feature

Mending in the New Year @ the Octagon

Nearly every 4th Thursday of the month, I’ve been co-hosting a monthly mending group called A Place to Mend at The Octagon Center for the Arts here in Ames, Iowa. This January kicks off our third year and we are excited to add in a bit of intentional instruction each

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Crafty Business

Ep 14: Annual Review in an Hour

Before making a plan for the next year, (Ep 01 of Craft Leftovers), let’s take an hour to consider this past year. What went well? What could have been better? What just totally missed the boat? Do you try again next year or let it go? I’m taking you through

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embroidery

Recycled Peace Ornaments

I have never really been a fan of decorating for holidays though, so I wanted something that could be used for a season. Winter Season. I like decorating for the season instead of the holiday. I guess I feel like it allows me to enjoy what I’ve done a little longer.

This project calls for felt and just about any will work great, but I really like using recycled sweaters and hence the name. I have a stash of old felted sweaters and this just seemed to call for soft white and red cabled felt.

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journal

Studio Tour

Last weekend I opened up our house to be one of 20+ artists participating in a city-wide studio tour. The whole idea was that the general public could tour from studio to studio and see the behind the scenes of some of their favorite artists. Since you all couldn’t make

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journal

DIY Instruments Zine

This weekend Ames, Iowa is host to one of the most epic of Midwest music festivals, the Maximum Ames Music Festival. They use traditional and non traditional music venues and organize the hosting of local, national, and international music. It’s amazing. This year a local artist and curator lyndsay Nissen

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journal, little woods homestead

Gardening Gains

It’s been a long time coming, but I think this year, maybe just maybe I finally have it. I created a bed just for the strawberries and plopped the strawberry tower of power in the center. I planted strawberries all around it in the hopes that the runners would propagate

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journal

so long Job. hello leftovers.

Being a mom has been wonderful. I like Lucy more than I thought I could ever like any kid – even my own. But post birth has been hard on me. I wrote awhile ago about getting my gallbladder out. Well that was unfortunately not the end of it. After

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journal

Finally, crafting!

It’s taken months. Potentially a whole year. I finally finished a craft project: I started these convertible mittens well over a year ago. And nearly had them finished. And then I got pregnant. One would think that a nesting urge might set in and I would get super crafty. Not

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journal

Oh Baby: Meet Lucille Lynn Shaw

I’ve been trying to figure out what to post about as my first post back from my birth experience and I keep stalling out. So I’m going to just post a picture of the little lady and get moving. So many fun projects in the mix. Where’s my camera!  

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