Vote TODAY for the Heather Bailey sewing machine in Bernina USA's Faceplate Faceoff on facebook. Vote every day through 4-14-14 and you can win this rockin' $1900 luxury sewing machine. Pretty awesome giveaway. Set a reminder.
Let's make this retro-modern machine happen.
xo—Heather
I had the privilege to design a sewing machine for Bernina's Faceplate Face-off, along with 9 other designers. From March 17th through April 14th, votes will be collected on Bernina's facebook page and the TWO machines with the most votes will be sent to production and available for purchase.
One lucky voter will WIN a BERNINA SEWING MACHINE valued at $1899. Every time you vote, you are entered into the drawing again. So, set a reminder on your calendar to chime every day for the next few weeks.
It is my understanding that you will want to access Bernina's facebook page from an actual computer, and not from a phone or ipad. To see the designs and vote, click the "Like" button the face-off page, then a "Click Here to Register" button will appear. Enter your info (so they can contact you if you win!), then you will see the various designs.
Please note that Bernina's mock-up of my design on their facebook isn't quite accurate yet. My design is red and white/cream, not red and silver. And I believe we would be indicating the model number "B350" with an emboss in the lower lefthand corner of the vertical plate, not with large black text across the artwork. My images here are closer to accurate. Feel free to post these images (links below) anywhere and everywhere, along with the contest info. I would sure appreciate it. And hopefully your sewing room will appreciate it too—when you WIN!
• Sewing Machine Image 115k (612px wide x 72dpi)
• Mod Daisy Artwork 192k (612px wide x 72dpi)
• Heather Bailey Logo 10k (612 px wide x 72dpi)
Remember to set your daily calendar reminders through 4-14-14.
PS: I think this contest is open to U.S. residents only, but I don't think that prohibits non-US residents from voting. I will ask. And I'll put together a giveaway that includes everyone—from everywhere—should my design win.
We did it. We made it through the party grinder and survived to tell the tale. Nothing like a streak of over-abundance, coupled with a steady drip of sugar to make you crave a detox.
My back has been on the fritz for months and finally started to show improvement this weekend, so I went right out and re-enrolled at my favorite gym—the one with indoor and outdoor lap pools—as soon as Charlotte's party was over on Saturday. I can't wait to get moving.
True, I run, and that's definitely a form of moving. But, I've been on a workout freeze the last few weeks while trying to heal. I'm going to try some less-jostly activities for a while and see what happens. I'll get back to running once my butt butts out and stops pulling my back out of place. Yes, this is what appears to be happening.
Enough about me and my back. How about this amazing quilt!?
Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock put this Tuileries quilt together as part of the True Colors blog tour this January. She mixed True Colors with Lottie Da and wrote about her process here—with many more photos. Amy is an avid quilter, a mama to four kids, a teacher, and more. She teaches a Block of the Month class on Craftsy (it's free), so check that out while you read through her beautiful blog.
It's party month at the Bailey's. With two birthday parties to throw for my children in January and my younger brother's wedding coming up next week, my personal creative time is fully spoken for. This hasn't kept me from dreaming about what I'll work on next, once the storm of confetti has blown west. I have new fabrics to work with—stacks of True Colors and Lottie Da are sending out a pulsing beacon from just about three feet behind me to my left. Boop, boop, boop, boop.
Till February, I'll get my fix through you guys. I love watching what pops up on your blogs, on Instagram, on Flickr, etc. If you post a project with my fabrics or my new embroidery patterns, let me know. And send me links to others' projects you come across.
In fact…in fact! There is a sweeping True Colors blog tour going on this week and next, all over the web. You'll want to check this out.
The amazing bloggers below are working with Free Spirit's new True Colors collections, adding their personal flair. There will be inspiration galore and a bunch of giveaways. The fabulous bloggers that will feature my own collection are highlighted in 'radiant orchid.' The other wonderful blogs will be working with Anna's, Joel's and Jenean's True Colors prints. Should be a serious shindig. Don't miss the first two who have already posted.
1/20 Sew4Home (Blog-Tour Kick-Off)
1/21 Stitchery Dickory Dock
1/22 I'm a Ginger Monkey
1/23 The Sewing Loft
1/24 Ellison Lane
1/27 Diary of a Quilter
1/28 Material Obsession
1/29 Craftsanity
1/30 Stitched in Color
1/31 Craft Buds
2/1 Jaybird Quilts
And! I nearly forgot. Here is video of the four of us discussing color and these new True Colors collections. I'm a little shy to share this as **I have never been so sleep deprived** as I was the day we filmed this video. I had something like six hours of sleep over a four-day period. And it shows. Thank goodness for CreativeBug's fantastic filming skills. I only wish they had included my little soapbox moment on the importance of "UGLY COLORS" Maybe my bleary-eyed, tongue-tied self did not communicate the idea as eloquently as I remember. Anyhow, Anna has similar thoughts on "muted" colors. I ditto what she says.
If you're stopping by from the blog tour and new to my blog, be sure to sign up for the Heather Bailey newsletter. And I'm a big fan of Instagram and Twitter, so come say hello there too. I'm @HeatherBailey on Instagram and @_HeatherBailey on Twitter.
Embroidery patterns are here. Printed with heat-transferable ink for your ease and convenience, our FOUR new embroidery patterns make stitching beautiful needlework fun and relaxing—perfect for your holiday break.
EVERY PATTERN INCLUDES
• 11" X 17" pattern sheet with heat-transferable ink.
Each design can be heat transferred multiple times.
• Instructions for a variety of transfer methods including
tracing options.
• Illustrated guide to basic hand-embroidery stitches.
These first four patterns feature birds, flowers, paisleys, butterflies, repeating borders, frame designs and more. Stitch a quilt label to match your next Lottie Da quilt or trim out your next apron with a charming cherry border. There are countless ways to incorporate this rewarding hobby into your creative repertoire.
Everything comes back from the printer today and we'll work into the night to begin shipping tomorrow so you can have your hands on these great new patterns right away—and have a fabulous holiday break making beautiful projects for yourself and your loved ones!
Ask for them all at your local, independent fabric store. It always helps to make requests. Not every shop will know these are available. In fact, if you want to bring in a pattern catalog to show them, email me and we'll send you one to drop off at your local shop.
Quilters will be especially excited to hear about the Fresh Flowers quilt labels and frames pattern. Several of the designs coordinate with fabrics I've designed, such as Sprig, and Dauphine. With these frame designs, you can match your quilt label to the quilt itself. I've never seen this before—so I'm calling it revolutionary.
The Blooming Borders pattern includes a variety of designs in repeat. In other words, transfer a border multiple times to the length that suits your project. One of these repeating borders (the bird design shown at the top of this post) coordinates with the Mockingbird print from my Garden District collection—which will be out next year on quilting cotton (wink, wink).
For me, this is like birthing another baby—an art baby. I've worked long and hard on every aspect of this new pattern collection to get every nuance and need met with style. I couldn't be more excited to send these out to your ready hands and see the beautiful things you create.
You guys are amazing. Thank you, as always, for your cheerful support.
A BIG Happy Holidays to you!
xo—Heather
I just heard that The Elven Garden is having a fun Pop Garden giveaway this week. Enter to win this stack of popular, out-of-print fabrics from my Pop Garden collection over on her blog at TheElvenGarden.blogspot.com by Saturday, December 14th at 2pm (Australian DST) for a chance to win.
I'm working behind the scenes to finish up the new embroidery patterns so we can get those back from the printer with plenty of time to ship them out before Christmas. I plan to scent up my home with cinnamon and nutmeg—baking or candles, whatever it takes—then snuggle up with my kids and a soft quilt to embroider while we watch The Sound of Music or Gone with the Wind.
Doesn't that sound fabulous? It's the picture in my head that's getting me through the last leg of this race. I should have some embroidery-pattern news here very, very soon.
Happy Holidays!
We're back in the studio after another great tradeshow in Houston where I introduced two new fabric collections: Lottie Da and True Colors. It's always a treat to catch up with shop-owners, designers, editors and friends. It's even more fun when there are new fabrics to share.
Our booth took the first place prize, which put a pretty blue ribbon on a rough ride to get there. On my way to the airport, Isaac called to say that our van's new transmission had died again. He wasn't far from town, towing our booth to Market. With only 15 minutes to discuss our options before entering airport security, I closed the call with "You better just go buy a new vehicle and get back on the road. Have fun!"
Hours later, when I landed in Texas, I learned I was a truck-owner—Isaac's dream truck—a big ol' Ford F150. Isaac glowed right through the phone. Talk about the stars aligning for the man. Your vehicle breaks right when your wife is about to board a plane, leaving you just enough time to hear her say, "Go buy something." Then, with blanket permission to do as you wish, you get to choose your dream truck without even having to field her questions. And on top of that, she's glad. The problem is solved.
Makes me smile every time I step up into my shiny new truck.*
* I'm told this is my truck.
This transportation trip-up put us a full 24 hours behind schedule which left me unexpectedly stranded in San Antonio, three hours from Houston. (Isaac was originally going to get me at the airport on his way through town.) What was to be a full work day, finalizing the tradeshow booth in Houston became a mini vacation day in San Antonio. I booked myself a hotel, got some much-needed sleep, and spent the next full day touring The Alamo, enjoying the gorgeous downtown Riverwalk and weeding through Lucha Libre masks and Eukeleles for some Christmas presents at the Mexican Market. Isaac and the new truck arrived by nightfall in time to grab some gourmet ice cream and hit the road for Houston.
What a week. We pulled out of that tailspin and kept on trucking. It cost us needed sleep when we finally made it to Houston to set up—and some dignity—while we scrambled to set up the booth in a quarter of the time we had planned.
Some blue ribbons mean more than others.
It's the season for late-night sewing. With two collections to present
at Quilt Market next week, there's some serious sewing going on around
here. All of my clothes are covered with thread. Every surface is
stacked with odd cuts. The studio floor is littered with scraps.
In all the excitement of the last couple of weeks, I certainly
haven't forgotten about our Lottie Da fat quarters bundle giveaway. This
glorious stack of fabrics is sitting on my desk waiting for a new home.
Thank you, everyone for your enthusiasm for my new collection. I hope
you will take a trip to see the fabrics in person at your local fabric
retailer. Nothing beats mixing and matching prints in the wild paintbox
of a quilt shop. I am on the edge of my seat to see what you will make
with the new line, so please share. My Facebook page is a great place
for that. And I'll be prepping a Heather Bailey Fabric Flickr group soon
as well. On Twitter, catch me at @_HeatherBailey and on at
@HeatherBailey on Instagram. Hashtags help everyone else find the
images, so don't forget #heatherbailey and #lottieda.
Now, onto the fat quarter bundle winner ˆ-ˆ-ˆ-ˆdrum roll ˆ-ˆ-ˆ-ˆ… The Lottie Da fat quarter bundle goes to Denise Clason,
Lucky #168 ("These prints are so fresh and cute, with a little vintage
flare! Love it!") Denise, we will email you and get these goodies in the
mail. Thank you, Random.org for making the selection for me.
By the way, it looks like Denise is sharing in-depth notes on the various classes she took at The Sewing Summit last month. Read through
her notes on Personal Branding, Pitching Articles to Magazines, Blogging, HTML Basics, and so
forth. It's almost like being there.
I made it through the Creative Bug
shoot last week for creativebug.com. It was a close call, with only a few days to complete
the prep—fabric was late to arrive. Ashley was out sick and Karen had
other obligations, so I was short-staffed to boot. Mom to the rescue.
She came over and cut out pillow pieces for hours. (Extra amazing, as my
dad's in the hospital with a broken hip right now—yikes!) And I called
in some freelance help as well for yet more cutting—there were lots of
step-outs to prepare.
We made it. I even got three hours of sleep. Let's just hope the recording doesn't pick up my puffy, bloodshot eyes.
What a delightful film crew Creative Bug has: two camera operators, a
sound technician, and an artist's coach—to help me stay organized and
coherrent. If only we could keep her around, right? I wish I'd had the chance to get to know them all better. I
did all of the talking for hours straight.
Perhaps we will collaborate on future online classes. Next time, with
more sleep. You'll watch those ones and say, "Wow, Heather just got 5
years younger in this new video."
The magic of sleep.
