I am excited to be a part of the first round of emerging artists and innovators to be held in the VMFA gift shop! This project is an amazing opportunity and my work along with that of my fellow artists, while being unveiled this weekend, will be around for the following 6 months. I hope you get a chance to stop by and check it out!

I am enthralled about this new summertime lookbook featuring the handmade duster in Earth Tones and Black Magic. Find the listings here and here <3

Whether passionate about writing, cooking, or anything else in the magical realm of making, we all find ourselves wondering what to do with little leftover pieces. Annie from @knittedhome posted a lovely tutorial today on crocheted bracelets made from scraps of yarn inspired by a photo of my scrap jar! Find it here.

Has anyone read this book? I was drawn to it by its cover and lovely introduction but find its contents confusing! I thought it would be great inspiration as a knitting anthology but find the various authors mention that they either don't know how to knit, dislike, or flat out hate the process. As one of the featured writers, Samantha Chang, gifts her mother a handmade sweater, and appreciates her  mother's "pride in the fact that I would go through such hell for her".

Sometimes the author's distaste for knitting appears through thinly-veiled sexist comments, as found in the third story in the collection, by Andre Dubus III, as the narrator describes watching his girlfriend knit, "She looked like some young wife and mother from a hundred years ago; she looked to me like a woman who relied on her man to take care of everything". Now now...

Does anyone have any backstory or explanation that would help me appreciate this book I thought was for those who appreciate knitting? Help!

As promised, these quilting books have inspired a simple piecing tutorial! The pattern below for a fun DIY wall hanging can be personalized in so many ways, with different fabric combinations, sizes, and number of diamonds 

(or other shapes)! 

Piecing is a quilting technique that involves joining cut shapes of fabric, and can create really beautiful designs. Until the pieced fabric is sandwiched on top of batting, a bottom layer of fabric, and finished, it is not yet a quilt.

Begin by ironing the fabric you intend to use: 

fabric for the tops and bottoms of the diamonds, and a larger background.

I've chosen to use the wrong and right side of the same fabric for my diamonds.

Cut 5, 5"x 5" squares.

Cut all 5 squares diagonally.

Place the sides of the triangles you want to be visible in your 

finished piece together and sew along their longest side.

Open diamonds and iron flat.

Arrange diamonds on the background fabric, secure them 

with pins and, for the last step, sew them down!

A wooden dowel can be used to hang the fabric by hemming the sides of the background fabric with room left for the dowel to slide through. I've used white sewing thread to hang the dowel on a nail.

I will be making potted spider plants/airplane plants (seen here!) available at events. I love my spider plant, a flowering perennial herb, and it shoots out long stems that flower and become a handful of new spider plants, their roots extended but still drawing nourishment from the umbilical stem. It's a mama plant! 

Since it inspires me and I look at it and water it every day, with it resting near my knitting perch, it only makes sense to have them available for sale with my knitted garments and goods. Take a bit of inspiration home with you!

I am excited to announce my involvement in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art 2015 group of Emerging Artists & Innovators, which will be hitting the VMFA gift shop Fall 2015! These custom hand-knitted shawls are inspired by Monet's The Highway Bridge Viewed from the Port (Le Pont d'Argenteuil) in the way that the sky meets the tressling and railing of the bridge below. I can't express my gratitude any other way than to keep knitting!