Craft Stylish debut

i am immensely proud to report that i am now a contributor to CraftStylish, an online blog and a print magazine published by Taunton Press, the people behind Threads (of which i am a longtime fan!). my first post is a tutorial on how to sew a t-shirt neckband, which is something i am often asked how to do in my sewing and patternmaking classes. i'll be posting weekly, with more tutes on sewing, crochet, and other related projects. i'm in good company with the likes of kayte terry, linda permann, nicole smith, and those are just the ones i know! if you haven't checked out CS before, it's a cornucopia of articles and news on all things crafty, so please do take a gander, and leave a comment if you like my piece...

egyptian embroidery at the Brooklyn Museum

earlier this month, i taught a free workshop on Egyptian blackwork embroidery at the Brooklyn Museum. i would have posted beforehand to invite you all to it, but it filled up months in advance so i didn't want to tease you! i was assisted by KIM and siri, who kindly took these pics...

the class took place right in the beautiful, bright atrium inside the main entrance, and i think everyone had a great time! the museum offers this series of 'creative art making' workshops every other month, so if you live in nyc you might want to sign up for their e-mail list.

summer SALE in my etsy shop!

i am having a big SUMMER SALE in the hodge podge etsy shop right now, prices are slashed!!! some of these are from past seasons, and i need to clear off my shelves to make room for fall, so check out the bargains. i will also FINALLY be posting some cotton summer/transitional wraps over the next week or two; perfect year-round in warmer climates, and i'll hold off on the woolies until september.

'cept for us dogs... andros chapter 7

ok, thanks for bearing with me on the sporadic blogging of late, not to mention the eternally slow posts of the vacation which was back in, uh, april! i have an excellent excuse for my seeming slackerness, which i promise to divulge very soon...

anyway, i have always loved places where dogs can roam free, and be independent citizens. you know, like in Lady and the Tramp. and andros is one of those places. like you come 'round a corner, and coming the other way is a canine who's clearly on his way somewhere, with no time to talk. handsome mullet, king of the pack, is pete's dog and accompanied us on most of our adventures. he seems to have a pretty good life.





mullet's girlfriend, much to pete's chagrin (he thinks mully could do better), is nubby. they could often be seen making out on the beach or hunting for crabs. one time nubby swam way out to our boat as we were taking off on a little excursion, because you-know-who was in the boat with us. but pete wouldn't let her come aboard, and she had to swim back to shore solo. it was heartbreaking for a softie like me!


this is bob, a neighbor dog who tended to show up whenever i sat on the beach to crochet. he was good company, as long as i scratched his ears every now and then. and once we saw him duck into the bushes with nubby, but don't tell mullet!

ain't nobody here but us chickens, andros chapter 6

one of the best features of pete's pink house was his chickens. i have met many chickens in my life, but never any as friendly as these. i tell you, they were downright cuddly! it was hard to open the door most of the time, all they wanted was to come in the house. they were our morning wake-up call, our burglar alarm system, our welcome wagon and, oh yeah, egg providers. we kept grilling pete on what his secret was; he would only say that he loved his chickens. their coop is an old volkswagon bug.


i think george was even more taken with them than i was!

handmade portrait: built by wendy

bathing suit, andros chapter 5

one fun thing about my trip to andros was that i made my own bathing suit! i have been in need of one for years, so a few weeks before the trip, i decided i should try to find one. i went to one of the big closeout stores (ok, Daffy's) and everything was super cheesy, or just kind of 'eh'. so i looked on etsy, and saw lots of great stuff, but all pretty expensive and i just won't be wearing a suit enough to justify spending like $100 on it. plus, the styles i like are really so simple, so eventually i realized i could, and should, just make it! it's basically a crochet-edged reversible cotton/lycra tank top, with some reversible matching shorts (i just chopped off my leggings pattern). a tankini! then i cut a big piece of the brown, and used it as a sarong skirt/shawl/sun-shielder, and i'd have to say it was quite a success, imho! i don't know why i don't seem to have more pics of it, except that all of my photos were taken by me, so i'm not usually in them. maybe next year i will make some to sell... what do you think?