Yesterday I made a last-minute scramble to interview British knit designer Jean Moss via Skype. I had previously agreed to be part of her blog tour for her new book “Sweet Shawlettes: 25 Irresistible Patterns for Knitting Cowls, Capelets and More” and had planned to post a Q&A with her today. But then I started [...]

Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope you’re off to a great start in 2012. Today my newspaper column is about how list-making can help you obtain your goals in 2012. You can check it out here and then you can contribute to the conversation over here. I’m wrapping up work on next week’s column [...]

Today I’m happy to tie on a vintage apron and host a blog tour stop for Kelly McCants, author of the new book “Sewing with Oilcloth: 20 Patterns That Make Sewing with Oilcloth Easy, Fresh, and Fun.” Read on for the late-night Q&A we put together for you and then leave a comment to enter to [...]

If you’re looking for some fun new books to inspire your summer craft sessions, I invite you to read my column in today’s edition of The Grand Rapids Press. I reviewed eight books worth checking out. Enjoy!

I’ve been living in a “girl’s world” all my life. I grew up with two sisters and now have two daughters who love to play dress up and host tea parties for their stuffed animal friends. While all the women in my family are fans of pretty things and twirly dresses, some of us have [...]

I’m not a royal watcher and can live without reading the latest details about the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton, but when you tie it all to crafting I’m suddenly very interested. A review copy of “Knit Your Own Royal Wedding” (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $17.99, 64 pages) by Fiona Goble arrived in [...]

I’m taking a quick break from spiffing up my house for the holidays to let you that I reviewed a whole stack of books in my weekly art and craft column that was published in today’s issue of The Grand Rapids Press. And I reviewed more books in the first issue of CraftSanity Magazine. I [...]

It appears that I’m doing my best to make Kristina McGowan’s blog tour last as long as possible. CraftSanity the last scheduled stop. And I would have been on time if only I could have posted a quick review of her excellent new book “Modern Top-Down Knitting.” But being the extremely curious woman that I [...]

I’ve been taking a lot of photos lately and running into a lot of hexagon tile on my latest mission to make a magazine celebrating art and craft. Hexagon tile will not be featured in the publication, but there will be hexagons. Oh, yes, there will be hexagons. :  ) Anyway, I always try to [...]

After Chris de Longpre “retired” from a career in information technology she decided to make the most of her free time. She started knitting – a lot. And Chris, of Kentwood, Mich., wasn’t content to follow a pattern, so she kick up the degree of difficulty and started writing her own patterns. She kept designing [...]

Hello! I’m back from a short and lovely vacation with the family and excited to catch up with all of you. I’ve been working on lots of creative projects and will be sharing those is posts sprinkled out over the course of the next several days. A new podcast is in the works, too. I [...]

Hello! I have a little catching up to do this week. I’m going to start off by participating in Kathreen Ricketson’s blog tour for her new book: “Whip Up Mini Quilts: Patterns and How-to for More Than 20 Contemporary Small Quilts.” Read on for a sneak peek of the piped binding tutorial from p. 44 [...]

Baking gingerbread cookies is a big part of our holiday routine here at the CraftSanity headquarters. And the book, “Cookie Craft Christmas: Dozens of Decorating Ideas for a Sweet Holiday” by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer is packed with inspiration to up your game this year when it comes to cookie embellishment. (To bad the [...]

Shhh. Don’t tell my little Amelia, but I’ve been stitching up a storm for her birthday. I have a million things to finish before the big day, but I feel compelled to stop stitching for a bit to tell you about the inspiration for this project from “Hand-Stitched Felt: 25 Whimsical Sewing Projects” by Kata [...]

Crochet played a key role in my development as a young crafter. I got “hooked” around age 5 at Great Grandma Case’s Sunday night craft table where I learned to stitch granny squares with the crafty women in my family. I still LOVE to whip up projects with my old set of aluminum needles. (My [...]