The Social Porcupine

Last weekend I taught hand sewing and embroidery at Turtle Island , an off-grid thousand-acre nature preserve in North Carolina. I also participated in blacksmithing and netmaking classes and went on a long quiet walk... discovering I shared a birthday with one of the founders. It was a beautiful weekend to unplug and pick up skills. The students were a delight. I watched them fall in love with sewing, some of them claiming they'd never thought such a thing possible. The truth is matters of femininity are far from despicable once we move past the lie that we're incompetent. The word empowerment gets thrown around a lot, but it's simply capability and joy.  Some call it domestic servitude... because they want more corporate slaves and fewer competent women guiding communities. A skilled, capable woman isn't a doormat. She's a queen with a broom in hand ready to beat the pulp out of that doormat so you'll feel welcomed in her domain. ,, ...

An era of my life is finished.  Last night I tied the last knot on this quilt, a project for my hope chest that's been with me since February 2018. A friend said it must feel like a child after all this time. Not really, it is more like an unanswered thesis. But it is written, and for that I am thankful.  This quilt is something I began to dream at twelve years old when I found the embroidery pattern, a bunch of baskets of flowers, at a quilting shop. When I "won" a Janome sewing machine (pretty sure the woman just liked me and drew my name and called it a "second winner". She also copied out the pattern for me, because I'd admired it for so long, and told me to someday use it.  Years passed, and then one day, a little over five years ago, I needed something to lift me out of a mindset. The s ong based on Psalm 42 by the Sing Team was my current favorite song. It felt like I was eating a lot of tears and would be for the rest of my l...

  Young women, What do you wish your grandmother taught you?  I know many of you were raised with traditional values and have the desire to run a pleasant, blessed home. . . but have no idea how to begin. Perhaps cleaning your room is overwhelming enough, let alone envisioning yourself ever sewing, mending, cooking, embroidering. You want to be a capable, diligent woman, someone who makes others feel comfortable.  You know you are meant to repair that emergency tear with thread, herb, or handkerchief.  And you are right.  This is why I'm opening my home up in Montana this summer as The Living Room Academy .  You have the extraordinary opportunity of learning how to keep a home cozy and wholesome. For two weeks you will be living with me in my Montana home and following me throughout my everyday activities. We will cook and clean and sew and knit and embroider. In the afternoons we will take walks in the mountains, and before bed we will gather to read ...

Wool yarn I bought from a little German store and took with me to the Black Forest.  When I came to Germany I planned on being so busy doing who-knows-what, but probably taking care of children, that I figured I would have little time for actually making things. Even so, I took a huge project with me that I've been meaning to do since I was fourteen or fifteen: a rayon scarf with a dragon embroidered on it. I also brought along my fifth and last quilt strip. Two huge projects that I hoped to have time to finish.  Turns out, I finished both of them easily along with many other things. WARNING: I tried to not use too many pictures ... but that was impossible.  Project number one was technically my embroidered scarf, but I made many things in between of working on that. Somehow, when I came to Germany I forgot to bring a stocking hat with me. So, naturally, I bought some yarn and knitted one on my way to the Black Forest with my first Au Pair family.  ...