My life is craft

I actually don't remember a time when I didn't do some sort of stitching.  My grandmother taught me to embroider, crochet and knit.  My mother taught me to sew and needlepoint.  When I was 12 I cross-stitched gifts for my friends.  At 13 I was casting on my first sweater.  At 15 I learned to hand appliqué and hand-piece patchwork.  At 16 I was sewing pajama pants and Laura Ashely-inspired pinafores.

My sophomore year in college I knit one of those big Lopi sweaters - my gauge was so off that it was HUGE and could easily fit two or three people.  My junior year I learned to knit continental and stitched an intarsia sweater from a Rowan magazine.  I knit my way through graduate school classes and got my first job at a knitting store, Sophie's Yarns (later Rosie's) just off Rittenhouse Square.

From there I worked at other knitting stores, started teaching classes, learned to quilt when I was pregnant, started teaching sewing classes, sold Bernina sewing machines, returned to needlepoint (not teaching that...yet) and now here I am:

Totally and completely immersed in the world of craft.

Through the years many people have suggested that I open a store but I've worked in enough to see how much work that is.  They've suggested that I write patterns or do videos - but that takes a tremendous amount of time and I don't like doing the same thing more than 2 or 3 times.

Craft is a way of life for me.  Not just a hobby or a job. Our home is filled with items made by myself, my mother, my grandmothers and now my daughter.  The art on our walls was painted by aunts on all sides of the family.  Everywhere I look there is color and memories.  Lots and lots of memories.  And joy.  So much joy.

My life is craft.

Happy Stitching.