Sew Darn Cute

Stitched Together

Since my blog has a brand new look, I thought I'd tell you a bit about the new banner design. About a month ago, I was lucky enough to find this amazing handmade quilt at the thrift store. I call it the "Holy &*#$@! Quilt" because I feel so fortunate to have found it. Most of what I purchase at thrift stores doesn't break the $10 mark, but this was priced at $89-- however I think we can all agree that it's worth that many times over. How could I resist?! It's an entirely hand-stitched double-sized quilt and has no loose threads or stains whatsoever. I adore the beautiful mix of colorful feedsacks with plain white and green fabrics, and the flower garden pattern is a classic. I feel so grateful to have been able to rescue a handmade beauty like this and make it a part of my home.

While we're on the subject of quilts, do you guys remember the adorable pair of 1970s-era twin sized quilts I thrifted last year, which (as the "Made Especially for You" label informed us) were sewn by a woman named Edna DeMerse? I got some fun e-mails and comments from you guys wondering if she was still alive, where she was from, who the quilts were made for, and so on. Well, the mystery has finally been solved! Edna's step-niece Gladys came across my blog entry and left this sweet comment on the original post:

Hi I was a step-neice of Edna DeMerse of Vallejo Ca. I was just surfing on the internet and here I am. She was a wonderful lady who passed away in 1995. She loved to make things and taught me how to crochet when I was a little girl.

How great is that?! Thanks so much for writing, Gladys. This is just part of what I love about buying things (especially handmade things) secondhand-- behind every item is a story. I feel so lucky that in this particular case, I was able to find out just what that story was.

Sending Up Smoke Signals

I'm here, I'm here! Just thought I should make note of that here since I've left the blog unattended since...late November! Yikes!! Sorry for the unusually long sabbatical, after the holiday Felt Club last year things got non-stop crazy between work and travel (and traveling for work), and this poor ol' blog had to take a backseat. I'll try to be better from now on-- promise. I even prettied up the joint with a new color scheme and banner design, so if you're reading this via an RSS reader, visit the blog itself and check it out!

There's no way I could catch you up on everything that's happened in the last 3-4 months in one blog entry, so you'll have to settle for a few highlights and some more frequent posting from me from now on. Oh and just so you know, I'm now blogging at CRAFT on a much more frequent schedule: five times a day, Monday through Friday. I'm even on the little blog masthead now, ha! It's a lot of work but I love, love, love it.

One thing I'd like to show off is latest tattoo, the scissors you see above (which match the needle and thread on my other wrist). The scissors (like the thread) were drawn by Jordan Crane and the tattoo was done by TJ Hernandez at American Electric. I love how it turned out and I think I'm done with tattoos for now...but don't quote me.

Sooo, I've been very busy working on my sewing book for St. Martin's Press, which is taking a bit longer than I'd hoped but all in all things are going great. The good news too is that we recently upped the amount of projects included from 25 to 30, which on the one hand is more work but on the other hand means MORE FUN! What's killing me is not being able to show anybody the stuff I'm working on. (I've posted a teeny, tiny sneak peek at one of the projects above. Nope, I can't tell you what it is. Nope, it's not a quilt or a table runner. Nope, I won't tell you!) I will post more sneak peeks here and there but for the most part things will stay under wraps. I can't wait to surprise you guys with the full package, y'know?

Some of the projects included are based on items I used to sell on my retail site, such as the crochet hook cozies and sweet treat totes, but most are totally new (and even the old-school projects have been tweaked and "kicked up a notch" to use Emeril-speak). The projects aren't just bags, either-- there's fun stuff for kids, items to make for your home, and more. Basically I'm super happy with how things have been turning out, but look forward to finishing things up and preparing for the photoshoot at the end of April. Whew!!

Speaking of books, have you heard about Susan Beal's Bead Simple yet? If you've ever been even slightly interested in making jewelry, you'll want to pick this up the minute it hits bookstores (March 25!). The book features a total of 150 fantastic designs that span a wide spectrum of beading and jewelry-making techniques. What's especially cool is that Susan enlisted nearly 40 crafty pals (familiar names like Jennifer Perkins, Cathy of California, Faythe Levine and yep, yours truly) to put their own spin on her projects. It's great seeing how different folks put their stamp on things and I'm so proud of Susan for putting together such an inventive and beautiful book. Yay Susan!!

PS: I'm so pleased that I actually finished a crochet project last fall (crochet being a craft that is outside of my usual Crafty Comfort Zone) that I have to share it here-- this is an owl amigurimi I made for Susan's soon-to-arrive baby girl! Narumi from Mr. Funky generously wrote out the pattern for me (it's not in her book) and helped me get started way back when and I'm happy with how it came out. I look forward to having more time to explore crafting for purely selfish reasons once the book is all done. I think next time a crocheted toadstool or gnome might be in order!

Tomorrow!

I am gonna be going nutso all day long tomorrow, trying to make Felt Club happen. Hope to see you SoCal folks there!! I promise to update again soon, after things settle down and I get through this weekend. :)

Now It Can Be Told

This is an old drawing Ivan Brunetti did of me, which I thought would be very appropriate for me to post today... because I'm writing a book! I've hinted in the past that I had some top secret projects in the works, and this was one of them. I just got the go-ahead to let the world know that next winter, you'll be able to buy a copy of Sew Darn Cute: 25 Sweet & Simple Projects to Sew & Embellish, published by St. Martin's Press. The book will contain a variety of fresh and playful patterns for beginning and experienced stitchers alike—including patterns for several items I used to sell on my website, like cupcake totes, layer cake pouches, and crochet hook cozies. I'm so excited to finally be able to share this news, and even more excited to share these projects. In short...wahoo!

Travelin' Like a Wilbury

How cute are these dudes? Answer: extremely! You're looking at Jennifer of Textile Fetish and her adorable daughters Olivia and Chloe. We spent the day together in Austin, Texas on Monday, winding down from a looong weekend I spent working at Maker Faire. It was great being shown Austin (or at least a bit of it!) by a local, and especially great that it was a local as super-sweet and funny as Jennifer. Her kids are such friendly, hilarious little monkeys too. Thanks again, guys!

This is a pic I took of the Lion Brand Yarn booth at Maker Faire. I love their new yarns and patterns!

Maker Faire was an overwhelming and altogether great experience, and in addition to all the mind-blowing science-fair-gone-wrong (and if Mentos-and-Diet Coke fountains are wrong, I don't want to be right) activities happening, I also got to see so many of my favorite people—my fellow CRAFT staffers, but also great folks like Jenny Hart, Jennifer Perkins, Faythe Levine and my new pal Cecily Keim. Hanging out with all these inspiring and creative people at once got me really excited for the upcoming Felt Club Holiday Event, and I was finally able to finish getting up the vendor gallery for said show. Can I just say...WOW! I knew we had chosen a killer array of crafters but seeing their stuff all in one place makes it even more real. I am so excited (and freaked) for November 18.

Know what's funny, though? I barely had time to unpack my bag before I had to hop back on a plane again, this time for NYC! I'm writing you now from a hotel off Broadway where I'm staying with my fellow CRAFT blogger Natalie Zee. If you tune into the CBS Early Show (and I do mean early!) on Saturday morning you'll get to see a "Last Minute Halloween Costumes for Kids" fashion show we've put together. I'll be working the scenes backstage as a costume stylist/kid wrangler while Nat works her on-camera magic. Best of all, we were able to rope some great CRAFT contributors into creating the costumes for our little segment: Diana Eng, Cathy Callahan, Susan Beal, and Nancy Flynn. If you're not an early riser and don't have a DVR, you'll be able to view the segment on CBS online later (and we'll be posting costume instructions and photos on Saturday too). I'll keep you posted—please wish us luck! This is one of the crazier things I've ever had to work on so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Right now though...bedtime! Being in three different time zones in one week has me totally zonked. If there are any traveling salesmen reading these...how do you do it?!

Yay (and Phew)

Above is a (not so great) photo of my latest batch of crochet hook cozies, which I completed last weekend. Yesterday I packed them and a ton of other stuff up and spent 45 minutes at the post office mailing everything out. Now I'm D-O-N-E done! There are no more orders waiting to be shipped out, I can finally breathe. It's such a huge relief to be finished with it all, though I did get sort of wistful all over again about closing my shop. I really do believe it was the best thing to do considering everything else I have going on right now—and I'm excited to craft for myself again—but it was an odd thing to be addressing a big stack of parcels for the last time. Anyway, if you were waiting on an order from SewDarnCute, it should be arriving soon, so keep an eye out! Here are the zip codes I sent packages to (maybe yours is among them?): 48336, 95465, 02655, 90042, 63122, 20190, 94560, 94301, 60505, 75052, 60647, 20712, 60506, 20906, 50010, 91205, 55123, 46986, 60622.

And now that the going-out-of-business maelstrom is over, I can work on deep-cleaning and reorganizing my studio—I have new shelves to put up, fun paint-by-number woodland paintings to hang, and lots of fabrics to fold and stack. I actually love doing that sort of organizing/cleaning and am looking forward to the "clean slate" feeling it will bring. With everything this Fall has in store (Maker Faire, Felt Club, the holidays, etc.), it's exactly what I need right now. Speaking of Maker Faire, I'm going to teach two crafty demonstrations while I'm there: pumpkin pincushions and charm jewelry. I may also be giving a talk about starting a crafty business. Most of my time will be spent in the CRAFT area and/or the Maker Store, so if you're in Austin on October 20 or 21, please come by and say hello!

Done with the Fair, Headed to Austin

Oh, my. I don't think I really realized how crazed things would get when I closed my business. Thankfully I'm in the home stretch now, and should finally be done sewing and shipping everything out by the end of this week. I was just at the post office with another dozen or so packages today. Eep! Sadly, during the mad crush of sewing, my old reliable 1957 Singer decided to conk out on me. Usually I can fix it again by taking it apart, dusting and oiling and lubing, then reassembling. This may be a job for the pros, though.

HowEVER, I was able to score a great deal on a new Pfaff last week at the LA County Fair, after one of our Felt Club demos! A local sewing shop donated 8 Pfaffs for use in the quilting area, and throughout the month, they would be in use by area sewers working on charity quilts and the like. At the end of the month, the gently-used machines went on sale for half off (and if you know how much Pfaffs run, you'll know that's a great savings). If you're in the market for a new sewing machine, I definitely recommend checking out Pollard's Sew Creative in Pasadena (or Glendora). They  gave me a great deal (my likewise-impressed pals Sean and Aldo ended up buying a machine too!) and all their machines include warranties, a year of free lessons, and the chance to "trade up" to a fancier machine within a year if you so desire (they'll apply what you paid for machine #1 towards machine #2). I'm really happy with the customer service I received from these folks and am so happy I took the plunge.

What else? The demos we did all last month at the fair were incredibly fun. I learned a lot of new stuff, like how to bind books from Tyler Bender, and met a lot of great people. If you're a local pal who stopped by to say hi, THANK YOU! We all had a ton of fun. At the amigurumi demo, my friend Narumi of Mr. Funky helped me refresh my woefully inadequate crochet skills (those are her handmade stuffies above!) so I've been practicing making flowers when I watch TV ever since. A few from this week are pictured above. So relaxing, and I love the near-instant gratification.

In other news, planning for the November Felt Club is going at full speed. Last week was our long, long jury meeting, and we ended up with over 70 wonderful vendors. Sadly, some of our old favorites didn't make it in it this time, if only because we try to mix it up each time. We had 300 applicants for only 70-something spaces, so if we want the show to be different every time we really need to switch people out and bring in some new blood. Even so, not everyone can make it in and inevitably some talented people get left out. I think our vendors have a great attitude about this though, which I'm so grateful for.

Also! Looks like I'll be in Austin, TX on October 20 and 21 for Maker Faire. I'll be demonstrating different craft projects and basically helping spread the word about CRAFT magazine. I'm a CRAFT evangelist, don'tcha know? Anyway, if you're in the area, be sure to come by and say hi! I'll post more details as I get them. Oh and I hope you'll consider bookmarking the CRAFT blog, I post on there nearly every day (most times several times per day). Between myself and the rest of our blog crew (especially Nat!) it's a hoppin' joint! I've also been doing a series of "Craft Biz Q+A" interviews with a variety of talented people, such as The Little Friends of Printmaking, Heidi Kenney of MyPaperCrane, Christine Haynes of Twospace, Susie Ghahremani of boygirlparty, and Cathy of California. The interviews run every Tuesday around noon, and you can check out the archive here.

Cookies & Milk

Oh, boy. My days are so scary busy lately the weeks just fly by. It's a little overwhelming but I'm doing my best to keep up! Lately I've been keeping busy with a lot of CRAFT blogging, running D.I.Y. demos at the L.A. County Fair, planning the Felt Club Holiday Show (applications are online now!), and working on around 4 top secret projects I hope to be able to reveal soon. It's enough to make a girl just plotz!

I managed to have at least one relaxing evening last week, having a little movie party with Johnny and my pals Jordan and Steve. We watched the hilariously bad (yet great) flick From Beyond, brought to you by the same folks who did the classic ReAnimator. It may sound weird considering how much I love cutesy stuff like cupcakes and baby bunnies, but I absolutely love disgusting and cheesy horror movies—and this one is a real keeper.

photo stolen from Shelteriffic

Speaking of keepers, you have got to try this chocolate chip cookie recipe I came across on Shelterrific. It originally ran in the NY Times and has inspired a lot of debate...everyone has their own idea what makes a "perfect" chocolate chip cookie, after all. I don't know if this one is completely perfect, but it's pretty damn close. Jordan must have eaten at least a dozen in the span of an hour and a half. Either he's a compulsive eater or they were damn good. Maybe both. Just be sure to try them for yourself and let me know what you think! The recipe is here.

ALSO! I want to thank you guys once again for your responses to my going out of business sale. I'm working very hard to fill everyone's orders and sent out a big batch of packages today. I do warn people on the site that everything is made to order, and with the crush of orders it can take up to 4 weeks before I can get everything stitched and shipped, but rest assured I'm working on it. Packages should start appearing in mailboxes this week—if you ordered a bunch of sewn stuff, hold tight a little bit longer. Thanks for having patience in this overbooked gal and her super-messy sewing room. Orders went out to the following zip codes today: 94118, 19508, 20016, 97206, 75204, 46220, 08244, 90404, 93110, 77550, 94116, 95820, 32766, 30306, 91423. Phew!

Last Chance

Today (Friday, September 14) is the very last day to place an order at SewDarnCute. I'll be closing ordering at midnight tonight. This blog will eventually take up residence at that URL and I'll continue to post all manner of craft projects and fun ramblings there. Thanks so much for the outpouring of love and support, you guys are fantastic. Thanks for helping spread the word about the closing sale, too. I hope you'll stick with me through my various other upcoming ventures, I promise it will be worth it. :)

Charmed, I'm Sure

Last night was the first in a series of craft demonstrations I curated for the L.A. County Fair. The demo, Charm Jewelry 101, was taught by my super-sweet pal Laura Stokes (and her likewise wonderful boyfriend Mike) of Charcoal Designs. The fair was not too busy, probably because it was a Wednesday night, but it was still a lot of fun. I ended up coming away with two new charm bracelets (I made one, Johnny made the other) as well as a pair of cereal box earrings Johnny made for me. They got compliments all night! Here's a pic of the goodies we made, plus my ultra-swank Felt Club airbrushed hat (I just had to match my friend Wendy, who had one made at last year's fair). Dig it!

I also purchased several D.I.Y. Bracelet Kits and Charm Packs from Laura, which I'll be offering soon via the Felt Club Web Shoppe. Expect to see a lot more crafty kits and supplies there soon. There's a lot of fun stuff in the works, for the event and website both, you'll absolutely plotz!

This Saturday from about 10am-3pm I'll be back at the fair helping to host a demo with CRAFT magazine Ed-in-Chief (and all-around awesome lady) Carla Sinclair. Our pal Wendy will be on hand as well serving as an assistant/cheerleader. We're gonna teach folks to make paper beads and will also be selling copies of CRAFT. If you've been considering visiting the fair I hope you'll stop by and hang out with us! The info is here on the Felt Club website.