Hello there! I'm Diane and I have two grand passions: making crafts and making media. That's what I write about here, and sometimes, I get all thoughtful about internet culture and creative small businesses. Thanks for stopping by! Would you like some tea?

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How to Make a Five Fave Fabrics Tote (a guest tutorial for Spoonflower)

How to Make a Five Fave Fabrics Tote (a guest tutorial for Spoonflower)

Photoshop wizardry here by Kirby Harris. I’m thrilled to have another tutorial over at the Spoonflower blog this week! I came up with this one based on how much I love voting in their weekly fabric contests. Have you ever voted in these things? They’re an awesome work distraction. And at the end of voting, you …

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How to Make a Giant Hexie Placemat (a guest tutorial for Spoonflower)

How to Make a Giant Hexie Placemat (a guest tutorial for Spoonflower)

I had a complete blast making this tutorial for the Spoonflower blog. They have so many beautiful large-scale prints over there, and I thought it would be fun to play with those in making some giant-size paper piecing. These fabrics are designed by Holli Zollinger, and you can get more details on them in my …

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In Which I Make a Kindle Cover, With Some Help

In Which I Make a Kindle Cover, With Some Help

Some of you (hopefully most of you, actually) are familiar with Nancy Zieman, of Sewing With Nancy fame. (That’s the longest-running craft TV program in the country – it’s been on PBS since 1983.) Nancy has a new line of Tablet Keeper products with Clover, and she offered me a chance to try them …

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A Slightly Massive Look at Fall Quilt Market

A Slightly Massive Look at Fall Quilt Market

For the past week, I’ve been in Houston. First, I had a visit with Rachel and Kristin, and then I was working with Clover in their booth, demonstrating the Kanzashi Makers at Fall Quilt Market. Fall Quilt Market (a wholesale show) is unimaginably vast and more than a little overwhelming. Since I’m not a quilter …

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Amazing things I saw at Quilt Market

Amazing things I saw at Quilt Market

OK, I’ll start with a disclaimer/apology: I saw Quilt Market at pretty high speeds. I snapped as many pictures as I could of the amazing things I saw, but I did a terrible job of getting the pertinent details. Chalk it up to a brain that’s trying to process thousands of new pieces of …

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Wondering what these are?

Wondering what these are?

These, my friends, are brand-spanking-new Kanzashi Makers from Clover! They aren’t even in craft stores yet – they’re in the process of launching right now! And lucky me, I get to accompany the Clover team to Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City this weekend. I’ll be demonstrating these bad boys throughout the show. If you’ve …

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“Go outside and craft,” she said

“Go outside and craft,” she said

So, earlier today I had an email from my Mom. The subject line read: Do me a favor. Sort of an order. Well, you know that when your Mom gives you an order, even “sort of,” you should listen. Here’s what she asked me to do… “Since you just came out of a very intense week of …

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On CRAFT: How to Make a Potluck Dish Cozy (from a felted sweater)

On CRAFT: How to Make a Potluck Dish Cozy (from a felted sweater)

While I’m cleaning house and making food ahead today, I’ll just pop in and share this new tutorial I have over on CRAFT. This Potluck Dish Cozy was inspired by my Mom, who always wraps her potluck dishes in old towels so they stay warm in transit. So this is a padded envelope made from …

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How to Make a Quilted Thanksgiving Card

How to Make a Quilted Thanksgiving Card

I teased this tutorial quite a while ago, but then I got an idea that made it a lovely Thanksgiving craft. So I waited. You can make one of these quilted cards for every person at your Thanksgiving table. You can write each of them a personal message (on the back), thanking them for something …

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Learn Heirloom Sewing (and enter the giveaway), from Sew Beautiful Magazine

Learn Heirloom Sewing (and enter the giveaway), from Sew Beautiful Magazine

A lot of the garment-sewing coverage in our crafty blogosphere seeks to simplify the process. Which is sometimes too bad, because there’s so much beauty to be had in older, more ornate sewing techniques like pin-tucking, lace mitering, and sewing with entredeux. What’s entredeux? It’s a very fine eyelet trim that’s used to join two …

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