Sewing, blogging, and creative business.
I’m very excited to have finished this patchwork Progress Pride Flag quilt. The pattern is by Bobbie Gentili from Geeky Bobbin. All of the fabrics are scraps from my stash.
This was a fun project and the finished quilt is really bright and colorful. As part of this process, I also enjoyed learning more about how the design of the Progress Pride flag came to be.
I’m working on a few new Halloween-themed projects. Jack the Pumpkin is one of them. He’ll be accompanied by Candace the Candy Corn: And there might just be a sweet little ghost, too. Stay tuned next week. I’m also sewing Halloween costumes. We will have a dinosaur, a mad scientist, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg thisRead More →
I feel like there’s a lot already written about why every online business should have a newsletter. It’s a subject that’s been beaten to death and all of the advice is essentially the same. Building a blog readership and gaining followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are all nice, but building your list is theRead More →
I’m talking about sewing monsters on today’s episode of the While She Naps podcast. My guests are Chelsea Bloxsom and Phil Barbato. If you’re an avid softie-maker than these two designers are already on your radar. If you’ve never sewn a toy (and even if you never think you will) this episode has valuable informationRead More →
I’ve been working on a total overhaul of one of my earliest and best-selling patterns: the topsy turvy doll. I first published this pattern in the summer of 2012. I love topsy turvy dolls and my kids do, too. The wonderful surprise when you flip her over and pull down her skirt… …and there’s someoneRead More →
I came home from a church rummage sale a few years ago with a stack of 1960’s craft books and tucked inside one of them was this much older pamphlet called “Easy-to-Sew Toys”. It was published in 1944 by Clark’s O.N.T. – J. & P. Coats (the merger of these two companies became the CoatsRead More →
A few weeks ago I reviewed Mariska Vos-Bolman’s new book, Sew Cute to Cuddle. Through a comment on that post I met Ame Verso, the Content Director for F+W, Mariska’s publisher. Ame acquired Mariska’s book and helped to clarify F+W’s approach to selling individual patterns as PDFs on their own site and on EtsyRead More →
My mom was here visiting over the weekend. We were chatting about blogging and she asked me a great question. “How do you find blogs?” She’s an avid reader and knowledge seeker and she’d like to find blogs about the things she’s interested in, but isn’t sure where to begin. Typically I stumble across aRead More →
I’m really excited to be teaching and speaking at the Craftcation making and business conference this year. At the start of 2014 I set a series of year-long goals for my business. I knew I needed a new website and that was going to be this year’s major financial investment, but for a long timeRead More →
Each month Mollie Johanson organizes her blog, Wild Olive, around a particular animal. All of her projects, patterns, and printables for the month incorporate that animal motif. I think this is a really brilliant way to blog. A month-long visual theme can help you to brainstorm new ideas (what if I put it on aRead More →
My older daughters go to Hebrew School at our synagogue three times a week. They learn to read and speak Hebrew, they learn Jewish prayers and Jewish history, they learn about holidays and about Israel. Most of all, they develop a strong, positive identity as Jewish people. When Hebrew School started up again this fallRead More →