Orcas Island weekend at Seattle Song.

Seattle Picks newsletter.

Local trivia: community gardens here are called P-Patches, the word P-Patch is particular to Seattle, the P stands for “Picardo Farm in Wedgwood, the original local community garden”, at The Stranger. Also, Frito Pie in Georgetown.

Help Me Find Seattle’s Mexican Uwajimaya, at Ask Metafilter.

Lotta Jansdotter writes on her blog (02 April) that she would love to see what you’ve made using the patterns in her book Simple Sewing. She included Ahn-Minh’s placemat and magazine holder in her post. If you’d like to share you can send your photographs to questions[at]jansdotter[dot]com. I’d like to see too!

In case you have not heard of it, Simple Sewing is a fantastic book full of simple, beautiful patterns for yourself and your home. You can read about how much I love it here.

Related: Glittergoods scaled down the doorstop she made from Simple Sewing, and it has a happy ending. (Such adorable elephant fabric!)

How to make an a-line skirt pattern, at Craft.

Fabric shops in New York, at Poise.

Fabric knitting basket, at Knitting Box.

Animated how a bobbin works, at Craft.

Sewing resource links, at Action Hero.

How to make a rag rug, at Craft.

watching:
Bride and Prejudice

eating:
food from Eat Local

loving:
Weed Hound

must stop:
thrift store shopping

drinking:
Thunderhead IPA

The other day Delight.com sold out of their offering of these cute and strong reusable Envirosax shopping bags so quickly they are getting them back in stock, and you can pre-order them here. I’ve carried a single green EZ Bag with me for about five years now so obviously I find it useful to have in my bag, but I have to admit the Envirosax set is much cuter. via Sheterrific, who offer a special code for 20% off when you enter the code “Shelterrific” at check out, neato.

The 5th Avenue Theatre here in Seattle has a special offer for their production of Edward Scissorhands, Young Professional’s Night:

Attend Young Professionals’ Night at the 5th Avenue Theatre on Friday, April 27 at 8 PM and see the new stage adaptation of “Edward Scissorhands”

Buy your advance tickets for this special event using promotional code: TOPIARY. This code will get you the best seats available (a regular $68 value) for only $40. You must be 39 or under to take advantage of the offer. Please have your ID ready as you enter the theater.

To buy your tickets, simply go to http://www.5thavenue.org, call 206-625-1900, or stop by the 5th Avenue Theatre Box Office in-person. Don’t forget to use the promotional code TOPIARY when ordering your tickets.

For more information, visit the 5th Avenue Theatre Website.

I’ve been encountering bits about this show and the work of the choreographer Matthew Bourne, story in Time and a bit on NPR, and I’m curious to see this production.

This week’s Daily Candy Seattle Weekend Guide is pretty exciting. A few big fashion events, including Thread, the hugeomongous Friends of the Seattle Public Library Book Sale, and the Phinney Neighborhood Association Greenwood Garage Sale Day, which we’ll be venturing to in the hopes of finding some furniture, or at least a good excuse to get a burger at Red Mill.

I went without complete health insurance for many years, so this hits a bit close to home: “Alison Gordon — crafter of WonderlandQ, co-organizer of Bazaar Bizarre and Sampler Contributor Relations superhero very recently faced a medical emergency. Like many other independent artists and crafters, Alison is without health insurance.”

Her friends organized an Etsy shop to raise some funds to help out with the medical bills. You can buy something wonderful from the shop, or donate a handmade item of your own. There are details at the Etsy shop, Wonderland Retreat.

Randall Grahm is setting up shop in Washington. I’m pretty excited, we were DEWN subscribers for a long time.

Serious Eats choose their favorites from Food & Wine’s 50 wines you can always trust.

Saved by a grater gnocchi, at Smitten Kitchen.

Chow tests egg cooking devices, too bad about the Poach Pods.

Pensive Frog has been making sourdough bread and having adventures with her starter. After living in SF I’m still not ready to eat sourdough again.

I spotted Orangette and Gluten Free Girl in the pages of a Seattle magazine, congratulations!

Today’s deal at Delight.com is the real, actual Sun Jar. I made one of my own which is undoubtedly not as pretty, instructions are here if you’re interested.

There has been a continuing discussion on my previous post about Secret Clinical Strength, and from that sampling it doesn’t appear that anybody is really impressed. I’ve been using it for about two weeks and I can say it’s made a difference, but I didn’t start seeing one until the second week. Secret Clinical Strength is a soft solid that is pushed out of the tube using a clicking wheel at the bottom. I applied two clicks at night (as the instructions recommend) and one click in the morning. I can say my underarms have stayed drier and nicer smelling and that I’m feeling pretty confident about it. However, the effectiveness isn’t miraculous, and that’s where I suspect Secret might have set themselves up for a little grumbling.

[Read more →]

on knitting machines at Craftzine

Angry Chicken shows some of the Denyse Schmidt’s new fabric line Katie Jump Rope

One Hour Craft points us to these free Burda patterns – I love the ’60s bag, a lot

how to make leather business card holders, at Bluelines

Anh-minh and Skona Life show off some projects from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing, and Glittergoods discovers the doorstop is larger than it seems in the photographs

the most undervalued tool in the kitchen, the scale, at Product Dose

ah, the occasional resurgence of meatloaf iced with whipped potatoes and presented as cake: meat cake, there are some pretty nice examples in the Meatcake Gallery, via The Morning News

how to make cream cheese mints, via Craftzine

what a fresh egg should look like when cracked open, at NY Magazine

leek and potato galette at Shelterrific

bouquet breadsticks at The Kitchen

too late for Easter:

chocolate billboard at The Kitchen

baking muffins inside of eggshells (!!!) at Delicious Days

Slate talks about Google Office Suite but no mention of Open Office, which I use for the very few times I need to create a document at home

use Photoshop’s background eraser tool at swissmiss

Adobe Labs color palette picker, at Craftzine

Microsoft ladies laptop totes, at Popgadget, reminds me of the interesting but ultimately boring Microsoft Lifestyle Store

to buy: Bitter Films on DVD

Fontifier, at Cool Hunting

cord identification made easy, at Popgadget, looks easy to DIY as well

how to photograph your home at Apartment Therapy LA