HELLOmynameisHeather

How Green Was My Chandelier

What a good guy.  Here's my new green chandelier, painstakingly painted by my husband. (Those are not my man- hands.)  My only involvement was in art direction.  Make it green.  With green crystals too.  And yellow crystals mixed in.  And put these vintage brooches on there to boot.

I would have done it myself, but when the spouse is in a let's-finish-this-room-up-right-now mood, who wouldn't hand the paint over and say, "Go for it!" 

Raaar! ...oink.

I'm feeling it tonight... stress.  I'm sure it's just an aftershock of the Thanksgiving - funeral - Christmas - wedding anniversary - New Year's - son's birthday - daughter's birthday quake we've just come through.  We held the final birthday party of the season last night and now it's time to face the tidal wave of exciting, but relentless obligations I've signed up for this spring.  According to my calendar, I'll come up for air again in, oh... June?  Isaac's feeling it too.  He's taking a late-evening booster nap to prep for the long push.  I'm blogging. 

Last night's shindig was a family dinner for Charlotte, now 2, who adores all things piggish.  It was also Elijah's only celebration with extended family, hence the pigs and monsters.  It was a sprint.  The objective was:  put together a tasty meal and just enough decoration-cuteness that there'll be something to photograph and something to remember, unwrap a few presents, deal out big hugs, clean up, and move on.  Sound lack-luster?  It wasn't.  It was quite fun, like a birthday-party challenge.  I was able to chill on the pretty-perfect angle and go for crafty-campy.  And with glowing success... see that sloppy frosting?  One of the monsters even lost his teeth. 

So, Happy Birthday to Charlie!

(Or is it Charley?  I've never had to spell that nickname before. )

Have you ever seen a two-year-old this excited about a present?  This baby gets it, the whole birthday thing. Happy Birthday to You has even made it onto the bedtime-song playlist.  Giddy-up, horse!

Next post:  green chandelier.

Not Gildy!

The mirror was first.  It's been sitting around our garage for three years now, as it was too boring to bring inside.  And my current rule-of-thumb is... if it's ornate and prissy, then it better be a funky color, or no deal. 

Anyone can pick up a gold mirror just about anywhere.  Where's the fun in that?  Friend comes in, turns the corner and says, "Oh, nice!  I have a gold mirror too.  Mine is hanging over the couch, not the piano though.  How creative that you hung it vertically.  I'd never have thought of that!" 

Yawn.

So... though my mirror still has the frilly-thing going on, at least it's owning up to it full-force-- a few dollops of Jamaica Blue ala Isaac and a smattering of chartreuse ala moi and now my studio walls aren't so naked anymore.

Watch Out Mr. Beige!

I went on a clean-up kick last week, restacking fabric and sorting through my books.  Within a couple of hours my studio was sparkly-clean and ready to take on the world. 

Then, just as I was about to wrap it up and move on, Isaac caught the shiny- studio bug; it hit him hard!  One conversation about blah-blah-beige-and-the -need-to-color-my-world and Isaac was off to the store for paint.  Fantastic!  It was like Dave-the-Slave Week, except my husband's not a Dave.
(Laura's invention - hers is a Dave)

How about a turquoise mirror, honey?  Ooo, and a green chandelier.  And those jars need red lids.  Bright red.  And I need a rod for some ribbons.  And a couple more shelves too.  Ooo, pretty.  Now hang those over there and put these other things right here.  Aah.  Thank you, thank you, Macho-Sweetie-Good-Guy.  ('Macho' being the key word amongst all of this funky froof)

Now the studio's all glammed up and I've got at least a week's worth of new blog-fodder. Watch out Mr. Beige... Oh, it's terrible.
(Token UHF reference to make my brothers smile - see footnote below)

∆   ∆   ∆

Footnote : )  The first hundred times Matt and Ryan played UHF were a torture, but somehow, after a while, the movie grew on me.  Aah, the good ol' days of algebra homework and afterschool UHF. 

I think it was my brothers' guffaws that grew on me, not the movie so much.  Eventually I looked forward to each gag and my brothers rolling on the floor in laughter.  I swear, my younger brother must hold the world record for how many times one joke can be rewound and played over and over... and over again.  His favorite part was the "I'm thinking of something orange..." sequence, though Wheel of Fish and Conan the Librarian were certainly in the running.  My favorite bit was Spatula City.  WARNING:  My fond memories do not constitute a recommendation.  Rent at your own risk.

Limber Lulu

The collection grows.  Cute hangar, huh?  What I can't believe is that her ponytails are still intact. 

And, as bloggy-voodoo would have it, she looks an awful lot like Hillary's recent mobile and Sarah's subsequent magnet set, both adorable.  How old is she?  I have no idea.  But, she had to be mine.

Yesterday was Elijah's birthday -- ten years old.  How'd that happen? I'm certainly not ten years older than when I had him. 

We took him and a gaggle of his friends to an indoor play-shangri-la: buffet, tokens, bowling, the works. 

It was the first birthday party I didn't have to decorate for (mixed feelings here).  But, with his birthday following Christmas so closely, I can't deny that it was a welcome break.

Many Months Ago

I thought I'd break up the long train of toys (see last three posts) with a fun little pincushion.  Does anyone remember the flouncy bouncer saga and thereby neglected pincushion design?  That was seven months ago.  This little pincushion has remained in my cabinet since then, sewn, stuffed and tufted.  All it needed was a button -- poor little pincushion.  And, as luck would have it,  I had just enough crafting time today to sew on a button -- so here she is, neglected no more. 

I've got a friend I've been meaning to send this to -- the only blogger who knew what I was up to with Free Spirit last year (before I started my blog).  If you're reading this, Amy, thanks for the happy email breaks during last year's fabric marathon.  The pincushion's on its way next week : )

For the rest of you'uns, I'm posting some goofy photos I sent to her mid-process (showing Freshcut in the works). But I am in PJs, so be warned.  Oh, and they're terrible pictures - they were taken with the built-in camera on my computer around midnight - no light.  You might have to click on them to see what's on those papers - eek.  That email was sent January 5, 2006.  Here's what it said.  That was twelve months ago.

As for today, I've been informed that a couple of comments have disappeared recently.  At least two.  So, if you've noticed that your comments haven't stuck around, please don't be offended.  The only comments I've ever erased are the occassional duplicates. Typepad was down a couple of days ago and is likely the cause.  I'll send them a note and see if they have any more info.  Otherwise, be sure to hang around to type in the security code after you've commented.  I know that I forget that step sometimes and have had to go back in and reconstruct my thoughts. 

And, again, thank you for each and every comment.  Such a treat!  I don't have time to respond to each one individually, but I try to answer questions as much as possible and leave comments on your fabulous blogs.  If you have a question that I haven't responded to yet, please feel free to send me another email.  I'm working on putting up a website with some f.a.q.s to help in some cases.

See you soon -- Happy Weekend!

Blaggle-Blaggle

Mr. Wooden Robot says, "Snick-Snock-Blaggle-Blaggle - Time - to - vote - for - the - Bloggies - Snick-Snock-Blaggle-Blaggle"

I messed up on the nomination form the first time around.  I put URLs where the blogs' names were supposed to go and had to go back in and copy and paste until I had it right.  I should have read the directions first - it really wasn't that hard. 

I think today's the last day to nominate (until 10pm Eastern Standard), then there's another round of votes once they have a ballot together.  I'm not sure what the big deal is with Bloggies (anyone with Bloggies insight?), but it's always fun to put a good word in for my friends - I hope you all win!  Winning is fun all by itself. 

And, voting sure made it clear that I don't have enough links in my sidebar - I have far more favorites than I've pronounced.  So, sometime down the line I need to figure out how to make one of those stand-alone links pages.  Those are neat.

Mr. Robot is about 3 in. tall and was adopted for a mere 50¢.  He came home the same day as these guys.  Anyone sensing a trend in my spending habits?

Long-Spoon Days

Today, I serve you spoons.  Funky plastic ones from the 50s or 60s, I think.

When I was a girl, my parent's silverware tray contained an average selection of spoons, forks and knives, but for one long, slender, iced-tea spoon.  When clean, that spoon was always my preference.  I didn't find out until years later that it was my older sister's preferred spoon as well (which explains why it was so elusive). 

Last year, I bought Julia an antique, silver iced-tea spoon for her birthday (I think it was her birthday) and some months later I found these ones for me.  Much more Heathery.  Of course, they're not a comfortable shape for cereal, soup, ice cream or anything else. (They're meant for stirring, I think.)  So, I just look at them.  And Charlotte plays with them.  They remind me of long-spoon days long-gone. 

Greetings from Planet Random

...and there's no better welcome party than a family of tiny toy beavers (two inches tall) -- or are they chipmonks? -- from my favorite antique store.

I'm not sure why I had to have these, but their post-holiday sale price of $3 must have sealed the deal.  I stopped by again today after a dentist appt. and found even more silliness to see me through the marathon.  (What?  Did I call it a sprint?  I recant.)

Pins & Plans

Here's a fun find I should have spotlighted a couple of months ago when I first snatched 'em up, my fabulous pearly-plastic leaf pins. 

Not every project can withstand thick crow-bar-like pins, but aaah, when the project's right, out these babies come!  They have a color palette and a kitschy quality that reminds me of vintage Christmas ornaments - or the art direction of that recent Marie Antoinette movie (though I haven't seen it yet).  A sewing indulgence.  Fun, fun. 

The rest of the time I like to use slender glass-headed pins.  They're more sharp and easier to use than most plastic- headed pins and they don't melt under the iron.  Anyhoo...

I'm about to head into a big sprint, designing my next fabric collection, and I'm in debate about how to handle blogging during this time.  Of course, I'd have plenty to carry on about if I could show you what I'm working on, but that wouldn't be fair to Free Spirit (designs have to stay hush-hush until released to ward-off copycats, I'm told).  I've thought about taking a few weeks off, but that sounds no-fun.  So, right now, I'm thinking shorter posts with pics of some of my favorite things -- though I might just ramble on even longer as happy task avoidance.  Regardless, for stress-management purposes, I needed a 'plan.' 

So, expect random antique and thrift store goodness, tools, old projects, old photos and so on for the next few weeks.  I'll try to throw in some fun projects here and there as fabric-design breaks are had.  Perhaps I'll even finish some of what I've started or get one of my patterns printed at last.  Or maybe not ;)

Anyone hail from Arizona with lots of free time on her hands? 

(The pins were in some random bin at JoAnn's of all places.)

Mintmallows

a.k.a. The Peppermint Experiment No. 2

I had meant to make these with Elijah on Christmas Eve, but we used up our baking time hunting all over town for a candy thermometer.  We found one in store No. 6, but only after checking two different sections of that store - twice - and then asking two managers if there was any other place they could be. 

We were told that they used to have a few hanging on a "clip strip," but were currently sold out.  You're thinking, "What manager knows the exact state of his store's candy-thermometer inventory at any given moment?"  Precisely, my thought.  So, unwilling to give up entirely, we took one last jog to the baking aisle to check the clip strips and there they were, two glorious thermometers.  At that point, I would have paid a mint, but we got out of there for only $1.06 - a Christmas miracle.

Of course, it was too late to make marshmallows in time for Christmas, but we did have fun running through the stores holding hands. (Who knows how much longer he'll hold my hand, so I've got to soak it up.) 

We initiated our thermometer last night, using Jocelyn's basic vanilla marshmallow recipe, then flavored the mallows with peppermint extract and dressed up their tops with swirls of red food coloring (her idea too).  Sticky, sticky fun.  I love the mildy-sweet powder they're coated in and their springy texture (reminds me of my sweet children's cheeks.)  And, ooo, what a way to justify a cup o' cocoa!  A serious upgrade from store-bought marshmallows. 

Improvements?  Next time I'm going for stronger flavor.  Maybe I'll add some crushed red hots or leftover candy canes into the mix.  After all, there are two minty holidays, Christmas... and Valentine's Day (arranged with leftover candy canes in mind, I'm sure).  And, I'm making a half-batch.  That recipe makes a ton of marshmallows, no kidding.

Worth the hassle?  Totally.  At least once.  For us, I'm certain there will be cherry-vanilla marshmallows and chocolate-dipped coconut ones in our future.  And shaped ones too.  I can easily see homemade marshmallows becoming an enduring holiday tradition at the Baileys'.

On other fronts, I spent the entire day yesterday catching up on emails.  I've never written so many emails in my life and I still didn't get to responding to any of your comments.  Thank you so much for the love.  I'm overwhelmed by your kindness.  I appreciate each and every note. 

Do you ever wish there were two of you?  Or three, or four, or five?  One of me would be assigned to never letting any comment or email go unaddressed.  One of me could do the exercising and healthy-food-only thing.  One could be super-mom.  And the other two or three of me would be assigned to keeping up with the idea factory.  Aah, sounds nice.

Back to emails, a number of yesterday's emails led me to some boutique children's designers who sell their one-of-a-kind outfits on eBay.  It looks like Freshcut has shipped and is starting to pop up all over the place.  Check out these cutie patooties:  here, here, here, and here.  Adorable!  And, some of these photos make it much easier to see the fabrics than those little swatches on the fabric sites.  A happy diversion, if you're looking for one.

Or, you can check out the Heather Bailey interview just posted on CRAFTzine.  Fascinating.

*This post was brought to you by the number: two*

Bang!

Yay, a new year!  Tabula Rasa.  Of course, give me one day and I'll have the whole year pencilled in.  I swear, I could keep a large team of people busy.  So many things to be excited about. 

For now, here are my last-minute home-mades for Charlotte's Christmas: a vintagey coat, cuffed gauchos and a rumpled felt flower.  I didn't get to the piggy doll I had planned (too sick).  Have I ever mentioned how obsessed with pigs my Charlotte is? 

It all started with Babe a few months back.  She quickly found a red-eyed plastic hippo doll amongst Elijah's old toys, named it Babe, and began to stroke and bottle-feed the freaky thing.  It didn't take me long to replace the hippo with a far friendlier plastic pig and a cuddly stuffed one too.  Her collection continues to grow.  So, for months now, Charlotte's pigs have gone with her everywhere.  They're all named Babe.

Anyhow, I'm so happy about this little coat.  It fulfills some deep-rooted baby-wardrobe fantasy of mine.  I think its that retro shape and those big yellow buttons.  Not to mention the sweet little girl with yarn in her hair.  I made the pants Christmas morning, after the presents, and while Isaac made breakfast.  I don't know how it happened, but they were done before breakfast.  Painless.

Even better, Charlotte now has something to wear with her brown & orange patent leather shoes.  (Of course, she's about as obsessed with her pink Crocs as she is with pigs, so fat chance she'll wear them much.)

I'm proud of these photos too.  I've gotten pretty comfortable with Isaac's Canon 10D.  I use it for most of my blog photography, but for this shoot, he insisted that I use the Canon 1D Mark II N. (It's faster and better for taking pictures of a busy little girl.)  And I did it!  And it was faster. 

So, for 2007, I think it's time I finally learn the language of Photography.  I've known Isaac for almost fifteen years and we've been married for twelve (Saturday was our anniversary).  He's been a photographer since well before we met, but I've never had a compelling reason to learn his craft until I started this blog.  And, you know, I've discovered that I quite like photography.  (See my first attempt with real equipment here.)  I can't explain F-stops, shutter speed or aperture for the life of me, but I know a few camera settings and the lighting scenarios that work for me and I just go for it.  It's about time I learn the language.  This is the year.

I've got a bunch of other goals too, but if I stay here discussing them, I'll never get to any of them.  And, since today is the big kick-off for 2007, it's time to start with a bang and get some momentum going.  Be back soon...

Happy New Year!
xo--Heather

(Edit:  More photos here and a pic of the coat's lining.  And, sorry I can't lead you to some pattern #s for these, I designed the patterns from scratch.)