Dateline: Seattle, Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, a Dead Office
Subject: Blogging Enriches Your Life
Author: Daphne a/k/a Cranky
1. So I went to a blog meetup and it was fun. Quel surprise! I hear you saying. But it was good, and this particular meetup had an added bonus: we all swapped handmade stuff, see?
From left to right, sort of: hand-embroidered linen-covered buttons and linen bag by Stephanie of Ruby-Crowned Kinglette; log cabin sachet by Blair at Wisecraft; and best-oilcloth-ever covered blank book & checkbook cover by Beth of Write, Mama, Write, all in my "I can't believe I got the best one" fabric box by Dacia of DaciaRay.com. Dacia hosted the event at Stitches, a shop I always wish had opened 5 years earlier (as in, when I lived a block away), and which I find reasons to visit more frequently than is probably good for me. (The night before the meetup, I popped in while waiting for Seth to finish work and walked out with two new books and some buttons--more on all three later. Other times I've bought other tidbits and usually, it's just plain comfort shopping.)
I made felted flowers from Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers, of which vellumblue said last night, "When that book is in stock, I think 'eh,' and when it's out of stock, I want it." I bought it and never looked back. Epstein's "Knitting on/over/beyond the edge" series is killing me, though; I have only one so far and have #3 out from the library, having finally returned #2 when it was over overdue. I should get over it and buy them. ANYWAY...
2. Always Let Them See You Sweat, says Green Kitchen, and I say "huzzah!" I'm not much of a WIP, gorey details blogger (sometimes when it's happening, I narrate a potential blog post, but when it comes time to post, I honestly don't want to relive the agony of the stitches I've ripped) but I will always fess up to the fact that my results are imperfect and it took hard work to get them that way. I learned to stop *pointing out* the imperfections to people, but I also learned that really, honestly? they make life interesting. I swear, for about 10 years, I wanted to kill anyone who told me "if people were perfect, life would be boring!" as I struggled to achieve a no-errors, shut-out, carry me out on your shoulders covered in champagne kind of life... but not like that. I hoped to be (it turns out) perfectly boring, or even kind of hatable. I was -- sometimes I think I still am -- waiting for the knock on the door from the Magic Life Solver, a fairy with a magic wand that would make me suddenly have the career I wanted and be happy and fulfilled. WHERE ARE YOU, FAIRY?!? Hurry, I have to go talk to my therapist again this afternoon and I need to have something to tell him besides "I feel guilty that everyone else took the day off and I went to the office and blogged and got paid for it." Anyway. Michelle's post mostly rang this bell for me; it's not about this, exactly. But it also has a link to her tutorial on sewing in zippers -- using a glue stick! -- so if you're a seamstress, you should click over for that alone.
3. Relatedly, if for some odd reason you haven't met Bethany, one of the raddest of rad bloggers out there, please go see her now. You really deserve the laughter and inspiration she doles out like candy to us unworthy babes of the internet. The post I've linked is slightly more serious than, say, her most recent work.
4. To change the subject, I ♥ my new neighborhood fabric store, The Quilting Loft. I do need to stop just going there with no swatches or plans though, or I'm going to end up with too much not-quite-enough cuts of every single fabric in there. (lexophile, we confirmed that the blankie you bought was reasonably priced; Minky (minkie?) is about $17/yard but I WANT IT. Sigh.)
Here. Dream of the cottons and what you could do with them! Dream! Be free! And click the picture if you want to see more images from the shop. Please visit and support owner Angie's new business and prevent my nightmare--that I went in and there were only a few bolts left, relegated to a back corner, while racks and racks of cheap, ugly, uncomfortable shorts and pants and shirts had filled the store. Yeah, I don't know why the anxiety over a happy new fabric store. Told you I'd given up on the "perfect" thing and embraced the "quite happily a bit off" thing. Still working on the real flip side though--you have to be quite competitive to do the shut-out, champagne-soaked thing.
Author: Daphne a/k/a Cranky
1. So I went to a blog meetup and it was fun. Quel surprise! I hear you saying. But it was good, and this particular meetup had an added bonus: we all swapped handmade stuff, see?
From left to right, sort of: hand-embroidered linen-covered buttons and linen bag by Stephanie of Ruby-Crowned Kinglette; log cabin sachet by Blair at Wisecraft; and best-oilcloth-ever covered blank book & checkbook cover by Beth of Write, Mama, Write, all in my "I can't believe I got the best one" fabric box by Dacia of DaciaRay.com. Dacia hosted the event at Stitches, a shop I always wish had opened 5 years earlier (as in, when I lived a block away), and which I find reasons to visit more frequently than is probably good for me. (The night before the meetup, I popped in while waiting for Seth to finish work and walked out with two new books and some buttons--more on all three later. Other times I've bought other tidbits and usually, it's just plain comfort shopping.)
I made felted flowers from Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers, of which vellumblue said last night, "When that book is in stock, I think 'eh,' and when it's out of stock, I want it." I bought it and never looked back. Epstein's "Knitting on/over/beyond the edge" series is killing me, though; I have only one so far and have #3 out from the library, having finally returned #2 when it was over overdue. I should get over it and buy them. ANYWAY...
2. Always Let Them See You Sweat, says Green Kitchen, and I say "huzzah!" I'm not much of a WIP, gorey details blogger (sometimes when it's happening, I narrate a potential blog post, but when it comes time to post, I honestly don't want to relive the agony of the stitches I've ripped) but I will always fess up to the fact that my results are imperfect and it took hard work to get them that way. I learned to stop *pointing out* the imperfections to people, but I also learned that really, honestly? they make life interesting. I swear, for about 10 years, I wanted to kill anyone who told me "if people were perfect, life would be boring!" as I struggled to achieve a no-errors, shut-out, carry me out on your shoulders covered in champagne kind of life... but not like that. I hoped to be (it turns out) perfectly boring, or even kind of hatable. I was -- sometimes I think I still am -- waiting for the knock on the door from the Magic Life Solver, a fairy with a magic wand that would make me suddenly have the career I wanted and be happy and fulfilled. WHERE ARE YOU, FAIRY?!? Hurry, I have to go talk to my therapist again this afternoon and I need to have something to tell him besides "I feel guilty that everyone else took the day off and I went to the office and blogged and got paid for it." Anyway. Michelle's post mostly rang this bell for me; it's not about this, exactly. But it also has a link to her tutorial on sewing in zippers -- using a glue stick! -- so if you're a seamstress, you should click over for that alone.
3. Relatedly, if for some odd reason you haven't met Bethany, one of the raddest of rad bloggers out there, please go see her now. You really deserve the laughter and inspiration she doles out like candy to us unworthy babes of the internet. The post I've linked is slightly more serious than, say, her most recent work.
4. To change the subject, I ♥ my new neighborhood fabric store, The Quilting Loft. I do need to stop just going there with no swatches or plans though, or I'm going to end up with too much not-quite-enough cuts of every single fabric in there. (lexophile, we confirmed that the blankie you bought was reasonably priced; Minky (minkie?) is about $17/yard but I WANT IT. Sigh.)
Here. Dream of the cottons and what you could do with them! Dream! Be free! And click the picture if you want to see more images from the shop. Please visit and support owner Angie's new business and prevent my nightmare--that I went in and there were only a few bolts left, relegated to a back corner, while racks and racks of cheap, ugly, uncomfortable shorts and pants and shirts had filled the store. Yeah, I don't know why the anxiety over a happy new fabric store. Told you I'd given up on the "perfect" thing and embraced the "quite happily a bit off" thing. Still working on the real flip side though--you have to be quite competitive to do the shut-out, champagne-soaked thing.