disciplinecottage

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spot of hand quilting this morning while baby slept in (!!). using 12wt 'spaghetti' wonderfil thread for very big stitches.

looking at this picture I feel a little self conscious at how big and uneven the stitches are. my first two quilts used traditional hand quilting with thin thread and stitches as tiny as I could make them. For this quilt (and for my mother's) I chose to do big stitch quilting as I'm trying to knock them out by christmas and hoping the large stitches go faster. so far it does seem pretty fast but I'm missing the aesthetic of teeny tiny thread and stitches! but I do still think the big chunky stitches are fun. and also the only way you consistently get even stitches, in my experience, is by sewing lots and uneven ones until your hands sort it out for you.

I'm doing this echo-y design in the middle of each of the stars and then will do vertical lines between the stars. excited to see the quilting as it grows over the whole quilt!

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started crocheting a net bag for my grandma-in-law while my baby napped.

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Hey, also, all the anarchist shit aside, tomorrow I want you to make something.

I forced myself to draw something after the 2016 election. I forced myself to draw something when my mother died in 2018. I forced myself to draw something when my spouse was hospitalized for multiple organ failure in 2021.

When you are miserable, make something. Add a row to your project, bake a box cake, draw on a sheet of lined paper, write a poem on a napkin, fold an origami shirt out of a dollar bill, make your favorite recipe for dinner, but make something with your hands, something that you can hold and look at engage your senses in.

It won't fix the world, but it will change the world. You will have made something that didn't exist before. You will have impacted your reality, even in a very small way. And it is going to be something you made *after.* Something bad happened, something shook you, and you made something after, in spite of it.

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pins arrived; basted a quilt

tracking my Amazon package like this tiny crochet hook and pack of curved safety pins are the only things keeping me going

[disciplinecottage]

tracking my Amazon package like this tiny crochet hook and pack of curved safety pins are the only things keeping me going

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Lil bookmark while I'm working on a big project. :) First try at black work, I think I did okay. Pattern by PatchyAtBestCo on etsy.

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A second quilt top! This one for my mother in law. Also needs layering, quilting, and binding. More fun with big bright patterns and colors.

Pattern: Star Pop II by Quilty Love

Fabric: assorted Indian block print fabrics, purchased from Bhaveshhandicraft on Etsy, and an Ikea bedsheet, I think ullvide in dark blue.

Both this and the quilt top for my mom are intended as Christmas gifts. I had better hustle...

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she literally said "what, you wanna sew or something?"

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quilt by Chinami Terai

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Quilt for my mom! The top is complete. It needs layering, basting, quilting, and binding. I'm a muted colors person so it has been very fun to play with bright colors for a change.

It was my first time webbing a quilt top as seen in the first clothesline picture. I had a good time!

Pattern: Madeline Quilt by Penelope Handmade.

Fabric: Island Batik Favorites Strips, "Attitude" and half an Ikea bedsheet, I believe Dvala in beige.

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She is oiled and working!!!!

Tbh clearing out the drawers and figuring out oiling her and the basic mechanics of treadling were plenty of work for one day + I have not yet sorted winding a bobbin or threading her or sorting out stitch length and tension. Lots to be sorted. But she is on the move!!!!

[disciplinecottage]

have been sewing together this quilt top in every spare minute for the last few weeks! a lap size quilt made with scraps from the last few years using English paper piecing.

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Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!