the mending.

socks, shoulder bag, table. a pit stop means fixing the things that have been falling apart. can't see what i did to the shoulder bag? that's because my first stab at saddle stitching was so awesome! slightly less awesome is the durability of washi tape as a mending material - but it sure is purdy.

setting up (work)shop.

can you tell which trailer the crafter is in? yup those are some neck warmers hanging out to dry after one last refreshing soak before they get their buttons sewn on.

setting up to hunker down.

here i am setting up for a few days of hunkering down in this small arkansas town. the motel is cheap and the neighbours scream and yell daily. but give me my folding table and i can make just about anywhere feel a little like home.

return to sender.

greetings from carlisle, arkansas, an oasis we found years and years ago on an earlier tour. even though the past can never entirely be called back and memories make everything mistier, there is still a kind of fun in return to places that felt magical. and besides, we saw signs that a new mexican restaurant had popped up since our last visit. here it is:

there is kind of nothing outwardly magical about this place. it's probably not magical at all except that we have been here before and had a good time together. i dunno - i like it here.

scenes from a motel.

homes away from homes. this time, in benton, arkansas. there is a real beauty to these non-chain establishment - right down to the painted signs.

children of the 70's.

on the way out of dallas, we also managed to stop in on another shop we have heard a lot about over the years, we are 1976. for indie craft wares, it does not disappoint and i saw a lot of familiar indie lines there. plus, they have a big, presumably old, mural in the shop (a la wholly craft). i am such a sucker for such architectural touches.

oil and cotton.

and as one thing leads to another, julie emphatically recommended that we look up oil & cotton when we shoved off to dallas.

newly opened in the fall of 2011, owners shannon driscoll and kayli house cusick founded oil and cotton to be an educational epicentre of sorts. although they do carry some support supplies, the studio's main focus is skill sharing. as we travel, it is deeply heartening to find spaces like this popping up all over the continent. workshop spaces exist beyond the constraints of retail, working to ensure that craft practices endure as well as goods. even as a workshop space, oil & cotton distinguishes itself in the scope of its class roster. the offer all sorts of workshops that i have not encountered before in this community - prenatal art, basket weaving, music (to name a few), and all sorts of syntheses between these practices.

not to mention that its uneven and dusty walls provide for one of the most textured and photogenic spaces i have ever encountered. and did i mention they make their own inks (above)? and use its rooms and flex spaces for pop-up events and happenings? amind the supplies you can even spot vestiges of such events (like the large bag of gold suspended from the ceiling) - and each object has a story. this space, and its owners give the sense that anything is possible and that whim and business are perfect counterbalances for one another.

more images here.