Visiting Fort Bragg

The next stop for our journey last week was to Fort Bragg for a family reunion. We had to stop at a store and pick up some pie. On the way into the store the word fabric caught my eye on a store sign near the market. I ditched the pie buying group and ran over to the little corner craft store. Fabric Indulgence carries fabrics by the bolt (some really nice ones too!), fat quarters, silk ribbons (they are so beautiful), paints, beads, patterns, and sumi-e supplies. Lucky me, Iwent in during their 20% off fabric sale. It did get me to buy two yards of wonderful fabric I was trying to stay away from. Some pretty little fat quarters made it home with me too!

There was a cute little yarn store on the other side of the market. The dog and I peeked into the window, but I still wasn't in a yarn mood. They will definitely be a stop next time I pass through.

There wasn't much down time at the family reunion with playing music, catching up with family, and throwing the dog off the paddle boat into the salty river. I did sneak out my fabric and thread and work on some little pumpkins toward the evening. My niece even wanted to sew with me. It was her first time sewing and she made half a pumpkin, sewed on a leaf, and put a silly patch on the side of her creation. It ended up going to a cousin who was very excited. The hotel was a better sewing environment that evening. It can't get much better than staying by the ocean with family and a stinky, salty dog and sewing pumpkins while watching the original Planet of the Apes!

Happy Crafty Travels,

Cerise : )

Favorite Arcata Crafty Stores

A late arrival back to Corvallis on Sunday left me way to beat to post yesterday, but I did play with some of my new treasures that were found during my journey. Now that I am somewhat rested, here are some of my favorite stores in Arcata for getting crafty supplies, though this doesn't include all of them!

First stop after coffee and doughnuts on Friday was Daisy Drygoods on the H Street side of the Arcata Plaza, my all-time favorite store. I could have spent many hours and many dollars in this antique and vintage supply store. It's like a typical dry goods store from a long-ago era that was unearthed after being forgotten for a while. Not only do they have some fun antique and

vintage nick-knacks and clothing, they have all sorts of fabric, yarn, doll parts, buttons, ribbon, sewing machine parts, hat making supplies, and so much more. I was excited to learn that they have an Etsy page that will be up and running soon. Hooray!! My favorite find was a painted fabric doll leg. The weirdest find I took home were glass doll eyes. Oh why oh why didn't I get more!

They are ever so unique. Weirdest find I did not take home: the three-faced doll in a fuzzy hooded jumper whose head spins to reveal different faces. Super creepy but really neat! (You can see it in the picture of doll parts.) There were also ceramic legs and arms of all sorts, mostly large pairs. Down in the bottom of the leg bin was a baggy with three little appendages that just had to come home with me. I wasn't really in a fabric mood and I was feeling a bit rushed, but now I'm regretting not spending more time in Daisy Drygood's fabrics.

They have wonderful old fabrics and flour sacks that would be splendid for so many projects. I still have some fabric bits I got there forever ago that I love. Though I wish I could have spent longer perusing, I'm very excited about my doll part finds.

My next stop was Fabric Temptations on the other side of the Plaza. (Find them on Facebook here.) I went in to check out their fat quarters but I was still not feeling very fabric-excited so I didn't stay long. They have a great selection of fabrics, yarn, buttons (I have a really awesome Apatosaurus button from there), ribbon, trims, and books so be sure to check them out if you are ever passing through Arcata. Hopefully I will be craving fabric or yarn next time I go through!

Happy Supply Hunting,

Cerise : )

P.S.

A great big THANK YOU! to Rose at Daisy Drygoods for setting up a pick-up for the doll leg since I was overwhelmed and insane and brought up an unintended arm. I'm very happy for my leg!!

On the Road Again

Dale and I took off for Mendocino County late yesterday afternoon. We'll be going to a BIG family reunion of his dad's side of the family as well as visiting other family and friends while there. We were going to camp near Grant's Pass last night but didn't find anything close to a town to grab some food and later found all sites full along the coast we full. We stopped for pizza in Crescent City (I know, I'm not supposed to eat it, but there was NOTHING else open). We ended up our our good family friends' house in Arcata at 1am. To our surprise, they had a tent already set up in the yard and snacks out on the table (they were expecting someone else but were happy to see us too!). We got a nice camping night in looking at stars and listening to bats. This morning was wonderfully cool and overcast with chippers of humming birds kindly waking us. We enjoyed some wonderful fruit, coffee, and conversation before heading out to make a ruckus about Arcata's town square.

Our first stop is our old haunting study grounds, Mosgo's Coffee and Tea. Fabulous hot chocolate, great jazz music, and in depth discussion of the beauty of Hogwarts and it's grounds and the imperfections of the use of wizardry, all making for the perfect atmosphere we remember. And they have almond milk!! Later we will grab a doughnut from Don's (BEST ever. Yes, waaaay better than Voodoo in Portland). I've been saving up for this for two weeks! Of course the pizza kind of blew that. I also have a few people to visit and a couple of my favorite stores I have to hit up before we head further south. Don't worry, I will post pictures of my treasures and the store fronts. Check back for what goodies I find!!

Happy Travels!

Cerise : )