Let me digress just a bit.

Over the weekend, I got a letter saying that "Sewing Today" would be among the latest publications to die. Citing all the modern-day economic issues plaguing most things in print, McCall Pattern Co., its owners, deep-sixed it.

"Sewing Today" was the successor to the Butterick Home Catalog, McCall's having merged the Butterick publication and the McCall's Patterns counterpart about six years ago. Butterick Home Catalog was around for about 40 years, all told.

For a certain generation -- and I'm in it, even though I am not quite a boomer -- the demise of yet another home sewing catalog is a bit of a stab.

Some of us grew up in home economics. Sewing and cooking classes were as much a part of a school day as gym, if not as much as the more serious subjects of math and English.

My first sewing project was an apron, and I can still recall learning how to make one without a pattern, measuring ties along the fabric selvage, and the skirt across the width. And I've spent many an hour oohing and ahhing over home pattern catalogs, plotting my next projects. Which once included a full set of appliance covers -- stand mixer, toaster, etc.

Joseph Anselmo, "Sewing Today" publisher, said that perfect storm of the Internet, the poor economy and increasing production costs made it impossible to continue.

The magazine's 75,000 subscribers now will receive Vogue Pattern Magazine, a publication that has been enthusiastically embraced by advertisers, he said, and which will feature some of the well-known writers that graced "Sewing Today." It is more heavy on the technical aspects of sewing, which fashion sewers like.

The home sewing industry is "hanging in there. It's doing pretty good, all things considered." There's a lot of buzz because of "Project Runway" and McCall's Web sites for the three major pattern brands are doing well, Mr. Anselmo said.

Younger sewers -- say, 20- to 30-year-olds -- are more inclined to want to take ready-to-wear and embellish it. Craft patterns, which include items for the kitchen, are strong as well, he said.

It's all much the same trend seen in food, where simpler is more quickly embraced than anything more involved.

Things change, dang it. For better? For worse?

I have no flippin' idea.

Excuse me while I go curl up with my newspaper and read.

If you have an idea...

Edison Nation and Lifetime Brands, makers of such things as KitchenAid and Cuisinart, are inviting "anyone with a bright idea" for a kitchen concept to pitch it to them. If your idea is picked, you'll receive a $2,500 advance and an annuity on product sales. Go to edisonnation.com for more information. Deadline is April 1.

Make time for this

Former P-G food editor Suzanne Martinson will be back in Pittsburgh early next month to talk about "The Fallingwater Cookbook: Elsie Henderson's Recipes & Memories."

At 9 a.m. April 3 she'll be on KDKA's Pittsburgh Today Live; at 2 p.m. April 4 she and Ms. Henderson will appear at Barnes & Noble, Cranberry; from 6 to 9 p.m. April 6 the pair and Robert Sendall, primary special events chef for Fallingwater, will be at Crate, Green Tree (412-341-5700); at 6 p.m. on April 7 Ms. Martinson and Ms. Henderson will appear at "Dish," a book club for food lovers, at Carnegie Library's Main branch, 4400 Forbes Ave., first floor, Oakland. Contact Julie or Kaarin, 412-622-3151.

Greek food on the rise

The Ladies Philoptochos of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Oakland, will sell their freshly baked Greek Easter bread from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 10 and 11 in front of Stamoolis Bros. store, 2020 Penn Ave., Strip District.

Or, bread can be ordered for pickup from noon to 6 p.m. April 9 at the church community center, 419 S. Dithridge St., 412-682-3866.

Bread is $7 a loaf, with or without sesame seeds.

Meanwhile, at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, Ambridge, orders are now being taken for a slew of foods, from homemade paska to pierogies and halushki. A sampling: cookie tray, $20; 20 ounce plain paska, $6.50; pierogies, $7 a dozen.

To order or for more information, call 724-869-5516 between 3 and 9 p.m. Pickup will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 10 at the parish center, Fifth Street and Elm Road.

And Serbian

Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, Whitehall, launches its annual Nutroll Factory. Order nut rolls ($12) or apple strudel ($8) for pickup from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 3 at the American Serbian Club, 2524 Sarah St., South Side. Call Barbara Topich, 412-847-0822 to order or e-mail htcnutroll@verizon.net.

A Bee C's

Founders of Burgh Bees will talk beekeeping at 7 p.m. April 1 at East End Food Coop, 7516 Meade St., Point Breeze. Presented by Slow Food Pittsburgh, "Bee Curious" is funded by the Sprout Fund. You'll be able to register there if you want to take the 2009 beekeeping training, which costs $50. For more information, e-mail burghbees@gmail.com.