Honey Girl Books & Gifts: cozy, with an edge...
Sustaining Community and Humanity
Honey Girl Books and Gifts is the creation of Julia Douthwaite Viglione, a writer and teacher as well as a designer / seamstress. The mission is to sustain and nurture humanity through connections: connections created by literature and textile arts.
While on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame in 2012 she created "Write YOUR Story," a semester-long writing workshop for people aged 8-12 in South Bend, and in 2018 it came with her to Seattle! The "Write YOUR Story" Spring 2023 term began February 2 and is now underway, meeting weekly at the High Point Community Center, 6920 34th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98126. WYS aims to inspire kids with the same love of reading and writing that has made our lives so rich and satisfying. The price for all classes, as it always was, is free.
Like Write YOUR Story, HGBG is a deliberately small, sustainable business. We use fabrics from all kinds of sources, as appropriate for the products. Each work is slightly different. All products are made in West Seattle, WA, USA.
An in-person book club on "Classic Novels (and Movies)" is another way to weave together literature and community.
West Seattle Classic Novels (and Movies) March meeting:
When: Sunday, March 26, 2023, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Where: C and P Coffee, on California Ave SW: we gather at an outdoor table in the back.
Event: Discussion of Light in August (1932) by Nobel Prize winning American author William Faulkner.
All are welcome!
Since January 2023, I've been helping a first-grader learn to read at Sanislo Elementary School, via Reading Partners. It's hard work, but after reading Proust and the Squid I'm even more committed to doing this service. Learning to read is more complicated than we think, and the impact of dyslexia can be devastating.
Since June 2020, I've also been making, selling, and giving "Respect" quilts--
an HGBG original design--as a contribution to the #BLM. These blankets are built of fabrics bought from a number of Black-owned businesses across the USA, including "Harlem Toile de Jouy," as well as old jeans and vintage linens. This project aims to tighten the connections of Black and white friends and political co-conspirators across the country, while celebrating our common humanity.
The "RARE" quilt initiative: I am making two quilts per year, customized for recipients of the Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity (RARE) scholarships, in Seattle, WA. The first two were delivered in May-June 2021; the third went to 2022's winner in April of this year; joy was all around !
For years, Grandma's 1928 White Rotary sewing machine was the sole support for HGBG. Although a lovely new Juki machine has taken its place, you can hear the soothing sounds of Grandma's machine in action (above).
Grandma with her family in
White Salmon, WA circa 1915
(she’s front row, second from right)