Making Zen

A common question I get for folks who are new to stitching is “what do I do with all my samples?” And Kasia has some brilliant ideas for you! One of the best parts of this retreat for me is seeing all the wonderful...

What a lovely chat with Clarissa Grandi! Clarissa’s work is breathtakingly elegant. We’re delighted that she’ll be sharing her skills with us and teaching us Parabolic Paper Stitching as her workshop.

Deborah Fisher shows us how to make small felt boxes in her workshop, and we love a quick, practical project. What makes this one extra special is that the project can be used as a canvas for some of the techniques...

Melissa Galbraith is a maker at heart, having been introduced to a love of crafting at a young age - something that really resonates with me! We got a chance to talk about unwinding with a good project, the...

A delight to sit down with Kiala Givehand. Kiala was a speaker at the very first Making Zen retreat, and this is her first time back since then! I’m thrilled to have her back and teaching at this one, and we had a...

It was lovely to sit with Rebekah Johnston and welcome her to our retreat. Her Making Zen project is all about using what you have and making coasters from scrap fabrics, which, of course, I adore!

Elnaz Yazdani is new to the Making Zen retreat. It was lovely sitting down with her and talking about her Rethinking Embroidery workshop, as well as departing from the "rules" of traditional embroidery and using found...

What a lovely opportunity to chat with our new friend Kat Waters! Kat is introducing us to tambour embroidery - a skill she picked up when making her wedding dress in 2017! In our chat today, we got to talk about how...

We're excited to have Kirsty Freeman joining us for this retreat! Kirsty is a modern hand stitching artist who designs kits for embroidery and cross stitching. It was a treat to talk to her about her designs and...

Many of you know that I value stitching as a meditative act, and I have a kindred spirit in Emma in that regard! In our chat, we dive into stitching as mindfulness practice, and discuss Emma’s workshop for the event,...

We're thrilled to have Ruth Woods returning to Making Zen! Ruth is an expert in basketry, and we are so pleased to be able to have her talents at our retreat! It was great to talk to her about the threads that connect...

It is always such a pleasure to sit down with my friend Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio, and talking about Making Zen is especially fun! I love Amy's insight about how beneficial it can be to our art to do things...