It’s been nearly six months since I have written a blog entry. I’ve been neglectful, but in my defense it was a tough ending to the latter half of 2020. On top of COVID (constant); fire threats (constant); power outages (another constant); record heat (109 degrees *at night* on September 7^th); a personal betrayal in a relationship… I, simply put, felt flooded. Hoda Kotb coined a great phrase: “When someone is asking more than I can give or making me uncomfortable during this COVID year, I simply tell them, “I feel flooded.”

That was me. I just felt flooded.

What saved me was pivoting Craft Napa to an online event, and those nearly daily IG Lives I have been doing: interviewing people nearly every day since the end of March 2020. I did not realize how many people were in my shoes: isolated and quarantining alone, and craving online connection, like me. I feel a lot of gratitude that people would watch those IG Lives, let alone join Craft Napa, which, surprisingly, morphed into a two-week event due to demand. I do feel like we created a sense of community and connection, and it was what kept me going.

I made another change this year on January 1^st. I decided to take matters in my own hands and create an online dating profile. I was super wary about this (have you listened to the podcast “Dirty John”?). After what I thought was some careful initial vetting, I took a hike with someone who told me (after the insurrection of January 6^th) he’d vote for Trump all over again. I could not get down that hill fast enough and never see that dude again. The next guy…he stood me up…and get this…at his own art gallery! And just when I thought I should take my profile down and resign myself to being that aging old lady living with a lot of cats…I stumbled upon this profile one Saturday morning:

I love yoga, hiking and Pilates….just kidding…

I’m the guy you saw in line at CVS buying feminine products at 10 pm because both girls forgot to tell me we ran out until 9:43, when it became an emergency….

I’m an engineer whose bad at math but according to Myers Briggs I’m rich in emotional intelligence (actually I’m just lucky to have been surrounded by amazing peers throughout my career). I’m a published author with poor grammatical skills (publisher had to assign two editors to fix me) and I’ve managed to raise two amazing teenage girls (they live with me full time) with little to no idea on what I was doing 89% of the time ….I’m as comfortable wearing a tool belt as I am an apron (love to cook), I find ironing strangely relaxing but I can’t sew or knit, my levels of estrogen can only carry me so far.

If you love drinking margaritas in the backyard on a Saturday afternoon, we’re headed in the right direction.

I don’t have a felony record, STD’s, bankruptcies, or lawsuits directed at me and I would appreciate if you didn’t either (unless you’re ridiculously drop dead gorgeous and then maybe the felony was simply a misunderstanding)?

To conclude I’m looking for a woman whose experienced life and despite having scars is stronger for it…bonus points if you know what day and time the love boat came on and what show followed it? And if you don’t know what being classified as either a Mary Ann or a Ginger means…you’re too young.

One last thing, If we match and begin to text back and forth please please do not send me nude pics, I have children….unless they are classy like art, then maybe it’s okay, but they must be classy!!

Oh, and thanks to working in a hospital I’ve gotten the vaccine!!

I liked his profile, and after he got back to me, we took a socially-distanced walk along the Napa River, coffees in hand. That didn’t seal the deal; it was the next day when we spent the entire afternoon texting during the Bucc’s football game. We are both Patriots fans (him being from New Hampshire), and we laughed throughout the game via texts. We have been dating for about a month ever since, and we are having the best time.

After you meet someone with whom you know you click, you know what you want (hence the collaged letter art at the top of this post). If COVID taught me anything, it’s to make your time purposeful and not to waste it. That is my lesson and wish for you… don’t waste any time when you find the right person for you. And spend your time making the art of your dreams and what you want to make.

Patrick told me he wants to make a quilt together. He has a degree in construction engineering, after all.  I think this will be a fun collaborative task; I don’t think he will have a problem with pressed, open seams.

Wishing you a good start to 2021. Spend your time doing what you love and doing it with the people you love,

~Pokey

.

The past month in this year of the pandemic has been the most trying. Since the unprecedented dry lightening event of August 15th, 2.5 million acres have burned in my beloved home state. Today marks the 26th straight day of the worst smoke and air quality the Bay Area has ever seen on record. This past weekend, Napa spiked to 109 degrees (an all-time record), and my power was shut off twice–albeit briefly. (I don’t have air conditioning, by the way, so it was extremely uncomfortable to try and get any relief, even with a fan.)

The smoke has been so awful and thick and frankly, choking, even the birds couldn’t fly. These turkey vultures just sat on my neighbor’s property on these young vines trying to find some relief. I put out several five-gallon buckets of water at my place for them.

Add to this that I was also under a “red flag warning”…meaning in addition to the threat of power shut-offs, high temps, and smoke that was as damaging to your lungs as smoking 20 packs of cigarettes a day, Napa and the Bay Area were under a high wind warning. High winds + high temps + existing fires + dry brush (fuel for future fires) = we were all ready to evacuate. Napa and surrounding counties have been extremely on edge and always on alert, all hours of the day.

This past Tuesday, the smoke was so thick at my place it never got light out and my flood lights stayed on all day. I snapped this at 8:30 in the morning:

If the pandemic and the fires/smoke didn’t feel predatory enough, I also have an unwelcome neighbor–a mountain lion. I caught him on my camera this past winter hanging out on my art barn porch around midnight, but he’s been a more frequent guest, and has been hunting/killing domestic animals in my immediate neighborhood. Here he is caught on camera on my neighbor’s patio this past week. He is truly a beautiful, magnificent animal, but we are hoping Fish & Game will safely trap and transport him to another, more rural locale. (And given the unhealthy air plus this threat, my animals have been inside for over a week and only go outside for supervised bathroom breaks…they are so bored.)

So…the stress of this time of unprecedented fires–which the entire west coast is experiencing right now–has got me thinking most especially about trying to find the positive in the negative. Because there HAS to be an end in sight after what has been an exceptionally trying year psychologically, financially, and socially. 

If there was any year to try your hand at art journaling and trying to figure out how to manage your mental health, I think 2020 is calling. A couple of months ago I was trying to brainstorm with Gina Lee Kim an art journaling class for Craft Napa, because she is really excellent at art journaling, and using art and imagery to work through problems. I loved this art journal page she made that she shared during a FaceTime brainstorm session:

The movement in this…the tension between the up and down, the light vs. dark, the interplay between the two…I thought this would be a great class for Craft Napa to help people process all they are feeling this year. 

So with that in mind, if I was to make a little Highs & Lows, an up/down journal right now, the positive that is rising above all of the stress I have listed above would be counterbalanced by the beauty and benevolence of the following:

• Kindness of neighbors. There is a gentleman in Napa by the name of Scott Sedgley. He is a retired fire fighter and fire captain, and is running for mayor for the city of Napa.  He knows I don’t live in the city limits and can’t vote for him but he heard I was having problems hooking up Maybel to my car with the threat of evacuating, and he told me next time I have problems, just call him and he will come over and help me hook up. How kind is that?

• Next Door App– A lot of people lost their homes on the other side of Napa in the Lake Berryessa region. They are looking for clothing and furniture while displaced and now temporarily renting rooms and apartments until they get on their footing again. Everyone is pitching in to help give them things. It feels good to help pitch in and feel useful during a time that is so isolating.

• I am very grateful to Jim…who flew out this week and helped me through what’s been a pinnacle of this pandemic with the fires and smoke. When it got so dark and smokey, he remarked that if I had texted him how bad it was here, he wouldn’t have believed me. Since he’s been here he helped me daisy chain the generators to Maybel for power, as well as manually cleaned the inside of my car of all the ash (which is everywhere here). I didn’t ask…I just woke up and it was done. 🙂

• I am grateful for work that is gratifying: the Craft Napa website for registration goes live on Tuesday! It has been wonderful to be focused on work–a good kind of work that I love to do–and take my mind off of what is happening outside and beyond my control.

Wishing everyone–especially those up and down the west coast–some peace and that we can all collectively breathe easier very, very soon.

~Pokey

In less than two weeks the registration will be LIVE for Craft Napa: Uncorked at Home–35 workshops over the course of four days with 19 teachers in January 2021. As this will be the first virtual event we are hosting, I have been doing a lot of research into the best formats, and also taken a lot of online workshops myself to see what it’s like to be a student. For me, it’s been awesome. I love being at home and having all my stuff right there (and the voyeur in me likes peeking into other people’s studios). 😉 

I have also decided–once I get the registration up for Craft Napa 2021–I am going to teach an online workshop (or two) later this fall. It’ll be a surface design class that I have taught in the past in the barn that I’ll adapt to an online format. I feel as though if I am going to ask teachers to work at achieving the best lighting, Internet, audio equipment, etc., well then I should dip my toes in the water and do it too so I understand and can help them problem solve anything well before January.

So here’s my question: In prepping for a fun and meaningful virtual (live) event where you’ll learn something and also still feel a sense of community, I ask you…have you taken any online workshops? How has the format and experience been for you? What has worked, and what do you feel could use some improvement? Did you go away feeling happy and you got what you wanted from the class? No need to go into specifics re: teachers, just the general format and experience.

Thanks for taking time to answer, if you are able to.

Stay safe out there!

Pokey

Oh 2020…how you continue to challenge us. This year proves to continue to be eventful.  Earlier this month, I woke up on a Sunday morning around 5:00 AM to the most incredible dry lightening show I had ever seen in my life. It immediately put me (and my dogs) on alert, and concerned something was going to spark near me, I packed my bags, just in case, and later that day I hitched my car to my trailer. I was ready to go.

I thought that fire that was erupting was just over the hill from me, but it turns out that was near Lake Berryessa, rather far away, and was spilling into Vacaville. It was one of four fires that continue to burn in Northern CA. 

It’s a dry time of year in California as it’s fire season. I’m on alert. I am also thinking and praying for those in the Gulf and are victims of Hurricane Laura. These are strange times.

During all of this, I distracted myself very well: I loaded the preview for the workshops for Craft Napa 2021: Uncorked at Home. 🙂

I think that even though this will be a virtual event next January (via Zoom and some pre-recorded content), it will still be a lot of fun. I am super excited about the line-up of workshops and teachers. There are 35 workshops with 19 teachers this time around.

Here’s another aspect that will be different from the past: instead of a swag tote upon arrival in Napa, you’ll get a Craft Napa swag box (if you sign up for 3+ workshops) in advance (shipped to U.S. residences only). And on Cyber Monday (November 30) we will be hosting our Artist Market, virtually with our teachers. Order more materials, art, or supplies from them, and I will pack them in your Craft Napa box, and ship to you in mid-December in plenty of time for your workshops in mid-January. 

Craft Napa 2021 registration will open September 15, 2020 at 9:00 AM Pacific.

We will also be hosting an art swap, but we want to hear from you and know what you’d like to swap with other Craft Napans!

Would you take this survey? It’s just one question and will take you less than a minute. 

Stay safe every one,

Pokey

In the last blog post I shared some finds I discovered in my Instagram Live interviews during this pandemic (to date I have conducted 115 interviews with artists and quilters since March 28th).

5 fun discoveries:

1. Melanie Testa is doing her share of mask-making during this pandemic in her Brooklyn apartment. For $20 you buy a handmade mask, and she makes another mask for someone in her NYC community: an essential worker or someone in need. So it’s a two-for-one price and way to pay it forward–she’s doing something good and you are too!
2. I have not made Clammy quilt yet; I’ve been worried about the curved piecing, but Latifah Saafir has taken that worry away.
   

   Quilt by Latifah Saafir, featured on her website. Check out her shop!

   Latifah Saafir has the clammy templates available in different sizes! They are available for individual purchase as well, just check out her shop. This is the next quilt top on deck I will make.
3. Jennifer Sampou’s latest fabric line for Robert Kaufman just dropped this past Friday, called Spring Shimmer. She pulled over on the side of the road on Highway 101 to share it with me, and we had a good laugh about it.This line is truly gorgeous and features butterflies.
4. This next find I saw on an ad on Instagram, and I fell in love with them: Applipops! With the set of metal circles that snap into each other, you can now easily make perfect circles for needle-turn appliqué (or cheat like me and fuse them down rather than stitching them). They are affordable and will last you a lifetime. Here’s some I have made for one of my Maybel quilts:
5. And last but not least…I think we are all feeling a little out of sorts this year. No better creature can express displeasure than a cartoon cat by artist Melissa Averinos. She’s now making stationary cards with a number of greetings with disgruntled cats or cats with cat-titude. Go check out her store to snap them up!

Lastly…I’ve been working pretty much around the clock to get this next (virtual) edition of Craft Napa: Uncorked at Home ready. We are shooting for the date of August 17th for the class previews to be available.

Registration will go live in September. This has been a challenge and a learning curve, but I am vowing it will be fun. I have a lot of little touches that I hope will make this still feel like a retreat and community-based experience even though we will all be at home. If you haven’t signed up for the Craft Napa newsletter, here’s the link. and you will find out about everything there first.

Have a great week,

Pokey

I’ve had a lot of wonderful interactions online these past few months during this pandemic; mostly in the form of interviews through Instagram Lives (I’ve done 106 to date). We’ve had honest–sometimes scary, sometimes sad– “coronacoaster” chats about what we are all going through during Covid-19, and what it is doing to our businesses, our art, and our livelihoods. Through these chats, I’ve also discovered some incredible businesses and artists pivoting to offer their goods during a pandemic. Here are a few of my favorites that I highly recommend:

1. Cultured Expressions, a retail store in New Jersey founded by Lisa Shepherd Stewart specializing in African fabrics, embellishments, mask-making kits, and goods. Lisa’s opened up her store for in-person shopping again, but the coolest thing she is doing for those of us who can’t visit, is offering online appointments that you can schedule in advance and shop virtually with her! Check out this pieced patchwork top I recently got (it’s being quilted as we speak):
2. Looking for some summer reading? Thanks to Hollis Chatelain for the connection, I interviewed author Barbara Brown Gathers who penned The Secrets of Hattie Brown. Barbara spent decades doing historical research into her family history, which hailed from Virginia and North Carolina, and authored a story based on her grandmother whose own family was emancipated from slavery. It is a fascinated perspective on a piece of history sparsely discussed or documented: what it was like to be black and live in the South post-emancipation.
3. Want some FUN glasses/ eye couture for your next socially distanced pool party? One of Hollis Chatelain’s daughters, Karen moved to Los Angeles to make it in Hollywood dressing up the stars (and she’s succeeded…she got Beyonce to don her eyewear)! I bought a set of sunglasses  for myself and love them. I just need somewhere to go! Visit https://burkinabae.com. (She has readers too for those of us with aging eyes and who want to look fashionable while sewing.)
4. Judy Coates Perez has some things up her sleeve (soon to be announced) but has also recently offered up some fun Dia De Los Muertos Embroidery kits that are super colorful and cute that you can personalize with your own embroidery:
5. If you hadn’t heard yet, Sheila Frampton Cooper is BACK in California from France  (yay for us), and she is offering online workshops. Here’s a snapshot of our online IG conversation:I am a huge fan of her both as a human and as an artist, and you can learn more of her recent online offerings here: https://www.fiberartworkshops.art
6. Need some new fabric in your life? Some wonderful fabric lines are about to DROP! I interviewed Marcia Derse, Natalie Barnes, and Carrie Bloomston for Windham Fabrics. Check out the Windham Fabrics website to see their collections that will be available soon.
7. Leslie Tucker Jenison also previewed her new line with Robert Kaufman: Warehouse District, available in early fall. It is a gorgeous line, and I was lucky enough to get my grasp fingers on some (and in a quilt that I will be sharing soon).
8. Free-motion quilt artist Teri Lucas authored her first book with C&T: Color, Thread, & Free-Motion Quilting: Learn to Stitch with Reckless Abandon. I received an advanced reader copy of the book but didn’t know that my quote for the book was going to be the sole quote on the back cover, though–nice surprise. 🙂 This book is truly worth adding to your book stash as it has a wealth of information on different thread weights and types–knowledge I was lacking.  

I will be doing another one of these  posts highlighting finds I stumble across during this pandemic. If you are an artist or quilt/craft business and want to share what you are doing to pivot during this pandemic, write a comment below, or email me at pokey@craftingalifellc.com.

A few days ago I drove Maybel (pronounced May-Bell) the Airstream down to Livermore to tape a segment for The Quilt Show at Alex Anderson’s house. Driving the 60-mile trek on busy highway 680 from Napa was more nerve-wracking than taping outdoors during COVID. (There were so many safety precautions and social distancing rules put in place for the taping, I felt safe making the trek.)

Here’s Maybel all glammed up after I parked her in front of Alex’s house. I made two “Scrappy Lappy” improv-pieced quilts, both combining my own hand-dyed fabrics with commercial prints. They are both a good size to put over yourself while sitting fireside when glamping.

I also made a Maybel quilt to hang on the door, as well as a fabric bunting, using cyanotype printing and baby goat stencils to represent Maybel’s “Baybels”–the four kids she gave birth to, and hence why she was as wide as an airstream while she was pregnant. (If unfamiliar with Maybel and her rescue story, visit the Goats of Anarchy rescue organization account on Instagram.)

Above is another angle (you can see the little Maybel dish towel I made hanging off the stove handle inside). 

While social distancing and masked up, Alex and I talked about a lot of things for the segment: my history of quilting and pivoting in this quilting industry; the fires and my 8-day-long evacuation from my home in Napa because of the fires (hence my buying a used Airstream in case I need to evacuate again); and I demonstrated cyanotype printing and playing with Applipops. (More on Applipops in a future entry.)

Here’s a peek inside the airstream to see my featured Maybel quilt for my bed. I also fused a couple of thermofax-printed Maybels onto pom-pom pillows for more color. It was really important to me that I make this little haven as cheerful as possible.

Quilting done by Joanna Marsh of Kustom Kwilting— thank you, Joanna!

I have known Alex for almost as long as I’ve been in this industry–21 years, and 15 years ago I taped a couple of segments for “Simply Quilts.” It was wonderful and refreshing to be in a low-key setting and reunite with an old  and highly respected friend in this industry. 

The night before the taping when I was styling the airstream, Tyrion clearly let me know he wanted to come be a guest as well (but he stayed behind). This picture below is now the screensaver on my iPhone:

Thank you, Alex for the honor of asking me to tape and being a part of the Quilt Show! I can’t express how wonderful it was seeing other people after being so isolated for four-plus months, and this segment gave me something to work on and surround myself with a lot of color and joy. 

The episode will air in early fall on The Quilt Show.

Now that this taping is over, I’m fully focused on Craft Napa: Uncorked at Home! Be sure to look for an announcement with the schedule of classes and dates for registration coming shortly. And in the meantime, I am still hosting Instagram Lives every weekday at 1:00 PM Pacific and interviewing guest quilters and artists.  I think I have done more than 100 interviews to date since COVID started. These Instagram interviews have been really uplifting for me during quarantining and keeping our collective spirits up.

Stay safe and creative everyone,

Pokey

I’ve been quiet during COVID but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been trying to plan to the best of my abilities a virtual Craft Napa next January. I have been doing so much studying, learning, observing, working on some financial models, and also took a Mancuso class from their Virtual Quilt Festival as a student– I had a great time and learned a lot! They will be offering another virtual festival in August, and I am excited to be a student again.  I truly feel we are all in this together, and I want to support others who are offering online classes during a time when it is just NOT safe to hold in-person events. I don’t see other online, virtual events as competition…I see this as supporting each other during a super trying time, and I am happy to support Quilt Con, too, and interview their teachers on my daily IG lives to help promote their classes. 

I hope Craft Napa: Uncorked at Home! will be a lot of fun for everyone, and still have all of the retreat feels even though we can’t physically be together. I shared the following in my Craft Napa newsletter earlier today, but I’ll go ahead and paste here, too, in case you aren’t signed up for the newsletter:

Introducing Craft Napa 2021: Uncorked at Home!
 

We are thrilled to introduce the preliminary plans for Craft Napa 2021: Uncorked at Home! We are likening Craft Napa 2021 to a rare vintage of Craft Napa, since it will be virtual vs. in person. In this virtual edition of Craft Napa during the COVID crisis, we’re going to make lemons from lemonade (or maybe a more appropriate metaphor would be to take sour grapes and turn into wine), and bring Craft Napa to you––in the comfort of your studio with your own supplies, in your jammies, and with a cup of tea, coffee, or glass of wine.

January 13-17, 2021
 
What you can expect from uncorking your creativity at home:

• Stellar instruction from world-class instructors, where we will offer 3- and 6-hour classes in surface design, stitching, mixed media, art journaling, art quilting, modern quilting, collage, and wearable arts.
• Opening/Welcome party to get to know each other, sew on a project that we will be disclosing soon, and have a little dance party with a guest DJ.
• Sign up for 3 or more workshops and you get the Craft Napa Box! In your Craft Napa Box, you’ll get your class kits, Craft Napa swag, as well as any extra goods you want to order from your teachers, among other offerings we will be announcing soon. 
• An optional Wine Tasting Night that you can join where little wine bottles will be sent to you in advance from a Napa-based winery. We’ll do a virtual tasting together!
• Fun and inspiring luncheon lectures
• Nightly sip-n-sews
• An Art Swap: Make as many pieces of art as you’d like, and get that number sent back to you in your Craft Napa Box. (More details on this forthcoming.)

****

So between now and late August I will be finalizing the schedule, the line-up of teachers, as well as all of the extras/ fun stuff. If you have ideas or questions feel free to email me: pokey@craftingalifellc.com. 

And lastly… I am still hosting IG Lives every day at 1:00 PM Pacific (but I am now taking off weekends)  on the pokeybolton account on Instagram. I think I am nearing the 100 mark of 100 lives and interviews since late March. These have been super helpful for me to connect while sheltering at home, and I hope others are finding value in them as well.

Stay safe everyone… sending you a virtual hug,

Pokey

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

I am in day 3,000,457 of my quarantine, have made 1264 meals for myself, and have made at least 200,679 masks.

Well, maybe those numbers are a tad exaggerated but that is how it feels. In truth, I’m now in week 6 of quarantining in CA, and have made, to date, about 180 masks. I started making them for the elderly and families in need in Napa, as well as workers of my favorite pub down the street, but have moved on to help others farther away, including UCSF Children’s Benioff Hospital in San Francisco. The doctors and nurses are in need of fabric mask coverings to cover their PPE while they care for kids in cancer treatment. The children are understandably scared now seeing their caregivers wearing PPE masks when they come into their rooms to administer treatment…so fun fabric masks with playful prints are welcomed! (More on that at the end of this post.)

I have had a lot of emails and questions about Craft Napa next January. I had planned for 300 retreaters and 20 or so teachers. Given this current environment and no vaccine expected within the next 12 months…I would feel rather irresponsible as an event coordinator to plan for such a gathering to take place when it may not be safe for retreaters. I need to meet with the hotel and conference center (both closed), but I am planning some contingency plans if no vaccine happens beforehand. I have some ideas, so if an in-person event doesn’t happen in January, I am planning for a fun and immersive alternative. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I am finding a lot of joy (while I am quarantining alone and talking way too much to my animals), engaging in conversation with actual humans, every single day, at 1:00 PM Pacific. Check out the new logo for this…

I have been doing this for about three weeks so far (every *single* day, weekends included), and have finally figured out how to download and save them, which I will start posting on YouTube soon. A few of the lives so far:

OK, if we start at the top left and got clockwise all the way around, we have Leslie Jenison, Lindsey McLelland (my niece), Carrie Bloomston, Gina Lee Kim, Bernie Berlin, Lyric Kinard, Dr. Rob Goldsby, and Frances Holiday Alford. 

So join us over on Instagram, every day, at 1:00 PM to talk everything quilting, art, and life, during this pandemic. 

And lastly…the image of Dr. Rob (above)…he is a pediatric oncologist at UCSF Children’s Benioff in San Francisco. He is married to my best friend, Cindy, a nurse in pediatric oncology in that unit. My face in that montage above, I am trying (unsuccessfully) to hold back tears while he is explaining to me the masks they are wanting to cover PPE so the kids aren’t so scared.

If you have some fun fabrics, and can donate your time to making some to cover PPE, please send to me, as I am making weekly trips down to his house so he can take to the hospital.

Send to:

Crafting a Life

PO Box 10368

Napa, CA

94581

THANK YOU and stay safe everyone,

Pokey