Eddie Ross before a hair cut and name change

Watched a recent episode of Fine Living's "Whatever Martha" and spotted a young long haired dude named "Eddie Roskowski" preparing Whoopie pies with Martha. The nasty hair distracted me at first but before long, I realized that Eddie Roskowski (sp?) is Eddie Ross! The same guy that worked for Martha Stewart's magazine and threw a few mean queen snit fits on Bravo's Top Design. I take a look at his blog every once in awhile and dig some of his projects but often wondered how much of media whore one guy can be but get it now because he is chasing the dream of a television pilot, God bless him and his easily recognized ferret eyes.

First thing I made when I started sewing

About 10 years ago, my mom gave me a new sewing machine for Christmas after I put it on my "wish list". At the time, I was only interested in easy home decor projects and had no idea that I would have so much fun sewing.

With one spool of thread and a bag of upholstery samples, I played around and made some plastic bag dispensers for myself and everyone I knew. That is the way I show love (or seek approval?), I make stuff.
The dispenser idea was a bastardized version of a Martha Stewart project I remembered from her magazine's "Good Things" column.

Kept two for myself, one for plastic bags, the other for cleaning rags.

Monogrammed tea towels

~~Courtesy of Elizabeth.



She and I have a great barter system. I provide items for her to machine embroidery - one for her, one for me. That way, she isn't stitching, coveting and resenting all at the same time. THAT is a no good combination that may result in defective goods and cat fight scratches. People give me stuff - personalized stuff!

Nice cotton tea towels from Martha Stewart's line at K-Mart

No sew tote bag

Through the miracle that is TiVo, Chrysanthemum and I watched Martha Stewart's guest demonstrate making a cute no sew tote bag. Never one to be a rigid direction follower, Chrysanthemum whipped up this tote bag with a leather thrift store belt cut down for the handles. The fabric is an embossed faux leather.
So, how is it a no sew bag? Staples and duct tape! You heard me. Use above link to find directions.

Special thanks to Jodi Kahn for sharing this wonderful craft. To learn more of Jodi's easy-to-do crafts, check out her book, "Simply Sublime Bags: 30 No-Sew, Low-Sew Projects".

Burp cloths

Y'know, I burp all the time and I don't need nor use a burp cloth. Could it be that burp cloths are misnamed? Would a more accurate label be "puke rag"? Eh, never mind, keep calling it a burp cloth.

Anywho, the breeders are at it again. All of 'em are having babies. Though not a fan of babies, I like making baby stuff. You won't see me laying out cash for an extravagant baby gift. If ya can't afford the stuff, you shouldn't have the kid. 'Nuff said.

Please to enjoy, in all of their glory, are the latest burp cloths, hand embroidered by me. These are nice linen-type tea towels, purchased from KMart's Martha Stewart line.

Here baby, puke it out on my handstitched hard work.

Water bottle strap

Have a ton of this vintage pink and green yarn trim so made a bastardized version of
Martha Stewart's water bottle ribbon strap.

The little pink plastic cord lock thingie was found at Hancock Fabrics.

My upgrade: The knot in middle of green ribbon prevents accidental slipping and loss of cord lock.

Crafty inspiration

Three books have inspired me to get back in the craft room studio.


Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from a Lost Place by William Arnett, Alvia Wardlaw, Jane Livingston, John Beardsley is a beautiful account of quilting by African American women. Stunning photographs and engrossing stories. But the inspiration, for me, was JUST MAKE IT. Great grandmother quilted. Mom quilted. And somewhere inside me, there is a quilt. But life is busy and I figured I would look forward to that when time passed a little slower. But this book has motivated me to get out the fabric and teach myself to make quilt! No patterns, no T-squares, no pinning. Learn to quilt and have fun while doing it.

Next I picked up a book titled Subversive Cross Stitch by Julie Jackson. This woman is after my own heart. She revealed her dislike of cutesy kittens and bears offered in the pre-packaged cross stitch kits. Her subversive urge caused her to add sarcastic comments to the otherwise milquetoast stitching. (And I thought I was clever to stitch "If you've nothing nice to say, come sit by me" in fancy script.) No, Julie Jackson is way too cool for school, what with her "Go Fuck Yourself" patterns. But again, inspiration struck and I quickly stitched a fingertip towel for my friend Bonnie with her oft repeated command, Bite Me.

And then I found Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To by Jenny Hart and Alexandra Grablewskifor. I have cross stitched for at least twenty years and while I enjoy the activity, I don't want any of that crap in my house. It is fine for baby gifts but not for the wall. So, after perusing the local library, I checked out Kids Embroidery by Kristin Nicholas. I have all of the needles and floss but what to stitch on? The scrub pants were right there and a handy future reference. With my well-stocked craft stash, I pulled out water soluble pens and stencils to mark my fabric. The stitching began. Hey, this is easy! Meanwhile, I am kind of pissed that I have been jacking around with cross stitch all these years while I could have been doing embroidery.

A look around the house turned up my stack of cotton tea towels. Stitched all of those. Then made a purse. And embroidered on that. Purchased six packs of nice cotton tea towels from the KMart Martha Stewart collection. And I am looking at all of my unadorned pillowcases . . . Everything will be stitched before my hands become arthritic!

Yay, my creativity has been juiced!