HELLO my name is Heather

  • Sew, Heather, Sew!

    ByHeather Bailey

    Let the deluge begin… For that “Come hither, while I bake us some cookies” look, how about a sexy halter apron? Here’s a pattern I have in the works. And, remarkably, it looks fantastic on a variety of body types, so I won’t have to grade the pattern — yay!

    I’m amassing a number of designs before hunting out a printer. However, I’m not up to waiting until they’re printed before sharing. All I do these days is eat, sleep, sew and change diapers. Throw in a number of trips around the world to Elijah’s school and a bit of blogging and you’ve got a pretty accurate view of my life, at least for the next few weeks (prepping for Quilt Market). 

    You see, my fabric is in. My fabric is in! I’ll post the whole stack this week. Meanwhile, cheer me on, “Sew, Heather, sew!”

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    Oodles of…

    ByHeather Bailey

    I have several sewing projects in the works right now, but nothing is to a photographable state:  apron, purse, baby dress, etc. Expect a ‘flashflood’ in the next week or so. 

    Barretteflip2For now, I offer this silly vintage book for smiles, and the vintage barrette I found on my eBay hunt. We had a couple of pet poodles when I was a kid.  Summer was first, short for ‘Hideaway’s Indian Summer.” She was super smart and very sweet. Summer was given away when we moved to California because she didn’t respect the carpet in our new home. 

    Years later, when my older brother went off to college and my younger brother was lonesome for a roommate, Buddy came into our lives, along with Midnight Jazz. In the next few years, they had 3 different litters – imagine little black poofs running all over the place – such sweet childhood memories. I tookPoodlepage3 responsibility for keeping them groomed. At times, this would involve six poodle haircuts in one day. It was exhausting. But, several doggy mohawks and beards got me through the long, hot days on the back steps with the clippers. 

    Our toy poodles were hardly lap dogs, mainly hanging out atop our hill, chasing skunks, eating mice and basking in the sun. At times matted and filthy, and at times fluffy and trimmed, we called them “Poodles of the Serengeti” and enjoyed their many quirks.

    So, this book makes me laugh. In fact, most illustrations of poofy, prissy poodles bring on a smirk. My experience was so different. 

  • Hang-Ups

    ByHeather Bailey
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    I adore vintage children’s hangers. The wooden ones, like those above, are my favorites. It’s not often that I find one at an agreeable price though, so my collection isn’t very big… yet. The plastic ones, with the cut-out shapes, are pretty fabulous as well, and they’re not quite as pricey (check out these lambs close-up — they have creepy human faces). When I’m able to make a new dress or shirt for Charlotte, it undoubtedly ascends to its throne on one of my cherished baby hangers.

    Plastichangers_1

    Occasionally I daydream of merry hanger-making — visions of Scotty-dogs and jump-roping girls on custom-cut hangers. Soon, I drift and imagine the childhood symbols of our times — how satirical to make a vintage-y hanger with a Gameboy painted on its throat or junk food? My brand of humor, I guess. But, then I find a happy medium, imagining a spooky teddy bear or a redhead with knotted braids. These are happy daydreams.

    Anyway, why hangers? 

    Ah yes, I just unearthed these striped baby tights I bought when I was pregnant with Charlotte. I purchased them at a used kids store for 50¢.  She’s finally big enough to wear them — yay — but, of course, she has nothing to wear them with. With fall fast-approaching, I realize that it is now or never. It’s time my girl had just the right sort of thing to wear with such fabulous tights as these – a fun little number to hang on a silly little hanger — inevitable happiness. So, stay tuned — I’ve already made the pattern!

    …oh, and I’ve won the Plummy — what a hoot! “Best Newcomer” it is (ah, man, now I have a reputation to uphold). But truly, thanks for the votes, I’m honored.

  • A 3-Hour Tour

    ByHeather Bailey

    Well, I’m back.  It was a beautiful wedding and a delightful visit with Isaac’s family.  In between the wedding and the reception, I snuck off with my aunt for a family history tour (what a good sport – I hadn’t spoken with her for years and years, then she got a call from my dad that I was nearby and would like to spend the afternoon with her). 

    I never knew any of my grandparents and I can barely connect names with faces when it comes to extended family, but oh how I’ve longed for those relationships!  In three-hours’ time, my aunt was able to show me the home or business of two sets of great grandparents and one set of great great grandparents.  We popped in for visits with 3 of my dad’s cousins (two of which are his ‘double cousins’ – his mom’s older sister married his dad’s older brother!).  Oh how I wanted to latch onto their legs and beg to be their granddaughter!  We only visited for a few minutes, but I was choked up at parting. 

    The most emotional part of the day was meeting my grandmother’s sister, Joyce.  Currently 96, she was only one year older than my grandmother  — they were very close.  I learned that they shared a room in the attic of their home and were the same grade in school — their grandfather had donated the land for the one-room schoolhouse they attended.  My grandparents met in school, and before they married, Joyce and my great uncle double-dated with them.

    What a wealth — my goodness, where has she been all of my life?  How come I never realized that she existed?  Here was this woman before me who held so much of my family history in her heart – so many of the stories and memories I’ve longed for from a grandparent.  I wish we’d met two decades ago and I had grabbed onto her leg back then — I’m sure she would have said, “Yes, I’ll be your grandmother!”  Now, at her age, she’s fading, as are the memories of her time.  I’m grateful to have met her and for that momentary glimpse of what my grandmother might have been like if she hadn’t passed four decades too early.

    (Click here to read more about each photo — including one very sheepish memory)

  • Out the Door…

    ByHeather Bailey

    Well, the van’s all packed and we’re heading out the door on our long drive to Utah for a Tuesday wedding.  I’ll leave you with this detail shot of a pear pincushion.  I meant to include this in an earlier post and get your take on it. You see, the first time I made one, it only had one leaf.  This time I added a second leaf.  Together, the two leaves make a sort-of needlebook — poke the needles through the underleaf and hide them with the upper leaf. I’m still trying to decide which is better — any thoughts?

    Yes, there have been a lot of pear pincushions around here lately, but I wanted your take on the leaves and I figured it was better to say ‘goodbye’ with a photo in the post — so, there you go.  I’ll be back in a couple of days with handiwork from the long drive ahead.  Also, if you’re waiting for me to respond to an email, please give me a few more days — it’s been a crazy week.  (Rockport, Gina, Kathy, etc. this includes you!) Thanks for your patience — oh, and Matt comes home from the hospital today — Yay!

  • Mysteries, Mysteries

    ByHeather Bailey

    A little WIP for today – mystery project in different sizes with mystery dog-tag thingy in the bottom photo.

    I’m also having fun unravelling the mysteries of the internet. I don’t know anything about HTML and programming, but I’m getting such a kick out of figuring it out. Well, I haven’t figured it ALL out, but little bits and pieces. For instance — the link over on my sidebar that says, “Subscribe to this blog’s feed” — it’s boring. I checked out the source code for it and compared it with the source code for the Bloglines button at the bottom (because it has a graphic). With some fiddling and a quick image for my new “button,” I was able to make this:

    Click it — it works! (Note from future Heather: It USED to work back in 2006 when blogs were followed closely on RSS feeds. Haha.) I know that I’m way behind many of you — you know who you are — with the fancy site-design and custom buttons. But, for a  girl who still doesn’t know what-the-html she’s looking at… hey, my button rocks! And, of course, now I want to re-vamp my whole sidebar — someday.

    Dogtag2_1

  • Blog Therapy

    ByHeather Bailey
    Elijahpaintinghb_1

    I have a babysitter for today — the idea was to hunker down and meet some of my work goals before heading out of town for George’s wedding (Isaac’s brother). But, here I am all flustered and unable to focus — as I type this, my brother is in surgery for a kidney transplant — my dear, sweet brother and his dear, sweet donor. I’m both excited for him and nervous. So, admittedly, I’m indulging my distracted self in a little blog therapy — photograph something fun I’ve made and show it to my friends — a sure-fire, feel-better solution (you always say the nicest things – thank you!). And, here it is – a watercolor of Elijah’s name (if that wasn’t obvious). The “E” is a disembodied bird beak – who knows what I was thinking, but it’s cute, huh?

    Anyway, if any of you are praying-types, please say a prayer for my brother! I should have news in a couple of hours.

    UPDATE:  Well, everything went very well and all parts are working. It’ll be a number of weeks, with close supervision by specialists, before he’s given a full stamp of approval. Thank you for your prayers. 

  • Bake Break

    ByHeather Bailey

    I finally pulled out the wheat grinder I got for Christmas and gave it a whirl. Elijah needed some ‘mom and me’ time, so we baked whole wheat biscotti. They turned out OK — just a little bit too healthy-like. But, hey, they’re almost gone now, so that says something.

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    Paper On!

    ByHeather Bailey
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    Thank you again, everyone, for the deluge of birthday wishes. The chosen pear is on its way to Caroline. And, the consequent ‘need’ for a cute card (above) and outrageous shipping label (far below) provided just the right excuse for a much-needed crafty break. 

    Stackoprints2_1I plucked the papers from here – a plump stack of scrapped workprints from my fabric line – let’s just say I had a bumpy start calibrating the printer to my monitor. Making lemonade, I sorted them into a pretty box and now boast a most fabulous library of papers to craft with – Oooo, and they’re archival.

    On other fronts, Coxi will be featuring my blog over on his Life Fever blog this week. I scanned all through his site, and boy, he’s found some fun links, like this one that tickles my Oilily fancy and this one that sends me back to my first craft obsession, paper. At 4-yrs-old, I filled my bottom dresser drawer with heaps of paper: white paper, lined paper, construction paper – any paper I could get my hands on.  With the assistance of a stapler, scissors and glue, I’d busy myself for hours, building all sorts of intricate 3D creatures, from robots to elephants. Those are my earliest crafting memories.

    Mailinglabelphoto…Wait, I’m having such a twilight zone moment right now…

    I just realized that here I am, twenty-seven years later, making sewing patterns, which is the same basic idea – creating paper patterns for 3D projects. OK that’s weird, yet somehow reassuring. Hmm… deep thoughts.

  • Fleshy Purple Fruit

    ByHeather Bailey

    Plummy_1
    Wow, it appears that I’ve been nominated for a Plummy (originally at plummies.plumofthemonth.com) – thank you Oz (or whoever’s behind the curtain). There are some dang fun links on the ballot too, like this (boygirlparty) and this (art school dropout). Oh, and they’re all craft-related — fun stuff — voting ends August 31st.