working + playing + eating = no stitching

last weekend we had the pleasure of experiencing a marathon stitch sesh. we started the day with a lovely brunch by kintea, took a couple hour break (some napped, some strolled, others prepped for what was to come), and then covered karen's basement with paint (of course, mr. sato helped, too).

to rid us of the paint fumes and to take advantage of what remained of the glorious day, we took a long walk on the beach, which included mr. sato, running, educational moments, and a near-pick up when a couple boys asked for a couple girls' names.

to top off the wondrous day, there was much eating, drinking, and tv, yet not much stitching--WAIT--i forgot: maux's impressive stitchery was put on display as she is nearly finished with an adorable dress that has wowed all of us. 3 cheers for maux!

C&C goes wine tasting!

I'm so excited about our upcoming trip to Yakima Valley, the Napa of Washington, that I had to post before we go tasting this weekend. It's likely there won't be much crafting this weekend, but the wine will flow and fun will be had. I can't imagine we will have anything to complain about, either!

Of course there will be pictures and an update of the weekend to come!

Cheers!

new craftalicious mag!

the craftie vibe was strong at my house today. 2 coworkers (who lean far into the tech zone) contacted me about craft blogs and mags.

the mag may out-stitch and out-glue gun the heavyweight in handy dandies--Ready Made--although IMO, RM is a little too "i can fix this" for me.

check out CRAFT: Make Cool Stuff
cool, huh?

AND, it has a blog and a newsletter. i'll be posting about the blog once it debuts!

AND AND AND: my good buddy Bre Pettis is a part of the MAKE blog! rock on, bre!

cute card!

i love making cards. i haven't bought any type of card in a long time. this one was particularly cute--for my dear friend hollis with whom i've been friends for 18 years now!

wow.

the card is made of paper, felt, sequins, and a bead.

New books!

Well, I broke down and bought 2 Debbie Bliss knitting books. They are both supposedly for beginners, but I'm not so sure about that. My current project, a baby hat, is not as easy as I would have hoped, and I think that my baby cousin will be 3 years old before I actually finish! Anyway, I will keep working, with hopes that one day I will be able to make a sweater!

martha made me do it

back when martha busted outta the slammuh, karen and i decided to celebrate by buying a subscription to her fine magazine. i pick up tidbits here and there, and when she offers some particularly sage advice, such as not wearing socks on the day of the gala event--holy sock lines--i pass the good word to my s n' b friends.

this is one of those times. it seems that if you rub a salt-soaked sliced lemon on tarnished copper--voila--the shine is rejuvenated, and your item is a shiny, coppery marvel.

martha is pretty consistent about one thing: she always leaves something out. whether an ingredient, how long dough rises, or in this case: how much elbow grease it'll take to complete a task (she's elusive with her staff's time on a project), readers must tread carefully and recognize they're on their own at some point in the process. in this case, it'll take a lot of time and more than one lemon to shine up my poor tea kettle. check out the color on the lid for the pre-lemon look.

newsflash: s n' b groups mark the demise of civilization

my buddy jay just let me in on an emerging suit affecting s n' b groups: freetostitchfreetobitch.org

he sent me this link about the story. thanks, rebecca!

my thoughts can pretty much be summed up as follows:

spend your money on more important pursuits like stopping human suffering.

or at least toss some of the change you're saving up for lawsuits toward some nyc orgs that could use some help... like hand-sewn clothes and blankets!

geez.

using stuff i have around...

i've been thinking about design lately, and decided to spruce up some free marketing magnets and some plain boring ones i have, too.


i cut out interesting designs from magazines and a postcard of a painting i liked, and super glued 'em to the magnet. you'd never know that the rectangular one was originally advertising some insurance dude.

more complaining, less crafting

it's true, we've been experiencing a lull in craftland, but we've definitely made up for it in true friendship, so there's no complaints here. seems like we've all had exploits to share, from coffee dates and salacious dinner conversations, to family visits that invited new perspectives on how we show up when we're stressed.

this last s n' b meeting finally got me going again on my cozy. i've still maintained my no measurement, all by hand approach, and i can't believe it's actually starting to look like what i imagined.