Stitch 'n Dish

Category: Fabric

  • Analog time in a digital world

    Analog time in a digital world

    This past week was a whirlwind. I returned from a week at Walt Disney World in Florida with my kids and grandkids (flight landed Sunday), and Monday I had a professional conference to attend. It was an all-day event, and although it started earlier than I would have wanted after a week away, it was…

  • Self-Help from the fiber arts

    Self-Help from the fiber arts

    I wrote this blog initially a couple years back, and focused it on crocheting and knitting (yarn). Back then, stressors were typical life stressors, and not national crisis-level stressors. Since then, I have added a lot more SEWING to my “toolbox” for coping, as I noted in a previous post on retreating to my sewing/craft…

  • Transitions

    Transitions

    This past week marked a couple of transitions for me around some fiber arts habits. Crafters everywhere are painfully aware that the Joann era for shopping around arts, yarn crafts, and sewing supplies, is almost gone – forever. I had been wanting to shop there a few more times, but when I would think about…

  • Stitching life’s pieces together

    Stitching life’s pieces together

    I’ve been working from home since early 2020, and along with millions of others, was recently mandated back to the office 5-days a week. This has resulted in some new normals; most significantly, less sleep each night. Yesterday when I got home, I kicked off my shoes, spent some time with my cat, fed him…

  • A sewing lesson

    A sewing lesson

    As I strive to use the fabric (& yarn) that is in my stash, and to keep myself from browsing stores aimlessly, which often leads to mindless shopping, I’ve found making bags to be quite fun. In addition, I’ve learned a lot from spending time with my fabric stash as I was making these bags,…

  • A refuge in fabric

    A refuge in fabric

    I have a confession: I hide in my sewing/craft room. Sometimes this is to decompress after a stressful day at work, while other times it’s to avoid the news story of the day. Still other times it’s to distract myself when I’m worried about someone I care about. Recently, I was there for a hybrid…

  • Hunting and gathering fiber

    Hunting and gathering fiber

    Audiobooks are a wonderful companion for exercise, and for those who are otherwise engaged in solitary tasks – such as crocheting, knitting, or sewing. Sometimes they even unexpectedly give us insights into those same activities. Such was the case this week when I was working on my latest tote/market bag. As I noted in my…

  • Shared fiber joy

    Shared fiber joy

    Now that I am once again driving into work 5 days a week, I am pretty much “done” by Friday night, or “all in” as my British friends might say. Working from home for the past 5 years meant that I got more sleep, eliminated the stress of commuting, and had a LOT more work/life…

  • A new era for local shops

    A new era for local shops

    I wrote the blog post below after visiting New Orleans for business almost 2 years ago and posted it on my previous blog site. Today, as the news in the fiber arts community is overflowing with store closures, retail bankruptcies, and economic scares, I am thinking of how the larger crocheting and knitting communities as…

  • The end

    The end

    This weekend the crafting and sewing world faced the reality of the beginning of the end for a retail staple. The retailer Joann entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a second time in less than a year. Liquidation sales began in the 500 stores slated for closure under the agreement with another 300 or so remaining…