Caftan!
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Caftan!

Once, when I was 24 and I had absolutely had it, had it, had it with the Man and Capitalism and the Mall, I decided I needed to make my own clothes. Fueled by nothing other than an art school girl’s sheer cojones, I figured it couldn’t be too hard to make a dress. Who needed designer labels anyway? Who would want to be branded by the machine of hegemony, homogeneity, and normalcy? Huh? Who? So, with ego in hand, I set out to make a dress with no skills other than being an abstract painter and the fact that I had taken home-ec in 7th grade. Needless to say, it didn’t go very well. read more

September 15, 2012
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Real Family Food by Amanda Haas
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Real Family Food by Amanda Haas

Ok, this is an absolutely incredible cookbook for the family and I have to share it with you. I am not being paid to say this, I am just in love with this book!

I subscribe to Amanda Haas’ online menu planner called One Family One Meal and I really like it. It gives me fresh ideas for affordable, healthy, varied, whole-family-friendly meals. In fact, last year I blogged about it in a post detailing how I was failing the housewife olympics (hahahaha) see here. read more

August 29, 2012
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Craft Punk Giveaway :: My little punk rock girl in GenQ!
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Craft Punk Giveaway :: My little punk rock girl in GenQ!

Pinhead Pincushion pattern available over at GenerationQ Magazine.
She’s kinda cute and kinda tough– totally spunky, craft-punky and rad. She’s bad-ass and adorable– my little punk rock girl. I sketched this idea for a pincushion two years ago on a napkin.  I was pondering pins and pincushions and it occurred to me that the pins could be piercings. Now, I’m not a pierced person myself–other than the obligatory (and short-lived) double left-ear-pierced phase in college…which I might need to revisit ;)…but my husband was all pierced-up when we met… …so anyway, my little punk rock girl isn’t a self portrait, but I think I am in love with her.  When the hip, new modern sewing magazine, GenerationQ, asked me to submit a project, you can imagine that I thought of her right away. She’s featured in the new issue (Fall 2012). They named her the Pinhead Pincushion, which I just love. The pattern is available on the GenQ website here for you to download. They even created a flickr group to showcase what you make! Some of my ideas are so weird, that I’m not sure if they are good or not–but I hope you like her as much as I do. Oh, and yes, that is blush on her cheeks…what? She needed a little color!

Anyway, leave a comment by August 23rd about your double left-ear-piercing phase (or some other phase) or your favorite pincushion and I’ll draw two lucky winners to receive the new GenerationQ Magazine!

August 17, 2012
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The big four oh.
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The big four oh.


My birthday is this week and it has got me thinking—really thinking.

On March 15, 2010, when I began this blog with a post about my sewing machine, it was a bold move to make a beginning. It was a tiny speck of dust, a squeak, a throat-clearing, spoken into the immensity of the internet. I didn’t know where it would take me, but it was a start. At its conception, it was just like what blogger, Herriott Grace calls, “a savings account for things I like.” Pretty simple—just my favorite stuff from the web and the things I was sewing. I was a beginner at both sewing and blogging, and I was healing some stuff so I was following my bliss. read more

July 31, 2012
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Summer craft :: Alternate uses for sewing patterns
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Summer craft :: Alternate uses for sewing patterns

Kids are so cool. They just know how to make their own fun. Lately, several of my mama friends have been emailing me pictures of creations made by their cooped-up Arizona summertime kids. I was surprised to hear what they used as inspiration—my Giggle & Squeak quilt pattern templates! I am totally inspired to make a coloring/art book when I see these kids using my templates in such creative ways. I particularly like the framed creations by Lily. Kids don’t need any help from me to celebrate their inner artists. Rather, I need help from them to remember to think creatively and find inspiration from the things that are right in front of me. Give your sewing templates to your kids and see what summer fun you can make! read more

July 23, 2012
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summer sewing
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summer sewing

One of the bestest parts about having a sewing studio is that it seems to beckon all children who visit and eventually we end up wandering in to sew something. I just luh-uve these spontaneous sewing encounters. It is fun for me to facilitate plans the kiddos dream up. On a recent play date, our friend decided she’d like to make a pillow. She drew this sketch: read more

July 10, 2012
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