Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn

Saturday the 14th, Deb (MMF sales manager and the ultimate people connector)and I were 2 women on a mission. We hit the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Wonderland of Indie designing, entreprenurial, Etsy loving crafters from all over the country. The crowd (both selling and buying) was a testament to the devotion of this indie movement. Only the devoted were up to that kind of weather! wiltingly hot followed by torrential rain.

Soft cuddly dolls form Lindie & Friends.

Mother and daughter a stitch in dye.

inspired quilting and great to see that artistic viewpoint being passed on to the next generation

Beautiful letterpress cards etc. from Sycamore Street Press.
The Monkey and Me part of the Richmond Craft Mafia. Yes, we love to see those Michael Miller, Sandy Henderson prints looking so cute!

kg + ab Great ceramics made from antique molds. Check out her etsy shop for the pictures I forgot to take, I was too distracted by baby, dog and Mom so happy together.
Beehive Kitchenware co. handcrafted metal kitchen objects to treasure forever
other favorites were Moontree Letterpress, enfant terrible, Shanna Murray, and I've got to reccomend the fabulous place we had breakfast. Great food, great design! The Dressler
love the quirky lurky creature details everywhere........

Inspiration in NY

It was sweltering hot in New York this week. I arrived last weekend and planned on settling into the office to get some work done.
But after lugging my BIG BAG 60 lbs! art is not only messy it's heavy!
only to find a power outage (that means no elevator, much less air conditioning) on our block. I gladly accepted our superintendents' offer to hold the bag for me and come back Monday.
Free to wander, I found my way to The Conran Shop. Check this out; the lampshade and lacy curtain panels are made from velcro!

Love this concept: Imagine sitting under a patio umbrella made of yards and yards of hula skirting. Considering the weather, I got totally carried away envisioning a breeze and listening to the gentle swish of the hula-brella as I sipped my margaritta on the beach. They call it a frou frou parasol for a wowser $4000!

While waiting in the checkout line at Urban Outfitters I had time to admire the ingenious lighting . The cords and bulbs hang from a metal grid, sort of like a metal matress frame. Would love to do this at Quilt Market if only we weren't restricted to an 8 ft.(special cases 10ft) height restriction. The assemblage art is pretty cool too, very Louise Nevelson .
Next stop; my all time favorite inspiration retailer ABC Carpet and Home. An incredible landmark building with stunning displays taking advantage of it's HIGH ceilings.
rough cut work with sequin stitched accents.
this was actually upholstered in a cotton knit with the muslin flowers loosely stitched on.
Beautiful metal sculpted branch chandelier. Hmmmmm..... I see lots of branches in our next booth.........
fantasy dreamland
Don't know where or what I'd do with these opalized glass balls but I might have to splurge and find out.
That's it for now, gotta get some work done. stay tuned though, next stop the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn!

Fabric 2.O reflections

If you were wondering why I haven't blogged about Portland Quilt Market yet, it's because I was barely there and have very few pictures to show for it (forgot the camera!). I arrived a few days before the show and left for my sons' graduation when the show started. It was a jam packed time of booth set-up, schoolhouse presentation, sales meeting, sample spree and our first ever bloggers' get together. This was Caroline Devoy of jcaroline creatives' brainchild and I was happy to co-conspire.
The concept of getting to connect "faces" with the bloggers in our industry was great fun. Lucky for me everyone else turned up with camera in hand (but of course, that's what bloggers do) and took plenty of pictures.
But the real reason I'm writing about this is an article I just read in the Wall Street Journal, Social Networking in the Digital Age It brings up an interesting point; blogging doesn't replace human interaction it actually encourages it. I'll be interested to hear what all of you kindred spirits out there in blog land think of it.
Then check out the list of speakers at The D Conference; all things digital
I'd love to be one of the lucky 600 people in the audience!

p.s. I know I glossed over quilt market, don't get the wrong idea. I'll be covering lot's of cool stuff from the show in upcoming posts!