The QCC in Curve Magazine

The Queer Crafter Collective, along with the Queer Etsy Street Team, is featured in the latest issue of Curve Magazine!  Click on the image above to read the full story - or better yet - head to your local newstand and buy a copy for yourself!

Rock-n-Shop 2009

Come doing your last minute holiday shopping with the Queer Crafter Collective as we set up for our 2nd annual Rock-n-Shop. This "garage sale" event is full of vendors, crafty to thrifty to vintage, in the upstairs main stage concert room. Come grab a beer and shop to your hearts content with DC's queerest and craftiest collective. More info available @ The Black Cat's website. Doors open at 8pm.

237 Inc. featured on NBC Washington Gift Guide

Lara of 237 Inc. was just featured on NBC4's Washington-themed Gift Guide! They chose her punk DC skull shirt, which incorporates the DC flag (3 stars above two stripes; history here) into a skull motif. What an awesome honor! Not into skulls? Lara also has a number of other DC-themed designs available in her shop: i heart DC, go skins, and a kids camo hoodie with the DC flag. Her latest design highlights DC's persistent fight for statehood and is called 51st state.

Comes see 237 Inc. next Saturday, December 12th, where she'll be selling with the QCC at the DC Rollergirl's Holiday Bash at McFadden's. More info about the venue here!

The QCC @ DC Rollergirls' Holiday Bash

Come join Julie Yoder of Junk Science, Lara Watson of 237 Inc. and Meaghan O'Malley of Oh Ginger at the DC Rollergirls' Holiday Bash Saturday December 12th from 8-11pm downtown at McFadden's.

From the DC Rollergirls' website:

This event is free and open to the public (those ages 21 and up, that is). You can have your picture taken with Santa or a Rollergirl, grab tickets to our next bout (or enter the raffle to win ‘em!) and pick up some stocking stuffers at the DCRG merch table. And if all of this isn’t enough, PBR will be in the house with free schwag!

We’ll also be collecting craft supplies for N Street Village. Everyone who brings in a donation will get a free DCRG sticker and coupon for $2 off of DCRG merchandise! We’re looking for items like A.C. Moore and Michaels gift cards, construction paper, glue sticks, scissors, markers, chalk, crayons, erasers (kneaded and rubber), acrylic paints, “easy cut” & linoleum cutters for stamp making, water-based printmaking inks, paper towels, larger beads (wooden), stretched canvases, plastic face molds for mask making, tape (scotch, masking, packaging), smocks, aprons, long-sleeved shirts, latex free gloves, charcoal, and drawing pencils (2H-6B).

November's Crafternoon

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Please join us for an afternoon of crafts, art, creativity and awesomeness at Buzz Bakery & Cafe in Alexandria. This location is conveniently just outside of DC, right off of the GW Parkway or near the Braddock Road stop on the Metro. We don't have a special spot reserved, so be prepared for the possibility of squishing together at a table inside, or braving the crisp autumnal weather on the patio.

With autumnal sniffles and sneezes on the rise and the need to reduce our environmental footprint, the QCC plans to have a simple instructional workshop on how to create your own stamp, which will then decorate a hankerchief that you can take home with you! Just bring a few creative ideas, basic clip art or simple sketches with you and we'll provide the rest. So we have an idea of how much to bring, please RSVP by e-mailing us.

In addition to stamping your own handkerchief, feel free to bring along a recent project to discuss with like-minded crafty folks in the event you need advice or creative brainstorming. Have extra craft supplies on hand that you'd like to trade or swap? Bring those too - you can trade with someone else or donate them to the commity pot which will be shared with crafters at Crafternoons in the future.

About the location:
Buzz Bakery & Cafe
901 Slaters Lane
Alexandria, VA
http://buzzonslaters.com

E-mail us with questions: queercraftercollective@gmail.com

Goings on with the QCC

When you have a collective full of hardworking and busy folks, it can certainly feel difficult getting things off the ground. In order to fuel our creative energies and share our strengths with each other and the community, the Queer Crafter Collective is starting a monthly event called Crafternoon! At this point in time, these events are by invitation only (apartments and houses are only so big, y'know) but we hope to expand the format and invite people out on afternoons and evenings in the future to various coffeehouses and meeting places throughout the city. If attending a Crafternoon event is something you're interested in, please send us an e-mail and we'll add you to the list!

Additionally, the QCC is in the midst of planning a Holiday House Party, which will be held on Sunday December 6th. Members of the QCC will be selling their wares and there will most likely be a few Craft-It-Yourself stations for folks to visit. Please mark your calendars and look for more information very soon!

Bike DC Shirt by Lara @ 237 Inc.

Washington DC, home to the Queer Crafter Collective, has an ever-increasing population of cyclists. Whether you're riding for pleasure or purpose, there is not a street downtown that hasn't be touched by the wheel of a bike. A great environmental gesture and a superb way to squeak some physical fitness in on the way to work, you can see packs of cyclists where there used to be a single renegade pedal-pusher. DC and its surrounding Metro area boast some beautiful scenic bike paths and trails, too; anything from a smooth ride along the Mount Vernon route down the Potomac River to Mount Vernon itself or up the W&OD trail into Reston and points north, there's a bevy of choices for skilled and aspiring bikers.

Faced with a critical decision, Lara of 237 Inc. made lemons (a totaled car) into lemonade by making a commitment to traversing DC via bicycle or public transit many months ago. Her energetic and positive spirit has turned this necessity into a bit of an evangelistic endeavor, by cycling even more and more for pleasure and encouraging others to do the same! In fact, Michelle of Monkey Grl Duds and Lara biked many miles to Buzz for a QCC meeting not too long ago. It should come as no suprise, then, that she created this new design for her line of t-shirts, which also includes an homage to our hometown with the DC flag inside the wheel's center.

Lara creates each design by hand and screenprints each and every one in her home with the creative support of her loving feline family. One great service Lara provides is the ability for you to pick a shirt color and ink combination to suit your fancy. Each of these choices is provided here for you and also in her Etsy shop. Support handmade, support queer crafters, and support folks who are making great decisions for themselves and for the world that we all live in.