Upcoming Craft Events: February 22 to 24

Lots to do in the coming weeks fellow crafties. Marimello is trying to keep tabs on the application due dates for you too, so expect another couple of muy importante lists coming your way. For now, here's your weekend agenda.

Today:
STITCHES West kicks off in Santa Clara. If you haven't been, STITCHES is just about the biggest yarn junkie fest with classes, shows and a marketplace to die for. It runs Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bring extra empty luggage. You'll need it.
Applications are due for the San Diego North Park Craft Mafia's Spring Line Up happening March 30th at the Silver Gate Masonic Hall

Saturday, February 23:
If you got a seat, don't forget to plop down into it at Machine Project in Echo Park, Los Angeles. This is the last weekend for Sewing 101, and it looks like there's still room for a few more students.
And as usual, you have the usual NYC events: The Market NYC and Artist and Fleas

Sunday, February 24:
[UPDATE: The Southpark Flea Market CANCELED DUE TO RAIN]
Today is your last chance to see Interlaced at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Interlaced is a showcase of textile processes using alternative media and if you go Marimello would LOVE to hear about it. The exhibit is curated by Jiseon Lee Isbara and Heidi Schwegler and artists showing include Lanny Berger, Jerry Bleem, Elizabeth Brim, Cat Chow, Lyn Christiansen, Arline Fisch, John Garret, Lonna Keller, Lindsay Ketterer Gates, Aaron Kramer, and Tracy Krumm.
In San Francisco, check out the Mission Indie-Mart. Check out the wealth of independent local designers, offering everything from one of a kind fashions and reconstructed vintage to offbeat crafts, handmade jewelry and fun antiques. Enjoy cheap beer, hot plates, local DJs and the cream of the crop of SF’s indie designer scene.


Do you have an event you would like to promote. We simply can't find everything out there and try as we might we miss a few. Please send Marimello your event details and we'll be sure to post them on the calendar.

New Craft Event: I Made It Market

We don't imaging Vegas was as pleased to see the mafia arrive in town. But then it didn't need a new craft show the way Los Angeles does. So behold! The newly founded Los Angeles Craft Mafia has brought us just such a show!

I Made It! Market
It's a handmade/indie craft fair with 16 Los Angeles area artists. Screenprinting, fused glass, comic books, children's clothes... it's a diverse group of vendors.

It's on Feb 9th from 12-4pm at Billy's Coffee Shop 114 West 5th, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

It's free admission with music, food, good times! We're going to be right on Gallery Row so after you've been to the market, stop by the other galleries and see some art. Downtown at 5th and Main!

More info: www.imadeitmarket.blogspot.com

Upcoming Craft Events: January 30 to February 3 [UPDATED]

Marimello took a snooze this week. We thought of you often and fondly. Pop in later for an update on last week's Craft Protest Panel and check out Craft Arsenal for an interview with Miriam from CrafterByNight.

Tonight:
Action/Reaction Runway Show at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland. Local independent fashion designers have created one-of-a-kind pieces in response to the tactile and distinctive work from the Touching Warms the Art exhibition. Space is tight though and it sounds like if you haven't contacted them yet, you might be SOL.

Friday, February 1:
Indie Valentine at CooperElla in Maplewood, MO. Between 7 and 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday, go lash out against the commercialized corporate travesty that is Valentine’s Day by showing our love of craft.

Saturday, February 2:
You have the usual NYC events: The Market NYC and Artist and Fleas

Sunday, February 3:
Check out a new weekly event in Los Angeles, The Southpark Flea Market. [UPDATE: the Flea Market is canceled]
If you're in Seattle, and you still haven't cleaned out your house for the new year (i.e. made room for all the new stash you will inevitably buy this year), head on down to the Sunday Swap Smackdown. Come meet Kristen, owner of Schmancy and curator of Plush You and Moxie, needle felting master and local artist for the first, Sunday Swap Smackdown.
[NEW] Crafts and Kisses in Washington DC

New Craft Calendar

We're starting up a new calendar of all things crafty for 2008. Check out that button on the right And while you're at it, feel free to email us or comment on this post with any events you might be planning or in which you might be participating.


Photo courtesy of Elle at Elle's Studio on Etsy.

Happy Handmade Holidays

Sigh. To be honest, we don't like Thanksgiving. This is not to say we do not adore our family or the spirit or the slight drop in temperature.

In fact, except for the food ( NOT THE CRANBERRY SAUCE MOM) we like the whole idea of Thanksgiving. It's the only holiday that doesn't involve buying a whole bunch of stuff. So this year consider taking the handmade pledge.

The handmade pledge lists the usual benefits of buying handmade:
Buying handmade makes for better gift giving,
Buying handmade is better for people,
Buying handmade is better for the environment

Of course the premise remains the same: buying stuff. Even handmade stuff is still stuff. Whether you belong to the Black Friday camp or the Buy Nothing Day camp, crafty people have yet another option that doesn't get a whole lot of press outside the Martha Stewart camp. So while the crafty peoples are always extra busy this time of year with craft shows and such, crafty people always have the option of making their own gifts.

That said, we will still be making the rounds at the craft shows around town. Last week it was Felt Club. This weekend, it will be Handmade for the Holidays over at Fairfax High.

Just not on Friday.

I Heart Indie Holidays is Just Around the Corner

Marimello has been so focused on updating the Witch Fire Project's shop that the holidays sort of crept up on us this year. Ever year we have another excuse to be surprised by impending holidays, but this year was a doozy.

We did not mean to keep you out of the loop dear crafties! Here's the latest news from our friend over at I Heart Indie:

I Heart Indie Holidays 2007 will premiere as the Northwest's first united independent urban craft show. Three unique NW shows spanning time and space! Three different shows on three different weekends in three different cities!

Shop with us in Seattle, Portland, and Bellingham.

Seattle - Seattle Center Pavilion, Saturday Nov. 24th, 11am-6pm

Portland - Wonder Ballroom, Sunday Dec. 2nd, Noon-5pm

Bellingham - The Majestic, Sunday Dec. 9th, Noon-6pm

Be one of the first 50 people at any show and receive a Project Bag filled with swag and crafty treasures that YOU turn into a masterpiece of crafty creativity! Put your creation on display and have your peers pick the winner! Winner of the Project gets a gift basket prize of handmade goodies!

All three shows will feature a free photo booth provided by Liminist Photography, a Seattle-based photo team specializing in portraiture, fashion, and event photography.

Our Portland and Bellingham events will feature special "men's areas" for the guys to chill out and watch TV while the gals shop till they drop!

Join us for three fun filled holiday shopping days that get you away from the crowds at the malls and back to what DIY is all about!

Shop indie, shop local, shop I Heart Indie Holidays!

www.iheartindieholidays.com

Get the to one of these shows! You might even see Marimello. We stand out in a crowd.

New Craft Spectacular: Get Right Outta Town

Marimello has been contemplating the necessity of a new Los Angeles craft fair. Wouldn't it be fun if you could go to a little indie craft shopping every weekend? Wouldn't mixing and mingling with other crafties be a swell addition to an otherwise football-filled coupla days?

We want to know your thoughts. What have you been dying to see at a craft fair? Any special vendor types you think are missing from the usual mix? What kind of howtos would have you hanging on the edge of your seat? Would you have rocking tunes ala DJ or live band? What part of your stash would you bring and leave or trade on a big table of free goodies?

Inquiring minds want to know...Leave a suggestion in the comments or email the elves at marimellodesign [at] gmail [dotty] com. And derrr, anyone who gives us feedback will be immediately enslaved to help out with the project. Or at least be subject to more brain picking.

We can't wait to hear from you!

I Heart Rummage is Back

From our dear friends at I Heart Rummage:

Greetings!

Welcome back to IHR!!! Hope everyone had a good summer! We're rarin' to get back into some shopping action and have a fun-filled few months in store for everyone. This month's show is noticeably NOT on the first Sunday. As you all must know by now, we were at Bumbershoot on the first Sunday, and we had a fantastic time! Thanks to all who came by the booth!

The special guest for this September's IHR is our good friends from Tacoma, UrbanXchange. If you haven't had a chance to get down to the shop yet, owner Julie Bennett will have a handful of treasures from her shop, including some pieces from her own local Tacoma designers.

Our DJ for September will be one of our faves, DJ Jessie Beans! Look for her to start selling again too!

OH! And our NEW issue of the IHR Zine is available! This issue showcases our wonderful toymakers!

The September IHR is being sponsored by IZZE Sparkling Juice. IZZE will be providing free sparkling juice beverages to everyone (while supplies last).

Recently we were contacted by the Washington Lawyers for the Arts. We would like to work together to help aspiring artists & designers protect their growing businesses through education. Currently the WLA is putting on a class called Counterfeit Chic. Read more about it below. Artists & designers pay only $10 to attend! You are guranteed to save many times that much by learning to protect yourself!

We have good news to report - one of the recent death row dogs was adopted by a relative of an IHR customer! That's two dogs we have helped save now! Thank you to those kind hearted customers of ours! We love you!

And thanks again to the Crocodile Cafe for letting us meet here each month! We'll be back in two weeks for the normally scheduled Oct. IHR! We know you can't get enough of us!!!

Where are you showing off this fall

We know. The holidays always sort of sneak up on everyone. Maybe more so if you are planning on showing off this fall at a craft show or two. So here's a friendly reminder that applications are out for Felt Club XL and Boston Bazaar Bizarre. We in Marimello-ville are still stuck in our 90 degree heat wave though. So don't excpect any wooly scarves any time soon. We might be up for NaNoSweMo, but that is all up to the weather. If we are still knitting in euroflax come November, we're gonna cry.

And speaking of Felt Club, this week we're off to the L.A. County Fair to see what they're up to.