Who knew a whole year could fly by so quickly? It feels like it was only yesterday that I was painting walls white, putting together shelving and scrubbing old concrete floors. To be honest, I'm still scrubbing old concrete floors but the walls are barely visible now that the shelves are stocked, the many samples hung, and there is now so much inspiration on the walls made to share with all of you.

<PREVIEWEND>Some folks have referred to the 19th of February as our anniversary. But we've been calling it a birthday. Perhaps because Noah and I don't have children. Perhaps because she was just a tiny little seed of a dream in 2009. Then a reality by October of 2010 when we became an actual Massachusetts business. Gather Here was a concept, a logo, a business plan, a website and a pile of Ikea shelving. Boxes of stuff from all over the world arrived in January 2011. And the blood, sweat and tears of a village of believers made her greater than the sum of her parts by February of that year. Noah and I have watched this shop wobble, stumble and finally get her bearings and walk proudly into the community. We hope to see her run before she is two years of age.

This Sunday we celebrate the dream of one crazy crafter and the people that make it possible for gather here to grow up. We've got lots to share including some of our favorite local crafters and artists. Opening Gather Here has created opportunities to collaborate or witness the collaborations of the talented community. It's our pleasure to share these folks with you.

Who's going to be at the party:

Made in Lowell will be returning! We just began carrying her awesome cupcake pincushion rings in 2012 but we know she's bringing full-sized cupcake pin cushions. And perhaps a mushroom pin cushion, too.

Ady Bee of Dye KnittinK Dye is back with her gorgeous fibers (including vegan yarns!!!) as well as an amazing collaboration with the incredible designer, Ann Weaver. We'll be showcasing Ann's trunk show and books, too. Our professional sample knitter, Koren is in the middle of the Whiteness of the Whale cardigan out of Juniper Moon Farm's Findley. It's going to be gorgeous.

We're excited to introduce many of you to our friend, Patti of On the Edge Knife Sharpening. She'll be sharpening scissors in the shop from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.! She can do left-handed scissors as well as pinking shears. She sharpens all the Gather Here scissors every couple of months and we think she is the absolute bomb-dot-com.

Danielle of the Merriweather Council will be opening her embroidery exhibit in the studio space with over fifty newly made and framed pieces just for this occasion. You'll have the opportunity to meet this inspiring artist and wrestle for one of her pieces. We are a bit frightened that once the wall is covered in her hoops we won't ever want to take them down.

We are fortunate to also be hosting Amy of Knit Collage who has been collaborating with our very own knitting genius, Danielle Shields! She'll have a full-fledged trunk show with lots of luxurious yarn, the newest Knit Collage pattern book as well as some free patterns. If you've never met Amy in-real-life then this alone should get you down to the shop. She is honestly the bestest person we've ever met.

And finally, we have some of our own goodies to share. There will be "craft or die" t-shirts that are hand-screened by the amazing Megan Mary Creamer right over at the Washington Street Arts Center. Limited edition draw string bags designed by Marissa Falco and also screened by Megan Mary Creamer. (I adore both of these ladies so much!) The fabulous Joe Barillaro designed the postcard for our birthday and will have some limited edition posters screen printed by James Weinberg and available for purchase. We can't wait to add this to the other two prints he created in the past year. Some of the samples that we've made will also be for sale. Like the Oliver + S dresses out of Cloud 9 Organic fabrics and a few A-line and wrap skirts. If the fabric is gone there's no sense in keeping these and we hope they'll find good homes. And we've stitched up our very own lined box bags. We don't have many of them because we want you to do-it-yourself but we couldn't resist the combinations of fabrics currently in the shop.

See you Sunday, February 19, 2012 from 2 until 6 p.m. We're excited (aren't we always?), we'll have cupcakes, and we'll have little gifts that we'll be handing out throughout the party compliments of the many companies that supply our shop with quality goods. And like our holiday party, with your $25 purchase you can enter to win a raffle prize! (Ask the holiday prize winners - those prizes were pretty sweet!)

Not to imply that I haven't had a pretty nifty life so far (hello, The Social Network costume credit!) BUT this weekend was probably the best weekend ever. Seriously. We thought it would be awesome if fifty people came by on Saturday and by 10:30 am there were fifty of you knitting, stitching, shopping and chatting. And it was like that all day long. If I had gotten more than four hours of sleep I might have had the energy to hug each and every one of you (perhaps it is better that I didn't!).<PREVIEWEND>

(Saturday morning)


(noah, virginia and mike)

(successful knitter's brunch)


(the swift was handy!)


(yes, that's a guy asleep on the couch! we don't know him)

(check out that awesome pale green shawl on the left)


(2 a.m. Saturday morning - we've had a lot more sleep since then)

We open this Saturday! Ready or not. Not near perfect but with lots of potential. We could spend months arranging, rearranging, learning how to create bar codes, and attempting to make concrete floors look clean. I kind of wish we'd opened up the space to the public before we started our transformation because I'm blown away by how much we accomplished in the last 15 days with little money, the kindness of others and lots of sweat equity.

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Check out Shell and Noah putting in our sink! It's so nice to have a place to rinse your teacup that isn't the bathroom sink or a paint slop sink.  Ultimately we'll use the sink in our fabric printing workshop.

If I never have to paint again it will be a miracle. It seems like every day something still needs a coat of paint! If you see any paint imperfections please don't share them with me for six months.

Joe finished up on Sunday and then had to drive back to NYC! But I have a feeling he might add a few more animals to the mural before he actually signs it.

We got the painted floor I dreamed about compliments of Professor O'Dell. And Liz finished the counter top, using a hand saw no less. There were concrete patches.  And buttons stocked.

It's quite the celebration of color in the shop. Noah has started calling it the "home of rainbows". And on Saturday we open our doors.  We can't wait to share this all with you!