ohio gothic.

typewriter shop sign - a vestigial clue towards businesses past.

worried about car odours? buy a watermelon tree like olivera does.

why aren't signs as big and impressive as they used to be? this one spoke volumes in scale.

thrift curation and treats from ohio.

these little miss septembers (caught in situ today at a columbus thrift shop) remind me of a current focus i feel myself developing - an eye for thrift curation. throughout this trip, i keep being struck by some very interesting choices in shelving thrift goods - colour matched displays of sundries, too many bunnies, and other decisions of likeness. here is another arrangement jaime pulled together at the crazy huge junk shop in indianapolis:

i feel that this particular new interest will persist throughout this trip if not beyond.

other than getting distracted by the beauty of thrift stores (yeah, i am sad that the septembers did not come into the station wagon with us, but i had to be strong), we went in to wholly craft to stock olivera up on wares for the cool people of ohio and pick up a couple of special goodies for our own cool selves.

i got this letterpress print and a small collection of vintage craft books.

olivera is very good at sourcing our vintage books, fabrics and supplies for the shop. her stock of old rarities is a unique feature of the shop and makes for very special bundles for shoppers to take home. and what deals!

columbus, rock city!

there's cheech up there displaying some very well formed visual tension with one of olivera's many velvet paintings. she was up to greet us as we got ready to go down to the shop for our all-day mother's day trunk show. it was great to spend a day in the shop, watch the way things run and chat with crafty...columbians?

as much of a treat as a day in the shop was, the true excitement came after we locked the doors and went out into the columbus evening. seth and olivera were all excited to see the new documentary 'anvil: the story of anvil' which opened here this weekend. it opened on friday but tonight's screening boasted a live performance afterward. the movie did not disappoint. it was funny, touching, and spoke deeply to the discrepancies between talents, will and success. and the post-film concert was amazing! all for eight dollars - and we were allowed to drink beers in the theatre. i will leave you with some photos of the performance and related headbangings. i made use of some new flash settings in these (as suggested to me by dave) so they get pretty strange. thanks for the new expermental territory, dave! and thank you, anvil, for keeping the dream alive.

naptown races.

after last night's active show and tell, jaime left me with two skeins of her lovely t-shirt yarn. i love the colours and would imagine that it is either cotton or a cotton/poly blend (you know, t-shirt stuff). what should i make with these?

after a luxurious sleep-in on the steer horn couch, we got ourselves together to go to the farmer's market. what a treat!

jerry and jaime got some herbs for their spring garden, while we limited ourselves to road supplies - some honey for my morning tea, lavender sachets to keep our suitcases and clothes from stinking like old plastic and some tea samples of a new puh-ehr tea i had never tried. yum!

our indy hosts then took us to white river architectural salvage, a sprawling and overwhelming junk shop where you can buy things like mounted moose heads, spoons and mantel pieces. or a new spire for you house, should you need it.

with something weird and awesome around every corner, i took way too many pictures. if you want to see more, check in here.

we got back to our typewriter sleeping quarters with enough time to pack up around the napping cats, for me to get schooled by jerry on the use of button hole attachments for straight stitching sewing machines, and for the two of us to go over some very exciting plans for a custom button bag that he is going to make for me. it feels pretty swanky to get to commission custom work,

we shoved off for ohio...

...and got in just as seth's band was getting off stage at the thristy ear. it was sad that we missed their set but all was not lost; olivera was there to greet us with drinks already poured so we sat back and watched the headliner, grace adele.

what a great welcome to columbus. tomorrow we have a trunk show all day at wholly craft. come on down!

further adventures in coastlessness.

we started today early by screwing everything up and arriving late at no coast. thankfully, reba was able to rejig her schedule and i was able to stock the shop up with new sweetie pie buttons sets. so don't worry, pilsen, you too have sweetie pie buttons at your fingertips. the last time we were through town, no coast was just about to open so i hadn't seen it in action yet. the store has filled in perfectly, the stock padded heavily by the unique output of the collective members who run the space (lots of flats both letterpressed and silkscreened, in particular).

after no coast we got an early start on the road to indianapolis. indiana, to me, has always seemed a study in shades of gray. i have driven through some of the worst weather i have been in there (aside from michigan and london, ontario, but that's a different story). graham and i were convinced we were going to die by lightning there a few years back. even on the nice days i have experienced there, there is often an element of tumult and wind in the skies.

take note, sarah mcneil, most of indy is stealing your colour palettes.

we got to town in good time for once, met up with our friends jaime and jerry, and went out to pick up some supplies at the thrift store. this is the kind of place to go thrifting. and look at the curatorial care with which the shops are arranged:

we drove around a bit taking in the sites (there are, too) and settled into a night of home life and crafty show and tell with our hosts.

jaime spins, makes awesome recycled t-shirt yarn, finishes vintage quilt tops into quilts and more. jerry specializes in western wear (and does a mean business in custom work, if you are ever looking for such a thing). they also have a lovely home full of jerry's typewriter collection, taxidermy, sewing machines and equipment, state plates and jerry's garage full of vintage bikes for rebuildin'. good show and tell, guys. i like this place.

new bags by jerry lee's western wear

yes, jaime has a whole stuffed deer. yes, these things can be found here.