Maker's Notebook

I won the new Maker's Notebook, a journal made by the creators of Make & Craft Magazine. It's a really nice book: well-bound, with good paper, plus lots of extras and I love the color.

I got an email from Make magazine a couple of weeks ago asking me to take a survey. I took the opportunity to let them know that I really missed Craft's print edition and that I think that Make is a good magazine, sometimes just for a bit different demographic than me. I must have been one of the first 100 to answer because they sent me a notebook.

I'm grateful. It's nice and includes all kinds of information like the dates of the next solar eclipses, pictures of screwheads you should know, Morse Code, sewing machine needle sizes, and all kinds of other things. The pages are thick, acid free graph paper with places for headings and each one is numbered. My favorite feature is the ruler on the inside front cover.My journals are usually companions to me for six months or so, going everywhere and holding me together with lists and dates and keeping all my of ideas until I can get to them. I think the Maker's Notebook will make a nice one.

ISBN:978-0-596-51941-4

Friday Find: vintage food photography

When I spotted this book on a shelf of children's books at a thrift store, I opened it thinking I might find a Hansel and Gretel story. It's actually a book about German cuisine with amazing photography, entitled The Cooking of Germany. It's from the Foods of the World series from Time Life books, published in 1969.

Henry Groskinsky planned and photographed the pictures for the book made in the test kitchen and Ralph Crane traveled around Germany in a Volkswagen bus to take the field photos.

The caption reads, "Floral patterns of carrots, cucumbers, hard-cooked egg white, tomatoes, and leek tops beautify these pork chops in aspic."

Writer Ursala von Kardoff is pictured holding a crock of goose-fat spread.

I want a portrait of myself standing in front a cupboard full of my pretty dish collection and a tub of pimento cheese or something.

The cutest mushroom foray I have ever seen

eye candy


That's like the stove that Gretel pushes the wicked witch into on the right page.


Just look at that table cloth!

"a supermodern supermarket in West Berlin"


In case you are as into this as I am, I saw that the book is available on Amazon and here's the link: The Cooking of Germany (Foods of the World)

Keep on the sunny side

I heard a story on the radio this morning about the great literature and film that documents hard economic times. Earlier this week, I heard this story saying "it's art time in America again, because everybody's broke."

Hard times are good for art. It's an idea I talked about some in my review of the Dollmaker.

I'd love to get some comments from readers about how changes in the economy are affecting your art.

By the way, I recommend reading the book mentioned in the NPR story today, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee with photography by Walker Evans. It's the story of a reporter writing a book about sharecroppers in Alabama in the 1930s. There's poverty, innocence, guilt, and a lot of details to set scenes. It's Agee's existential masterpiece.

Friday Find

I found this children's alphabet book today. The illustrations are embroidered applique and have sparked a lot of ideas for things I want to make.



















The author/illustrator is Virgina Tiffany. Here are more examples of her work.
ABC (Golden Book)
Two Kittens
Tell Me, Cat

Creative Baby Gift

I love the idea of making up a little story and illustrating it. With these blank board books, homemade can still be sturdy enough for a baby.

I'm picturing a book of collage pictures. Or maybe a simple contrast of stamped or doodled images in one primary color.

The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow

Harriette Arnow’s The Dollmaker tells the story of a woman’s struggle to take care of her family in unfamiliar surroundings. Her story is sad, but honest. I feel like I am better for having read it.

Set in Detroit during World War II against a background of union picket lines and the threat of closing factories, it’s a novel that speaks out against the industrial revolution and voices the complaints of someone who never spoke very loudly.

Though readers meet protagonist Gertie Nevels as a strong heroine, they soon find out that a strong woman today and a strong woman in rural Appalachia in the 1940s have a different level of obstacles.

Gertie packs up her children and the life she loved to trudge alongside husband Clovis in his chase of the American Dream. Gertie only finds peace in her cramped housing project when whittling. She makes dolls and toys for children whenever her hands have nothing else to busy themselves with. When people begin admiring her woodcraft, she starts earning money for her family with a little whittling business. That makes me hope that in difficult economic times, more people will find the drive and the time to make things.

Gertie’s life is filled with struggle, yet she is a character that I missed after I finished it the book. At 599 pages, I had enjoyed spending time with her.

Avon Books published The Dollmaker in 1954. It got good reviews, became a bestseller and was even first runner up to one of William Faulkner’s books for the National Book Award. The current economic climate could inspire another wave of interest in the book.

Happy Gloves, Happy Girl

My mom gave me a craft book for my birthday that I love. Happy Gloves by Miyako Kanamori has instructions on how to make cute little creatures from gloves. I have been wanting to make toys but haven't ever gotten into crochet. Kanamori's technique uses a cheap and readily available material to make quick and easy stuffed toys.

Writing Routine Tips

I’m reading a memoir by Haruki Murakami called “What I Talk about When I Talk About Running.”
Through journal entry-like writing, Murakami reveals the routines and methods he has used to become a stellar novelist and athlete.
I’m trying to let the book teach me how to be a better writer.
He says that to be a good writer one must have talent, focus and endurance.
“You’ll naturally learn both concentration and endurance when you sit down every day at your desk and train yourself to focus on one point.”
I have made it my goal to spend two hours a day every day at my desk (actually a sewing table) writing. I need to learn to focus and endure. I’m an hour and twenty minutes in right now.
Earlier in the book, Murakami wrote that he stops every day when he feels that he could write more so that the next day’s work goes more smoothly. He sets a pace and keeps rhythm in writing just like in running.

Recommended Reading

The American Quilter's Society has a list of the program course books and the recommended bibliography for their appraiser certification. Too bad I don't have more time for reading.