Two years after I gave Whimsy & Tea room to tell me what it wanted, it let me know it was time for us to ...

One spring morning when Asha was about six months old, we walked up what my friend Lynn calls Butt Hill (because you feel the climb ...

I sit down at the loom and settle in to untangle threads. I’d designed new towels, but, after weaving a sample, was unhappy with the ...

I sit in a circle of women in a cozy cottage on Nantucket, the sound of the ocean in the background. We have flown, driven, ...

On our morning walk Asha runs down to a stream and I search for a stick to throw her. Instead I find small purple flowers ...

I cut the red thread after sewing the cloth label onto the towel and exhale. I hold the towel up, fold it in thirds lengthwise, ...

I learned a new word recently: deipnosophist. A few Saturdays ago, I was driving to meet my friend Sherri for a latte and turned on ...

This morning Asha and I walked to the bridge over gentle waters. It was sunny and a pleasant 28°. No biting wind. I was in ...

One overcast morning I was walking along a trail deep in thought – perhaps about how snow pants make such a difference on cold days ...

On one of my let’s-see-where-this-trail-goes walks with Asha, we rounded a bend and came to a clearing of sorts with a wooden bridge over a ...

My desk is covered with a few weaving books, samples I wove in a workshop on color, graph paper and my laptop as I work ...

On a walk in the woods with my puppy Asha, a sentence I’d read recently popped into my head: A tidy house is a sign ...

"Did you hear that?" I ask my friend Jody as we wind a warp onto her loom together. Jody stands at the front of the ...

Sometimes weaving drives me crazy. I’m not talking about the many times threads have ended up in a tangled mess. Nor how hard it is ...

I wonder where the geese went, I say to my puppy Asha who is also staring out at the beaver pond. I like to think ...

One morning during a late-winter thaw my puppy Asha and I head up the dirt road, past the small cemetery and into the woods. Once ...

I'm at my loom weaving towels with sustainably-grown, naturally-colored cotton. I’m in the familiar place of wanting to finish a collection of towels in time ...

I walk in silence beside my mother. She’s listening to classical music on her iPod. I’m thinking about beauty, specifically how it doesn’t have to ...

The winter solstice has come and gone, the light is gradually returning and a new year has started. I feel a cultural pressure to usher ...

I have a project I want to weave: napkins to go with my Crisp Fall Day table runners. By “go with” I mean similar colors ...

My heart is heavy. Weighed down by all the destruction and turmoil across this country. Homes lost. To fire. To water. To wind. I write ...

Four sunflower heads floated in shallow plates of water on the dining table. Earlier that day they had lined the path at a wedding. Now ...

I’m excited to be part of the inaugural Working Weavers Studio Trail here in western Massachusetts. On October 14 & 15, I’ll be one of ...

Most mornings for the better part of 16 years, I’d get up and go for a walk with my yellow Labs, Molly and Codi. Many ...

I had a particularly lovely, nourishing & sacred breakfast experience this morning because my new handcrafted textiles were hard at work bringing the spirit & ...

Chicken noodle. French onion. Potato leek. Beet Cabbage Borscht. A bowl of warm soup hits the spot and offers comforting nourishment. And nourishment is so ...

I watched the woman take a couple steps away from my booth, pause, and return. She stood quietly for a few moments, touching the gray ...

It started with an opportune question. Do you use organic cotton? a well-dressed man asked one Saturday earlier this year at the Northampton Winter Farmers’ ...

One Sunday after church, when I was a child, my family was invited to dinner at Rokeby, a guesthouse run by Methodist missionaries near my ...

I was at a craft fair recently and over the course of three days, I heard several women comment, I’d wear that as a scarf, ...

In the 1990s the crime rate in New York City fell suddenly. Violent crime decreased in cities across the country as the crack trade declined, ...

People often ask me how long it takes to weave a towel. The short answer is: I don’t know. I don’t weave one towel from ...

Touching the towel can serve as a silent meditation to be present. For me, it’s about connection. These quotations are from interviews with Caryn Cushman ...

When I sit at the loom and throw the shuttle back and forth, I have plenty of time to think as the cloth grows. Today ...

One day, a few years ago, when I was making a deposit at the bank, the teller, Cindy, asked me about my business name, “Whimsy ...

In December, I invited you to join me in a unique project to bring beauty and hope to survivors of domestic violence. I wanted to ...

The day after Claire’s boyfriend kicked her while she was holding their baby, he was nice to her. She knew then that he knew what ...

Simplicity napkin Do you weave napkins? a woman asked me at a farmers’ market. I smiled and said, No. After I got this question the ...

tubes of cotton for the Lazy Summer Day kitchen towels Four-year-old Isabelle looks up from drawing a flower to ask Jessica, her teacher, a question ...

Like a Wildflower kitchen towels Each season has its particular joys. Before summer ends, I want to make time to ... Hang laundry on the ...

I have a new towel design on the loom. I worked the design out on paper with the aid of my weaving software and did ...

I Feel the Earth kitchen towels It’s 3:33 pm at my boarding school in the foothills of the Himalayas. The buzzer sounds, signaling the end ...

Sunshine on my Shoulders kitchen towel Sun shining directly into my studio, filling the space with warm, inviting light layered with … Weaving, and specifically ...

Happy 2015! Every week I try to declare one day a Weave-to-my-Heart’s-Content Day. On these days I give myself permission to let go of the ...

My senior year in college my uncle came for a visit. After I cooked us a vegetarian dinner in my basement apartment, he kindly offered ...

So many of you have responded to my email last week, asking how you use your Whimsy & Tea towels. A big thank you. I ...

Earlier this year, I shared two interviews – one with Caryn, about the Whimsy & Tea towel she has been using in her kitchen and ...

Over the past six months a friend has been writing me emails as she inches towards using one of her Whimsy & Tea towels. A ...

The other day my friend Faith came over with a friend of hers visiting from Germany. Faith had asked if she could show her friend ...

In June I had the pleasure of visiting a first grade class to demonstrate and talk about weaving. They had been reading stories featuring Anansi ...

In March I shared my interview with Caryn, an elementary school teacher in Portland, OR, about the Whimsy & Tea towel she has been using ...

Weaving is pattern and color. Pattern is my comfort zone.  I’m left-brained and enjoy logic, structure and order.  Numbers, formulas and equations make me happy.  On ...

At the very end of December or beginning of January, I do inventory. I count and weigh tubes of cotton, dust the shelves before putting ...

NOTE:  This is a guest post by Deb Davis.  Deb is a writer, artist and naturalist who works for the Forest Service in central Washington ...

I have been interviewing a few customers about the towels, napkins and table runners they purchased from me. I am curious to know how they ...

I am weaving a new towel design and exploring variations. In this design, vertical ivory stripes alternate with twill stripes in different pastels. After I’ve ...

When I was preparing for an artist talk in conjunction with the recent exhibit, Serving Up Art, a friend and fellow fiber enthusiast sent me ...

I enjoy hosting Thanksgiving. Growing up in India, Thanksgiving wasn’t a significant holiday in my life.  My sister and I would arrive home from boarding ...

Last November my friends Amy Halko, Holly Jordan and I held a Clay Wood Cloth event at MIX Garden in Healdsburg, CA. We donated a ...

There’s a store on the main street of Sebastopol, CA that sells great cooking and baking tools. Whenever I drive by, I think about how ...

Some time ago my printer was printing red lines on everything.  I consulted my small manual and followed the appropriate troubleshooting suggestions.  The red lines ...

Beyond sitting at the loom People often ask me how long it takes to weave a towel. Actually weaving the towel – sitting at the ...

For many years I had shoulder-length straight brown hair, parted in the middle. It was a low maintenance “do”, requiring only an occasional trim. Although ...

I have a new towel design on the loom and it isn’t weaving as smoothly as I would like. It’s been a while since I’ve ...

When I was seven years old, I had a long cotton skirt that I loved.  I was fascinated by the three bands of calico fabric, ...

In my recent college alum magazine, there’s an article about an alumnus who has been developing robots for security purposes. These robots can be sent ...

“You must have a lot of patience” is a comment I hear frequently at craft shows where I sell my towels. I’ve grown used to it, ...

In response to a newsletter, a customer wrote me about a conversation with a Japanese friend about ceremonies for daily use items. This idea intrigued ...

As a child, I disliked my name. Too many comments about Marilyn Monroe and the dictionary, although not usually in the same breath. I identified ...

When I'm driving, I pay attention to street names. I get curious about who named them and what they reveal about the town's history. For ...

I am almost finished weaving a towel when I realize something is off. I'm not where I'm supposed to be in the pattern. I take ...

One of my high school English teachers instructed us not to use the adjectives "nice" and "interesting." According to my teacher, to describe someone as ...

I've been settling into my new more permanent home and running move-related errands: opening bank accounts, registering my car, finding a vet, getting a landline ...

My recent move from northern California to western Maryland has me pondering the question: What makes a house a home? I’ve walked into houses and ...

In preparation for my cross-country move, I've been sorting through my belongings. I'm not ready to pack yet, but over the years, I've learned that ...

Some time ago I wove a few towels with five wide ivory stripes and six narrow spruce ones. I chose a very simple design and ...

I’ve known for a while that my living and dining rooms as well as my home office need painting. The otherwise white walls and ceiling ...

One afternoon while browsing the interior design section of my local bookstore, I came across a book entitled Altar Your Space. I picked it up, ...

My friend Helena asked me what a world without beauty would look like. At first words like gray and bland came to mind. Then I ...

At the grocery store the other day I came across some coconut almond hummus. I was intrigued. Reading the ingredients, I noticed that the last ...

The other Sunday I had a lovely massage. As I sat in the waiting area with a warm neck wrap and a cup of mint ...

Have you ever had something that didn’t work they way you wanted it to? I have. I recently made a list. It’s a long list ...

If you’ve been reading my newsletters for the past few months, you know that I am passionate about using beautiful things in everyday life and ...

Several years ago I traveled back to India, to the foothills of the Himalayas where I grew up. My class was having a reunion in ...

I've been talking with friends about the ways they bring beauty into their everyday lives and have been moved by the depth of their responses ...

Last month I wrote about an experiment that was inspired by removing clothes from my closet and what I learned about self-care from that experiment ...

I have been conducting a little experiment. What I'm learning from this experiment is deepening my understanding of the importance of beauty in the everyday ...

Once upon a time a girl wandered into the woods and came upon a house. She knocked and when there was no answer, she went ...

"There once was a Velveteen Rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his ...