Good morning! I've always appreciated the finer things in life -- some might call it "expensive taste" ("some" is actually my husband). But I also have a cheapskate side, or maybe it's this sense that I don't actually deserve certain high quality items yet. One of those someday-when-I-feel-deserving items is linen bedding. We have a small closet at the edge of our upstairs landing where I keep all our sheets and pillowcases, but most of them are from Target. I'm pretty sure that the fiber ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
I'm craving stillness to think thoughts, read books, to sew and sow and slow down These images are outtakes from the book (the top one was styled by Rachel, the one below by Allie; both were shot by me) -- you may be seeing a lot more outtakes since there were so many images I wanted to include that didn't make the cut. Anyway, wishing you all a slower-paced weekend (unless you want a faster-paced, exciting one, of course)! P.S. I'm getting a serious case of ... Read more
Preparing for a Sashiko Demo
I'm no expert at Sashiko stitching, so it's a little laughable that I'll be teaching the craft this Saturday, but I'm rolling with it. It's a FREE event, Seattle friends, if you want to drop on by the Kinokuniya Bookstore at 2pm on June 11th. I'll be joined by my writer/editor/journalist friend Tamiko. Imagine a cooking demo, but with indigo fabric and Sashiko thread and needles instead of food-- that's the concept we're working with, anyway. We'll be making coasters and I think it'll be sweet ... Read more
A rather big announcement…
It was a jubilant and triumphant weekend. After months and months of preparing, hoping, sketching, querying, refining and negotiating, I received a confirmation: I will be publishing two more books with Sasquatch Books!!! In fact, behind the scenes, I've already been working on book #3 (those pesky deadlines), but until the countersigned contracts and advance check were in my nervous, sweaty palms, it felt like make-believe and not at all truly true. And this past Saturday, I had a very happy ... Read more
Happy Friday + Giveaway [CLOSED]
Happy Friday! I got my translations done in time as well as a few other projects, and now I'm looking at one more big deadline hurdle, then I'm home free for a couple of months. I'm bursting with anticipation. Anyway, while I duck my head down to get just a little bit more done, I wanted to kick off the weekend with another giveaway. We're going full-on Japanese with this one. The little thread snippers are officially called itokiri hasami but every Japanese person I know calls them choki ... Read more