My name is Kelly Smith and Milly and Tilly is my mostly craft blog. In 2009 I started blogging twice a week as motivation to complete some unfinished projects and to use up my craft stash that still threatens to take over the house. Here you can find out a little bit more about me and this blog.
Kelly and Crafts
I come from a DIY family and cannot remember a time before making. My father liked woodworking and mother made many different kinds of things and sometimes sold them at craft shows so I was exposed to crafts and making at an early age. My mother also did quite a bit of sewing; growing up my sister and I had homemade Halloween costumes every year, something I now love to do myself. Sewing was my first craft after gluing and is probably my favorite. In college, because I knew my way around a sewing machine, I secured a job working in the theatre department’s costume shop. I gained a lot of experience sewing multiples of the same thing, adding snaps to shirts for quick changes, and pressing seams.
Knitting is a rather new hobby for me; in 2004 I got a set of Knifty Knitter Looms and made scarfs. Around 2006, thanks to the craft community on the internet, my looming stitch repertoire increased and I was able to knit things that were a bit more exciting than e-wrap scarfs. You can read more about my loom knitting history on my Loom Knitting Resources page. I finally decided to pick up some knitting needles in 2010 to make my first ‘real’ knitting project, mittens! Since starting needle knitting I have pushed my looms to the side, most of my knitting projects are knit with needles now. Needle knitting is quicker and more versatile plus my Ravelry queue continues to grow.
I have always enjoyed taking pictures of things; I have fond memories of my pink 110 film camera and the horribly framed photos I took with it. Even though I have a small collection of film and digital cameras, I use my iPhone for the majority of the pictures I take. I always have my phone on hand so I can easily snap a quick picture plus I'm obsessed with Hipstamatic; it is a little bit unpredictable like film and is just fun to use! You can check out my Hipstamatic photos in my Hipstamatic photo set or all my photos on my Flickr page. I am often involved in some sort of photo challenge like 365: my 28th year or 52 week double exposure project and take pictures outside of these challenges too.
Milly and Tilly the Blog
For a very long time I wanted to blog; I saved the millyandtilly blogspot address in 2006, but didn’t actually start blogging until three years later. In 2009 I realized that my craft hoard was out of control and challenged myself to make one project every week, using mostly items I had on hand, and I blog about it. This was suppose to help me diminish my stash, but it hasn’t really worked (I seem to have a craft supply purchasing problem). However it has helped me stay motivated and productive in my making.
I still make things on a mostly weekly basis, showcase them on the blog, and sometimes share tutorials. Often I share photos of trips I take, or things I have seen, or from photo challenges I do; these posts seem to increase when I get behind on my projects or when I get lazy and decide that not making things sounds better than making things. When the growing season starts I give monthly updates on my garden. Keeping a garden journal is really helpful especially when something isn't going right, you can look back to the previous year and see those seeds did take a long time to germinate or the squash bugs were taking over about this time too.
You may be wondering about the blog name. I'm one half of Milly and Tilly the Silly Sisters (I think I'm Tilly, but you'll have to ask my sister which one she has claimed). When my sister and I were young (and sometimes still) my Nana would call us Milly and Tilly Silly. I chose Milly and Tilly as my blog name because of this nickname and also because I am not very creative. In 2010, for my first blogiversary, I bought millyandtilly.com! Now it is too late to change the name, not that I have actually come up with anything better.
Regular Appearances By
Arlo
The Big Red Dog
Deceased award winning hand shaker who seemingly enjoyed wearing the embarrassing outfits I dressed him in. |
Expanda Miranda
The Adjustable Dress Form
Inanimate female impersonator who has no opinions of the various clothing items she is dressed in. |
Winslow
The Fluffy Kitty
Cuddly snuggle bunny who barely tolerates being dressed or accessorized in even the most flattering of items. |
Blog posts every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Check back each week to see something new or subscribe via email, via rss, or through your favorite blog aggregator such as Feedly.