cathy of california

i just got my new issue of craft: magazine

the new issue of craft: magazine is out!  and i'm really excited about this one for lots of reasons: cover girl crafty superstar betz white, billie and tootie of reform school show how to make a supercute cardboard gingerbread house, a fascinating article on the country's only cotton ribbon manufacturer by faythe levine, not one but two articles by sister diane and natalie's indy fashion showcase.

my contributions to this issue are "los angeles travel crafty" - a guide to some really great independent shops, galleries and artists and my "old school" column where i show you how to make this ornament out of old greeting cards.

liberty of london scarf, 1960

(from robert stewart design 1945-95 by liz arthur)

erica wilson chair

greg over at daddy types just blogged about an erica wilson chair that is up for auction. yes it's on ebay, but opening bid is not your usual $9.99. this beautiful chair is being auctioned by rago modern auctions and the starting bid is $3000 and is expected to go in the $6000-9000 range. you'd think for that much they'd take a better picture so we could see the detail on the seat.

if you've been following my blog for awhile you know that i just absolutely adore erica!  to learn more about her please check out erica at work, another chair and an owl she stitched.

a little sale in my shop

i often find vintage craft supplies in big lots. when i package the craft straw for the kits or 3 packs i only use the skeins that have not been opened and are in the best condition. i have ended up with alot of craft straw that i haven't been able to put in the kits or 3 packs but is still in good enough shape to use.

so i decide to package it up and put on sale. if you are interested, please visit my shop.

home sewn (and a little give-away!)

a few years ago a friend wanted to take me to a little shop that she really liked. we got a little lost on the way there and i started to wonder why such a wonderful shop would be in such an hard to find location.  after several wrong turns we finally ended up on a funny little side street in an old neighborhood in hollywood. the shop was in a cute little old house. this is when i first met kaari meng of french general. i think we ended up staying there for at least a couple of hours chatting away. i had never felt so welcome in a shop in my entire life.

kaari has new book french general: home sewn 30 projects for every room in the house  that is just delightful. and of course it's beautifully styled and photographed - as you can see in the picture above.

christina from chronicle books was kind enough to send me a french general stationery box and labels & stickers set (pictured below) that i'm going to give away! if you would like to win these please leave a comment telling me what your first home sewing project was. i will randomly select a winner. comments close this friday at 6PM pacific time (US residents only please).

UPDATE: winner has been chosen! congratulations to dawn! hope you enjoy our new goodies!

handmade hellos

i was recently doing a little re-merchandising at the store yolk (BTW if in silver lake a must see). as i was displaying some of the new boxed holiday cards and i kept thinking to myself how cute some of them were, especially the ones from hello!lucky. i was particularly smitten with a card that featured squirrels and acorns. 

i was so excited when the book order came in and there were a few copies of handmade hellos - fresh greeting card projects from first-rate crafters by eunice and sabrina moyle of hello!lucky. it features over 25 projects (one of which pictured above) from the hello!lucky girls as well as guest artists like the small object, egg press and shim + sons. while it's hard to resist so many of the cute greeting cards available these days a handmade card is always much more special!

packaging for takahashi dazy

the best thing about my takahashi dazy find has got to be the packaging!

baby-dazy "an original design by takahashi", san francisco, late 1960s

the image that i use on the home page of my website is from a slide i found at an antique mall. it's a picture of the display window of a gift shop located on sunset boulevard taken in 1966. whenever i run across (thanks ebay!) one of the items i try to pick it up. the one thing that has proved to be most elusive are those paper flowers (or "baby-dazy" as it says on the package).

well i finally found some! i had really wanted to track these down because i remember being kind of obsessed with them when i was little. i just took a peek at an old photo album and found 2 pictures with them featured in my pink bedroom and also in the later lavender color scheme - which means i liked them for at least 5 years, which is forever in kid years.

the packaging indicates that they are "an original design by takahashi" of san francisco. we had relatives in san francisco so my family might very well have shopped at takahashi. they had a location in ghirardelli square and carried inexpensive imported home decor items - kind of like a groovy cost plus.

vibrant harmony, 1966

"the colors for today are clean and bright, magnificently blended in unexpected ways."

(from mc call's needlework & crafts, fall-winter 1966-67)

YES WE CAN!

believe it or not i find inspiration from more than just vintage crafts.  denyse schmidt's quilts absolutely blow me away - her work is amazing.  in fact, as i write this post i am still lying in bed all cozy under one of her quilts. she has made a very special quilt that is being raffled off to raise funds to support BARACK OBAMA!

if you are so inclined please join me in making a donation today.