Quilts, crafts and Mormon Mommies

I've been cruising the internets lately, looking at handcrafts.  Somehow my Christmas browsing on Etsy seems to have left me with a hankering for something arty and crafty.  So I've been looking around to see what kind of stuff I can find.

I've found a lot.

Some of my favorites:
Ravelry, of course.  Go-to source for knitting. I think I may figure out how to crochet one day soon and this will be my first stop for a cute, easy project.

Angry Chicken - This name alone it totally FTW.  But really, I'm not sure I'm down with everything on there... (note the Solstice cloaks she made her girls...), but she did a really good binding tape tutorial.

"Sexy Librarians" pattern from Sublime Stitching

Sublime Stitching - Awesome chick from Austin, TX, making cheeky and fun embroidery.  She's kind of a rebel with a very traditional palette.  She kind of started me down this crazy path.  I thought that if there's one of her out there, I must be able to find more modern girls like us.  Have yet to find someone really that interesting, although there are some contenders.

V and Co. - Like to see what she does, plus she's funny in a spazzy kind of way.  I think she'd be fun to hang out and laugh with.

Don't Call me Betsy - Very nice stuff from a girl who is self taught.  Adventuresome and thrifty.  And she uses delicious fabrics.

Sew Mama Sew - Great fabrics, tutorials, and right now a pillow month dealio going on.

The Plaid Scottie - Sass.  And color.  And wonky.  Love it.

a la Mode - This girl should be my friend.  I love her aesthetic, and her adventurous nature.  I dig her color choices and patterns she works from.  If you like blogs with music, she has good music playing. Good music or no, I still mute - bugs me.  But not enough for me to quit coming back.

Simply Modern Mom - Tutorials.  Tips.  Lists.  Recipes. And great photos.  Aaaahhhh....

Vogue Knitting - Really? I need to say more?

Living with Lindsay - Lindsay cracks me up.  She has good stuff, too.

Susanne Loves - Beautiful modern quilting and photos.  I love looking at her stuff and dreaming that someday I could pull off something that cool.

Tater Tots and Jello - Great projects, and this is where I learned about the Silhouette.  I may be late to the party, but I fell in love. Must have.

Taylor Made - I like her stuff a lot.  Doable, practical, and not-fussy.  My kind of gal.

Design Mom - I really like looking at her things. Some of them are more than I would be able to/want to tackle, but many others are totally something I could do. All serve as inspiration.

Gen X Quilters - She has the outlook that we need to bring quilting up to our generation. While she appreciates the history and the beauty of the traditional quilts, she also knows that there needs to be some movement if the artform is to progress and survive.  And I love looking at her stuff.


A disturbing number of these blogs are by Mormon women (ummm, definitely not all.  Hello, Vogue.) who have made Martha look like a overreaching, high-strung harpy.  Oh, wait...

Anyway, these women have these adorable little lives: none of them seem to work, they stay home with their ds, dd, 'little noisemaker', etc, and they manage to cram all sorts of crafting and housework into their days.  And they also manage to have these beautiful homes and what appear to be calm lives...

I was wondering about this, because I was noticing a trend and decided to google "Mormon mommy blog".  Before I even got past the "m" in "mommy", it had suggested "Mormon mommy blog".  (As a side note: I'm telling you that I have a serious skeeve about the way Google seems to read my mind when I go to search.  It also makes me feel like I never have an original thought in my tiny, dusty head.  But I digress.)  Evidently there is a whole community of these Mormon mommy bloggers.  And other people had noticed the Stepford perfection of their vanilla-scented lives.

Mitch O'Connell's reform school girl pattern from Sublime Stitching

Why am I focusing on this? I'm not sure. I love the things I've seen there, in a voyeuristic sort of way, and not all these are from this crowd.  Sublime Stitching and a la Mode are written by women who would be my friends - if only they knew it.  (Again, the internets are creeping me out just a little.)

But nevermind.  I just have to look past the perfection and the gentle Saintliness, and see the beauty they are bringing and the fun they are having.  I think I need to bring some of that peace and happiness and fun back into my own house.

Can I hire "fun"?