My Story

 

Hello friend! You are welcome here!

I want you to know  a little bit of my story and what brought me here.  

I've been crafty since I was a young girl, finding joy in cutting little pieces of paper together and hand stitching bags out of old jeans.  

When my husband Dan and I got married in 2013 at the beginning of the Pinterest era I crafted the heck out of our wedding and when our photographer asked if we had a theme I described it "a crafty Mel explosion".

We settled down in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and I pursued my Psychology/Social Work undergrad by doing Women's ministry and outreach at our inner city church. 

When I was pregnant and nesting with our sweet  firstborn son Theodore I picked up an embroidery hoop to make a little hoop to customize his corner of our tiny bedroom in our one bedroom basement apartment. 

In the journey of new motherhood, and sacrificing so much of myself for our little family, I found myself eager to do something for me. I'd lay him down to nap or sleep at night and be restless to create. And so I kept making little embroideries. Going to the mall to get wedding presents for friends was overwhelming with a baby, so stitching up a hoop for the couple felt more fitting. 

One day I had some new friends over and they all commented on the "Our nest" hoop that was above our couch. That day I took my first 3 orders from them, and started up my small Etsy shop. 

Joanie joined our family in 2017 in a glorious water home birth, and my nesting with her is what started my sewing journey. I couldn't afford to buy the gorgeous vintage inspired handmade items I saw online, so I decided to try my hand at making some simple styles.  In May 2018 I made my first shirt for myself and decided to commit to not buying any more "Ready to wear" garments, but to only thrift or make, in order to reduce consumption, and to take the time to slowly build my forever wardrobe. 

We welcomed Peter in August of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, and home life has been even more full and beautiful and chaotic since then. 

 As a stay at home mom, my passion for creating a handmade home continues to grow, as I continue to sew for myself and my kids. I love to share this feeling. My business really comes from an overflow of my heart, as I create products that make a house feel like a home. 

The concept of creating nostalgia through old traditions, and appreciation of the slower paces of the arts comes from a desire to be less consumeristic. I use as many scraps as I can from my personal sewing, to use with my embroidery hoops that go up for sale. I try to find beauty in the imperfect, the process, the scraps.  

 My ultimate hope here, is to be an encouraging voice, a sister who can say "you can do it, whatever that creative voice is within you, you can do it."  I hope you can linger a little longer, slow your breaths and pause to daydream.