gifting

It’s the gifting time of year, and no matter how many items I check off the gift list, I never feel right until I include something home-made in the mix.

Over the years, I have made and given:

Ginger Lime Syrup for making home made Ginger Ale – also delicious in tea and apple dishes

A beach bag with a hand made pouch

 

Home made bird suet

A refillable burlap bird feeder

It was popular with the recipients as well as with the birds.

Regifting wine bags

And various gifts for my chicken lover friends –

And my cat lover friends

I hope someone will get some ideas for making some hand made gifts of their own. Let me know if you have any questions about any of these. Happy Gifting!

 

writing for magazines

My newest sewing article is out, and I thought it might be interesting to explain how the process works.

Almost a year ago, I sent Sew News an email with the picture above. I said I’d like to write an article explaining how to make these 3 pillows I was working on. After 3 weeks or so, they got back to me and said yes, I have the assignment. At that point they sent a contract detailing what they wanted (process photos, instructions, patterns, etc). They also gave me a due date and told me what they would pay me. I got to work.

Prior to the due date, I packed up the pillows and mailed them to the Sew News office for a photo shoot. I sent the article, patterns, and photos of the process via email. Months later, I got paid. Months after that, I got the pillows back along with the latest copy of Sew News magazine with my article in it.

It’s on sale now in bookstores, sewing stores, and craft stores.

 

Happy Holidays

One of the great things about having adult children is the people they bring into our lives. After a while the friends and boyfriends and girlfriends start walking in without knocking. The dog knows them and stays on the sofa and wags her tail. (Instead of going ballistic like she would if a stranger came into the house.)

I decided this year that my daughter’s boyfriend and son’s girlfriend needed their own homemade stockings. An official welcome to the family.

Enjoy your holidays, everyone.

the big reveal

After months of cleaning and painting and organizing, I am finally calling my new office/sewing room done.Here is my printing/cutting/mailing area.If you know what a Cricut is (my Christmas present from my family,) then you will know that I am spoiled, indeed.Here is my desk with my new computer system – a birthday gift from my family (I wasn’t kidding about the spoiled thing.) My geranium and begonia are struggling to hold out until spring.Here’s my sewing area – my focus was overcome by the cuteness of Brittney – a violently feral cat when she came to us pregnant – two years ago. My daughter spent a ton of time feeding her treats, one by one. Now, she’s a full-fledged people person. And here’s the area behind my desk – the wall I see from my sewing table. I am having a ton of fun, these days.