heather bailey

  • A New Laptop & Free Internet at the Airport

    ByHeather Bailey

    FogNTrees
    Posting on the road.  I'm sitting in the Charlotte airport waiting for
    my plane to board.  I'm at once disappointed to leave Inspired just as
    the main event kicks off, and excited to meet up with the Creative
    Escape team at Bazzill for a weekend of group crafting. 

    With all of my jogging this way and that this week, I've grown seriously more attached to having an assistant. 
    (Two now.  We welcomed Lindsay to our team last week — just in time to
    wrap up our kits for Inspired.  I'll introduce Lindsay more officially
    when I'm not racing against my departure time — & I have a photo
    of her.)  It is so nice to get emails telling me where to go
    & when.  Here's your confirmation #.  Donna will pick you up at
    7:00.  Meeting at this time.  Dinner at that time.  Turn right.  Turn
    Left.  Do 20 jumping jacks.

    This saves a surprising amount of brain power, which can then be budgeted toward other activities.  Budgeting your Brain Power by Heather Bailey.  Get it now.

    I had a great trip to Charlotte.  Loved the fog.  All of my flutterby flip-book
    students motored right through their projects.  I spent my break-time
    chatting with two women who drove four hours or so (each way) just to
    take my one hour workshop.  (Hi Lisa & Heather!)   I also met a
    sweet little girl for whom my workshop was a surprise present for her
    8th birthday.  (Happy Birthday, Olivia!)  Olivia's mom and she set
    aside time every Thursday evening to make projects together — isn't
    that great!?! 

    Yesterday evening was spent talking Trash (Ties)
    with dozens more women.  We did hair and laughed and chatted.  It was
    great, giggly fun.  The dozens of Trash Ties we packed were gobbled up like cotton candy at a carnival.  Licked clean.

    Then, last night, when it was time to pack in as much sleep as I could before heading out west for round two, my dern book got inconveniently exciting.  Could have had another hour of sleep if
    it were not for imminent danger, a surprise wedding and a sexy, first
    kiss.

    That's the brief.  Time to hop on a plane.

  • Flit & Flutter

    ByHeather Bailey

    FlutterbyFlip-5a

    I'm bouncing all over the place this week.  By Tuesday night, I'll be in Concord, North Carolina again for Donna Downey's Inspired Artist event.  While there, I'll be teaching a mini-workshop on Thursday called The Flutterby Flip-Book for which my team has been kitting supplies all week.  Around the studio, stacks of Heather Bailey papers are shuffled together with some beautiful solids from Bazzill Basics.  And we're surrounded by bowls and tubs of colorful ribbons, flowers, clothespins, rhinestones, butterflies, and brads.  Bowls of candy. 

    FlutterbyFlip-10a

    Cutest paper project!  Can't wait to show you. (We'll post some extra kits to the Heather Bailey Store later this week.)  If you're in North Carolina, come see me.  Here's where you can sign up for the last couple of seats in the 1pm class.  The 12pm class is completely sold out.

    FlutterbyFlip-8w Let's see, there are some Trash Ties workshops
    late Thursday night as well (at Donna's irresistible urging).  We'll
    probably be somewhat loopy by 10pm, so I'm expecting more of a giggly,
    slumber-party-like setting than anything else.  Everyone in the class
    is getting two sets of Trash Ties and I'll be spending the hour
    teaching how-tos and demonstrating hairstyles. I hear there are a few
    more spaces available in the 9pm & 10pm classes.  If you're in NC,
    sign up!  I'd love to meet you.  Here's the workshop schedule
    where you can get your tickets.  Scroll down to the time-slot you're
    interested in (both are on 5/7), then click the blue & orange 'buy'
    button to read more about the class.

    FlutterbyFlip-6t

    On Wednesday, before the workshops, I'll be at the Free Spirit
    headquarters     in Charlotte, discussing fabric, hush puppies, high school (Jeff, the Sales Manager went to the same
    high school     as I – small world), whatever comes up.  It's mostly a
    social visit.  Always fun. 

    FlutterbyFlip-7 Friday, I'll fly back out west to attend a preview weekend for next summer's Creative Escape event.  I'll be crafting along with Heidi Swapp, Tim Holtz, Debby Shuh, and the other Creative Escape teachers
    while we preview our classes to each other and the entire volunteer
    staff.  There should be some fun dinners in there too, I think. 

    Come Saturday night, I expect to flop into bed like an eggy crepe.  

    Perhaps
    my kids will pour some syrup on top on Sunday morning — a smoochy
    reunion.  Isaac's always good at heading up some sort of kid-made
    breakfast-in-bed for Mother's Day as well.  I dream of fuzzy slippers and
    chocolate.

    FlutterbyFlip-9

  • Hello-ness

    ByHeather Bailey

    DaisyBouquet3a

    I
    have serious vertigo from working on a 24" monitor for the first time
    today.  We're holding off on the 30"er till the next upgrade.  (It's
    been 5 years or so since Mac last upgraded that beast.)  I've heard you
    get used to the gi-normity.  I sure hope so, as I'm definitely a bit
    dizzy — but it's a grateful dizzy.  My main machine is now a laptop
    and I can't say how excited I am about the portability.  Beyond heading
    to the park or the local bookstore for some quiet concentration, just
    switching rooms at will is exciting stuff. 

    I was trying to
    convince my new assistant to take a photo so I could introduce her
    here. Then, it dawned on me to swipe her Twitter photo & move on
    with it.  (You don't mind, do you Emily?)

    EmilyPhotoflSo,
    meet Emily.  Some of you may recognize her from the scrapbooking
    world.  Emily worked with Heidi Swapp for years, and Making Memories
    before that.  We had narrowed our interviewing process down to two
    candidates and were thick into discussing the matter when we received a
    last-minute suggestion to give Emily a call.  Well, Emily shook up the
    whole conversation and here she now is.  Currently, Emily is your
    girl if you have a customer service question at the Heather Bailey Store, a press
    inquiry, a wholesale order, etc.  Basically, she's our company
    juggler.  Well, I guess we are all company jugglers.  (You know those
    juggling acts that start with one juggler, then a second juggler steps
    on stage, then a third & so on?  Pretty soon, the bowling pins form
    a mid-air ballet?  That sort of thing.  We're not ready for Vegas or
    anything, but we're getting there.  We're still working on our stage
    names.)

    Oh, and you've gotta go back and read each & every comment left on the last post — holy toledo, what a bunch of crazy, cool stories!!  I'm both inspired and weirded out.  Time to start a dream journal.

  • Dark Chocolate, Light Sewing

    ByHeather Bailey

    MovingAlongS
    I'm
    back from a delicious weekend away.  After my collection shipped off to
    the mill, Isaac treated me to a stay at a local resort where I slept
    in, swam laps, ate out, and shopped all evening – both days.  It was
    bliss.

    Now, I'm onto the next wave of things, which involves some
    significant sewing – hallelujah.  I'm making 7 mystery projects for the
    cover of a upcoming pattern.

    Workin

    And,
    as we're mid-stream in setting up a new computer for me, I've got my
    sewing machine and current computer stacked on one table.  There are serious acrobatics involved
    in getting to my keyboard just now.  I can't be bothered to set up a
    separate table for my computer;  I'd rather stretch and hurdle.  This
    way I can sew, blog, sew, tweet, sew, and so on.

    I'm getting my sewjo back — and cuddling up to my kids, my dogs, my chocolate stash, & this here blog.  Feels good. 

    Confucius say:  Beware the clearance Easter candy row at Target.

  • Clickity-Twit

    ByHeather Bailey

    ToolsBanner2 

    Okay, so Google Reader is the CLEAR winner.  I checked it out and you can easily export the feeds
    you're following in another aggregator and then upload them to Google
    Reader.  You can be all set-up and transitioned-over in less than 5
    minutes.  Dead serious.  Then, if you install a Google Reader 'Next' button
    in your browser's bookmark bar, you can click from one new post to
    another and read each post in its original blog setting where it belongs.  All great tips from you guys — thanks for chiming in!

    Now I'm exploring Twitter. 
    Ya, I took my time getting around to it.  I think they invited me to the beta of Twitter
    three years ago or so.  I'm getting serious deja vu on their site.  
    Let me say, I love the simplicity of their concept.  'You know, for
    blogging.'  Have you seen The Hudsucker Proxy (one of my all-time favorite movies!)?  If not, then that's what you should do for fun this weekend.

  • The Pen is Mightier than the Spatula

    ByHeather Bailey

    CooksIllustratedCvr
    Isaac loves to cook.  His sister, Evie, gave him a subscription to Cooks Illustrated magazine
    for Christmas one year and now we're hooked.  I'm pretty sure I would
    never have picked up this magazine from the shelf of a bookstore.  But
    it's great! 

    Cooks Illustrated covers the science of
    cooking in a fun, easy-to-follow format.  In any given issue, you might
    learn how to best hard-boil an egg so the yolk stays centered (helpful
    for deviled eggs), or which brand of stone-ground mustard is the most
    flavorful, or the science behind aged cheese.  Who knows — all kinds
    of interesting things. Their test-kitchen cooks tirelessly compare
    techniques and recipes to arrive at the best methods and flavors.  Then
    they quickly outline their test results and make suggestions in the
    magazine.  Even better, their research and info is completely unbiased
    – like Consumer Reports
    for cooking techniques, food, & recipes.  The magazine doesn't have
    any ads and is illustrated in old-fashioned pen-and-ink-drawings, which
    I love.

    Anyhow.  Yes, I'm recommending a cooking magazine as a favorite tool for March of the Tools.  Next time you're out shopping, stop by the magazine row and take a peek through Cooks Illustrated.  I love knowing the 'why' behind a good recommendation.  And Cooks Illustrated is full of 'whys' — and good recommendations.

  • 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.