, or even a combination of all the above.
2. Think theme! We are open to any theme for the artwork: they could be animals or fantasy creatures (unicorns anyone?), abstract works, depictions of dreamy landscapes and escapes, floral-themed pieces, mini modern quilts, graffiti-inspired work, or whatever your imagination dreams up! (Please, however, be mindful of copyright laws and create original art.)
3. These works do not need to be bound or mounted. Ideally we want to fit these works of art into 4″ x 6″ slim plastic casings for display, but if your work is thicker and won’t fit, we still welcome it!
4. On the back side of your artwork, please sign your name, title, and leave your social media info (i.e. website, blog, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest handle). Contact information is optional.
5. We will sell the 4″ x 6″ pieces for $20 each at Craft Napa 2019, all of the proceeds will go to charities, including Wags and Whiskers to benefit fire victims.
6. The art should be received no later than Friday, January 4^th, 2019. Please note: this is a receive-by date! We will of course accept artwork during Craft Napa but want to have a large starting bank of artwork so would love it if you mailed them far in advance!
7. You can mail as many pieces of art as you would like, but please place them in a padded envelope. This way they will stay in pristine condition to be displayed at Craft Napa.

Please mail them to:

Crafting a Life

Attn: Stay Pawsitive!

PO BOX 10368

Napa, CA

94581

8. Come to Craft Napa to buy as many pieces as you are able! Just think: if you bought four (or more) and had them framed, it would make for a very nice collection!

As soon as we start receiving artwork, we will post examples online and in social media channels.

There will also be a silent auction, and we will try and make this part of the fundraiser open online, too, during live updates on Facebook.

We hope you will get creating!

~ Pokey

I have been blessedly out of touch for the most part the past couple of weeks as I recently attended the Knitting & Stitching show in London. I had the best time! I attended the show for three days, saw incredible exhibits, talked to artists, watched them in action, and met up with old friends.

Cas Holmes proudly displaying her new book in front of her mixed-media stitched piece “Medway Gap.”

As a show attendee with little responsibility, it was fantastic to enjoy the show for the sheer love of going and marveling at everything. I did write a full show report for The Craft Industry Alliance, and you can find my report of the show here with pictures of what I saw.

Just before I left, I got the news about Cloth Paper Scissors, Modern Patchwork, Quilty, and KnitWear, all being shut down immediately by F&W.

To say this was a total punch to the gut is an understatement and I am sick and heartbroken about it. I am saddened for consumers who are passionate about these publications and just feel awful for the staff who lost their jobs.

The Cloth Paper Scissors Facebook page, however has recently posted that there is a potential buyer, and I guess we will see how that plays out.

I have thought so much about the publishing industry of late, watching magazines shutter, including legacy pubs we’ve counted on for years (think Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine). It is never fun to watch something we cherish that has been a part of our lives go out of print. We all know the digital age—as great as it’s been in its ease to access free content—is the dagger that’s killing print.

But to me there is nothing like laying down on my sofa, dogs at my feet, and tuning out social media to tune into what reading about I love: stitching, quilting, and making. Especially in this political climate, it’s how I keep my sanity and find goodness in the world.

So I am curious and have a question…what do you pay money for these days for print publications?

I’ll start. I subscribe to Curated Quilts, UPPERCASE, and Quilt Folk. I also grab Simply Moderne as well as Flow when I can. I am a frequent newsstand goer and also nab others that appeal like Modern Dog (too cute!) and sometimes soup magazines (what can I say…soup is my thing).

So what do you buy copies of or have subscriptions to?