exquisite design, one stone at a time
It's been absolutely forever since I posted here, but this is why: SHE MADE IT TO WORLDS! Of course it had nothing at all to do with how she skated -- it's all about the dress, you know... Anyway, we're home from two weeks in Italy and Paris (ok, 9 days in Italy for the… Continue reading We’re Baaaack!!
**If you're only interested in the hand-dyed lace tutorial and not all my babbling, scroll to where the photos begin!** The process for most of the custom roller skating outfits I make is fairly simple: coach has an idea in March, we settle on a plan in early April, dress is finished by early to… Continue reading Hand-Dyed Lace and Where Crazy Ideas Begin
I only sew (super-crazy-stretchy) knits, so how odd is it that I skipped The Monthly Stitch's "Sew Stretchy" May? For newcomers, The Monthly Stitch is an Australian sewing blog, to which I'm a regular contributor. Each month they vote on some new challenge, and finished products are posted on the blog. Being Australia, skating a… Continue reading Plumber’s Paradox
I finished this latest creation just in time to enter it in The Monthly Stitch's July challenge, "MonoSewn," where everything had to be black, white, or both. You can read about it here. I knew I wanted a completely white dress, but what I didn't plan on back in November when I decided on this… Continue reading Fifty Shades of White
So this really great collective called The Monthly Stitch puts out challenges meant to keep sewists (a new word I learned...maybe it's just an Australian thing, but it sounds better than "sewer," which brings to mind nasty, disgusting things) on their toes and actively learning new things. This month's challenge was "Sewing Double," and, as… Continue reading Monthly Stitch Challenge: Sewing Double
"For the first couple years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't so good, OK? It's not that great. It's trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it's not quite that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer." - Ira… Continue reading Saturday Sayings: When It’s OK to Stink
"You have brought forth something ordered and beautiful out of nothing." -- Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration Skating people know this quote means it's show season. Show season for us is a strange thing; all our energies and focus are on competing the entire year, so shows are at the same time a… Continue reading Saturday Sayings: It Must Be Show Season
(Title irony intentional, of course) This week I'm celebrating (and by "celebrating" I mean I briefly thought about it when it popped into my head at the grocery store while choosing bananas) the twenty year anniversary of the creation of my first skating dress. This slightly unkind reminder of my own personal aging process brought… Continue reading A Creator’s Evolution
Four months ago, at the constant urging of my husband, I quit a job that was making me angry and resentful and began working instead on trying to dismiss the guilt I've always felt for wanting to do something that a) doesn't require the multiple college degrees I hold, and b) doesn't feel like a… Continue reading Guilty Pleasure to CEO
Leave No Stone Unglued 