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.
A few months ago I was searching for a hand sewing project I could do in the evenings and weekends while relaxing with my family. I gave English Paper Piecing a try and fell in love. Here's why EPP is perfect for me: You don't have to cut anything in a straight line with aRead More →
No matter how you cut it, blogging involves writing. It doesn’t have to be a writing-intensive exercise (Geninne has a wonderfully successful art blog with very few words), but it’s going to involve putting at least a few sentences together for each post and sometimes much more than that. Writing is a craft just likeRead More →
Sew a basket full of soft rattle balls in a rainbow of colors (or do all black and white!). These are a great toddler toy, and they’re also fun juggling balls for older kids. To make a soft rattle ball you’ll need: two 8″ x 5″ scraps of fabric (I used fleece, but almost anyRead More →
Quilt Market was last weekend. My Instagram feed was full of pictures of new fabric collections, designers beaming proudly in their beautiful booths, and the crazy crowds at Sample Spree. If you sew and follow sewing blogs at all, I’m sure you’ve heard about Quilt Market. But what is it exactly? How did it comeRead More →
In episode #20 of the podcast my guests are Rachael Gander and Kim Werker. Rachael is a sewist, mom, wife, designer, blogger, and fabric enthusiast who learned to sew alongside her mom, but lost interest in the craft until her early twenties. She has spent the last fifteen years making up for lost time, experimentingRead More →
One of the things I love best about the Internet is that it gives me the ability to find beautiful work by plush makers around the world. In the past, hunting for this sort of work was really difficult. I was dependent on a few images sporadically published in obscure magazines with no way toRead More →
Fleece is a little bit fuzzy. It's got a short plush pile with little fiber nubs that make it really soft and cuddly and perfect for toys. You might think that the fuzzy pile would make it difficult to applique on fleece, but it's not hard at all once you know a few tricks. ForRead More →
Last year I was talking to a designer about the class line up at an upcoming sewing conference. I pointed out that one of the classes people seemed to be most excited about was on surface design. She said, “I don't think surface design should be taught at conferences like this. Are you there toRead More →
I wanted to pop in quickly to show you two new things coming to my shop next week. First is a brand new and totally fun supply… The most adorable safety eyes! The eyes are the most important part of a toy and they can be kinda nervewracking to make from felt or embroideryRead More →
“Where do you find your inspiration?” I’ve been asked this question dozens of times and if you’re an artist I’m sure you have, too. Almost anytime an artist is interviewed this question comes up. But it shouldn’t. Asking an artist, “Where do you find your inspiration?” is a not a good question. It frames artRead More →