Happy Friday! I've been loving all the coincidence stories from my giveaway! Yesterday, I was admiring the peonies you see here -- I received them from a friend recently and remembered that her husband had the most extraordinary coincidence story: many years ago, he went to Kyoto, Japan via a research grant or some such (he's an art history professor). He was wandering around alone one day and wanted to experience the non-touristy side of Kyoto and there, tucked in a quiet and obscured area, he ... Read more
Me-Made-May 2014: The Final Days
What a great experience this whole Me-Made-May ride has been! I could have done without the daily photo-taking, but now that I have pictorial evidence of carrying out my mission, I'm pleased with the results. I managed to wear a different me-made garment every day, and I learned some important lessons, the biggest of which I yammered on about yesterday. But first, here's another new thing I was able to produce during the month of May: the ubiquitous Wiksten Tank. I've had this pattern ... Read more
22 Months and 3 Weeks
I purchased this tank top from H & M the second week of July in 2012. I remember this because I was frantically scouring the mall for clothes to take with me to a family vacation. That's what I always did for vacations; a profoundly unhealthy habit of accruing a whole new wardrobe just for a short trip. Cheap clothes that fell apart in minutes. I haven't bought a single ready-to-wear clothing item since. Almost two years for both me and K! Okay, I've gotten some socks and underwear for K, ... Read more
Type A Summer Vacay or How I’m Not Effortless
There are thirteen more days of school left for K, and the ginormous maw of summer has been inching toward me, begging me to feed it with worthy activities. I started a little late on the summer camp sign-up process this year, and here in Seattle, it's like a competitive sport to get access to the various "enrichment" programs. Most of the popular ones are filled by early April, and you have to be aggressively Type A to have your ducks in a row so that you're not stuck with the most expensive ... Read more
Monday Fabric Giveaway! [Closed]
Good morning, friends! I made it! I turned in my illustrations (sans cover) yesterday evening, and I feel like I've completed the Marathon des Sables through the Sahara Desert. A 6-day, 160-mile marathon is something I doubt I'll ever be able to do since I can barely jog three miles, but I'm going to venture that the sense of relief and accomplishment I'm enjoying is no less than an ultra marathoner's. The sewing area has been sorely neglected these last few days, so I've got zilch completed ... Read more