toys - HELLO my name is Heather

Giveaway Day 30

ByHeather Bailey August 30, 2013

Today, I had the privilege of flipping through an early copy of Kerry Goulder's new book, Sewing Tales to Stitch and Love. The release is set for mid- October, but I got my hands on one of the only two copies Kerry has seen herself.

That's right, Kerry (aka Kid Giddy) sent me one of her only two copies so I could share the book with you as part of my August HELLO Giveaways celebration. So exciting! Thank you, Kerry.

My first peek at this charming project book was earlier this year
when Kerry asked me to write the book's foreword. Over the course of
several emails back and forth and a couple of phonecalls, I got to know
Kerry and her concept. Each project in the book is tied to a story and
centered on four themes, taking us "from a fairy woodland, to the
coastal waters, to the arctic, and back."

Kerry
lives in Maine with the ocean as her neighbor. One of my favorite
projects in the book is her Pinchy the Lobster character. Coming from
the land of paisley turtles and floral elephants, there's something about a calico lobster that certainly works for me.

I also love her station wagon and hipster-camping-trailer pattern
above. Not only does it wax nostalgic, but here's one car toy that won't
split your eyebrow open when your toddler attacks. That's a true bonus.
I've had more than one request from my family to design some soft
boy-toys suitable for snuggling. Our Evan likes a big reaction. This often translates into experimental hammering on his siblings and parents—especially at bedtime.

Beyond these great projects, Kerry has also included a dolphin
pattern, an orca whale, a row boat, a hot air balloon, a teddy bear, and
an igloo—to name just a few. A wide variety of projects for one book.

Join me in congratulating Kerry and KP Craft on their lovely new book. Watch for Sewing Tales to Stitch and Love: 18 Toy Patterns for the Storytelling Sewist to reach your local bookstore or fabric shop this fall and go get yourself a copy. Also, keep up with Kerry on her Kid Giddy blog (she's just beginning to post reveals of her gorgeous new sewing studio), and on facebook, twitter, pinterest, and flickr while you're at it.

Today's giveaway winner will receive this early copy of the book—signed by the author and me. Invaluable 🙂 Comment to
enter. One entry per household. Be sure to include your email
address
in the comment form so we can contact you if you win.

Giveaway closes at 11:59pm PST on Sunday 9/1/13. It's
a holiday weekend and the final stretch of my giveaway marathon. As
such, I'm giving you through the weekend to enter so everyone can have a
decent shot—even those who have found time away from the computer with
their families! Watch for the winner to
be announced within the week at the bottom
of the post.

For more info on my August giveaway party, click here. Please
share the word. See you again tomorrow. And Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone.

Good luck!

xo—Heather

Stuff for Stuffing Stuff

ByHeather Bailey April 2, 2009

I'm
in the home-stretch of a many-months' design project. With a name
chosen, a logo and some final print-outs, my next fabric collection
will head off to the mill and my brain will be my own again. I've been
twittering as a welcome distraction. Next I'll need a new phone plan
so I can twitter from anywhere. Then I can get input on whether to buy
the yellow shirt or the blue one, have help choosing a dessert at the
grocery store, or discuss any number of random ponderings while on the
go.

For instance, I've been thinking about Magic Shell
a lot lately — well, more than usual, which is never — probably
because ice cream consumption increases in direct proportion to an
increase in workload. Magic Shell can't be natural. But, it sure
tastes like chocolate and not as much like plastic as I'd expect. I
twitter-tweeted my love of Magic Shell and WhipUp twittered me right back a link to a make-your-own-Magic-Shell recipe here.

For my last 2009 MOT post, I'm singing praises for the Stuffing Fork by Barbara Willis — my favorite tool for stuffing stuff with stuffing : )

— like pincushions, dolls, toys, etc.

This
simple tool is awesome. You can use it to push stuffing into just the
right spot. And for teensy stuffed things, like doll fingers and
noses, the small Stuffing Fork
is great. If you poke the fork into a small tuft of stuffing and give
it a twist, you can maneuver your stuffing bit in place. They really
are great.

We just stocked a handful of each size, large and small, in our store (10% discount here
till April 5th). I have an old-school, wooden-handled Stuffing Fork
that's been well-used and well-loved for the last decade or more. Now
I've upgraded to these new ones which have a molded plastic handle and
are even better — a necessary tool for your sewing arsenal.

And
because April is upon us, I'm going to bullet-list out a few more tools
I love, then call it done for the year. Totally random though. No
rules.

Color Munki. New tool for us. But you should hear Isaac's shouts of
'whoa!' from the other room. When you're in the design business, color
calibration is big.
Great Lash Mascara. Tackiest packaging, but good mascara.
Beeswax for thread.
For quilting or applique, if you run your thread through beeswax &
press it before sewing, your thread will be stronger and will suffer
less wear when pulled through the fabric stitch after stitch. I'll
blog about this one in more detail sometime.
Water-soluble markers.
For marking match points or drawing tailoring adjustments in sewing.
Or for drawing out an embroidery design onto fabric. Where were these
when I learned to sew with chalky, messy, white tailoring pencils?
Art Gum erasers.
I have these erasers all over my studio. When I only had one or two,
I'd lose them, or the dogs would chew them up. Isaac bought me 10 at
once and now I'm all set. Having an abundance of good erasers is a
luxury anyone can attain.
Pentel Twist-Erase mechanical pencils.
My new favorite pencil, because the eraser actually lasts for a while
and can be re-filled. Of course, as a result, my art gum eraser
collection hasn't been as important lately. Dave says this pencil has it's own following.
Typepad. I've used Typepad from the beginning and have always
been impressed with their interface, customer service, customizability,
upgrades, etc. And I've never had a post go missing. This is the second or third time they've featured my blog on their sign-in page and I'm completely honored.
Twitter. I've always described blogging as a form of conversation, and micro-blogging is even more conversational (see tweets in my sidebar). It's been less than a week since I started twitter-chatting, but what fun.

Okay, so I'm off to polish up a logo for the fabric collection, then
it's back to a more normal pace — and a movie & a milkshake. Any
movie recommendations?