Almost summer

It all changed. Two weeks ago. All at once. I felt it. Now I can see it too—the light is different. It is a slow awakening each year. And then, rather suddenly, everything shifts. The light turns almost pink. My pupils can’t do their work of filtering out the sun anymore and sunglasses, which in the winter are just an option, now become a necessity. read more

have you seen these?

LEGO for Moleskine. Be still my heart.

LEGO for Moleskine. Limited edition journals: write in the book—attach LEGOS to the cover. And then the counsel to “think with your hands.” Goodness me. I think this might be my moment of nirvana in the capitalist mainframe for the week. Is it more heavenly for the child or for his parents? Not sure. We might just get some super glue and a Composition notebook and call it quits. 🙂 Get your at Moleskine or Amazon. read more

The trouble with blogging or confessions of a social media addict

housemade, artisinal iPhones

Oh dear. My thoughts won’t leave me alone today. I am supposed to be cleaning my disaster of a studio. Am listening to the Sundays—very loudly I might add—in hopes that it might drown out my thoughts so I can clean my work table of all the patterns left unassembled from my recent shipments. But alas, my monkey mind is chatting away and my ears, though filled with song, are hooked up to my brain, damnit. So here I am at the damn computer again. I refuse to turn down the Sundays as I type because I am in blogging denial and so my fingers feel rather frenetic and the dark chocolate I just ate is making me feel fairly hopped-up and invincible. read more

STITCH Magazine, Spring 2012

The new Stitch magazine is out and it looks great! I have a project in this issue called everyday containers—super simple fabric buckets, made using oilcloth! (See an earlier post about a total mathematical/emotional meltdown trying to make fabric buckets long ago here.)  You can store things in them that you wouldn’t normally want to put in a fabric bucket—diaper cream, makeup, Legos, crudités, anything. The laminated cotton makes them wipeable and resistant. I used Kate Spain’s Central Park Metro in two colorways for the oilcloth lining. read more

Thoughts on Blogher ’11

Just got back from the blogging convention in San Diego (that was the Lede). I experienced a lot and most, not all, of it was good (that was the Hook). But met lots of cool, smart, savvy women and there was loads of energy and buzz. My pretension meter did go off a few times, however. And I was aware that “savvy” sometimes goes hand in hand with “weary.” But there was so much to learn and many kind women to chat up. For example, I learned about the basic format of journalistic writing–Lede, Hook, Nut graph, Kicker (this is the Nut Graph). Here are some more things I gleaned:
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The new Love stamps are here!


Oh, happy day! The new Love stamps are here. Now, you know that I just love stamps. See an earlier post on my love of stamps here. But (and I know I can tend towards superlatives) these might be my all-time favorite stamps. Sunny, vibrant, evocative of folk art and yet distinctly modern. I have been going to the post office for months hoping they had arrived and I even went yesterday. But I had no luck. My mom found these at the Hallmark store and gave them to me…she didn’t even know I had been waiting anxiously for them! She loves them, too. read more

Humility in the patchwork

Well, I just found my humility for the day. A four inch square of patchwork just took me down. No joke. If it were always smooth sailing, we’d get so bored, wouldn’t we? I’ve never met an art form that didn’t put me in touch with my humility in short order. But, $%@#!&*. I had to rip out the smallest corner of my new quilt FIVE or SIX times today and each time that little square of fabric became more and more of a mess. Weird, because it was for no technical reason or something that was beyond my reach…just simple, straight sewing. But if you lose your focus, things tend to collapse. The first time it happened I ripped it and sewed it again. By the third time, I thought of the buddhist monk raking his zen garden– the beautiful patterns raked into gravel and sand for hours and hours. And when he is done– he gathers a handful of fallen leaves and throws them onto his work. As if to say: I am not perfect. I am not in charge. I am not above nature. I am just a humble man. Things change. The wind blows…more leaves will fall soon enough. I LOVE stories like that– stories about man’s ability to attain humility and practice it is an art form. Like the Tibetan Buddhists hunched over sand mandalas for fifty or sixty hours creating elaborate patterns and images in sand. When they finish, they wipe their hands through it to symbolize impermanence. OK, so I didn’t mean to throw leaves at my quilt…but the results are the same. It is all fixed now and you can see the work in progress above. I am super excited about it. It is my newest pattern. It is the companion to my Wonky Little Houses™ Pillow pattern. The Wonky Little Houses™ Quilt pattern. It will be released and for sale in my etsy shop this month! Oh, and below are some monks making a mandala and then another erasing one.

Makedo




I just found this jaw-droppingly cool company, Makedo. They sell little connector kits for assembling sculptures and creatures from leftover cardboard, yogurt cups, etc. I see hours and hours of fun for my family when I look at these little plastic bits. Their product is one part genius and one part no-duh! In fact, I have used little brads for similar purposes with the big boy, but they aren’t nearly as effective as these humongo plastic brads. The little accompanying saw tool looks like it cuts through cardboard so easily. Watch their cute video here.
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