Category: Loose Ends

Posted on by

SMALL CONNECTIONS – BIG IMPACT

Hello Minders & Menders,

If you feel disconnected in this fast-paced world, may I suggest a small remedy: become a regular at a local business. Choose a business small enough that the hours shift when the owner has to take their kid to a doctor’s appointment. Small brick-and-mortar shops offer something to patch the moth holes in our society: real connection.

On a visit to a small bookstore a few years ago, I chatted with the owner, who said people-watching in a bookstore is an art. She tried to guess what someone might pick up, but more often than not, she was wrong. One of their best customers—a burly guy with keys jingling from his thick belt—wasn’t expected to buy anything on his first visit. Now, he stops by regularly, often just to chat or sit and read. Independent bookstores prove that old saying true: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Places and moments like these let us connect with the quiet threads that hold us together. They remind us that beneath the differences, we are all still human.

You don’t have time to support a local business? Would you say the same about spending 15 extra minutes with a friend? Because that’s what you’re doing when you visit your neighborhood bookstore or coffee shop. You’re building a relationship with people and place. You’re visiting a future friend.

Thank you to my past, present, and future local business friends who have grown to be more like family. I’m so excited to see you again soon.

Society grown mothy with estranging screen, 
Loosening ties as we feed the machine.
Dust off connection with gentle step in,
Mending the holes as tangled lives begin.

UFF – TADA

Do you have a moth hole growing in your favorite wool hat? Do something ironic and patch it with your favorite wool moth. (There are some really fun options like the pretty Luna Moth). Intimated? It’s worth a try – take a stab at it!

TOOLS: Wool roving, felting needle, wool scrap, felting pad, finger protectors. (Optional: Iron-on backing)

Step 1: Place your small wool scrap on the felting pad

Step 2: Pull a small piece of wool roving from the color you wish to use and slowly stab the wool roving up and down with your felting needle. Shape and design as you wish. (Beginner tip: use a small cookie cutter for your shape, and to keep your fingers away from the needle!)

Step 3: When you are finished with your design, choose an attachment method to adhere it over the moth hole. Methods can include felting directly onto the article of clothing, following the directions on double-sided iron-on backing, stitching with a needle and thread, or even a combination of all three!

  1. We’re officially launched! You can now shop & schedule. Reach out with questions.
  2. The first small business pop-up event is coming up soon! We’d love to see you there!
Posted on by

TIME TO GET UP

Hello Minders & Menders,

I can’t tell if it’s fools spring or third winter lately, but we’re still finding all weather – from sunshine to ice – around here. Either way, it’s refreshing to see some signs of a waking nature. It’s nearly the spring equinox. We’re starting to see the loons & the geese. Soon we’ll see the growth of what was planted. For future’s sake, I hope we all come out from our winter slumber together. It’s time to get up.
It’s time to get going.

Ring. Ring. 

It’s time to get up.

It’s time to get going.

You long for real change,

but the sand keeps on flowing.

You can theorize progress,

quantify pain,

but the hourglass whispers-

inaction’s a chain.

You data-analyze

And armchair-philosophize,

but there aren’t recline pulls

For those beams in your eyes.

Maybe there was a time to rest 

with ruminations and lore

But now the world needs

IRL renderings of human rapport.

A generation needs us

To put feet on the ground

for valor to echo,

not just circle around and around 


And around… 

Let’s let go of lip-service,

put our hands in the dirt

and get out to plant the seeds

fear and entitlement can’t hurt.

Leave the chair empty

bring passion in full

We have unique gifts

to spot wolf from the wool

Vacate our safe spaces,

but arrive soul-intact—

with discernment to see

what love never lacks. 

That child desperately needs us

to stand for them out of our chair

Put our thoughts into action

While there is still time to care.

UFF – TADA

Little scraps, like little feathers, can help us take flight while working together.

When trimming iron-on patches, we end up with what would look like a lot of waste, but we choose to reuse as much as possible. When we put those scraps together, it can become a symbolic mosaic.

Tools: Scraps of iron-on fabric, scissors, iron, optional sewing tools.

STEP 1: Choose a large base piece. This can be scrap fabric, or an article of clothing like a jean jacket.

STEP 2: Cut your scrap iron-on into smaller mosaic pieces to create your larger artwork.

STEP 3: When you’re ready, follow iron-on instructions to adhere your design to the base.

STEP 4 (Optional): Add extra detail or security to your artwork by sewing the patches down.

UPDATES:
1. Dates are being finalized for the first pop-ups!
2. More products have been added to the shop. You can shop now (feedback welcome), but the official launch date will be April 1st!

Posted on by

POSTCARDED

Hello Minders & Menders,

How is it March? Somehow January and February have already been discarded into the heaps of history. We’re having to hold that bitter winter, while also finding little joys as the sun and birds slowly return, bringing little messages of hope. 

A message of hope arriving too slow
Snail mail tucked between junk and snow 
Yet it dispatched with the postage applied
From networks of neighbors turning the tide.

The carrier pigeon, a loon postcarded
Bring missing connections once discarded 
We mend, we connect, we write, we sew
Send messages of love til post overflows.

UFF – TADA

Scrap paper. Cereal Boxes. Paper bags. A one-time craft can turn all of the above into a never-ending supply of snail mail post-cards. Do some mending by writing an apology letter, maybe a letter of advocacy to representatives, or a simple reminder you’re thinking of someone.


SUPPLIES: Carving rubber, carving tools, stamp, scrap paper, scissors

STEP 1: Draw your postcard design and transfer to the carving rubber

STEP 2: Carve the negative space around your design

STEP 3: Cut a post-card size piece from your scrap paper

STEP 4: Ink your stamp and apply to your cut scrap paper (let dry).

STEP 5: Write the address and your note, place your postage, and send that snail mail on its way!

UPDATES

  1. The online shop has had a *soft* launch. The first products are listed and more will be added throughout the month. Take a look, and be the first to shop.

Posted on by

CREATE MORE

Hello Minders & Menders,

Things are dark, but Minnesota continue to put the “Ope in Hope.”
That hope is in Minnesotans choosing to continue creating despite the atrocities that are all too consuming. Against all odds, neighbors continue to show up and create more than they consume – create more community, create more connection, create more peace.

Do you create or destroy with your tools?
Do you create more than you consume?

Be like Minnesota & create more.

Shall the hammer build a home or destroy a nested shelter? 
Shall the printer whittle a whistle to cradle life or deploy a weapon to take it?
Shall the technology be used to conglomerate care or decay our very humanity? 
Shall the mental load be softened with creation or hardened by consumed by media?
Shall the knowledge be embodied with student's self-chosen paths, or leak out as standards are consumed?   
Shall the earth breathe freely with creative reuse or suffocate under consuming trends?
Shall the country create new freedoms or consume the very purpose of its existence?

In Minnesota, we choose creation.
Create more connection 
create more community 
create more peace
Create MORE.

UFF – TADA

Ripped jeans have been in and out of “style” since I was a kid. I’m all for ripped jeans when they tell a real story, like that time you slid into home plate while playing at the park with friends (too much 90s nostalgia?). Or maybe you got a snag from backing up into the rose bush at grandma’s house. If you like the rip, you can wear it proud. Or, you can memorialize your symbolic rips and recoveries with a little art. Here’s a fun and super easy way to add some personality and repair.

Tools: Fabric markers, scrap 100% cotton fabric (light colors work best), double-sided iron-on adhesive, scissors, needle & thread

STEP 1: Follow the iron-on instructions to apply the adhesive to the scrap cotton scrap.

STEP 2: Cut your fabric to the size you want for your repair

STEP 3 (Optional): Use painters tape to tape your fabric to your workspace to keep it from sliding as you draw.

STEP 4: Use the fabric markers to sketch a design. (Tip: Allow to dry between layers to prevent bleeding)

STEP 5: Apply your patch to your ripped jeans according to the instructions.

STEP 6 (Optional): Use needle & thread to secure the patch.

UPDATES

  1. Nearly all of my energy is going towards caring for neighbors, so I have no idea when Uff Tada will be up and running fully. I hope, however, that when the geese return to the thawed lakes and the monarchs again make their home in our grassrooted milkweed, we will all be able to come together for many days of visible mending.

Posted on by

PEACE by PIECE

Hello Minders & Menders,

“UFFDA” might be how a polite Minnesotan describes this moment, but boy is that an understatement.
This past month, let alone the last year, has been more than a small moth hole in our hearts. It has been nothing short of a paper shredder. But, what the rest of the world may not fully comprehend, is that no amount of ice can freeze a Minnesotan’s heart. We take every shred of human decency around and weave it together with whatever we have. And we will, together, continue to visibly mend. 

Hand me your bit, I'll give my peace
Peace by piece, woven & tied
All welcomed: monarch & geese
Through snow and ice, unified.

UFF – TADA

At Uff Tada, we try to create as little waste as possible. Everything has potential. The scraps that are created by trimming patches? Those get slowly collected and turned into art, such as scrap-fabric mosaics. Have trimmings of your own? Give it a try and show us what your tattered scraps inspire you to create.

Tools & Materials: Scrap fabric, hot glue (or other adhesive), wood frame or plaque

STEP 1: Cut your scraps into even smaller pieces if needed.

STEP 2: Use the various colors and textures to create a whole new picture by using hot glue or another adhesive to attach them to the plaque in layers.

STEP 3 (Optional): Share your finished work with us, we’d love to see it.

UPDATES

  1. A lot has happened close to home. That has sped some things up and slowed other things down. Thank you for your patience and thank you to anyone who reached out.
  2. We are so grateful for those who showed up to the impromptu, unofficial mending gathering. Please reach out if you would like to schedule an official visible mending event of your own.

    Thank you to everyone who has held our community together in your various scrappy ways.

    Love Always,
Posted on by

VISIBLE MENDING

Hello Minders & Menders,

Uff. 2026 feels like both the best and worst year to be pivoting the business like this. I hope 2026 can be a year of visible mending both literally and figuratively.

Visible mending is the practice of repairing in a way that celebrates the flaw, rather than hiding it. Many cultures have versions of this such as Kintsugi – the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. The repair becomes part of the art and part of the story.

It’s also a practice that can apply to societies. Instead of mistakes being buried or victims being gaslit, those loose threads are acknowledge with vulnerability and intentionality. True visible mending is artful.

What goals do you have for visible repair in 2026?

Uff Tada "T" Logo
Ignorance adheres only to fleeting bliss,
Fraying and falling in steady decline. 
Conscious mending says "I've come through this."
Each visible stitch unearthing a peaceful shine. 

So it is with threads,
 and trust, and land:

repair is art 
when done by hand.

UFF – TADA

Hand-me-downs are fantastic, but they can also come damaged. Maybe you have a cotton or wool hand-me-down that has a little hole from kid rough-housing, an ink stain from a messy apology letter, or maybe it just doesn’t feel quite like “you.” Do some mending with a few simple tools and it can still become a cozy favorite.

Tools: Wool roving, needle-felting needle, felting pad, and finger protectors

Steps:
1. Place your felting pad inside the garment under the spot you wish to mend or enhance.

2. Pull a piece of roving off (it should pull apart like cotton candy) and place it over the spot.

3. Needle-felt the wool into the garment in whatever design you prefer. (Tip for beginners: Use a cookie cutter for your shape – this also helps keep your fingers out of the way)

4. For more stability, you can follow up by wet-felting your design.

Uff Tada Updates

While it’s hard to wait, Uff Tada (as of this post) is technically in the “coming soon” stage. You can still buy North Delta patches and artwork at local locations, but here is what else is growing behind the scenes in the meantime:

1. A patch-themed card game is in the works. Hopefully ready to be released this spring or summer. If you want to test out the rough draft, please reach out!

2. Tool & product curation is coming together. If you have a recommendation for a kit or product you’d love for Uff Tada to carry, please reach out!

3. Class & event updates are coming soon. The rough draft page for workshops can be found on the “Events” page. If you want to get on the books ASAP, please reach out!

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported this new step. I hope the gratitude is palpable. Here’s to new adventures in the new year!

Love Always.