about

Hello. My name is Maggie and I make things.

I love color and texture, digging in the dirt, and food. I really love food.

Creating something from scratch, or from bits and pieces of things thrown out is a process I love.

When I was eight years old I took fabric from my mother’s scrap basket and a hotel sewing kit from the junk drawer. I made patterns with lined notebook paper and started cutting (all in secret of course). I stuffed the pieces with cotton balls from the bathroom and wrapped them to give to my aunt for Christmas. (She added magnets—my hearts and flowers were on her refrigerator for years and years). The urge to make stuck.

I didn't yet know that seams shouldn't be seen.

By day I spend my time as an English professor. And when I’m not grading papers or preparing lessons, I can generally be found with simple tools in my hands, whether a wooden spoon, knitting needles, paintbrush, or my favorite garden fork. I make things; it seems I can’t help it.

My business, Shari’s Tree by maggie, was inspired by the same aunt who kept my carefully sewn heart and flower for everyone to see so many years ago. Soon I hope to have a Etsy shop open. In the meantime, I attend a couple of small shows a year in Spokane, Washington, a city I love.

I am an occasional freelance writer for the local paper and wrote the DwellWell blog for the Spokesman Review’s Down to Earth NW site from October 2010 to December 2012, when the blog retired.

All of this happens in a little house with a patient husband, a dog, and a cranky cat.

Welcome to a house on Garland. It’s nice here.

All images and text are the property of Maggie Wolcott unless otherwise noted. If you use one of my images on your site please link back to the original source and send me an email: ahouseongarland(at)gmail(dot)com.