Report from ScrapFest 2009

News Flash--Had to show you the project I'll be teaching people to make at Bouchercon. How cute is this? A designer at EK Success did it for us! WOW!

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Last year Paper, Scissors, Death debuted at ScrapFest, the gigantic scrapbooking event that Archivers holds annually at Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This year I was fortunate enough to be invited back to share Cut, Crop & Die at the same event. Wow, what a weekend. What a party. What a totally crazy experience.

More than 3,000 scrapbookers showed up late Thursday and stayed until Sunday. They stood in long lines to create “Make-n-Takes,” the projects that can be completed on the spot. They took classes in the open mall spaces where long rows of tables were set up. And of course, they shopped.

What a total delight it was to say, “Hi” to fans who’ve read and enjoyed my series. I was greeted with hugs, requests for photos, books to be signed and green peppers. Yep, Kathy at Archivers remembered how much I love veggies, so she brought me two green peppers from her garden. I also saw other folks from the scrapbooking community—including the adorable Julia from Bo Bunny Press, my longtime friend Joy from EK Success, and the wonderful Katey from ANW Crestwood. You know, when you’ve been in an industry for a decade, you meet a lot of people, you go through a lot of changes, and you might make a lot of detours, but you still see the same faces.

My philosophy when leaving town is to schedule multiple engagements. That way, I know I’ve spent my time and marketing dollars wisely. So I started Friday morning at ScrapFest (9am to 1pm), coffee with my Midnight Ink publisher and my publicist from 1 to 2pm, went to Barnes & Noble at MOA (2 to 5pm), then onto Uncle Edgars to sign books, and finally, dinner with my wonderful editor, Connie Hill. The next day (Saturday) started at ScrapFest again, Barnes & Noble again, and then onto Scrapbooks Too, a lovely store nearby, where I met the sweetest people. One shared her Diet Dr Pepper with me, and another gave me two beautiful cards she'd made. On Sunday, it was back to the Mall where I signed until 5pm, then left for the airport. Home at midnight. Posting this morning here and at http://www.spottedcanary.com/ where we're running a six-week long contest. You could win $500 in scrapbooking supplies and a chance to name a character in Book #3, out this coming May (National Scrapbooking Month).


I thanked Archivers in the Acknowledgements of Cut, Crop & Die for all their help and support. This year—in my upcoming book--I owe them an even larger thanks, because this year, it was more like old home week. I don’t sit down when I sign. I think it makes an author harder to approach, so by Sunday, my energy was totally flagging.

One of the Archivers staff noticed I was fading. She hustled me into their back room and fed me chili. I mean, you’ve got to love people who work as hard as they do and yet have the time and kindness to other people.

We moved a lot of books. We pressed a lot of flesh. More importantly, we solidified old relationships and build some new ones. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Knit Out!

I apologize for posting this so late. It was written last night, and I generally post before I hustle off to the Courage Center pool for water aerobics. I haven't been going lately because I have this "cold thing." It's like a bad cold except it won't go away. I decided that I really have to get back into the real outside world so I went this morning, but forgot to post this before I left.

This past weekend the Mall of America had its second annual Knit Out & Crochet, sponsored by Craft Yarn Council of America, which I had never heard of before. Literally tens of thousands of women turned out for this. The parking ramps were packed full, the corridors of the mall were mobbed. Booths were set up, mostly by manufacturers who were giving product, magazines and patterns away. Lion Yarn was giving away the most enormous black canvas tote I have ever seen. It was about a yard high, it’s in my office right now, taking up valuable space. I had heard the people running this event had free knit and crochet lessons – and they did, even better than I thought: it was virtually one-on-one. I already know how to knit, at least the basics, so I sat down on a folding chair and was taught how to single and double crochet by a patient and enthusiastic young woman. I walked away with a page of instructions – and a skein of yarn and a crochet hook!

They also had panel discussions and even a world’s fastest kniter competition. I could possibly win a competition for world’s slowest.

There are more charities centered on knit and crochet than you possibly think. I paid eighteen dollars for a kit of three yarns, a pair of knitting needles, and a pattern. I’m supposed to knit a teddy bear (the pattern is dead simple), and send it to a local woman who ships the bears to sub-Saharan Africa to be distributed to AIDS orphans. If you save the red yarn the kit is closed with, you can stitch a heart on the bear to let the recipient know someone, somewhere, seriously cares about him or her. I’ve only got one leg finished and the second about two-thirds done, but what I’m doing is working it like a prayer shawl, thinking prayerfully of the child who will one day hold the little bear, wishing him or her well, hoping he or she has a long and happy life.

I invite you to visit the Craft Yarn Council’s web site; www.knitandcrochet.com.

On Friday we are flying to Mexico City. We have a very good friend down there who speaks excellent English – which is a good thing, as we speak virtually no Spanish. We will start for home on the 27th after a very busy visit. There is a lot to see and do in the capitol, and we’re going to take a big bite of that city. There is a big Aztec temple complex very nearby, there is the historic downtown, the world-famous Museum of Anthropology, fabulous restaurants, and lots of shopping. My friend’s husband plays flamenco guitar (when he’s not being a banker), and she has two very fine children, one of whom will celebrate a birthday while we’re there. The weather is in the mid-seventies and usually sunny. I think we’re going to have a great time.

THINGS LOST - AND REGAINED

This is being written Tuesday afternoon, while the snow comes down so hard outside it’s like a fog. Perfect time to be indoors with a mug of cocoa and a warm computer.

Funny the things we miss once they are gone, sometimes even more than we thought we would. Every year I’d get out my Christmas tree ornaments and, as I put them on the tree, would get all nostalgic. I’m in my sixties now, and I’ve been gathering ornaments since I was in my twenties. Of course some have broken or been worn out or been lost along the way, but I still had a few from way back when. Note the word “had.” Some weeks before we moved, I took out more than half my ornaments and distributed them among my nieces and nephews, because from now on we’re having a little tree, not the big one our much bigger house allowed. But I saved my very favorites, many of which were like a toddler’s “bankie:” more precious than beautiful. But others were both precious and beautiful. We moved the last week in June, and only now did I go digging in our storage room for the box of ornaments. And found them gone. I looked in every box – twice. But no ornaments. I was deeply disheartened. How could that have happened? It was, of course, far too late to go have a word with our movers.

After a few days of mourning, I decided I must either cancel the tree or buy new ornaments. No tree? Unthinkable! But on my first trip down the Christmas aisles at Super Target my eye was repeatedly caught by ornaments almost, but not quite, like my old ones. In a few minutes I was near tears and had to go away.

Then I considered: What would I have rather lost than the ornaments? My favorite books? My good dishes? My computer? My boxes of photographs? Or, worst of all, my 200-piece Fontanini collection? (Go to e-Bay and type in Fontanini and you’ll see what I mean.) I have about 200 pieces if you count every sheep – and I have six or seven shepherds, so I need a LOT of sheep to make them not look ridiculous.

So I went back to Super Target, and then to the Mall of America and even Walgreen’s. This time I smiled as I found some really beautiful ornaments. And a friend from my water aerobics class brought me two hand-made wooden ornaments. Already I’m building happy new memories.

This past Saturday I had a special early book signing for Knitting Bones out in Excelsior, which is the little town this series is set in. Usually we get a good turnout, but this Saturday we also had our first serious snowstorm and only four people braved the slippery streets and icy wind. -- and one of them had no idea who I was or what I was doing there. Wednesday evening we will have the official “pub party” at Once Upon A Crime mystery bookstore in Minneapolis. The owners are paying for a half-sheet cake and I will make marzipan decorations shaped like knitting for the top of it. I’ve been practicing with Sculpy, my efforts at least suggest a knitted scarf and ball of yarn, perhaps mostly because there isn’t much else they could be. It’s snowing very hard right now, but it’s supposed to stop by nine this evening. This is Minnesota and very likely the streets will be clear by tomorrow evening.
Time to go play with the marzipan. Life is good.