Vancouver Draw Down

One more for the June event calendar... This weekend is Vancouver Draw Down!

Described as "a celebration of drawing in everyday life", Vancouver Draw Down runs Friday June 11 to Sunday June 13. All kind of events are planned, including a comic jam at the Roundhouse, button making at the Museum of Anthropology, and chalk street drawing across the city.

The "Making Place" event at the Vancouver Art Gallery sounds like lots of fun: join in the creation of a gigantic, collaborative, chalk pastel drawing of the perfect neighbourhood. Also, over at the Roundhouse, you can even ride your bike or skateboard through paint to create a big collaborative painting.

Check out the Vancouver Draw Down site for the full schedule of events.

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Crafty Cover Story

Nice cover (!) story in the WestEnder today about so-called "hipster homemakers" in Vancouver - featuring Spool of Thread, Coco Cake, Baker’s Market and the Modern Quilt Guild!

You can read the full article - including a nice close up of the amazing yardstick counter at Spool of Thread (not to mention Lili and Henry!) - on the WestEnder site.

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Parties and Quilts and Cupcakes, Oh My!

June is a crafty month in Vancouver! Here are just a few of the fun happenings around town this month...

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Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild is holding its inaugural meeting!

Thursday, June 17, 2010
7pm to 9pm
Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge
101-649 E. 15th Ave.

Join us on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 for the inaugural meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild at Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge! This is the place to be if you love fresh, modern quilts!

Come to this informal meeting to meet other fabric lovers, show us your modern quilts, and share your ideas for what this guild could become! Stay tuned for more details (door prizes anyone?).

Find out more about the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, the larger Modern Quilt Guild movement and get more deets on the Vancouver meet-up.

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Etsy Party!
Friday, June 18, 2010
2 pm to 5pm
East 15th Avenue, between Fraser and Kingsway

Got Craft along with Collage Collage, Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge and RubyDog's Art House; will be opening their doors for the Vancouver Etsy Craft Party! Bring a craft project and join us for a day of making, good conversation and support your local community.

Get all the details and RSVP here.

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Cupcake Challenge
Sunday, June 20, 2010
11am to 3:30pm
Yaletown Roundhouse Community and Recreation Centre
Free Admission

We are inviting you, the cupcake connoisseurs and lovers of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, to join us in sampling and judging Vancouver's Best Cupcake! Through collaboration with notable Foodies and Bloggers in Vancouver, as well as the general public, we will present awards and notoriety for the business voted as baking the most favourable cupcake at the event.

Mix and mingle with yummy bakers and test a variety of cupcake flavours and recipes! With prizes awarded throughout the day, this is a tasty event that you will certainly not want to miss.

Get all the sugary details on Miss604 and Eventbrite.

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Swap-O-Rama-Rama Vancouver
Saturday, June 26, 2010
11am to 4pm
Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut Street
Admission: $6.00 at the door or $5.00 in advance plus a bag of clean clothes and / or a bag of craft supplies to swap. (Leave with all the clothes and supplies that you can carry!)

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing and craft supply swap in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing. A series of DIY stations will be on-hand to unleash your creativity including screen printing by Blim and sewing stations by Plush On Main. Take as little or as much as you like! All remainders will be donated to local charities.

Heaps more deets over on Got Craft? and on the Facebook event page.

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Craft Rock Friday with Josh Ritter

What's more romantic than the love between an archeologist and her mummy?

Awww.



The video for Josh Ritter's song, "The Curse", was created by the band's drummer, Liam Hurley, who also happens to be a puppeteer. Multi-talented!

You can read more about the making-of from Josh on NPR's All Songs Considered blog.

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A New Life for Old Magazines

This shelf made from old National Geographic magazines is just brilliant.

Doesn't everyone have a huge stack of old issues collecting dust in their basements?

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Spool of Thread - Vancouver's Sewing Lounge

Vancouver crafters have something to celebrate! Spool of Thread is finally opening!

After a few months of teasing (and a ton of hard work!), the shop is all set up, with the Grand Opening happening this Saturday.

Grand Opening of Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge!
Saturday, June 5th
11am - 6pm
649 East 15th Ave, #101 (at the Fraser/Kingsway triangle)
Treats and giveaways throughout the day!

Spool of Thread is a sewing lounge, offering classes (here's a PDF schedule for their June workshops), as well as drop-in sewing time, where you can use the machines in the shop. They'll also be selling some lovely fabrics.

The concept reminds me of The Workroom in Toronto. I'm glad Vancouver now has something similar!

You can read an article about Spool of Thread on Yoyomama.ca, and get a sneak peek of the shop on the lovely Rachel's blog. LOOOVE the front counter which is covered in vintage yardsticks!!

Keep up with Spool of Thread on their website or on Twitter.

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Beyond Green Eggs and Ham

It's wet and dreary here in Vancouver... Luckily, there are still some rainbows...

The Globe and Mail has a fun article today about the trend (at least online) of multi-coloured rainbow food.

Rainbow food is the latest experiment by those looking to inject playful pizzazz to their plates. Using bright new food colouring gels and dusting the cobwebs off old colouring kits, professional and home cooks alike are using dyes unsparingly to turn everyday edibles into eye-popping creations that make Lucky Charms literally pale in comparison.

Maybe a few too many chemical additives for my taste, but these rainbow treats sure do look fun.

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