I’m super excited about the Summit of Awesome starting up in a few hours — hope to see you over there! I’ll be around all three days, and I’m covering it for CRAFT:. There are so many great workshops, demos and talks going on (four things at once most time!), and I’m going to do my best to make it to as much as I can, but if you enjoy a particular session and want to let me know about it so I can quote you in my CRAFT: posts I would love that! I’d also be grateful for including (and crediting) your photos — please say hi at the Summit or comment here if you have things you’d like to share, thank you!

I can hardly believe all the cool stuff on the schedule. I couldn’t possibly list all the things I’m hoping to check out, but there are great panels, demos and sessions from crafters like Diane Gilleland, Lee Meredith, Jen Neitzel, Rebecca Pearcy, Torie Nguyen, Cathy Pitters, Ryan and Lucy Berkley, and Heidi Kenney. Just check out the site for all the details! There’s also a great article in this Sunday’s Oregonian about the Portland craft community and the events going on this week.

I’m excited that I’m leading two sessions — I would love to see you at one or both! The first one is a jewelry-making workshop on Thursday from 10:30am to noon, in the Kennedy School gym — I’m bringing lots of vintage beads for us to make stuff with!

And the second is a talk on craft writing and publishing, from 1 to 2:30 in Parsons. I’ll be talking about my experiences writing for magazines, websites, and book publishers, taking questions and doing my best to widen the path for everyone else!

Besides the amazing Summit (Wednesday-Friday at Kennedy School) and Show (10-3 on Saturday at Doug Fir) of Awesome, there are a few other great crafty things going on this week I wanted to mention. Thursday night at the downtown Stumptown Coffee at 7 pm, my friend Julie Forward Demay has an opening reception for her photographs, called Last Show. Julie passed away last year but her artwork and poetry are full of life and beauty. I hope you can make it to her show, which is up for the whole month of June.

Also Thursday night is the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting at PNCA from 7 – 9. I hope to make it to both.

Finally, Kari Chapin is hosting a signing for her great new book, The Handmade Marketplace, at the downtown Powell’s at 2pm on Sunday. Whew!

Hope to see you around Portland this week!