Home & Family

  • Yay-Boo-Two

    ByHeather Bailey

    TheWalk

    Wave241 My social butterfly has flitted through her first week of kindergarten.  Her latest friend count is a solid 6 — all 'cute' boys.

    I don't remember counting my friends;  I believed we were all friends
    — except for Matt Bogwater.  (I'll tell you a great school-bully story
    sometime.)  Were the dream catchers and bell-bottoms messing with my
    young mind?

    Here we are early Monday, some of us in our pjs, some of us barely
    out of our pjs.  After hugs & smooches for Charlotte, Elijah and I
    inspected the inner-workings of the Rubiks cube while Isaac sat in on
    roll-call with his giant camera flashing away. 

    And that Elijah up there. I can't believe how tall he is getting.
    Only a meager quarter-inch to go before he reaches my height. Wasn't he
    just born a few weeks ago?  My, my.  I'm feeling the tick-tock this week.

    ClassCollage478

  • Yay-Boo

    ByHeather Bailey


    Daisy470_a
    We received the call this week.  Charlotte now has a spot in school-choice-#1. 
    Tonight is meet-the-teacher night.  We have mixed feelings — as usual
    — excitement and dread, all at once — to send our children off to
    school for so many hours each day.  See, I really like my kids
    and I want them around.  But, of course, without an education, they will
    likely be 'around' for the next 50 years, so that won't work.

    Today,
    I'm wrapping up instructions for a new sewing pattern, only the
    sweetest lunch bag ever.  I can't wait to share it.  Hopefully I'll have
    photos by early next week and patterns in hand soon after.  I do have
    back-to-school on my mind, don't I?  Of course, all of us here will be
    toting our lunches to work in improved style as well.

    Ooo, can't wait (clap, clap, clap).

  • Survival Gear

    ByHeather Bailey

    WildernessSurvival-5e
    Isaac and Elijah
    have been at Boy Scouts Camp this week.  Isaac is there to teach
    Wilderness Survival.  Elijah is there to survive.  And have fun.

    WildSurv-7c There isn't much
    budget for outfitting the boys with survival gear, so Isaac has been
    mighty resourceful.  One of the projects the boys are working on is this emergency kit.  It is made from two square pieces of metal flashing. 
    Duct tape covers the sharp edges and creates the spine of the booklet
    design.  The highly-reflective mirror-like tape on the outside is for
    emergency signaling.  On the inside of the kit are fishing hooks,
    weights, fishing line, wire, safety pins, crazy-strong thread, and
    needles.  The kit closes into a compact and is kept shut by
    a strip of hair-band elastic that has been riveted to one side of the flashing.  

    And
    it's orange, so they won't lose it.

    It was my opinion that they
    should close the kits with complete, un-cut hair-band elastics.  That
    way, if a boy is stuck surviving for weeks in the woods, he will have
    something to tie his wild-child hair back with.  But, ah well.

    It's a several-part class he's teaching, so there are other projects
    too, as well as gobs of survival information — Isaac is really into
    this subject — and an overnight survival camp-out where the boys have
    to build their own shelter and whatnot.

    Today I find out whether
    Elijah survived or not.  My campers return this afternoon.

  • doogadoon, doogadoon…

    ByHeather Bailey

    Oh my goodness!  Hi everyone. 

    I have been interviewing
    for two new positions on my staff while also keeping the
    responsibilities of those two jobs moving along.  There has been just
    enough extra work on my plate to keep me away from blogging for a couple
    of weeks. 

    Vegas1

    A quick vacation to Las Vegas with
    the kids was in there too.  Much needed.  We swam, and ate, and swam,
    and slept.  It was great.  We also sized-up lounging lions, snarfed-up Pink's
    hot dogs    , soaked-in the Bellagio fountains, scouted- out the ice cream
    situation — and averted our eyes on occasion.

    LionsOhMy The only things Las
    Vegas lacked were a monster water-slide park, and a few important
    morals here and there.  The strip sure has fancied-up over the last five
    or six years;  I hardly recognized the place. 

    Tip:  If you get
    the hungries at Vegas-midnight, try breakfast at the Luxor.

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    Boy, am I excited.  I
    painted the studio last week and am moving forward with two fabulous,
    new, cutting tables.  Who knew work tables could be exciting — and so
    much work.  The floors still need love.  I haven't decided what to do
    with them though.  Perhaps wood, perhaps stained concrete, perhaps
    ignore the floors and design fabric instead.  It'll come to me. 

    Has
    anyone ever stained concrete before, btw? 

  • Happy Memorial Day

    ByHeather Bailey

    Feltstar300aHappy Memorial Day, Americani! 

    I'm feeling
    appropriately patriotic.  If you have a chance to watch The Story of Us series on the History Channel, do. 
    I've watched several episodes over the last two days.  It's had me
    choked up on more than one occasion — the struggles and triumphs of our
    country's past (and present).  The series is intelligently paced.  It
    ties in the technological advancements of each era as well, and shows
    their impact on historical events.  It's just good.

    So now LA
    Ink     is on while I type.  I go high-brow, I go low-brow.  I'm
    strangely relating to this episode.  The main tattoo chick is
    interviewing for two new employees while absorbing their duties in the
    meantime. I'm hiring for two positions right now too.  Sorting through
    resumes took an entire day by itself.  Tattoo chick, I feel you.

    I'm
    not too busy to celebrate Memorial Day though!  The BBQ brigade is
    coming to our house today.  We have a new backyard to christen, after
    all.  And it's gorgeous out.  For now.

    Hug a
    soldier, hug a veteran, hug the free earth beneath your feet!

    God
    bless America.

  • Growing Things

    ByHeather Bailey

    PepperCrop2

    Wow, is it already the end of
    May?

    Last week I was swept away by a birthday blizzard on one
    side and a
    Spring Market squall on the other.  My brother's birthday is the 16th,
    Isaac's is the 17th, my sister's husband's is the 18th, and my mom's big
    day is the 20th.  Add to that a trip to Minneapolis last week from
    Wednesday through Sunday and a father in the hospital. (He came home on
    Sunday too — after two weeks.  I won't go into it without his consent. 
    He does seem to be doing much better now.  We were worried.  Love you,
    Dad!) 

    I have a book-contribution to photograph, fabric to finesse, patterns to polish, kids to cuddle.  (Now I'm
    just having fun with alliteration.)  Mayday, Mayday!


    FencePlayW     Minneapolis,
    what a beautiful city!  I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but I
    was pleasantly surprised.  The weather was great, the city was clean
    and lively, and the public transit system was fantastic, and there was a
    Target right downtown.  I picked up some flip-flops and chocolate on
    Thursday, grabbed apples and couscous on Friday, and made a last-minute
    umbrella-run for Saturday's rain.  This is exciting stuff — as on most
    of my city-stays, I lack some mundane object I have left behind;  there
    was no want this time. 

    I love to catch up with everyone at
    Market.  Friends everywhere with new patterns, new books, new fabric,
    new fabric shops, new wallpaper.  Some with launch-parties, some with cake-parties.  I forget to work.

    Minneapolis was great. I feel
    completely refreshed right now.  And I'm happy to be home to my little
    green garden of growing things. 

    TinyappleWI have a number of outdoor
    projects to scoot-to before the coming heat scoots me back inside: work
    tables to build, chairs to refinish, a storage unit to clear out, a new
    garden to tend.  Truthfully, I can't even start on this list till a
    whole different work-list is checked.  We'll see how it goes.  The blaze
    is on its way.

    I've got some fresh energy so I'm hopeful.  I'll
    keep a camera handy.

    And school is out tomorrow!  My kids are all
    mine again. This makes me squishy.  I go.

  • Short Live Long Hair (mine anyhow)

    ByHeather Bailey


    HairTooLong     It's
    a glorious day!  I won't say how long it's been since I've had a
    haircut, but if my excitement is any bellwether, then you're on to me.  Too long!  I'm letting my hair down.  My neck is thanking me. I have trimmed off six inches or more.

    We're designing two new tables for the warehouse this week — out with the old. 
    And finishing up the backyard.  I'm sending in my housewares designs
    and working on business-organization stuff, like training manuals and business forms. 
    Fun!  : /

    The studio is clean, the dogs are bathed, the laundry is
    folded, the lists are made.  I can take it.  At least I'm no longer
    tangled in hair.

  • Long Live Long Legs

    ByHeather Bailey


    MariePirateShip

    I have some fun, old sewing
    books I like to flip through on occasion — sometimes for laughs.  Take
    for instance the following discussion about the absurdity of various
    fashion trends, from Fabrics and Dress by Rathbone and Tarple,
    1937.  Hang in there with me.  There's a good laugh coming.

    First up is the fabulous
    headdress above, a la Marie Antoinette
    — Watch out madame, you're tipping starboard!

    "Regardless of
    how reasonable or sane the inspiration for a fashion may be, the style
    sometimes is carried to extreme, with grotesque and absurd results. We
    can glance through books on historic costume and pick out many "follies"
    which have grown out of sensible fashions.  Outstanding among the
    freaks of fashion has been the headdress made popular by Marie
    Antoinette, Queen of France and Royal Dictator of Fashion…"     
    And the book goes on to discuss the fabulous hair-do above. (I say go
    for it, Bjork. I liked your cheeky swan dress.)


    Figure4OldShoe     The next folly of fashion on the table are poulaines,
    medieval shoes with liripipe
    toes. (This seriously takes me back to my History of Costume class my
    Freshman year in college. How in the world did I recall the term,
    poulaines?)

    "Shoes with long toes were another
    absurdity of fashion to which we often point with ridicule… richer and
    more eminent personages wore shoes with tips a foot long and princes
    two feet (Fig. 4)"     And so forth.


    Figure7ShortSkirt     Now here's where it gets good.

    "Another recent fashion, which will probably seem as absurd
    as many of these when it becomes long out-of-date, is the very short
    skirt of 1928-1929, which was about three inches above the knee (Fig. 7)
    When worn with extremely high heels, it made the expanse of the legs
    much longer than the length of the skirt…"

    Wait.  What?.

    Innocent
    eyes, look away. 

    The scandal!

    What
    woman would want her legs to look longer by wearing a short not-that-short
    skirt?  Just the most absurd idea in fashion ever — the extremely
    short     skirt of 1928-1929 — clearly as absurd as the pirate hat and
    the carrot shoe.  It will never last.

    I do love my old books.

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    Regarding poulaines: "Such shoes
    proved a hazard among the French Crusaders at the Battle
    of Nicopolis     (1396) when they had to cut off the tips in order to
    run away."     Isaac Asimov, Isaac
    Asimov's Book of Facts    , 1979.

    Some fashions
    don't repeat themselves — for good reason.

  • Let There Be Green

    ByHeather Bailey


    RetroVase

    Bless you, Goodwill, not only
    for the regular entertainment, but also for the occasional thrill. 

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    We're
    landscaping our backyard this week — finally!  I won't confess how
    long we've lived here with no yard (hm-hmm – years).  We installed a
    patio and raised garden beds last year, but then the summer overtook us.
    Outside is the last place you want to be in the Arizona summertime. 
    Now we have the sprinklers set and the garden beds filled with dirt. 
    Two pallets of sod arrived this morning and we're in the final sprint.

    Gardeners
    here enjoy two growing seasons each year.  (Yeah, I know, isn't that
    awesome. For the most part, the weather here is gorgeous.)  Though it's
    late for planting a summer garden, I'm not giving up.  I'm going to see
    about adopting some larger plants from the nursery.  Even if all I can
    do is tomatoes.  Then tomatoes it will be.

    In fact, I'm going to
    call the nursery right now. 

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    Here's the
    scoop.  I guess it's the tomatoes that are the bigger concern.  I'm told
    the blooms need to "set" before the weather reaches 100 degrees.  If I
    can pull that off, then I'm home free.  So, it'll be Early Girl tomatoes
    or Celebrity.  Then, I'm still in the clear for peppers, eggplant,
    squash, zucchini, etc.  And herbs.  Basil goes nuts here.  Last time I
    had a garden, basil was my favorite luxury.  Homemade pizza with basil,
    yum.