My crafty friends, will you help with a very important quest?

Are you a fan of Joss Whedon - as in, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dr. Horrible? I think a lot of you are.

Well, he made this joke in a recent interview about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, his latest project. Responding to a question about internet buzz for the show, he said:

“Fact is, there’s been some buzz, but it hasn’t reached the places it would normally. Where’s our write-up in Crocheting Monthly? (I did a very sexy shoot for that one.)”

Okay. . . this is where Kim Werker, editor of Interweave Crochet and CrochetMe.com, comes in. She saw that interview and got inspired: she wants to interview Joss on CrochetMe!

Seriously, how unbelievably cool would that be?

But, Kim needs the craft community’s help. This is where you and I come in.

We need to work together to get Joss Whedon’s attention, and tell him how much our community would love a chat with him.

Can you post on your own blog about this crusade, and link back to Kim’s original post? Can you email a few friends and ask them to post on their blogs, too? Could you post on your favorite forums? Take a gander at Kim’s original post for even more ideas on how to participate.

The more internet buzz we can create, the louder the message we send: “We want to talk to you, Joss Whedon. And, you know, we can certainly talk about that sexy photo shoot….”

I hope to see this on your blog soon!!

Popping my head up for a few moments to share some awesome plastic-canvas goodness from a recent eBay score. Those bags are quite a feat of engineering!

I quite like the stitch pattern here, and is that a lining stitched inside? Somebody’s a PC-ninja, that’s all I’m sayin’.

This gingerbread house is very cute, I think. I’ve had plans to make some of these for a while now. Someday I need to show you the needlepoint house K. and I built in Second Life, too.

This little vase gets props for using smaller-holed 10 count canvas, and for executing pretty darn nice curved edges. It’s that narrow strip at each corner that does it.

Wow! So if I ever want to give myself an award for being the last champion of plastic canvas, now I’ll know exactly how! I’d wear it with pride, too.

Yesterday was the last Church of Craft meeting in Portland. I’ve decided to shut the group down.

There are many reasons for this, but mostly: a) attendance has been dwindling over the last ten months, and b) after organizing this group for five and a half years, I need to stop.

My emotions have been all over the place about this transition. I’ll certainly spare you my careening angst, but suffice to say, starting a Church of Craft chapter in Portland was the first step I ever took toward building a craft-centered life for myself. So there are ways in which this feels like losing a treasured friend.

Still, Portland is in an interesting moment: the crafty culture here has exploded, and we may be beginning to reach a saturation point. It seems to me that events that happen regularly can get forgotten, what with all the shiny new events crowding the scene. It’s a good problem to have, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Anyway, our last meeting was lovely. Susan taught everyone to make Solo Earrings from Bead Simple, and there was lots of nice hanging out and chatting. It warmed my heart to see so many good friends, and a lot of them brought cards and gifts, so it felt like a kind of Bon Voyage/Christmas party. A good wrap-up for a project that has enriched my life immeasurably. If you were there, thank you so much.

(Up above is a cute card the PDX Crafty Vixens brought. Perfect illustration of a Church of Craft!)

Happy Weekend, everyone. Just wanted to let you know two things:

My latest CraftStylish post is all about the different types of needles for hand-sewing, and how to decide which needle to use for which project. Hope you enjoy!

I also just put up a little set on Flickr - a 2.0 tutorial in Kombucha-making. This set deals with growing your own SCOBYs.

The reason I’m not posting it here is that it’s not really for those who find Kombucha gross. If that’s you, don’t even go to Flickr. You’ll find it really gross. I’m warning you, now. Seriously.

I had a singularly lovely time today, reading all four issues of Mixtape back-to-back.

In case you’re not familiar, Mixtape is a gorgeous zine about craft and other things that comes from Australian crafty powerhouses Justine Telfer and Nichola Prested.

When I say “gorgeous,” I mean that this is the best graphic design and layout I’ve ever seen in a zine. And the writing is engaging and fun, covering a wide range of topics related to creativity, environmentalism, parenting, collecting, and way more. There are great book and music reviews, too.

Each issue has a Crafty Lady Profile, and a list of ten tips for greening some aspect of your life (your beauty regime, your lunch, your wallet). Suzie Fry’s Accidental Gardener series is full of great information, and Greenolive’s Crafty101 series covers all the bases of setting up a crafty business.

Aside from all this great reading, I also discovered a whole slew of great Australian bloggers I hadn’t known about before. My Google Reader is growing tonight!

I really can’t pick a favorite issue among the first four - I’d just advise you to score them all and support this very talented group.

The fifth issue is also available for pre-order. Woo!

. . . We know that it’s my mission in life to bring you all the plastic canvas news. Well, Cathy has once again brought me the sweet hookups, in the form of these crazy domed PC forms.

I mean, look! There are circles and what I’m interpreting as strawberries. Who knew?! What I wouldn’t give for a glimpse of these in use - somewhere, sometime, someone must have made a fantastical dimensional stitchery with them.

. . . I look forward to doing just that myself, in just a few more weeks. I can kind of see them on a structured bag, stitched in Swistraw. Can’t you?

Here’s a new contest - Craft Stylish is hosting a Tote-ally Crafty Bag Challenge. To enter, you make a fab tote in any size or style, reflecting one of these four categories:

Play Ball (best use of yarn)

All That Glitters (best use of bling)

Eco-Chic (best use of recycled materials)

The Omni-Crafter Special (best use of as many crafty talents as possible in one tote.)

The deadline for entry is 11:59 pm EST on July 31st. Lots of great prizes at stake - see a big list of them here. Good Luck!

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While you’re at Craft Stylish, check out Jennifer Worick’s post on Hope Chests, in which I’m quoted. Woo!

Another new farmer’s market this weekend - K. and I checked out the Sunday market at Orenco Station. It’s definitely picturesque, but much like our last visit to Hillsboro - mostly crafts, a few fruit sellers, and for the most part, one vegetable vendor. Huh. What’s up with this?!

That veggie booth was absolutely hopping. Our purchases there were a little prosaic this week (they didn’t have a lot of variety), so I won’t photo them. Instead, you should look at the delights Sally posted about from the Beaverton market. Where we are going next weekend!

Cherries have finally come down a bit in price, though, so I scored some beautiful Bings. Have you seen the super-ingenious method for pitting cherries at 101 Cookbooks?

Nectarines are here, too - not that I really like them. But they’re exciting as a harbinger of peaches to come.

Since we were right near New Seasons (a Portland treasure), we were able to stop in and get some other local foodstuffs. And enjoy the amazing flowers.

. . . And when we got back home, I made us The Pioneer Woman’s Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies. Which are absolutely swooningly good.

A couple bits o’news to take us into the weekend:

Woo-Hoo! I have a new tutorial up on CraftStylish! This time, it’s making and using cold porcelain, which is an awesome air-drying clay you can make in your kitchen and then use in all kinds of jewelry and embellishment projects.

Kalmbach Publishing is having an online Open House this weekend, in which you can check out stuff on their websites: BeadStyleMag.com, BeadandButton.com, and ArtJewelryMag.com. Normally, these sites reserve some of their content for magazine subscribers or registered users. But, through Sunday, July 13, they’re giving everyone a chance to explore everything — blogs, forums, galleries, patterns, projects, and videos. Just follow those links.

Happy Weekend, all!

Volunteers unpacking handmade donations in “The Basement.” Photo courtesy of afghans for Afghans.

Hey, Knitters and Crocheters - afghans for Afghans has a new campaign going, and they urgently need your help.

They’re working with Church World Service to fill 80 cartons with handmade wool blankets and clothing for Afghan children aged 7-14. That’s between 4000 and 6000 items, which will be air-shipped to Kabul. From the afghans for Afghans website:

“Our gifts will be distributed at children’s rehabilitation and health centers in Kabul and Bamiyan. These programs treat children who have been traumatized psychologically and physically by the years of war and poverty. Many have lost loved ones in front of their eyes. The girls and boys benefit from physical recreation, lessons in health and hygiene, nutrition, and social skills such as cooperation and peace-building.”

So, two important things to know:

- The deadline to have your handmades in to the afghans for Afghans headquarters will be late September. Not much time, so get started now!

- And also, in the summer months, afghans for Afghans often finds that donations of wool items taper off - we all know that working with wool isn’t so comfortable in the hot months. But, your donations to this campaign are vitally important, as they will outfit these children for the coming winter. So, can you locate some air-conditioning and get knitting or crocheting?

Visit the afghans for Afghans website for specifics on the kinds of items they need and other guidelines. And, please help spread the word about this effort on your own blog!

For more background on this organization, you can also listen to the podcast interview I did with its founder Ann Rubin and one of its volunteers, Laura Truffault.