I tend to alternate periods where I'm consuming a lot of television and when I'm listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I'm in the podcasts-and-audiobooks cycle and have three recommendations (that no one asked for).
- I just finished Sea of Lies. It's a true crime podcast series that looks back at a case where a man was found dead in the ocean by two fisherman back in the '90s. It's wild!
- Noble is another true crime podcast examining what happened when more than 300 bodies were found on a property in the tiny town of Noble, Georgia.
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True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us. This is a book by sociologist Danielle J. Lindemann. It's a sociological look at what reality reveals about our attitudes toward race, gender, and more. I'm about halfway through this book and am really enjoying it so far!
👉 ICYMI: The Craft Atlas was the most clicked link in the last 5/5.
✨ 5 creatively inspiring things
1️⃣ Some embroidery you look at and are like, how did they do that?? That’s how I feel see Megan Zaniewski’s newest works. She’s crafting leaves and moss that look like the real thing. It'll make you do a double-take!
2️⃣ This embroidery by Juniper Wolfenbarger has an incredible amount of detail within it. They’ve created inner comfort ii, featuring a cozy kitty sleeping among curious objects. You’ll want to take many looks at this one.
3️⃣ I grew up admiring my mom’s collection of miniatures, and my affinity for them has extended into adulthood. It’s what draws me to the work of Suzie Grieve, aka Foraged Fibers. She creates impossibly tiny woven baskets; they fit in the palm of her hand!
4️⃣ One of my favorite things about art is the puzzle of it—putting together the symbolism and structure to help interpret what a piece means. Nick Alan, a queer Indigenous artist living in Seattle, breaks down the art style of formline design that is the basis of Indigeous art of the Northwest Coast.
5️⃣ “Imagine holding your space by refusing to be undone!” That’s how Janis Ledwell-Hunt describes knots while sharing her new piece, a botanical liver created for someone whose life was “reshaped by a rare form of liver cancer.”
🪡 5 ways to DIY
1️⃣ Add some floral fun to your beanie with a PDF embroidery pattern. The pattern includes three sizes for beanie projects and a step-by-step YouTube video.
2️⃣ I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing a lot of duck crafts on my TikTok and Instagram. One of them includes this amazing duck fanny pack. If this is a NEED (not a want) for you, here’s a look into how it’s made and the sewing pieces you’ll need for it. Essentially, you’re modifying Core Fabrics cross-body bag free pattern and adding a duck head and beak to it.
3️⃣ I love a catch-all tray. If you’ve got some fabric that you don't know what to do with, try this YouTube tutorial by bookhou. She shows you how to sew a small catch-all tray in three sizes.
4️⃣ Learn a bunch of embroidery stitches and put them into a cute passport book! It’s now available as a subscription service (or you can get them all at once) by Dropcloth Embroidery.
5️⃣ Want to add some color to your cane chairs? Here’s an idea: colorful cross stitch!
What I've been up to:
Over on my blog, I shared what I've been up to over the past month (studio-wise). It includes getting ready for a couple of workshops that I'm really excited about. They're happening in April at Make Apothecary in Bothell. If you're local to the Seattle metro area, join me!
- Turn Your Pet into an Embroidery Pattern on April 5 from 4 PM to 6 PM — Learn to transform your furry (or scaly!) friend into an embroidery pattern using your iPad. I’ll go over how to break down a photo so that it’s suitable for stitching. Then, we’ll print it on stick-and-stitch stabilizer and get to stitching!
- Embroider a Menagerie on Clothing on April 12 from 2 PM to 4 PM — Could that cozy shirt use a little animal energy? Transform your clothing into a wearable zoo with my help! I’ll provide a variety of animal patterns that adhere to fabric—in addition to thread, a needle, and a hoop. You’ll just need to bring your garment!
Try all the crafts this summer!
Tickets are now on sale for Camp Craftaway, the three-day adult craft camp I co-host with Melissa of MCreativeJ! We'll have 30 different workshops throughout the weekend. Join us August 1 - 3 in Des Moines, WA.
Talk to you next week,
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Sara Barnes
Embroidery illustrator and writer
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