San Fantastic

 

 

In case you missed the bombardment of imagery I posted on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and had no idea where I was for two fabulous weeks recently, I'm sharing a little bit of my time in San Francisco here.

 

I was over there to film classes with Creativebug.   I had a fantastic time.

 

 

My classes are all focused on bag-making, and the first one begins this month.  You can see the promo (and a little bit of me) here....

 

 

I loved working with this gorgeous (if a little sleepy before morning coffee) crew. 

 

 

And Charlie kept us all company in the studio.  He's the perfect crafty dog on a bed of pretty fabric scraps, and possibly the most cuddled and kissed member of the crew.

 

 

The city itself is a place I loved and I definitely want to return to see more of it. 

 

I only had a weekend to really see it, but it was great to be able to do that with my US-residing sister and local San Francisco-living nephew.

 

 

 

Precious time with family is always a good thing, and is even better when it's in relaxed holiday mode. 

 

 

And yeah... school night dinners are always like this for me... (not).

 

 I thought about how nice it was to only have ONE THING to do at any time - whether it was working on the online classes or enjoying a walk or a meal.  The madness of the everyday juggling act was on hold for two weeks.  It was the best holiday I've had in ages. 

 

The only real disappointment was that the day that my sister and I went to visit Britex Fabrics, it was closed.

 

 

I had my own apartment for the time I was there, and it was amazing how much it instantly felt like home.

 

 

...and how quickly it came to look like home, too.

 

 

And then there were things that made me conscious of being very, very far from home.  I loved the quirkiness of American food weirdness (but I didn't buy the bacon chocolate).

 

I'll be back with more news about the classes, as they're released.  In the meantime, you can find me (more frequently) on all the other social media platforms mentioned above.

News from abroad, now that I'm home.

Before I launch into the holiday snaps, the big news from abroad is that to celebrate the launch of You Sew Girl Patterns into the US market, and the recent availability of my book YOU SEW GIRL in the US, the divine Ms Oona Balloona is hosting a giveaway of my book on her blog.  If you live in the US or Canada, go visit her blog NOW!

Ok, back to my USA trip...

We survived the journey home, and are currently enjoying every moment not spent in an aircraft or airport.  

The wee girl declares she's never going any further than a couple of hours on a plane EVER AGAIN, although during the 26 hour journey to the USA and the 30+ hour trip home, her determination to keep the sunny side out made me very proud.  She was a little trouper.

I had all manner of internet and computer issues while we were away (which continue here now I'm home) and I can't access the photos on other gadgets yet, but here are a few snippets.

We spent an extra week in Portland, enjoying time with family and seeing a few sights.  I didn't get to see an awful lot of the city itself, but I liked the bits I saw.
We had one perfect-weather day in Portland, and an ill-timed attempt at visiting the zoo (zoo was closed).  We visited the nearby library... (great idea).

We ventured out into the gorgeous green wilderness of Oregon...


 ..and encountered a wilderness of coffee flavours. (Peanut butter.... really...?)


 There was wild-and-woolly weather, driftwood and beaches...

...clam chowder and sand dollars (these shells)..

and ...oh my goodness, the wee girl wearing jeans (albeit with a handmade knitted top).

There was a great day spent with the gals of the American Sewing Guild in Portland, and I forgot to take photos. If anyone who was there can share some images with me, I'd love to see them.

It's taking a while to land, unpack and sort through all the follow-up and catch-up that needs to be done.  And there is sleep to be had.  I'll be back soon with more... and hopefully a bit about crafty goings-on.

If it's Saturday, it must be Canberra...

I'm off to Canberra first thing tomorrow, to teach a couple of classes.  Amid the prepping and packing today, I remembered to finish and photograph this bag, which was started weeks (or months?) ago.

I'm getting good at this mass-bird-slaughter-with-a-single-stone thing.  This bag was made to demonstrate one of  the zippers styles we'll be doing in the class on the weekend (and in other Zippers for Bags classes).

 

It's also an example of how to manage bulky fabrics, as it's made from a felted jumper, some heavy denim, leather and polypropylene webbing straps.  I'll be focusing* on this sort of troubleshooting in the workshops at Grampians Texture in February, and it will get a mention or two in the new book. 

*Shame I couldn't manage any sort of focus in the photo above... but it's the only one I took of the felted jumper side of the bag, so there it is.

I'll be in Canberra this weekend, teaching the Zippers for Bags and a class in making Hats.  Next weekend I'm back here, teaching something else (bags?) and then I'll be back in Canberra the following weekend. 

If you want to see if there are any last-minute cancellations which might allow you to jump in, or if you want to go on the waiting list for next year's classes, contact Addicted To Fabric.  Apparently the classes book up quickly, but you never know when a last-minute vacancy might appear.

Other travellers this week are the two baby quilts I started at Sewjourn and then put together in Apollo Bay.  An unannounced visit from my US-living sister prompted a quick binding and packaging.  The quilts will be winging their way to some special little girls in the USA, any day now.

I just wish that today had been anything other than a grey, rainy one, so I could have taken a decent photo of this one before it was sent off.

There has been more scheduling and phone-calling and emailing and form-filling and route-planning and networking (...!!..)  and the US trip for me is coming together a bit more clearly.  It's now looking like I might be able to stay a few weeks with family and come back via a nephew's wedding in Hawaii.  Hooray.  It'd be a great opportunity to throw in a few teaching gigs, and there has indeed been correspondence about possible classes, but nothing has been confirmed yet. 

Tonight, I'm taking it easy, eating ice-cream and considering going to bed with a good book.  I'm calling it the weekend.

Well, it HAS to be last-minute, really...

So I've no idea why I started a little girl's cardigan in sock yarn.  (It might have had something to do with the lovely bamboo sock yarn... I can't stop fondling it). 

 There's every chance the cardigan will be put aside for a birthday and a quick Fairytale Skirt from my book will be whipped up in its place, in time for Christmas.  (But I'm giving the cardi my best shot.)

Other likely lads around the tree this year are toiletry bags....

 And belts..... super easy and effective.  Highly wearable... and quick. (And right now, I'm liking the idea of quick.)

 Speaking of Le Book.... (was that a subtle enough segue..?)

If you're in the USA and would like to see my book over there, I might need your help.  It appears that I accidentally deleted all my Google Analytics stats for my blog, just in time for my agent's pitch to US distributors*. Oops. 

I need to show the distributors that you're interested.  I hate to sound like I'm desperate for support, but I need new statistics!  If you know any crafty people who might be interested, please feel free to spread the bloggy and Facebook love.  The more US visitors, followers and "likers" I have, the more chance of US distribution.

*It appears that my publishers have no US distributor, but the book should be distributed in the UK next year, all going well.

And do you think it's alright to take knitting to the bloke's work xmas do tonight...?