fabric

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    Red, White, and Blue All Over

    ByHeather Bailey

    RedWhiteBlue-04 

    June
    has been beautiful this year.  Normally it’s breath-suckingly hot in
    June in Arizona.  We’ve been camping and canoeing, working in the yard,
    and eating outside at every chance. Being outdoors with my family more
    than usual this month has put me in a good place for the Fourth of
    July.  Something about the lush cornfields that surround us, the
    well-groomed campsites we’ve visited, and driving along the Mogollon Rim has me feeling patriotic. 
     
    RedWhiteBlueTrashTies310In
    the last month, I’ve seen a bald eagle nesting on top of a dead pine
    tree, 200 feet up, I’ve picniced in a field of wild strawberries and
    I’ve watched hundreds of Great Blue Herons dive for fish to feed to their hatchlings. 

    If you ever camp in Arizona, make a point to visit the movie-perfect Woods Canyon Lake.  It’s looks almost fake, it’s so beautiful.

    We
    have a few more campouts planned for the summer.  In prep, I’ve been
    working on some fun camping crafts, recipes and whatnot.  We whipped up
    a perfect blackberry grunt in our dutch oven that turned our teeth
    black — as though we didn’t feel mucky enough without black teeth. 
    But it sure was delicious.

    Meadowside470

    I’m
    almost to the crest of the mountain with my design work too.  That
    place where things begin to glide.  Several projects now have enough
    stored, potential energy to self-propel when released.  Like a stretched spring. 

    First, a little more stretching to do.  Burn baby burn.

    It’s looking like a great summer.

  • Black, White, and Read All Over

    ByHeather Bailey

    June 25, 2009 Arizona Republic I always forget to post these things, but not today.

    Check out the big ol' cover story
    in today's Arizona Republic newspaper — on me.  In the article photos,
    I'm talking it up in my studio, one of those mid-sentence
    shots.  They wanted pictures of me working in my authentic environment. 
    However, the studio was clean when they came.  Yes, I insisted on
    messing up my desk — authentically.

    HeatherandMom Another big article I never mentioned was a feature on me and my mother
    over at Creating Keepsakes last month – for mother's day.  My mom is a
    funny writer.  You should at least read her interview if not both of
    ours.  Click the 'next' button to read through each page of the
    combined interviews (there are 5 pp. total).

    Sending out the June newsletter
    momentarily.  Any minute now.  It's like 5 blog-posts worth of good
    stuff.  That's right.  Then back to the sewing pattern I'm designing — and
    loving.

    (Sign up for the newsletter here if you like.  But hurry.)

  • Scruff n Stuff

    ByHeather Bailey

    0906CharlotteBob

    Bobbin
    is in heat. In the heat.  Not so fun. But, she has a fresh haircut and
    a bow in her hair, so that's something.  We can all relate.

    0807_puppies2
    I get regular requests for dog updates.  Pupdates.  Bobbin and Pixel
    are now 1 year old, and even more fun — and surprisingly more cute
    than they were as puppies. 
    Like swans.  To the left is their photo from last July.  And here they
    are now, below.  Ya, what's that about?  Puppies are supposed to be
    cuter than grown dogs. 

    I'm not complaining though.  Not only
    are these guys prettier now, but they've burrowed a soft spot for
    themselves in our family. 

    That Bobbin has already earned her
    halo.  She will put up with anything.  I'll keep my camera ready for
    her next fashion show, boxy castle home, choo choo train ride, or
    ribbon parade. 

    Pixel still wears his heart on his scruff. 
    He's just as floppy and eager as ever.  He manages to stay clear of
    Charlotte's narratives by virtue of his gender alone.

    0906_Pups2

    Some Other Stuff
    • Woven.  You must see Laura's new fabric line, Lantern Bloom. 
    It was a huge hit at Market, with its own unique style and edgy
    approach.  I've been meaning to do a post, but am in the thick of
    pattern-writing and post-travel recovery.  Call this a pre-post blurb. 
    Watch for Laura Gunn prints at Crate & Barrel too.
    • Curious.  It appears I've been written a public request to stop writing patterns, blogging & such.  All I have to say is, "An apple a day…"
    • Experimental.  We just got a dutch oven.  We're taking it camping with us this summer.  I'll share recipes.  Or shall I call them experiments?
    • Fattening.  We're working on a new Father's day ice cream recipe today.  I'll share that too.  Don't forget to try my Strawberry Pretzel Dessert ice cream.  It'll be a challenge to top that one.
    • Fun.  We're sending out our second newsletter next week featuring a craft project how-to, new Trash Ties colors, an introduction to Emily & Lindsay, a newsletter-only store promotion — and a giveaway.  Sign up for the newsletter here if you want to be included.

  • Shredded

    ByHeather Bailey

    ReUpholster4
    I just counted and we own a total of 13 rolling office chairs.  That's
    a lot of office chairs.  Of course, the one I prefer at the moment is
    shredded and hideous.  It's the ugliest chair of the bunch.

    My
    neck and arm are all out-of-whack from trotting all over NYC with two
    heavy bags.  This chair holds me together best.  It's a bit
    out-of-place in my studio though.  So, today, I'm slip-covering it. 

    No big style-ambition this time.  I'll be glad to take it from hideous to mediocre.

    Yep, that's exposed foam in the back there.

  • Plumpness

    ByHeather Bailey

    Have I mentioned it's
    great to be back home?  With an expanding roster of help around the
    studio, we're starting to get caught up, even ahead, on some projects. 
    Rachel and Lindsay spent a day or two just putting together a plump
    stock of Strawberry Pincushion Kits, after finishing up the Flutterby Flip-Book Kits.  Emily has kept everything else plugging along.  Being ahead is great.  I highly recommend it. 

    StrawKit

    So, back to The Giveaway.  What a variety of first sewing projects!  I've been reading comments all day. 

    1.  Congratulations Lindsay Brown!  Random picked you for the big giveaway.  Lindsay won a Freshcut scrap bag, a HB sewing pattern of her choice, and a Flutterby Flip-Book Kit.  Here's what Lindsay wrote.

       
    "Hi Heather!!! Let me start out by saying I am an ENORMOUS fan!!  I
    just completed 2 projects for my girls.  I made a pillowcase dress with
    the Lime Paisley and I made my youngest daughter the matching capris. 
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of your fabrics!!  Thanks for posting this!!"

    Kits2.  Random also picked the lucky Shannon / lilyhaven who wrote,

       
    "Holy cow! 975 comments already! … My first sewing project was a
    tiered skirt for my then 3-year-old daughter.  I was so proud of
    myself!  I wanted to sew for years and years and finally broke down and
    tried.  I've been addicted ever since.  I can't wait to see your new
    fabrics!!!" 

    I'll be sending Shannon a Freshcut scrap bag, along with a pack of HB ribbons.

     3.  Then, for AndieBee, who apparently barely survived her first sewing experience, I'm sending a Strawberry Pincushion Kit, along with a copy of my Fresh Picked Pincushions sewing pattern.  AndieBee wins just for surviving — and for calling me "cupcake."  Here's what AndieBee wrote.

       
    "Hi cupcake! My very first sewing project EVER in life: I was three and
    hangin' out with my Momma while she was making something-probably a
    dress or short set for me. She got up from her incredibly snazzy Singer
    machine in the wood cabinet to do "something", so I climbed up on her
    chair for a better view. Momma always held the pretty colorful straight
    pins in her mouth as she took them out to sew. I decided to help take
    them out while she was away…of COURSE I put them in my mouth just
    like her. And OF COURSE I swallowed one of those bad boys!! LOL

       
    "All I remember of the rest of that day was having to drink something
    icky and Momma monitoring my potties! Apparently it all came out okay,
    since I don't remember having to go to the hospital. ;O)  I picked
    sewing back up again when I was about 8 or 9, when Momma got tired of
    making Barbie clothes, and I've been sewing since."

    Ladies, send me your addresses. 

    Thanks everyone for participating — and for the blogiversary hoopla.  I'm loving being back home and back to blogging, tweeting, etc.  Thanks for sticking around while I was away through May.

    …which reminds me, there's something special posted for @TrashTies followers over on Twitter : )

    And, speaking of plumpness, check out this blog, with it's cheeky background image.  Bacon-infused waffles?  I'll be taking my camera with me next we go out to the fair.

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    Giveaway, Oh Giveaway

    ByHeather Bailey

    Food5

    I don't even know where to begin with all of the adventures
    I went on this month.  I may have to grant myself a
    Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card and skip immediately past Go — at least till
    I'm caught up on some design projects.

    Food2noteThis
    weekend I went through the first round of strike-offs for my next
    fabric collection.  Gah!  I normally wouldn't mention strike-offs
    because, really, it will be months before the fabrics are available. 
    But, gah!  They're gorgeous.  I'm ready to fly over to the mill and
    screen the prints myself if it will speed things up.  I'm dying to sew
    with this fabric. 

    Bridgenote2See,
    now I feel better, and you feel worse.  Which is why I normally don't
    say anything.  But, that's what I'm working on today. And that's where
    my brain is.

    I'm also thinking about a giveaway to celebrate my blogiversary.  It's been 3 years now.  So, how does this sound for a prize?

    Hotelviewnote2
    Leave a comment, telling us what your first sewing project was — or if
    you don't sew, what your first sewing project might be — or if you
    don't plan to sew, why not!?  Or your favorite remedy for puffy eyes. 
    I don't know, tell us something interesting.  Or just say, 'Hi.'  That
    works too. 

    I'll let this go through Thursday night MST, then hand it over to the Random Number Generator for an edict. 

    I may hand out a couple of extra giveaways too.  I tend to do that.

    The photos?  Some shots from my weekend in Pittsburgh.  What a beautiful city!

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    In Limited Supply:
    album kits, fabric… patience

    ByHeather Bailey

    It is refreshing to be home again.  Not only to sleep in my own bed
    and hug on my little kids (of course), but now I can start scratchin'
    at those irresistibly- itchy projects I sketched up while I was away. 
    Here and there, at least.  First, I have some emails and interviews to
    complete, as well as some fabric strike-offs to sort through (yes,
    round one is in the house!).

    Flutterby4a600

    So, check out my Flutterby Flip-Book mini
    album.  I used an old-fashioned wooden clothespin for the butterfly
    body.  A variety of cardstock wings make up the album's many pages,
    with a sprinkling
    of flowers and miniature butterflies thrown in for good measure.  The
    perfect album for celebrating a special event, a summer-load of
    activities, a new baby, a birthday, quirky kid-drawings, etc.

    FLUTTERBYkit2

    This is the workshop I taught at Inspired in North Carolina this month — the stinkin' cutest-est album ever.  We kitted up
    some extra albums, with full-on illustrated instructions included, so
    you can make an album too if you like. (Or maybe set up your kids or
    grandkids with a kit — gotta keep those children engaged over the
    summer.  My two have been squabbling all day.)  So, if you're
    interested, hop on over to the HB store.  Limited supply!  When they're gone, they're gone. 

    FlutterbyInstr400

    Freshcut™ is in the same boat too.  Free Spirit's warehouse is plum out of my Freshcut collection now.  We received our last supply.  Though the demand for that collection never subsided, the supply certainly now has, so last call for Freshcut!  Heck, here's a discount while you're at it.  Use the code "AlmostGone" through June 1st for 10% off any fabrics from my Freshcut collection.  We'll all sigh as it trickles away.

    And this week is my blogiversary again — three years now.  I'll put together some sort of giveaway, so stay tuned for that. 

    I'm
    off to dig myself up an urgent dose of Tylenol.  My kids aren't used to
    being around each other all day.  It's adjustment time — for all of us.

  • Flirty Skirt, Dirty Dirt

    ByHeather Bailey

    Skirty1Detail

    My
    friend, Jill, has two cute little girls and she always has them dolled
    up to the nines.  (And she's the best hair-bow-maker around — a new
    bow for every outfit.)  Jill watched Charlotte a couple of
    times a week last year.  During that time her girls became like sisters
    to Charlotte — and Jill really did a great job of keeping them all
    busy and entertained with swimming, carousel-ing, park-time, etc.  So,
    as a heart-felt thank you to Jill, I designed her girls some matching,
    skirty outfits.

    Skirty1

    The tee shirts — Talk
    about a high impact-to-effort ratio, decorating tee-shirts can be
    easy-peasy.  I fused floral elements from my Rose Bouquet print from
    Pop Garden to each store-bought tee shirt using fusible web.  I then
    stitched around the edges of each fused piece (with a ball-point needle
    installed in my machine to prevent holes from forming in the knit
    material.)  There are at least three or four flowers in this print that
    make perfect appliques. 

    Shirty1

    The two skirts — I had a lot of fun putting the fabric combinations together.  I wanted them to match each other, but not really match.  I didn't draft a pattern as they're just sewn from various
    rectangles.  I probably should have jotted down some measurements as I went. 
    However, my friend Jona does have pattern for a similar skirt all
    ready to go – The Edith Twirl.  (Check out the embroidery on those
    Edith under-skirts.)

    Skirty2w2
    The floral print in the skirt above is probably my favorite print from Pop Garden.  It's
    soft and romantic, yet electric and sassy.  And the ziggity Zag Stripe to the right is entirely too fun to sew
    with.  I still need to bind a quilt in this print and see what it does.
    Fussy-cut quilt blocks made with this fabric could result in some
    interesting effects too.  More sewing, more sewing.

    I'm not sure if I
    scratched that dern sewing itch well enough with this one project, but
    I expect to do more sewing once my next fabric collection is off to the
    mill here soon. And OH, it's pretty.  And sweet. 
    Sweet and pretty.  That's all I'm going to say.  Like that
    housekeeper-lady says in The Parent Trap, "I'm not saying a word."

    Shirty2aa

    What else, what else?  OH!  I should have mentioned this first —
    yikes.  Tara's baby girl, Grace, was born this week!!  And she's
    stinkin' beautiful.  Which is really unfair to the other bruised,
    swollen newborns in the nursery.  I mean, come on — tilting, exotic
    eyes, high cheekbones, a perfectly-shaped head covered with beautiful,
    dark hair.  At three weeks early, we were only caught slightly
    off-guard.  Isaac's been phone-interviewing for a new Office Assitant
    this week and then final interviews are next week.  Tara will be back
    in a few months in a new position.  We'll miss her while she's away
    smooching on that sweet, new baby.

    Skirty2Detail2
    We're really overlapping about five or six projects at the
    moment.  And as I'm not so great at falling asleep when I'm excited
    about a project – or six projects, imagine my self-satisfaction at
    rolling out of bed on time this morning for my 8 o'clock tap class —
    jazz hands!  : )

    And then there's the yard.  Wednesday
    was Fill-the-Raised-Garden-with-Dirt Day.  Thursday was
    Move-the-Big-Rocks-Around Day.  (Isaac might as well have been at
    Disneyland.  He wouldn't climb down from that bulldozer for anything.) 
    Yesterday was Rake-the-Dirt-All-Smooth Day.  And today has been
    Form-the-Perfectly-Curved-Curbing Day.  Isaac's ready to move onto
    Install-the-Five-Valve-Sprinkler-System Day, but I'm entirely ready for
    a break, so we've pacted to give ourselves a week of
    Avoid-the-Yardwork-Alltogether Days so we can celebrate
    Get-Back-to-What-We-Should-Have-Been-Doing Day – which may evolve into
    a week-long celebration in the end.

    JillBows

    And
    I'm looking to do March of the Tools again this year.  One more day
    till March.  There are a number of gizmos, gadgets, thing-a-majigs and
    who-z-whatzits I'm excited to share.  I'll have the badge back up in my
    sidebar later today.  I'd love for you to join me – yes, please join
    me.  Infact, email me to let me know you're doing March of the Tools
    too and I'll post a link to your blog on the March of the Tools page so we can all see who is playing along and get some leads on new, must-have tools.