The social aspect of having a blog is odd. There are people you talk to often, keep up with their kids and daily goings on and sometimes you haven't the faintest idea of what they look like. I'm still uncomfortable getting to know people online, having existed before the internet made that normal, but I'm getting better at it. Slowly, there are many people that I call my friends, not my "friends."

Dorie is one of those people. She is a ridiculously talented knitter and a damn fine quilter too. With her quilting knowledge and a background in coding, Dorie has made something new and fantastic: Quiltr. Quiltr is a tool for quilters to play with colors and patterns before they start a quilt, but it is also a super fun, crafty video game. In it, you choose a quilt pattern (zig zag, lone star, etc) then you can plug in not only colors, but photos from you flickr stream.

If you a crazy person (like me) who takes pictures of your fabric, well then your next quilt is practically made already. But I have found playing with pictures I've taken to be the most fun. It's got me running off to Spoonflower to design fabrics--something I've wanted to do on and off for years. It's also got me sewing actual quilt squares! Ok, so I really could go on (and on) about Quiltr, but you probably want to go play with it yourselves. So do! and stop on by tumbling blocks while you are at it and tell Dorie what a superstar she is!

edited to add: there is a quiltr flickr group now too!

This spring I stashed a few sticks to make hangers out of, but then the project fizzled. I wanted to find big hooks I could screw into the stick, sort of like extra large cup hooks. Only they don't make extra large cup hooks. Miss Maize Hutton had a better idea: just take the hook part off a wire hanger and use that. Now I have to go find those sticks. Maybe even crochet over some!

I know there are a bunch of tutorials for little girls' skirts out there, but this one by Hagar of Sepa Designs for the Charm Stitch blog is particularly lovely. The ribbon, pintuck, and elastic detail make for an extra special skirt. The beautiful Naomi Ito fabric doesn't hurt either.

The directions for this table are in (horribly translated) German, but you can kind of get the gist of it. And if you do, you'll have a fabulous table made out of 2x4s. I think this would make a very nice tall table for the entryway.

Is that skirt you bought made for 20 year olds? Add a little color block hem and you are good to go. Not being a big fan of knees, this is my favorite tutorial. She's got a tutorial for adding pockets as well!

I dont' know where we got those lick and stick play stamps when we were little, but they always were around. And they always had those fantastic 60's graphics on them.  Most probably didn't make it into this century, but happily Terri has made a tutorial for you and your kids to make you own.

That should keep you busy. Have you found any good tutorials on the interwebs these days?

yay! so glad you guys are going to think up all the good ideas for me, because I'm running low. Mostly I want the room to look big, even though it's small. And be able to be full of kid's stuff, while still looking sparse.

Sounds totally impossible, right? But I think these first two rooms do it well.

This room is a little too much on the minimal side of things, but there are three kids in a small room and it doesn't feel in the least bit crowded.

Super simple and super white, but the natural wood bits make it extra good. I'm not very good with the whole mood board thing (mostly because saying it makes me throw up in my mouth a little) but I guess a little vision is good, rather than doing random shit here and there and hoping it comes together--my usual m.o.

As for stuff: I'd like a record display rack for the books and a little house shelf please.

I'm having a little obsession with himmeli lately. Yeah, I didn't know what they were either. I only found out what they were after I made one. Well sort of made one. Remember my geometric straw ornament? A himmeli is made out of those basic shapes, but some are big, some are small and it is strung together as a mobile.  I fell in love with them after I saw this picture:

The photo comes from the home of Momo Suzuki a Japanese designer who has more style in her little finger...

These are various himmeli from around flickr (click on the photo for sources). The red one is made from coffee stirrers! Elizabeth Abernathy has a tutorial for making them out of handmade paper straws.  There is an amazing thrifted traditional straw one on puhti. Himmeli are so perfectly airy and light--just right for the new year, though mine might not get done until the next new year.

If you'd like to know more about things I like (and hate) you can head over to Smile and Wave. Rachel so kindly asked me to do an interview for her Handmade for Kids month. And who says no to an interview? Be warned though, I am verbose.

Having been gone for a week or so, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the internet. I am actually afraid of looking at my rss reader it's so large. So I thought I'd go through my bookmarks instead. And hey there are some cool things on these internets that I forgot about. Check it out.

I think my new year's resolution this year will be to see more art. I mean really get off my butt and go see the art not click the art. I wish I could have seen this amazing piece that combins a piano piece by Satie and origami which lasted an entire night. You can read about it on the upon a fold blog--a fantastic blog and shop too.  The resolution begins tomorrow by going to the exhibition called Handmade Meaning: The Value of Craft in Victorian and Contemporary Culture. It runs Dec. 17 through Feb. 6th at the James Watrous Gallery here in Madison and a friend of mine has some crocheted hair pieces in it that I am eager to see.  For those of you not local you can see more photos of the exhibition here.

I'm sure I wont be able to see the work of Victor Dubrovsky in person anytime soon, but you can almost feel it just by looking at the pictures.  I am quite taken with this wolf, but all of his work is pretty amazing. He even has some needle felting tips (this is for you, Helen!)--via well-crafted

It may not neccessarily be art, but it's still awesome and afforable: Abbey from Aethetic Outburst has an etsy shop called The Eight Dollar Holler, where she sells all the good vintage bits she can find for 8bucks. Nice, right?

I would pay a lot more than eight bucks for someone to bring me buttermilk chicken in a waffle right now or even smoked salmon in a waffle or really anything in a waffle. Oh my god this sandwich looks good.

but that's not going to happen, so might just make this. or maybe waffles.