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

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

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

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?

Craft Napa 2018 came and went, and frankly, it was such an amazing time–so much so–I needed a little rest afterwards, and hence the late recap. For this past third edition, we had 17 teachers, 41 workshops held over four days, with 230 students–more than double the amount the first year.

Whether it was politics or natural disasters, most everyone came off a hard 2017. To be able to kickstart 2018 in such a positive, color- and stitch-filled, creative way, definitely felt incredibly gratifying.

We built a wall—a community Graffiti wall–where over the course of the four days people freely added their creative hopes, dreams, drawings, and doodles. (Special thanks to Dharma Trading for providing materials and paint supplies.)

Before:

During:

After:

We also hosted the Stay Pawsitive art benefit for Friends for Life, Houston’s premiere no-kill animal rescue that provided safe haven, triage and vet care during Hurricane Harvey at one of the largest emergency shelters (and home to Quilt Festival)—the George R Brown Convention Center. Through artwork created and purchased, we raised $4000 for them!

When I say Craft Napans took over the Embassy Suites, I mean, we took over the entire hotel, including outdoor spaces as well. Some shibori with the swans in the courtyard:

We offered 3-hour, 6-hour, 9-hour, and two-day workshops, both at the Embassy Suites and in my art barn. A copious amount of art was produced—from art quilts, mixed media, modern and improv quilts—to books, assemblages, dyed and painted fabrics, monoprints, and encaustic work.

On Friday night of the event we hosted an artist market with our teachers, non-profit organizations, local shops, and an extra bonus: a quilt guild raffle quilt. Our Artists’ View Luncheon went well, too, where teachers candidly shared ideas and inspired all to set the tone for a year filled with creating.

I see a lot of opportunity for growth for Craft Napa, and making this event even more meaningful, and so that is what I am working on right now for both next year and beyond for (gulp!) the 5^th anniversary edition.

I want to sincerely thank the sponsors, swag and door prize donators, because these companies proved themselves in gold for their generosity. I hope everyone who reads this blog will support them, check out their websites to see what they have to offer, buy from them, stop at their booths at quilt, trade, and craft shows, and follow them on social media:

Meissner’s Sewing (Northern CA’s premiere sewing and vacuum company that facilitated and provided the BERNINA sewing machines for classroom use)

BERNINA of America (My hands-down favorite machine!)

Dharma Trading

Pro-Chemical & Dye

QuiltFolk Magazine

Mistyfuse

Havel’s Sewing

Quilter’s Select

Craft Industry Alliance

Windham Fabrics

RJR Fabrics

Aurifil Threads

SOAK

Tacony Corporation

Lastly, thanks to all who made the trek to join us! It’s you who make this community come alive and make this event so special!

Next year’s dates for Craft Napa are January 9-13, 2019, and if you want to join us for our five-year anniversary, the dates for 2020 will be January 8-12, 2020.

For those who may not be aware, one of SAQA’s (Studio Art Quilts Associates) traveling exhibits is entitled “People and Portraits.” Here is SAQA’s narrative and overview of the exhibit:

This exhibition celebrates the expressiveness of the human face. The diverse designs focus on a variety of both emotional states and the ways in which people interact: contemplation, joy, community, work and play.  Based on the companion book, Art Quilt Portfolio: People and Portraits, the exhibition shows two works by each of the book’s 20 Featured Artists.

Two of Kathy Nida’s quilts were juried into this exhibit, which has traveled a number of places, including previous Quilt Week ® (AQS) venues.

Kathy’s inspiration and narrative for her quilt that caused quite the commotion in Grand Rapids last week reads as such:

“This quilt is I Was Not Wearing a Life Jacket, completed in September 2010, touring with the People and Portraits exhibit since October 2013. The title comes from a radio ad I was listening to while pondering the meaning of this quilt, which came almost entirely out of a running nightmare I had for over a week, where I was losing things in the water and people were standing around not helping, and I was diving down and trying to find the things I lost, which ranged from my phone to babies, actual babies, and I’d wake up panicked and breathing fast. Here’s the official statement (which I found very difficult to write…almost as difficult to explain the piece)…”

Two sisters in a strange land. A lost life jacket.
 A nasty oil spill.
 No explanation needed.

My dream inhabited by strangers.

Circling back to the purpose and narrative of the exhibit as a whole, I can certainly appreciate why this quilt was included. It’s about human emotion–panic. It’s not comfortable to look at. It is a nightmare; it’s about fear, about sisterhood and motherhood, about our future, the future of our children. It’s not meant to be a pleasant quilt. Let’s remember the context of where this quilt was placed: in an art quilt exhibit, with the specific title “People and Portraits.”

This quilt–after being shown at other Quilt Week® venues–was pulled after the Grand Rapids show opened, allegedly because one or more attendees complained about it (and allegedly because one or more persons saw a penis in it).

From what I have read, the response from the show producers was to take it down. Kathy Nida, understandably, has been very upset. When I asked Kathy, she told me AQS did not reach out to her directly. In all my experience in this industry over the last nearly 20 years, this takes the cake.

And I know this whole issue brings up the debate of censorship. I think we have to be careful about that term: it’s a show produced by a private, for-profit company, not the government censoring per se. But in my opinion, pulling the quilt after the show opened (knowing this quilt was a part of the exhibit and had been shown in previous venues) it was an ill-thought, knee-jerk response to an attendee or group of attendees. Given my experience both as a founder and editorial director of an international publishing company and also former executive of an international events company in the quilt industry, if you, as a quilt venue hung the quilt already (or published a quilt), and the show is open (or the magazine or publication is printed), stand by it. You knew it was going to be included.

What is most problematic in my mind, is AQS has not addressed this issue yet (anywhere I can see). Many people have posted online, including me, writing them directly on Twitter, asking for clarification. No response, just more requests to sign up for their e-newsletter, etc. on Facebook and Twitter.

I am not a contentious person, I don’t normally post such grievances (this is the first), but for this…I just don’t get it, and as an advocate for quilt artists, I can’t be quiet on the sidelines.

AQS, if you are reading this, please address this issue. And if I am wrong on anything on the above, just please correct me.

UPDATE: AQS issued a statement. (And I wonder how this statement resolves anything.):

American Quilter’s Society released a statement. “After receiving numerous complaints from attendees about a quilt in the SAQA exhibit, AQS removed the quilt from the People & Portraits exhibit at the Grand Rapids QuiltWeek event.

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There is still plenty of time to enter your quilt (18″ x 26″) for the Live Your Brightest Life: A Tribute to Yvonne Porcella (all of the information can be found here), but I thought it would be fun to share a sampling of some of the completed entries so far:

“Pulse” By Laurie Ceesay

“A Toast to Yvonne (And Strong Women Everywhere)” by Cindy Cooksey

“Planting a Seed” by Judy Coates Perez

“Daily Joy” by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

“YP & Me” by Jamie Fingal

“A Tree for Yvonne” by Sue Bleiweiss

“Adios Amigo” by Therese May

“Uplifting” by Deborah Boschert

There is still just about three weeks left to enter a quilt and celebrate the life of this beloved and prolific artist. This tribute exhibit will debut in Northern California at “Quilting in The Garden” taking place September 24-25th in Livermore, CA at Alden Lane Nursery where C&T Publishing, Alex Anderson, and myself will be on hand. Please help spread the word and, I hope you will join us!