At work we are in a similar mindset. A few weeks ago Hosanna’s voiced her frustration of how many bins there were filled with useless items accumulating in our department. This led to a guessing game for the four of us. We each guessed how many bins we thought were on the shelves in our workroom and secretly wrote it down on a folded piece of paper. Kirsten guessed 853 and amazingly it was with-in 13 bins, the total being 866. I guessed 1000 and was second closest. Hosanna has since taken it upon herself to mainstream our tool section, both hand and power tools, screws, nails and hardware. All of this happening while A&E’s Hoarders is being broadcasted on the monitor above. I can't watch it. It makes me feel damaged. Below are just a few pics of the improvements to our department.

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1 Hosanna demonstrating our version of Parkour. Actually this is how we climb our shelves to reach higher bins when we are too lazy to pull out the ladder.

2 This is one of two walls of just MS craft punches

3 A closer look at our punches. Notice that someone was clever enough to have a punched piece of paper in front of each one so we know where they go back.

4 Our pegboard wall of mostly measuring tools.

5 We keep all of our combustible paints and liquids in a specially marked cabinets.

6 Hosanna tackled organizing all the nuts, bolts, nails, and screws into clearly labeled drawers.

7 This is just a sorting picture. Later she went in and glued wood dividers for several of the drawers. I envy her commitment.

8 This is our new tool storage area. It doesn't look like much, but it really makes sense where it is now closer to our work bench and electric outlets.

9 OK, so this is just a glimpse of my storage unit. As you can see it's to the roof.

10 This is a dress form I'm getting rid of. I think it's a size 8. Hopefully one of many things I can sell on-line.

So the other day Hosanna showed me a project Martha wants us to develop that involves double-welt pockets. Fortunately I’m a bit of a pack rat and still have all my books and notes from my tailoring class; that I took in 1990… Within my notes were several pages with muslin swatches of different hand-stitching techniques that I had been meaning to display. So I did, replacing off-white silk backing with a burnt-orange linen that matches the thread I used. Please take a look. I think it turned out great as a group, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you the application of each stitch. As far as the double-welt pocket, my notes aren’t as clear. Wish me luck as I decipher the instructions from my textbook and simplify for our viewers.

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1 All my notes and swatches.

2 Discontinued M.S. Crafts shadow boxes

3 Pad stitch

4 Chain stitch

5 Whip stitch

6 Felling stitch

7 Catch stitch

8 Blind stitch

9 Running stitch

10 Tailor basting

11 All 3 boxes together. Sorry, not the best photo.

This week Jim McCann from 1-800-FLOWERS made holiday arrangements with Martha. I supplied some more unusual clippings for them to play with, like golden arborvitae, privet berries, and Brazilian peppercorns. Growing up I had a giant Brazilian pepper tree in the front yard that was the foundation for the tree house my brother and I played in. So you can imagine my excitement when I came across it as a cutting in the flower market. I thought it complimented the red and white striped amaryllis really well. I think we all try to do that here: take something from our upbringing and work it into the Martha brand. I suggest taking a second look at that shrub outside your window and bring some clippings inside. I bet it could stand being cut back a bit, and if it’s bare, well then just add some glitter.

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1 Red winterberry

2 Privet berries

3 Orange winterberry

4 Brazilian pepper

5 Noble fir

6 Seeded eucalyptus

7 Western cedar

8 Incense cedar

9 Golden arborvitae

10 Holly

11 Juniper

12 White pine

13 Hypericum

14 Variegated holly

15 Magnolia

So the other week I was able to step out for a bit and teach a Halloween craft project to my cousin Ronnie’s 4th graders again. Just in case you missed my past post about her students, they all attend P.S. 20 here in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. And since it is a New York public school, they don’t have really any budget for art materials. This is Ronnie's last year with these guys before they go off to middle school, so emotions I imagine will run high come spring.

The project this time was decorating masks. Which is similar in theme to the craft I'll be demonstrating on the show Friday, but rest assured, they're completely different. So I brought with me to the school a big bag full of felt scraps, ribbon bits, and miscellaneous pom-poms. We first talked about why people wear masks, what they’re hiding, or who they’re pretending to be. I suggested how they could exaggerate certain facial feature to make them look either scary or funny. Last, I encouraged them to use a narrow range of color and to build up texture with repeated shapes. Then we dove into it for about an hour. By the end no two were alike. I think it went really really well.  Take a look.

The students picked out pom-poms that were passed around in a big bin.

Kevin patiently fringed his entire mask with black triangles.

Jose and Fahmid

Dominick and Yasmine

Christian made one for his sister. The eyebrows on Joseph's mask cracks me up.

Noeli and Patricia

Nicolle and Abagail

Rupi and Naimah

Wesley and David

Kevin and Edwin

A birds eye view of all the masks together.

In the evenings at Burning Man it’s important to illuminate yourself, so that you are visible to other “burners” and they won’t crash into you with their bicycles. Most of us do this simply with glow-sticks or little flashy LED pins, but some folks create these elaborate outfits with all kinds of battery operated lighting that are just amazing. So last week when I assisted Alison Lewis, a guest crafter promoting her book Switch Craft, I was so excited to learn how fiber optics work. I won’t spoil what she made on the show we taped, just tune in on Oct. 26 to see it for yourself.

This week I’m sewing with Martha on the show a hysterical octopus/spider costume that will air Oct. 28. The pattern is for kids, roughly 4 years of age. This always proves to be a bit of a challenge getting the fit just right, because obviously we don’t have a bunch of children hanging around the office. Fortunately, my co-workers who are moms, like Lenore Welby, have been gracious enough to bring my projects home in the past, taking photos, and making notes for me. So stay tuned in for great ideas every day.  Download the nifty templates on marthastewart.com and let us know what you think.

Of course, it would have been exhausting to go to museums the entire week. Fortunately, my cousin Ronnie invited us to teach an art project to her students one day. Ronnie teaches at Public School 20, right in the heart of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It's the same neighborhood I've lived in for the past 15 years. At first my mom and I were unsure of what to demonstrate, but if there's one thing I've learned working for Martha, it's that you can pretty much glitter anything. We started off with a brief Q&A. I then explained the project to the students, which was simply brushing glue onto artificial leaves and butterflies, glittering, then mounting them on cardstock. The three of us (Ronnie, my mom, and I) went around helping where needed. I had a chuckle conducting pop-quizzes to dispense the handful of extra butterflies. We all resisted over-directing the students, but rather encouraged them to freely express their ideas. This resulted with an impressive array of different styles.

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Noeli Cisneros displays her creation

Ronnie explained to me that because of cut-backs in the public schools, art is only taught a total of two hours every month. That kind of crushed me. I doubt I'd be the same person without making potholders or bean art in grammar school. She asked me if I'd want to come back again in the fall and of course I said ¨yes.¨ I don't know what I have planned yet, but you´ll be sure to hear about it.