The Big Crafty Weekend, Part 2

How ’bout some more stories from Handmade Nation weekend! (Which, by the way, if you’re on Twitter, was more popularly known as Craftgasm.)

I’ve decided not to do a full blow-by-blow account, partly because I’m missing some photos and partly because Lee has already done a bang-up job of this. Instead, I want to share some of the special tidbits that made the whole thing so memorable.

One of which is the gifting. Sadly, a last-minute bout with the plague dashed my own gifting plans, but Rachel? Rachel is the gift-giving queen.

Rach and my Mom got to meet in person on the first day, and look what she made: this adorable apron, embroidered with Mom’s own marshmallow men. (Just for fun, here are the originals, from her tutorial:)

…And THEN, check out these Lee and Pete dolls Rach made for Lee and Pete. Did I mention, queen?

Except, wait. Looky what she brought me!

Holy Wow. Screen printed Gene Kelly kitchen towels? I look at them all the time, and they make me utterly happy.

Now, the photo up top there shows Lee’s gift to the gathering: printed PDX Craftgasm patches! Rach designed them, and Lee made a big pile, which she handed around with safety pins so we could all represent.

(Although few people represent with as much panache as Michaela.)

There’s a PDX Craftgasm Flickr group up now, with a growing collection of images from the weekend. Please take a look if you’re interested. And more importantly, start planning a Craftgasm in your city!