Guest Blogger : Marina

This is Marina. She was the winner of our pattern/fabric giveaway this month and is going to be our guest blogger for September as well. I am really excited for us all to get to know her better and learn from her. Here is a short interview to start the introduction.

(Check out her etsy shop )

How long have you been sewing and who taught you?

My grandma taught me how to sew. I don't even remember actually learning, but I was probably five or six. We'd stay at my grandma's house when we had days off school, and I remember sewing a lot of pillows from her scrap fabric. I didn't sew much during junior high & high school [gymnastics & then ice hockey were time consuming, I guess], though I always really wanted to really learn how to sew--making my own clothes was this amazing dream that seemed completely out of reach. Eventually, I went off to college & then moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to my family, especially my grandparents. My grandma died about six months after I moved home, and my grandpa gave me her sewing machine, and I relearned how to sew to deal with her passing. That was two years ago; I've been sewing as much as I can since then.

Can you remember the first thing you made?

The first thing I have a really strong memory of sewing was a small pillow in this terrible zebra print. Well, I say terrible now, but I thought it was amaaazing at the time. I think the pillow is still at my parents' house, somewhere.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of sewing?

My favorite part is when I've been sewing for a few hours, and I'm just completely engrossed in the act of sewing and the endless possibilities. I also love that every single time I sit down at my machine, I learn something new and improve my skills. My least favorite part is that I'm easily intimidated by sewing. If I don't make a point to sew every day, I forget all the fun parts and just remember the frustration. In all fairness, that might be more my own neuroses than sewing itself. I definitely get frustrated by finicky techniques--or, really, techniques that I'm not good at--but I try really hard to just focus on working hard & getting better, rather than getting annoyed.

When you are not sewing what do you like to do?

Well, I'm in grad school, so I'm pretty thrilled when I can make enough time to sew. If I'm having a really quiet/organized/productive week and I have time for something besides school work and sewing, I go thrift store shopping whenever I can. I love traveling & exploring new places. Right now that means my own city of Milwaukee--I've lived here for two years, but there's still so much I haven't done. I try to see my friends whenever I can, and also my boyfriend, ha. I love cooking and baking, and much to my parents' surprise, I have started to enjoy cleaning. There's something very satisfying about doing something with immediate & visible results--basically the exact opposite of my school life. I am also a really big fan of just sitting and doing nothing at all.

Tell us a little about your blog.

My current blog is several years old. I had a Livejournal for a few years before I switched to Blogspot. I used to do a lot of the navel-gazing, "woe is me" thing, but as I've gotten older (grown up?), I've started to focus a lot more on crafting, cooking, photography... things that are more interesting than how very, very difficult it is to be me. Actually, I think that several of my recent posts have involved feeling sorry for myself for being broke, so maybe I have not grown up so much! Basically, whatever the content, I have been an active blogger for years now, which has resulted in traffic of upwards of five visitors a day.

Tell us a little about your business.

My business is... a work in progress. I have a lot of ideas for what I'd like it to be, and I'm slowly making progress, but there never seems to be enough time in the day. I'd really like to get things together a bit more, and I'm applying for a few craft fairs this holiday season. I'd love to have a more steady income from making things, but I also have realized that I need to stop worrying about money and selling and being profitable immediately. I went to a screening of Handmade Nation last week, and I decided that for now, I will just focus on making beautiful things, instead of worrying about how many hearts my Etsy shop has.