Arizona - Home of Ye Old Craft Books

Southern Arizona, land of red clay mesas, saguaros, ocotillos, friendly locals, wonderful eateries, antique boutiques and used book stores aplenty...Oh, and it is also the home of my little sister Natasha! Natasha, a soon to be 20-something woman who could care less about antiques, reading or crafting, but nonetheless, a kick to hang out with. Tash is young (19 years old), gregarious, excessively opinionated and uses the f-word as noun, verb or adjective in almost every sentence she utters. Not at all like her big sis. *wink* Aaaahhh, but I love her, f-ing flaws and all.

At any rate, my mom, my sister Stephanie and I traveled to the Phoenix area to (i) visit Tash and see where she's been living since having left the Golden State about a year ago, (ii) use the opportunity enjoy a little girl-bonding road trip, and (iii) to get the heck outta Dodge for a couple of days of R&R. What we didn't anticipate were all of the amazing antique and used book stores we would happen upon in Tempe! Awesome!

I made out like a bandit, lugging home two paper bags worth of books. Most of this stash happens to be of the crafty variety, but I did purchase a few serious diamonds in the rough as well:

For the Hillbilly Knitter in me, two Foxfire Books:



Here is Amazon's description of the first book in the series (there are twelve in all):

In the late 1960s, Eliot Wigginton and his students created the magazine Foxfire
in an effort to record and preserve the traditional folk culture of the Southern
Appalachians. This is the original book compilation of Foxfire material which
introduces Aunt Arie and her contemporaries and includes log cabin building, hog
dressing, snake lore, mountain crafts and food, and "other affairs of plain living."

I also purchased the third book in the series. From this masterpiece of DIY Appalachian lore I should be able to muster up a few currently non-existent skills such as:

Volume 3 of this series covers animal care, banjos and dulcimers, wild plant
foods, butter churns, ginseng and more.

Everything I could ever want to know about hog fixins, banjo playin', churnin' butter and tendin' to my other affairs of plain livin'. I'm set! Seriously though, these two books are amazing and the images are fascinating...I think I need to buy the other ten books as well. God only knows when I will find myself in Appalachia with nuthin' but the clothes on my back and my banjo hung o' my shoulder. Moving right along...

The third non-crafty bound gem I purchased was this beauty, CIRCUS TIME! How To Put On your One Show:

Because one never knows when one will need to stage a circus at any given moment.

Now for some crafty goodness:

The Weaving, Spinning, Dyeing Book by Rachel Brown, hardback, library copy.

I bought a drop spindle (before my move in July) that I've yet to unwrap and start using. I figured this book would give me the little nudge needed to git goin'. I love, love, love hand-spun and hand-dyed yarn. Actually this is my fave for making garments. Are you listening peeps? Yes, I HAVE ACTUALLY made garments (read functional items) in past and I would like to make a few again...using my own homespun. Wouldn't that be neato??? Methinks it would be.

Next up, Erica Wilson's Quilts of America!

This baby is chock full of quilting techniques and patterns. I really enjoy hand-quilting and applique so this libro was a real find.

Also I found two fabulous stitch bibles!

The first is an encylopaedic wonderland of embroidery stitches, Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches. Another hardback library copy.

The second one is a needlepoint extravaganza, Handbook of Needlepoint Stitches by Mary Meister Walzer. Yet another hardback, library copy.

The best part of this haul, IMHO, were four mint condition McCall's Needlework mags from the late 50's, early 60's! Totally takes me back to sitting in my Nana's sewing room when I was a child, perusing these babies for project ideas. God only knows whatever happened to her ginormous piles of these mags...

This one, oddly enough, is making me crave candy canes. Go figure.

Needless to say I had no room in my suitcase for new shoes...

Sending prayers to Drew and Nancy in Houston...stay safe!