AnniePhil

I'm 28 and a city girl living in the mountains. I am only recently learning crafty skills, but I am loving everything I'm learning. When I sew and craft I feel connected to the women in my family in a new way. My maternal great-grandmother was a professional seamstress, and my paternal grandmother is an avid quilter and needle-worker. My husband's grandmother and great-grandmother were both quilters.

I have been married 2 1/2 years to a fabulous architect who is handy if not crafty, but he did sew me a lovely pincushion out of vintage fabrics for my birthday!

I dig folk music, especially Ani DiFranco, Bob Dylan, Utah Phillips, Indigo Girls, Sigur Ros, and The Weepies.

My favorite job has been that of a high school poetry teacher, and I am a fan of Pablo Neruda, Louise Erdrich, Sylvia Plath, Elie Wiesel, Annie Dillard, and Ntozake Shange. I collect books, both vintage/ antique books and blank journals with funky or pretty covers. (Even antique books don't have to be expensive; my best book- a collection of Tennyson poetry from the 1800s with a pressed leather and gold-leaf cover- was only $12 from a thrift store!)

I have recently jumped into quilting and am working on my first 3 baby quilts. I like all types of embroidery, including ribbon embroidery. I am a beginning-level knitter. I am learning my way around my sewing machine. Someday... I would like to own a couple of alpacas and spin and dye my own yarn. My other crafty aspirations are to learn loom weaving and needlepoint and needle felting.

My favorite fabric and crafty designers are Alicia Paulson, Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fasset, and Martha Negley.

I adore anything made in the style of something Anthropologie would sell- funky, pretty, vintage, with nifty detail work.

I collect pears, owls (and other fat birds), aprons, stationary, books, broaches, vintage jewelry of any kind, and flowery dessert plates in a pallet of greens and blues.

Animal designs I enjoy include: alpacas/llamas, chickadees, owls, wombats, squirrels, picas, and marmots.

I like the colors of avocado green, periwinkle, pinky coral, and dark chocolate brown.

I like the scents of fig, clover, cloves, pumpkin, lavender, rosemary, sage, jasmine, mango, almond, peach, green tea, and chai tea spices.

I like vintage fabric, words, yummy yarns, paisleys, ribbons, any ethnic fabric (Russian, Japanese, African, all European and Central and South American countries), embroidered fabric of any kind, candles, and vintage buttons.

I crave little knitted things- hats, scarves, socks, mittens, muffs, cuffs, wristlets, etc.

Handmade soaps or lotions would make me feel so special!

I could REALLY use some address labels....

I ALSO COLLECT USED POSTAGE STAMPS, SO I'D LOVE, LOVE, LOVE TO FIND SOME ON WHATEVER YOU SEND ME!

My heroes are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elie Wiesel, and Sophie Scholl.

My least favorite colors are neons, hunter green, and powder blue (unless the blue is paired with chocolate brown or a cheery red). My least favorite flavors are black licorice and cucumber. My least favorite scents are baby powder and vanilla. My least favorite designs are pooh bear, teddy bears, americana, grape vines, cartoonish babies.

Swap-bot has made a tea lover of me. I love to try ethnic and unusual brands of tea.

I LIKE black, green, white, and red teas. I enjoy chai, herbal, any fruit, and all floral teas.

Tea types I do NOT like are licorice, vanilla, anise, pure chamomile, pure mint, and lemon-flavored black tea.