Melanie (Melly) Testa

It is magical.

This weekend we went to our friend Clark’s house for a picnic. Clark lives in a home that has been in his family for 110 years. The house was 60 to 70 years old when they bought it. It is an amazing house. There is a creamery, they used to sell milk. A barn, severalContinue reading “It is magical.”

Gather your Sew-plies!! Class at The City Quilter.

Here is a cut and paste from The City Quilter‘s web site: GATHER YOUR SEW-PLIES! Hand sewing requires few tools: scissors, a thimble, perhaps a piece of wax and some thread. While making a ‘Gather your Sew-plies’ purse, we will explore hand sewing themes in embroidery while creating our own purses. Each purse has aContinue reading “Gather your Sew-plies!! Class at The City Quilter.”

Got that Off my Chest

Today an article I wrote about going flat, breast cancer and gender went live at Role/Reboot. While I feel passionate about the topic, I feel some trepidation on how it might be received too. Being flat after treatment for breast cancer is quite an interesting experience, our society is so focused on breasts, it canContinue reading “Got that Off my Chest”

The Twilight Zone

We were out and about today and we spotted this tool chest. As you might imagine, any use of the word chest is satisfactory to me, right now. Breast Pockets, Tool Chest, You get the idea. And it is so very red. This is our newest throw. Made of silk saris sew together by womenContinue reading “The Twilight Zone”

Organization Bomb

Showing you my studio space is helping to to understand what needs organization and how I would like to achieve it. Embroidery and stitch have become really important to me. I had skeins of thread tucked in several different places, hand dyed skeins were in 3 ring binders, I had a box of floss organizedContinue reading “Organization Bomb”

August 9-Gone Fishin.

My Studio Summer 2012

I haven’t really shown you my ‘studio’ in a long time, and I think I am well past due in sharing my space with you. Since we moved to our tiny apartment in Brooklyn, we have been redefining and recreating our space on a regular basis. It used to be that the sewing portion ofContinue reading “My Studio Summer 2012”

A Brooklyn day plus reconstruction!

Oh my goodness have I been having fun making stuff. I am exploring the concept of deconstructing, reconstructing and constructing. When we reconstruct our bodies after breast cancer, we can have procedures where you move fat from one part of the body to another, you can cut a flap of muscle and rearrange it, whoContinue reading “A Brooklyn day plus reconstruction!”

I am back!

I came home from Quilting by the Lake tired but Energized. I have three different Sew-plies purses going at the same time, this is just one. I made the Yellow/Red/ Brown/Pink cloth with the Eye-Love graffiti symbol, while I was away last week and now, feel the need to use it quickly. I also rearrangedContinue reading “I am back!”

Kass Hall’s Zentangle Untangled

Kass Hall just came out with Zentangle Untangled and I have to say, her book made me understand Zentangles. They really are inspirational and ever so meditative. For me, drawing is meditative, but to do it purposely to that end is a very healing thing indeed. For this fact alone I recommend Kass’s book, butContinue reading “Kass Hall’s Zentangle Untangled”