Category: Uncategorized

  • What goes up must come down

    The hackers are getting really good!! Don’t click that link!!!!! It’s been a long time since I have written anything online other than on social media, but yesterday my Facebook and Instagram accounts got hacked, ransomed, and then disabled by Meta, and as much as I have tried to recover them over the last 2…

  • Happy New Year! I’d like to introduce you to the art of Mindful Stitching

    Happy New Year! I’d like to introduce you to the art of Mindful Stitching

    How are you feeling about 2024? I’ll admit to feeling a bit apprehensive about things, the world feels pretty rocky. I’ve never been into making new years resolutions, because I think they put too much pressure on attaining some elusive goal, but I am a big believer in prioritizing creative pursuits and taking care of…

  • New opportunities to get creative together!

    New opportunities to get creative together!

    Dare I say it out loud? I think we are finally coming to the end of the pandemic in the US and we can start getting together again and make stuff. YAY!!! I have 2 very exciting gigs on my calendar this year. The first one is at Prochemical and Dye, in Fall River Massachusetts…

  • Upcoming in person teaching events on my schedule

    Upcoming in person teaching events on my schedule

    I have two workshop events coming up, the first one is Pacific International Quilt Festival in October, and the second is Craft Napa January 2022. I’m so happy to see how well California is doing with the pandemic, we have a high vaccination and mask wearing rate and our numbers are the lowest in the…

  • and so life resumes…

    and so life resumes…

    I feel like I need to write an essay on what I did over summer break, except this one would turn into a very long essay. I feel bad (but kinda not really) that I’ve neglected my blog for so long, because I have been really busy I just haven’t written about it, most of…

  • Felted Wool Ornaments

    Felted Wool Ornaments

    Well, here we are in the holiday season and the pandemic is worse than ever, unable to gather with our loved ones that reside outside our bubble. So with a quieter month ahead, I think it’s a good idea to have a few feel-good projects at hand. I love making felted wool ornaments for Christmas.…

  • Are you in need of some creative healing?

    Are you in need of some creative healing?

    The registration for Craft Napa Uncorked opens Tuesday, September 15th at 9:00 AM  PST where you can sign up to take my prayer flags workshop. It has been a really hard year, and I can’t think of a better workshop to start 2021 with than one making prayer flags. It’s hard to know what shape…

  • Cool New Masks!!!

    Cool New Masks!!!

    Since this pandemic started I’ve been making masks pretty much non-stop, making changes and altering patterns, finding the best fit with the most breathable shape, and the best type of ear loops/ties. I’ve also been designing fabric specifically for making masks using my paintings, which has been a painfully slow process due to supply chain…

  • The coolest toilets and other things we saw on our last day in New Zealand

    The coolest toilets and other things we saw on our last day in New Zealand

    Before I start this post, I want to acknowledge what a tough couple of weeks it has been, on the heels of 3 difficult years. I’m so proud of everyone who has taken a stand day after day, during a pandemic no less, demanding long overdue change. It’s been painful to witness so much police…

  • My last workshop in New Zealand

    My last workshop in New Zealand

    What a pleasure it was to teach my final workshop in Whangarei, where I taught my last workshop in New Zealand 2 1/2 years ago, after NZ Quilt Symposium. There was an arts festival happening in the park outside, on the morning of class, and we got to enjoy some live music from a guy…

  • A day of art, hiking and a late night trek to see glow worms

    A day of art, hiking and a late night trek to see glow worms

    While in Matakana, Alysn brought us for a studio visit with her friend Helen Carpenter who is a painter, printmaker and collage artist and runs the Takatu studio space where she hosts classes and rents workspace to other artists. I love seeing artists workspaces and learning about their process. Helen creates beautiful, etherial landscapes using…

  • A 5 day break with friends in the Northland

    A 5 day break with friends in the Northland

    After my workshop finished in Ngaruawahia, Phil and I packed up the car and drove a little over an hour north to Auckland where we met up with our friends Barney and Pat who just arrived from San Francisco that morning and were waiting for us at the BNB we rented in the Ponsonby neighborhood…

  • Mask making tutorial and general well-being while at home

    Mask making tutorial and general well-being while at home

    How many weeks are we now into staying home during this pandemic? have we just finished 5, and now starting week 6?… It’s getting harder to keep track, just like the days of the week. We started by counting in days, then weeks like you do after a baby is born, soon we’ll transition to…

  • Teaching at the foot of Mount Taranaki

    Teaching at the foot of Mount Taranaki

    After our two restful days at Lake Rotoiti, we hit the road on a drizzling Wednesday morning to drive 5 hours to the Taranaki peninsula on the west coast of New Zealand. We drove on narrow twisty turning roads over steeply rolling hills and farmland, best suited for grazing animals that can climb steep hills.…

  • Next stop Napier

    Next stop Napier

    On the 4th of February, I flew north from Christchurch to Napier, where I had a wonderful stay with a newer guild member named Maggie, who has an airbnb in the lovely town of Havelock North about a 20 minute drive south of Napier. It was much warmer there than it had been in Christchurch,…

  • Time to engage in the slow life movement

    Time to engage in the slow life movement

    So here we are, experiencing a pandemic. Life as we know it is going to be a bit different for a while, and we will all need to make adjustments and learn what sheltering in place means and how to do it well. I think we should look to those who have a lot of…

  • Holy cow, the holidays are upon us!

    Time feels like it’s flying by at breakneck speed, I can barely keep up with everything these days, but I still try to fit in “crafting” time. Luckily, I get to do this while working in the makerspace, this is what we’ve been up to this month. Knitting 101 I’m so thrilled to teach a…

  • It’s pumpkin time!

    It’s pumpkin time!

    Fall is in the air! The weathers turning, it’s cool outside and we actually got some sprinkles of rain today in drought stricken Northern California. I love autumn, it’s my favorite time of year and I love having the symbols of fall, like pumpkins and gourds, decorating my house. Several years ago, I began making felted…