Learning to Knit at Renegade

The Renegade Craft Fair is one of the most impressive displays of creativity you can find anywhere. Although, I've only been to the one in Chicago, I have went down for 3 years in a row. I have seen it grow from just phenomenal to just "WOW!" It is safe to say that I am much older than the average age of the indie crafter displaying their wares. At one time when I worked for Leisure Arts there was an air that crafting and hands on creativity was thought to be something of a relic in the near future. Then something happened. I don't know if it was the new generation tired of mass production and super consumerism that pervaded our culture or if the do-it-yourself (DIY) shows on HGTV made people realize that "Hey, I can do that" but whatever it was I am eternally grateful to know that the art/craft spirit lives on.

And, now, I think my daughter may have caught some of the crafting bug. She has always been interested in art especially drawing and painting but not quite the crafty part, at least, not whole-heartedly. At Renegade this year the Chicago Waldorf School was there giving on-the-spot knitting lessons which included making your own knitting needles. Basically, they take wooden dowels, sharpen one end with a pencil sharpener, sand and then place beeswax on the end for a stopper. Here is Emma making hers:

Then she started casting on.


Didn't take long to get started but it did take lots of concentration.


She was so interested she tried to continue to do it on the Blue Line but the ride was a little too bumpy. (You aren't seeing things, she is wearing cat ears that the Tree House Humane Society was handing out.)

We had a great day even if it was a little on the warm side for a Chicago September day. If you ever get a chance to get to a Renegade Craft Fair please go.

Remembering

I got this image from CardsForHeroes.org off their Facebook fan page. May we never forget and pray for peace to all.

Fall is Coming

A couple of weeks ago it seemed like October was just about here in Chicagoland already. It definitely put me in the baking mood but we are trying to be a little healthier around here so I got out my 12 Best Foods Cookbook and whipped up a batch of Sweet Potato Muffins. Well, I did have to go to the grocery store first but I had to do that anyway plus I picked out a black bean salad recipe out of the book to go with the grilled steak dinner my dear hubby was planning.

There is nothing like homemade food made from fresh ingredients. The muffins were made from fresh baked sweet potatoes, grated carrot and topped with pumpkin seeds. The salad involved fresh cilantro which is one of my favorite flavors. Great! I'm getting hungry again. Better get back to my craft table.

Project Linus and Other Charities

Just wanted everyone to know that I'm going to be giving away my remaining fleece blankets to Project Linus. I also have a ton of fabric left that I'm going to make more blankets and donate. I do have non-kid fabric that I would like to make lap robes to give to veterans or nursing homes but I don't know who to contact. If anyone has any ideas I would love to know.

Also, I've made a few pet beds (small dog and cat size) that I would like to give to a shelter. I have a couple of places that I am going to call but if you know of something in the Chicago suburb area let me know what you think of those rescues.

Trying New Things

With my creations that is. Some of you may have already heard of Cafe Press. It's basically a website where you can take your creations and put them on just about anything. You can also buy other people's creations. For my first attempt I took a photo of a quilt square and put it on a few items. Here is a framed tile:

It actually looks much better at the site. If you get a chance to look around and let me know what you think, that would be great. I have it on note cards, buttons and magnets, too. My Cafe Press spot can be reached by clicking here. I'm hoping this can get me more motivated to create more. It feels nice (and fun) to see what I've done on something else.

Craft Show

Unfortunately, emailing my picture to post mobile didn't work. But, here is a photo from the show I took with my new cell phone. Not the greatest picture because I had to email it to myself. I think once I get a new data disk for the phone and I learn to use it just a little better then I will be able to do this the way you're suppose to.

It was the first year for the show in Elgin, IL to raise funds for a friends pre-school. I sold a few things including the poncho that was displayed by my daughter on one of her stuffed animals. If you look closely you can see her peeking out kind of like ET between 2 stuffed animals. Most of my items are left over fleece items that my sister and I did together. I did add some new pet beds and a couple of blankets. I'm looking for new ideas for fleece because I have a lot of it left.

It worked. I'll try to send a photo from the craft show I will be doing.

Hey there! It's late and I'm trying out the mobile blogging feature. Sounds cool. We'll see.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Tomorrow

I've been so crazy busy with work and school lately that I haven't been taking much care of my crafting side but I'm slowly trying to work back into it. While doing so I found this event going on in the blogging world for quilters. I don't know if I'll have time to post something for it but I thought all my friends would love to know about it. And since I'm going to the International Quilt Show in Chicago this weekend, it fits in nicely.