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Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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West Coast Love & A free pattern!

February 25, 2015 1 Comment

West Coast Love Book Review | Hands Occupied

You know those friends you click with effortlessly? Artist and embroidery designer Megan Eckman and I were in the same fifth grade class back in Fargo, ND. We graduated high school together, our little brothers played sports and graduated together themselves and our moms are friends. We’ve known each other almost 20 years, so when Megan set up the blog book tour for her new embroidery book West Coast Love, I was immediately on board.

West Coast Love Book Review | Hands Occupied

You don’t have to be from the west coast to appreciate this coffee cup pattern!

From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Seattle Space Needle, this 100+ page digital pattern book gives you a tour of the seaside states. In addition to man-made landmarks, you can stitch up iconic birds, alternative state flags, and national park monuments. West Coast Love is the first pattern book by Megan Eckman, the designer behind Studio MME. Her patterns are simple to sew but intricate in their design, letting you curl up on the couch with a beer while you stitch something beautiful.

West Coast Love Book Review | Hands Occupied

Free embroidery pattern – Steller’s Jay

To give you a taste of what to expect from West Coast Love, here’s a pattern from the book for you to try. It features a lovely bird native to the Northwest called the steller’s jay. It’s a really gorgeous bird similar to the blue jay, but features some black in its coloring that’s really gorgeous, especially in embroidered form! Get the free pattern here. 

West Coast Love Book Review | Hands Occupied I have a distinct memory of Megan sitting at my parents’ kitchen counter drawing fantastic illustrations on post it notes at age 10. Even then, she was a talented illustrator, and today, she’s expanded her design talents to embroidery. Her new book is full of 20 adorable designs designed to be sewn on pennant style flags and embroidery hoops, complete with instructions on preparing your hoops and flags for display after completing the embroidery part of your projects. Even Midwesterners like myself can appreciate how fun these designs are – I’m hoping she does a book of Midwest patterns and comes for a visit to Chicago for inspiration! :)

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Embroidery Tagged With: book review, embroidery, hollywood embroidery, megan eckman, stitching, studio mme, west coast love

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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  1. Julie

    February 25, 2015 at 9:11 am

    what a cool collection of embroidery patterns !I love embroidery, I return to it every so often, it’s always so satisfying.

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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handsoccupied

Yarn craft designer & author. Into intarsia knits, latch hook, color & vintage-modern style.
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Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Sneaking in a few stitches in the shade. 😎 Sneaking in a few stitches in the shade. 😎
Another morning of filming! One of the knitting vi Another morning of filming! One of the knitting videos I’d like to release soon is a big overview of how to swatch and why - if you have any questions or favorite tips, let me know. 
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To be honest, I want to be able to link to this video as a resource when I get angry gauge questions, so please don’t hesitate to share your best tips. Together, we can tame the knitting Karens. 😆
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#stopswatchandblockit #handsoccupied #knitting #knittersofinstagram
A big issue I've had in the last year is putting t A big issue I've had in the last year is putting together new design work but not doing any independent releases of them. Chalk it up to anxiety, burn out, or whatever but here we are. 
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Last week I turned 35, so in honor of that here’s 3 things: 
❤️ a picture of me at my most stylish 
💛 a little glimpse at some of the design things I've recently been working on
💙a promise that I will be releasing some of the pictured designs this year. Getting back in the swing of things after taking it easy is hard 😆 - wish me luck!
Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhoo Like a riding a bike! June guarded the neighborhood while I shot a new crochet tutorial today. With any luck, editing will go smoothly & I’ll be posting new videos to YouTube regularly soon! Got any requests for tutorial topics? 
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#handsoccupied #crochet #studiodog #crochettutorial
This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t This yoke deserved a mid-blocking closeup, don’t you think? ❤️💛💙
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Pattern: modified #soldotnacrop sweater / yarn: various from my stash
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