Blog Tour winds down...

Today is the last day of my trek around the neighborhoods of Blogland. I'd love to hear if any of you followed along and what you thought of the Blog Tour.

Today's last visit is with Jennifer at Craftsanity. Visit to read an interview and another chance to win a copy of Sewing Green!

In case you missed them, I thought I would call your attention to a few topics I wrote about that are near and dear to my heart.

Erin of House on Hill Road made up a sweet version of my Organic Baby Quilt and we chatted about organic cotton and why it's a good idea to use it.

I nattered on about where (when) I get my big ideas over at Heart Handmade and strategies for scoring at the thrift store at Wardrobe Refashion.

If you're interested in many reviews, Q&A's and peeks into Sewing Green, and the discussion of a few other topics, you can find the whole linky tour line up here.

So what did you think? I hope you had fun getting to know some new blogs out there. Thank you to all that hosted my little trip and took the time to give Sewing Green a little shout out!

New Kits!

My felted wool bird nest brooches were such a hit at my recent workshops, that I decided to offer some kits in my etsy shop. Too sweet!

Each kit has enough materials to make 2 nest brooches. Make one for yourself and another as a little Mother's Day gift or gift topper. Speaking of moms, can you imagine the mama bird that belongs to these eggs?

Order soon so I can ship them out quickly by the end of the week. Mother's Day is May 10th!

SPECIAL UPDATE: 5/4/09 - I just added a PDF pattern of the Nest Brooches in my etsy shop!

Spool days

I just got back from my quick trip to Philly to visit the little shop of Spool. What a beautiful shop! I wish you could see this window in person. It was made up so nicely with Sewing Green and some of my projects.

Here's me and the lovely Laura, co-owner of the shop. She and everyone I met at the Stitch Party friday night were so friendly and welcoming, it was such a treat. Of course I forgot to take "action shots" that night of everyone chatting and milling about, but there was a nice turn out of people and they couldn't have been more complimentary. **edit: See Laura's photos on Spool's Blog!**

Look, my name up in chalk! I never thought I'd see the day. Really, it was so thoughtful, wasn't it?

Here's another little vignette Laura put together on the front table. That's one of her beautiful quilts on the table top. Loving the greens! She did a superb job of merchandising the store with the book projects as well as her own sewn creations for the store. She even made herself the Reversible Wrap Skirt from Sewing Green and wore it that night.


Me here, modeling an Easy Breezy Skirt from Sewing Green, made out of a pillow case, and wearing my SIGG bottle in the Water Bottle Sling.

Saturday's MYOB Workshop was a great time as well. I had a small but enthusiastic and creative group. I always start of workshops as the "teacher" and by the end I am the one that learns so much from the participants. It's such a good lesson for me to keep in mind. Exercising creativity means opening yourself up to other ideas. I'm so glad when participants say, "But what about this way?" Or "I think I'm going to make mine differently because I want mine to...". I hope everyone that came learned something as well and enjoyed themselves.

Afterward I hopped back on the train and headed for home. Yay! Home! Good to be here. I'm feeling a little discombobulated, though. What's your trick for travel? Some people clean before they leave so everything is tidy upon their return. I like the concept but have trouble following through. After I'm away I always feel like I have amnesia. I walk around the house saying things like, "When did this come in the mail?" or "We're out of Diet Coke?", "I didn't know the boys got their report cards."

Ok, peeps, I've got one more week of Blog Tour posts to finish up and some new Felt Nest Brooch Kits to post. Hope to have those ready for tomorrow!

here I go again

The boys were sad this morning that I'm off again on another trip. :( (I'm a little sniff-ish about myself) This one's short though, just overnight.

I'm heading to Spool for a Stitch Party complete with chit-chat, book signing and a trunk show of all of the Sewing Green projects. C'mon and check it out! Saturday at Spool I'll be teaching my MYOB (Make Your Own Bag) workshop. There's still space if you'd like to sign up!

Meanwhile, I've got my eye on Mother's Day, coming up fast. I plan to have Nest Brooch Kits listed in my shop next Monday, 4/27/09! My nests were a super hit at Purl last weekend and they are fun fast and easy to make!

Gotta dash...have a great weekend!

P.S. Today's Blog Tour and give-away is at Wardrobe Refashion

catching my breath

Hey, didya miss me? I'm finally home, safe and sound, from my journey up the eastern corridor to the City of New York. I took the train and boy was that a treat. Way better than flying, in my opinion. (Someday I'll tell you the train stories of my youth...they are classic! Epic tales of four American college girls in 13 countries during one long hot summer of night trains and youth hostels. I should write a book...)

But for now let me tell you about one American craft book author who took the Amtrak train from DC to NYC for a mini-book tour. :) I arrived last Thursday and stayed with my brother in Jersey City. It was really nice to hang out and catch up with him and my sister-in-law and niece.

Friday morning I trekked on over to Brooklyn General for a Trunk Show, demo and book signing. Here are most of the samples from Sewing Green set up for people to touch and feel and ask questions. We had a cozy group and I felt right at home.

If you're ever in the area, you've got to check out this shop! It's full of yarn and fabric and books. The owners are very friendly and there's plenty materials and eye candy to inspire you.

Saturday I was at the cutest little fabric store in Soho, Purl Patchwork. I taught a handful of folks to make some felty brooches, including the nests shown in my last post (directions on those soon, promise!) Afterward I hung out a bit and signed books. The city was hopping! It was a beautiful sunny spring day and shoppers and sight see-ers were out in full force.

This is my publicist, Leslie, and myself at Purl...donning our newly made brooches and mugging by the big color wheel quilt! Thanks to everyone that came out to say *hey* and make pretties with me.

Sunday I hooked up with my pal Angie (former college roomie and one of my euro-train-traveling buddies) and headed to the Cooper-Hewitt to see the Fashioning Felt exhibit. I'll save that for another post, it was very cool.

Monday I had coffee with new friend Michelle from Cicada Studio and Cloud9 (first time meeting!) and lunch with my editor Liana. Monday night was Craft Night at the Esty Labs out in Brooklyn. I did my first webcast/demo of the Tyvek Tote from the book and taught those that came by in person how to make them as well. It was so much fun, I forgot to take photos! Julie, from Etsy, thankfully posted some she took on my new Sewing Green Flickr Group! So check those out and I invite you to add your own photos of anything you'd like to share that you've made from Sewing Green.

Yesterday I took the train back to DC and got home in time to meet the boys at the school bus stop. I missed my little peeps! Best-Husband-Ever had the house clean, laundry done and groceries bought. Oh, and my Birthday Shoes from Zappos were here waiting for me, too. Smiles.

One last thing....my physical book tour has slightly delayed my blog tour. I'm a tad behind on those posts so I will give a holler when they are up and ready...thanks for your patience. I hope you are all visiting the various blogs around *town* for book-give-away opportunities!

***Hey! You in Philly? Come meet me this Friday for a Stitch Party at Spool and a MYOB (Make Your Own Bag) workshop Saturday!***

Start Spreading the News...

Where are my manners! I've been so busy pointing all of you in the direction of my cyber travels (blog tour) that I've neglected to tell you about my real trip to New York!

The first stop will be this Friday, 4/17 at Brooklyn General. I'll be there signing books, doing a napkin binding demo and doing a "trunk show" which is fancy talk for "playing show & tell with all of my samples from Sewing Green". Contact the store for details!

Next up: A mini-workshop and signing at Purl Soho, Saturday, 4/18. For the workshop we'll be making these sweet and felty nest brooches, a perfect gift for Mother's Day! Stop by, say hi, grab a book and make some cute stuff. Visit Purl for details and sign up! (FYI, the nest brooch pattern is not from Sewing Green...it's bonus!)

What're ya doing Monday night, 4/20? Come on over the the Etsy Labs and join me for Craft Night! We'll be making Tyvek Totes...together in the twilight. Totally.

Phew! I better start packing my bags, there's much to do in the next few days. Hope to see some of you in the Big Apple!

I'd like to know where you got the Knotion

Visit me today over at Knotions where I talk about Thrift Shop Savvy: In Search of Sweaters! Also there's another (!) chance to win a copy of Sewing Green!

I've been so preoccupied with book-blah-blah and kids home for Spring Break that I haven't even decorated yet for Easter. I made these little needle felted eggs a while back, so bright and cheery! Tomorrow's my birthday so I think we'll do some family egg dying (with silk ties, like last year!) and maybe catch a movie.

What else should I do on my birthday? My mother says I should spurge on a pair of new shoes. :)

Thank you, Raleigh!

While I am still on my "Blog Tour", I am physically home safe and sound after a fabulous trip to Raleigh, NC. On Saturday I taught my MYOB (Make Your Own Bag) workshop combined with the extra felty goodness of embellishment. The class had a good turn out and, as always, I am truly inspired by all of you who participated. Thank you for coming and sharing your day with me!

There was busy bag making and needle felting and lots of creativity flowing. For a few pics of some of the finished projects, check out the Flickr Set I put together. I wish I had taken more photos, I always forget!

Special thanks to Cynthia of Panopolie for hosting the event and opening up her home to me and my family afterward for food and socializing with her hip friends. :)

My husband and kids came along with me and made it a nice long weekend. Sunday we enjoyed the beautiful weather by walking around the flea market and then visiting the North Carolina Art Museum. We especially enjoyed the Museum Park that consists of 164 acres of woodlands, open areas and streams filled with trails and monumental works of environmental art. This was right up our alley.

Of course we had to pose by each work of art, like these giant cement rings...called Gyre by Thomas Sayre (hey, Sayre is my maiden name!)

And this enormous tower of stacked newspapers by Steven Siegel. It is amazing!

Our hands-down favorite is the Cloud Chamber by Chris Drury. Here is the description from the museum website:

"This shelter operates as an oversized camera obscura or a pinhole camera. A small aperture in the roof projects an inverted image of the sky onto the floor of the chamber, an effect that seems to pull the sky down to the viewer. Inside, your perspective is turned upside down. Instead of looking up at the sky, trees, or clouds, you will look down on them from above."

We entered through a small wooden door and sat on little benches around the perimeter. After our eyes adjusted the forest appeared upside down on the walls and floor around us. The bright spot in the photo is the sun shining in from the hole in the roof. Can you see the tree image? I need to build one of these, it was very cool.

This concludes the recap of our NC weekend! It's good to be home, although I should've brought that warm springy weather with me. I hope you'll continue to follow me around this month with the blog tour. It may sound confusing, but it's really simple! Just follow the calendar to find out about reviews, book give-aways, etc! There are lots of opportunities to win a copy of Sewing Green, just click on the link to the blog of the day for info! Questions? Just ask me. :)

Announcing: My Blog Tour!

I'm going on a month long Blog Tour! Starting today I will be packing my virtual backpack for a hike around the world wide web. The following is a list of dates, events and topics being covered for the month of April. Grab some trail mix and join me on my trek, won't you? (oh, and leave some space in your pack, I see some book give-aways on the list!)

Friday 4/3 - The Purl Bee – Review and signing announcement

Monday 4/6 - True Up - Q&A, book giveaway

Tuesday 4/7 - U-Handbag - Review, book giveaway

Wednesday 4/8 - Craftzine – Project excerpt, book giveaway and Q&A

Thursday 4/9 - This is love forever - Furoshiki, book giveaway

Friday 4/10 - Knotions - Thrift Shop Savvy for knits: book giveaway

Monday 4/13 - Craftypod - Review and book giveaway

Tuesday 4/14 - Crafting a Green World - Review and book giveaway

Wednesday 4/15 - Freshly Blended - Review and book giveaway

Thursday 4/16 - Etsy Storque - Announcement of Etsy Lab Tyvek Tote project

Friday 4/17 - Make Grow Gather - Q&A, book giveaway

Tuesday 4/21 - Handmade Philly - Review, Q and A, book giveaway

Wednesday 4/22 - Whip Up - Applique tips and tricks: book giveaway

Thursday 4/23 - Wardrobe Refashion - Thrift Shop Savvy for sewing: book giveaway

Monday 4/27 - Morsbags - Review and giveaway

Tuesday 4/28 - Heart Handmade - Inspiration and ideas, Book giveaway

Wednesday 4/29 - House on Hill Road - Organics for Baby, book giveaway

Thursday 4/30 - Craftsanity - Q & A, book giveaway

Hey, Bud...

So good to see you! Keep it comin' springtime...

one bud deserves another...

and definitely the more the merrier!

We're heading south tomorrow for Raleigh NC! I'm hoping to see lot's of *buds*, both on the trees and at my workshops this weekend! Please sign up if you haven't already. I'd love to meet y'all! (See, and that was me practicing my southern lingo...y'all!)

I'll be back here Tuesday with photos and tales of my crafty southern adventures! :)