One Crafty Writer

It always works out this way: I’m invited to a party, usually a birthday party, but sometimes a celebration for a colleague who has passed exams, or dinner at a professor’s house, or just an impromptu barbecue. The only real expectation for these affairs is to bring a bottle of wine or a side dish.

I haven’t written much about it here, but now that it’s so all-consuming, the only thing I can think to write about is Pete’s and my upcoming move. In February, I found out I’d been accepted into the Ph.D. program in English at the University of Missouri-Columbia, so we’ve been quietly planning sinc

Hi, there. I’ve been taking advantage of a few rainy (OK, really, really rainy) days to put a few things in my Etsy shop. I’m starting small: Two weekends ago at the Printers Row Lit Fest here in Chicago, I scored some old maps of various U.S. states and cities—a couple California, an Oregon, a [...

I hurried home (well, as fast as the bus would take me) after this morning’s classes, knowing that I was on the cusp of finishing my first-ever skirt sewn from a pattern: Vogue 8637. I began making this before our trip to Washington and have just come back to it in the past couple of [...]

I wanted to make myself some tiny matchbook-size notebooks, but all the tutorials I found left a pesky staple on the outside, which I feared would catch on my purse or jeans pockets. So after a bit of tinkering, I’ve come up with this tutorial that keeps the staple hidden on the inside. These little

For the last week, Pete and I were away catching up with college friends in Mazama, Washington — a three-horse town (we met all three!) just east of the Cascade Mountains. Now, admittedly, I’m not a very woodsy person. I flinch at every bug sound, and I don’t like to stray far from indoor plumbing [

I’ll admit I’ve been on a bit of a fabric-buying binge lately. Now that I’ve attempted garment sewing, albeit rather humbly, my mind is awash with visions of all the amazing things I’m going to make. Someday. But why not stock up now, right? And last, my favorite of all, three lovely yards of this [

My, am I a slow knitter. Or maybe it’s not that I’m slow, but easily distracted by shinier, newer projects. I used to be a one-at-a-time crafter, in the same way that, as a child (and still occasionally as an adult), I ate all of one thing off my plate before moving on to the [...]

It has been a productive and surprisingly smooth night here in the sewing room, so I’m only taking a brief break to announce the winner of my DIY fake-Moleskine giveaway. It is . . . commenter number 10, a.k.a. Regina. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and took the time to comment. I think I [...]